Did I buy too much camper?

Trip:  Virginia to Yellowstone and back,    July of this year    Two weeks 

Vehicle:  2011 Chevy suburban LTZ.  5.3L. 

RV:  2011 Rockwood 2608SS.    29? 7? long.    With one slide out
GVWR                      6691.       
Base/Dry unit weight  5323. 
Base Dry Hitch weight 691. 
Base Dry Axle Weight  4632
Cargo Capacity.          1330



Just bought the RV this week and now I?m stressing out about pulling it across the country.  Will my suburban pull it for this trip.  Really worried about it.  The RV people said it would do fine and I want to trust them but....... 

The trip is for the family 2 adults and 2 kids.    We originally set out get a smaller camper but after touring a bunch we fell in love with the 2011 Rockwood. 

I decoded my vin and have the info below: 

Gross Combined Wt Rating 14000, 11500  lbs  11500.0 min 14000.0 max
Dead Weight Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 5000  lbs  5000.0 min 5000.0 max
Dead Weight Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 500  lbs  500.0 min 500.0 max
Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Trailer Wt. 8000, 5000  lbs  5000.0 min 8000.0 max
Wt Distributing Hitch - Max Tongue Wt. 1185, 810  lbs  810.0 min 1185.0 max

Sounds like a great camper! In studying your specs that you listed, I would be concerned. I suspect you are going to want more towing ability to enjoy this trip of a lifetime.

You?ll get a lot of good advice from this forum. Two things you need to check out. First, look at the sticker on the inside frame of your driver side door. Tell us what it says for cargo carrying capacity.  Second, look up under your hitch receiver. There should be a sticker there that says what it is rated for both for a weight distributing hitch and a regular hitch. You will need a weight distributing hitch for the trailer, so tell us what that number is.

Your trailer, properly loaded, will probably put about 700 pounds on the hitch. That weight will go against your cargo carrying capacity. Add the passengers and all the gear you will be carrying in the suburban.  You may find that, if you are within the limits of the suburban, you will be uncomfortably close to them. When you hit the mountains out west, you may wish you had more tow vehicle.

There are some other numbers to look at too, but the one that seems to catch people the most often is the tow vehicle cargo carrying capacity. It sounds like a nice trip ? I hope it comes together for you.

I think your cargo carrying capacity (CCC) is going to be very close.  Your hitch weight will be 12-15% of your loaded trailer weight.  A trip to the local CAT scales needs to be in your near future.  That family of 4 will also be deducted from your CCC along with the weight distribution hitch and anything else you put in the Suburban.  Good luck.

Old Blevins said:

You?ll get a lot of good advice from this forum. Two things you need to check out. First, look at the sticker on the inside frame of your driver side door. Tell us what it says for cargo carrying capacity.  Second, look up under your hitch receiver. There should be a sticker there that says what it is rated for both for a weight distributing hitch and a regular hitch. You will need a weight distributing hitch for the trailer, so tell us what that number is.

Your trailer, properly loaded, will probably put about 700 pounds on the hitch. That weight will go against your cargo carrying capacity. Add the passengers and all the gear you will be carrying in the suburban.  You may find that, if you are within the limits of the suburban, you will be uncomfortably close to them. When you hit the mountains out west, you may wish you had more tow vehicle.

There are some other numbers to look at too, but the one that seems to catch people the most often is the tow vehicle cargo carrying capacity. It sounds like a nice trip ? I hope it comes together for you.

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Stacker on the door says.    Should never exceed  1369lb.   

Hitch sticker.

Maximum trailer weight                Maximum tongue weight         
Weight carrying.    5000lb.                600lb
Weight distributing.  10,000.            1000lb 



I feel like I?m going to be miserable going thru the mountains.    I took the suv and camper for a test drive and having never pulled anything that heavy it felt like I was killing the Chevy.   

Taylorm3 said:

Stacker on the door says.    Should never exceed  1369lb.   

Hitch sticker.

Maximum trailer weight                Maximum tongue weight         
Weight carrying.    5000lb.                600lb
Weight distributing.  10,000.            1000lb 



I feel like I?m going to be miserable going thru the mountains.    I took the suv and camper for a test drive and having never pulled anything that heavy it felt like I was killing the Chevy. 

