I Know, Another Will it Work Question

[chrisdove]

Hello all, I have been reading so much and learned so much in the last two days my head hurts.

The wife and I decided last week that we want to get a TT. It is only us, no kids, no pets. We went out Saturday and looked at numerous floor plans and found that the 27DSRL is the one for us. Since we just decided on this and started looking I have not had a chance to get to the scales. Biggest concern is I do not know if my truck is enough for this or if I need to be looking for something much smaller.

I have a 2016 F150 FX4 Supercrew, 5.0 with 3.55 gears, it is not an MT or HDPP. The tongue weight of the 27DSRL (dry) is listed at 685lbs and the dry weight is listed at 6040lbs with a loaded weight of 7500lbs. The yellow door sticker on the F150 has a payload weight of 1760lbs. Weight of me, wife, hitch, additions to truck, etc will be about 700-900lbs which leaves about 800-1000lbs. I know 200lbs is a HUGE range that could swing it either way quickly. If you guys think I can do it with this setup I will get weighed and verify before purchasing, I just do no want to waste time on this model if it is not an option.

Question is do I need to look at smaller travel trailers or can I safely pursue this one?

I know you guys get tired of these questions but than you in advance to anyone that helps.

Chris

[Murff]

If you were to load the trailer to it's max of 7500 lbs. it could mean a max tongue weight of 1125 lbs. Of course, that is the worst case. If you loaded the trailer and watched the scale numbers, you should be okay.

My advice and worth what you paid for it.

Murff

[TWP723]

I think you're good.

[bansai]

You are good to go in my opinion. Obviously you could over load your truck, but if packed reasonably well I don't see a problem.

All things considered, you're looking at towing basically what I'm towing as far as weights go.

Now, depending on your towing experience, and soon to be 'experiences', you may decide to upgrade your tow vehicle down the road, but you'll be fine with what you're looking at.

[kayakterp]

I have a 2016 27BHS. I originally pulled it with a Toyota Tundra double cab, 8' bed.
It pulled fine but stopping seemed to be a bit of an issue. Then a teenager pulled out in front of me and totaled both vehicles.
I since have upgraded to a 3/4 ton. My brother-n-law is a long time diesel mechanic and strongly advised me to get a 3/4 ton to pull the trailer. His beef was the stopping and braking as well as going around sharp curves as he has seen many trailers tip over their truck because the weight is not enough.
I always over-pack and carry kayaks on top of my truck and load it down with kayaking gear. I feel much safer in my 3/4 ton truck. It wasn't an issue of the engine being strong enough but in saying that you don't want to always tow something at 90% of towing capacity as it may wear out the truck sooner than expected

[sennister]

Originally Posted by chrisdove

~snip
I have a 2016 F150 FX4 Supercrew, 5.0 with 3.55 gears, it is not an MT or HDPP. The tongue weight of the 27DSRL (dry) is listed at 685lbs and the dry weight is listed at 6040lbs with a loaded weight of 7500lbs. The yellow door sticker on the F150 has a payload weight of 1760lbs. Weight of me, wife, hitch, additions to truck, etc will be about 700-900lbs which leaves about 800-1000lbs. I know 200lbs is a HUGE range that could swing it either way quickly. If you guys think I can do it with this setup I will get weighed and verify before purchasing, I just do no want to waste time on this model if it is not an option.

Since you are shopping it isn't like you can load it and go to the scales to see where you are at. That is once you do at the end and find out if your estimates were right. I agree with others that say it is the only right answer but it also isn't very practical when shopping. Really only does good at the end to see if you need a bigger truck.

So for estimates. Just ignore the dry tongue weight and the dry weight of the camper. I say this because they really don't mean anything. You will never be that light even when pulling the completely empty camper home from the dealer. These dry numbers often don't include things like propane tanks and battery. They don't include any options.

You will see the common saying that you want the tongue weight to be 10-15% of the trailer weight. Realistically that 10% is the min and I wouldn't want to be counting at hitting 10% all the time. The problem is lets say you are set up at 10% because that represents the max your tow vehicle can take. Well what happens when you leave a campsite that doesn't have a place to dump your black and grey tanks? Those are both typically located behind the axle. Now the camper is like a teetertodder that weight hanging off the back now lightens the tongue and you are below that 10% and that can result in stability issues. Try and shoot for 13%. We have no way of knowing what the camper really weighs. You could look at dry weight and guess at the propane tanks, battery and everything else you want to load but that isn't realistic. You can't go off someone else's weight because maybe you bring everything including the kitchen sink and the other person you are comparing to are nudists and therefore don't have any clothing with..

I like to just use the GVWR of the camper. This is really the worst case weight that you should safely pull anyhow. You can work on that 13% later and shift weight forward and back once you have a camper and have it loaded by going to a CAT Scale.

So I didn't look up this model but it looks like you said GVWR is 7500. Sounds about right.

