got a question or 10 about towing a travel trailer.

first my truck is 4X4, 5.4, auto, towing pack, LS rear.

the trailer is 4700 lbs dry, 26 ft long, tongue weight 570 lbs

questions:
how much should a brake controller cost installed?

do i need a different drawbar then i normally use for my motorcycle trailer?

do i need a weight distribution hitch?

do i need an anti sway hitch?

can the truck comfortably pull this trailer or should i get a super duty? truck rates out at 8000lbs trailer maxes at 7500. dry 4700 and i figure i can keep the load well under 7000.

thanks in advance for the info.

 

You can get the Prodigy for $116 shipped with your connector for easy installation yourself.

Depends if you need to change the ball height, and how many pounds the rating is for the other trailer. Or, if the other trailer uses a 2" ball and the travel trailer uses 2 5/16".

I would highly recommend a WD hitch for towing 4000+ pounds regularily. I believe that negates the sway hitch, or rather the WD hitch has sway control.

4700 dry is about 5700 pounds loaded up. Your truck should be fine with the WD hitch and brake controller. That is about the upper limits of what I recommend for F-150's. Expect 8 mpg, though. If you plan a lot of mountain trips, more power from a V10 or PSD would be of great benefit, but you'll make it slowly.

 

I agree with everything that APT says except for,

I would contend that in the worst case the trailer will weigh significantly more than that. If the fresh water, gray water and black water tanks are 40 gallons capacity each (which is close to normal for TT's that size nowadays) then 5700 will actually be closer to 6700.

Now I will hasten to add that normally I try to run with gray and black tanks virtually empty and only minimal fresh water so NORMALLY that weight doesn't count. However, it should be taken into account when looking at ratings.

Actually the total wet GVWR of the trailer should be used when calculating GCWR.

 

40 gallons each on a 4700 dry trailer? Anyway, I would use the trailer's GVWR rating in my towing estimation because that will be close to the actual loaded weight. Good catch.

Okay, some quick checking that 40gallons seems about right for that size/weight trailer.

 

thanks for the info so far.

yes the tanks are 35 gal ea. although i do intend to keep them as dry as possible.

i do plan to do at least one trip into the smoky mtns.

getting the super duty is not out of the question but i could wait another year or two and then get the all out mother of all trucks. crew cab long bed dually that i would love to have. not really possible right now.

trailers gvwr was 7500 lbs.

thanks for info on the wd hitch. how hard are they to use. right now i just pull a flat bed trailer for quads with a 2" ball.

guess i'm just making sure the dealer is being honest when they tell me what i need. not that i think a person who makes their living by selling this stuff would ever lie to us about what we need

 

Yeah, I learned the hard way when I trusted my local trailer sales guy. He told me that my wife's 86 Jeep Cherokee 6cyl. w/130,000 miles would tow our spanking new 27' TT that weighs around 5700 in travel trim. I didn't bother to check a single weight rating figuring I was good to go.

Tried to do it one time on the highway and ended up burning up the transmision and it felt like the trailer was driving the car since the wheelbase was so short. Checked into some weights and found out I was WAY WAY over specs. Live and learn.

 

Depends..... What's comfortable for one might be a nightmare for someone else......

In my case, my trailer weighs #4500 fully loaded with a GVWR of #5000. It tows very well and I reach my destination very relaxed and wishing I was still on the road!

I did find that I'm at the trucks GVWR of #6250 when I'm all hitched up and ready to roll however. I figure the tongue weight is around #550.

I use an EAZ-Lift WD setup with #1000 bars. No additional sway device. Have not experienced sway with my setup, but since my truck weighs more then the trailer, it keeps it in line pretty good.

If the trailer starts getting much over #6000, then you'll have to watch your GAW and you'll be in second gear for most hills.

Good luck and happy camping!

 

I have a 98 150 with the 3.55 gears, 5.4 and towing package. We just purchased a 29ft TT with 5,500 dry / 7,200 wet.

Looking at the other posts even though this is under the limits most of you are saying that we should stay about 1/2 of the limit of the truck. Like other trailers it has 40 gal tanks but we won't be traveling to far and the sites we will go to all have water hook up's so i figure running about 6,000.