7500 * 0.15 = 1125
7500 * 0.13 = 975

If it were me I would look for a tow vehicle that could take about 975-1125 TW. Add 80# for the WD hitch plus whatever your passengers, cargo and aftermarket items weigh. Also look at your manual I want to say Ford and some other manufacturers account for a driver that weighs 150lbs already before the cargo number is calculated. So if you weigh more than that just add in the difference but double check that one. While in that towing section also look and see if there is any reference to what the max weight is for your hitch receiver.

Question is do I need to look at smaller travel trailers or can I safely pursue this one?

I know you guys get tired of these questions but than you in advance to anyone that helps.

Chris

So you said the weight of you, wife, accessories, hitch was 700-900. Though double check that rating on the driver. You might have a 150# credit in there. Well that puts you pretty close. If you camp at full hook up sites where you are always traveling with empty tanks (fresh, grey and black) you will probably be fine. If you are boondocking, lugging a generator and full FW tank, you might have to watch your weight of the camper. If you run close to GVWR at 13% you are pushing it. At 15% you will probably be over. Also keep in mind that everything you can take out of that truck and put in the camper is almost free weight until you hit GVWR. Well not free but if it weighs 100lbs you only have 15lbs of it counting toward cargo on the truck.

For most of us it is the cargo weight that is biting us as you can see with the calculations above. Not the towing capacity.

[sennister]

Originally Posted by kayakterp

I have a 2016 27BHS. I originally pulled it with a Toyota Tundra double cab, 8' bed.
It pulled fine but stopping seemed to be a bit of an issue. Then a teenager pulled out in front of me and totaled both vehicles.
I since have upgraded to a 3/4 ton. My brother-n-law is a long time diesel mechanic and strongly advised me to get a 3/4 ton to pull the trailer. His beef was the stopping and braking as well as going around sharp curves as he has seen many trailers tip over their truck because the weight is not enough.
I always over-pack and carry kayaks on top of my truck and load it down with kayaking gear. I feel much safer in my 3/4 ton truck. It wasn't an issue of the engine being strong enough but in saying that you don't want to always tow something at 90% of towing capacity as it may wear out the truck sooner than expected

I would agree. On my 1/2 ton Chevy Avalanche the brakes are crap. I didn't feel safe trying to stop. Our newer Yukon is better but I have pulled our old camper with a 3/4 ton and 1 ton and it is night and day different.

[DanNJanice]

It seems like you have enough payload, however I am not sure if I you listed towing capacity. In particular, I would check to make sure you have a transmission cooler.
I towed my previous trailer (24ft not including tongue) with a 2002 F150/5.4L.
We towed it to Yellowstone, Glacier, all over Utah (9500ft passes) eastern and southern California, never had any issues.

[ykcamom]

We have a 27DSRL and pull it with a 2010 Ford F150 -- Max Tow 3:73. The truck handles the trailer just fine, but I wouldn't go with anything larger.

Our payload is 1465 and the trailer's yellow GVW sticker is actually 7728 pounds -- couple of options puts it over the 7500 listed on Jayco's website.

You should be fine with your match.

[2nOZ]

We were towing our 2017 27DSRL with our 2016 F150. It towed well. With just the 2 of us, we were always close to being maxed out on weight. Couldn't carry any friends or extra stuff in the bed. Got tired of figuring numbers and worrying about weight. I was driving the DW crazy. Long story short, traded for an F250 and worry not.

BTW, love our 27DSRL!

[wags999]

I tow a 27RLS with my Tundra and never have an issue. Most of our towing is in the mountains of the west. With the tow package our brakes were also upgraded. At 50,000 miles we still have almost 50% of the brakes left. I am anal about slowing early, starting slowly and using the brakes as little as needed. Your trailer brakes should take up at least a part of the weight of the trailer when stopping.


I would go for it, with a little weight management you should have no issues.


Happy Camping !

[JEFF1963]

CHRISDOVE - no where, either in your query or any of the responses in this thread, did I see mention of a "topper" (bed canopy or heavy tono cover). Are you operating with one? I know mine, admittedly on an 8-foot bed - but nevertheless, weighs 175 #; it's fiberglass, so heavier than aluminum. It IS a significant reduction in carrying capacity. Something to consider.

[chrisdove]

Originally Posted by JEFF1963

CHRISDOVE - no where, either in your query or any of the responses in this thread, did I see mention of a "topper" (bed canopy or heavy tono cover). Are you operating with one? I know mine, admittedly on an 8-foot bed - but nevertheless, weighs 175 #; it's fiberglass, so heavier than aluminum. It IS a significant reduction in carrying capacity. Something to consider.

Yes I do have a retractable bed cover. The 150lbs is included in the 700-900 pounds of misc additions to truck. From what i have read you have to include everything in the cargo weight, all the way down to the pennies that have fell under the seat. I need to fuel it up and go see the total weight of the truck, me and the wife. Then I will have a better idea of what will be left over.

One thing I did not mention is that I do have 10 ply tires already mounted. Hopefully this will help with any sway.

To everyone else, thank you very much for the comments.

Chris