I've never heard of the load leavers what are they and any websites with them would be appreciated.

 

hey pheasant hunter. do a google or similar search for weight distribution hitch. the one i am looking at is a dual cam set up so it also controls sway.
have you pulled that trailer yet with the truck? if so how was it?

 

pulled it 50 miles home ran 60 mph @ 2,300 RPM and had a head / cross wind of 10-15 the whole time. seemed to pull, travel and stop well even in the hills. I know when we finally take it out the extra weight will make a difference but we'll have to see with a few short trips first.

I have found 3 different ones any preference and assistance on ease of use/cost?

 

Pheasant Hunter, Are you saying you just plunked the trailer on the hitch and rolled with it???

Did you have much rear end "sag" with the entire #600 + of tongue weight on it?

Even if you didn't, you were probably over the hitch ratings for a Class 3 setup, which you had if it was just sitting on the hitch. It's usually only rated for a 500 tongue/5000 total trailer that way. With Weight Distribution, it increases to a Class 4 setup and you can have a 1000/10000 combo..... Well, at least as far as the hitch is concerned.... If you try to tow something that big with a 1/2 ton, you'll be overweight on all the trucks ratings!

Here is what a WD setup consists of. This particular brand also has the "Dual Cam" setup for sway control. With a 29' trailer, you'll want this extra setup IMO.



What the bars do is work kinda like wheelbarrow handles. When setup correctly, it should lift the rear end and distribute some of the weight to the front axle and also some onto the trailer axles. Having a level setup will also do alot to prevent sway as well.

I just run the WD bars myself, but my trailer is only 22' and is some #1500-#2000 lighter, so I don't have a sway problem.....

Good luck!

 

No, the truck is a 4x4 off road LT with tow package, reciever hitch and brake control. Really all I'm trying to decide is do i need to get the WD know or for the close pull ok and can wait a bit.

Also i noticed a clamp that runs around 2 leaf springs on the back side was broke, prior to pulling the trailer any idea on if this has to be that special clamp or any one will work?

 

I would use a WD setup if it was mine........

The first time you hit a concrete section of road and get into some "whoop-de-doos" caused by the expansion joints in the road and don't have the WD setup, you'll have a constant rolling up and down bounce that you won't be able to get rid of until the road surface changes.... You'll still get it with the WD, but it's more 'solid' of a bounce and does not intensify the longer you go over them.

When you plunk #600 + pounds on the rear end and don't use WD, you will take weight off the front end, even if it doesn't sag and that can cause some steering control issues. If you need to do any type of emergency manuever, the light front end may not respond and so on.

As far as that clamp thing goes, it sounds like it's one of the ones that hold the leafs together and keeps them aligned. I'd get it fixed, as the leafs will tend to spread apart when they are compressed. They also seem to be a heavier gauge steel and I think there is even an aligning pin in them too?? Mine used to rattle and could not tightem them up any further. I ended up using some flat steel as a shim as such and that stopped them from rattling.

 

You put a 6000 #, 29 foot TT on your truck with NO weight distribution AND drove it down the highway at 60mph. Wow! Are You Brave or What ?!?

You DEFINATELY want to get some sort of load leveling and sway control in place. Even with the load leveling you must be getting really close to the limits of the truck.

MitchF150 is showing a setup that is growing in popularity right now and is probably a good way to go. Here's a link to what I use and so far I like it a lot.

http://www.equalizerhitch.com/

 

Considering the trailer was at it's emptiest possible weight which I would figure less the 6k not much of a big deal.

As long as your under the tongue/load/trailer tow weights shouldn't the truck handle it? After all that's why they put the rating on them. it rates at 7700 so if it can't handle 6k Ford better rethink how they rate things.

Isn't the load levelers / WD hitches just a way to make people not use to pulling trailers a bit more comfortable with it? I'm sure they are nice but a necessity, maybe to those who sell them. I haven't pulled a TT to often but have towed many other trailers over the years and seen many others towing with out them.