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That 1369 is you and wife kids and gear in the suburban plus the hitch weight of the trailer, now the dry hitch is 691 loaded for camping is going to be closer to 900 leaving you about 469 for you wife kids etc etc etc. Its going to make for a tough drive, the front end is going to be really light, steering will be very vauge and braking wil. Be really really weak, you may want to look at trading that 1500 suburban on a 2500 or 3500 suburban or truck


Now the other option takes some planning on your part with some weight placement, ie- loafing all the heavy stuff in the trailer to over the axles or just behind you can minimize some weight but not much 

I think you are going to have a couple problems.

1. Too much trailer for your tow car.  I owned a 27' trailer and pulled it with a GMC with the 5.3.  Not good.  After two months I bought a 3/4 ton with an 8.1 engine. 

2.  5,000 miles in two weeks is a nightmare.  You will average 50 mph on a good day.  July is road repair season in the northern states and there will be delays.  Reservations will be required most of the way as everybody and his brother are on vacation while school is out.  And they are all headed to Yellowstone.


I'd suggest staying east of the Mississippi and visit some places closer so everyone can have some fun. Riding and driving all day long is not fun. 

Taylorm3 said:

I feel like I?m going to be miserable going thru the mountains.    I took the suv and camper for a test drive and having never pulled anything that heavy it felt like I was killing the Chevy. 

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I?m sorry to hear that.  I?m glad you have the good instincts to check this out and keep your family safe.  But I know that, unless you?re able to upgrade to a more capable tow vehicle by July, it puts you in a tough spot. I hope a good solution works out for you.

*****Update*****

The wife and I discussed the camper situation and agreed to slim down to a smaller (in weight) camper.  We haven?t taken delivery of the Rockwood yet and even tho we technically own it I?m sure they will let us switch it to another camper on their lot. Especially since the new one will be higher priced.  I just signed everything Friday but haven?t taken the title to the dmv yet.    Plus we just bought the Suburban a few months ago and I searched for 3 months for that exact one so I would hate to restart that process.   

The one we?re looking at is.  Grey Wolf 26DJSE

GVWR.            7574 LB       
Hitch Weight.    574. LB
UVW.                4596 LB
CCC.                  2978.  LB
Exterior Length.  29? 2?


The dry weight is 1300 LB    Lighter.    Will this one be a better experience towing wise? 

Earlier this year I bought a 2017 26 ft Keystone Bullet 220RBI trailer....shipping wt 4611 lbs, carry wt 1789 lbs.  Tow vehicle 1999 F-150 4.6 ltr w/only 45000 miles. 

Towed nicely on level roads, usually stayed in 3rd gear, but occasionally in 4th, ie., O/D.  Living in the lower Blue Ridge Mts we found the truck was over matched on grades occasionally 7 to 9%.  On one occasion I had to go into 1st gear, engine at 4100 rpm, to get up a one mile grade.....going 15 m/hr.  Upgrading to a Ford 250 pickup, or similar, with much better tow ability would have been the solution.

However, special personal circumstances prompted us to sell the trailer and buy a motorhome.  If you feel the trailer meets your needs I would upgrade tow capability.  The tow vehicle has versatility beyond pulling.

Ya lost me there.  The Rockwood has a GVWR of 6691, right?  If the Grey Wolf has a GVWR of 7574, you?re getting heavier, not lighter.  Ignore dry weight.  Nobody travels with an empty trailer.  Use GVWR.

Here?s the math you?ll want to consider for any trailer you?re looking at.

Your TV has a max CCC of 1369 lbs.  Your WD hitch is going to be around 100 lbs.  3 passengers and gear Will likely be 500 lbs or more.  so you have at least 600 lbs of your capacity already used.  That leaves about 770 lbs for your hitch weight.  If it is 12% of the loaded trailer?s weight, you can manage a trailer with a GVWR of 6400 lbs.  That?s putting your Suburban at its limits. I?d suggest not going that far.

The other thing to consider is how hard it will have to work to pull the trailer up mountain grades.  You?ve already tested it with a trailer that is around 5400 lbs empty, and noticed it felt like that much weight was killing your Suburban.  So one that will be over 7500 lbs loaded will be much worse than that test drive.

If you can withdraw from the deal, do it.  Step back, take your time, and do some more research.

One thing you must understand is there is a lot more to towing than can my vehicle pull this RV. I have seen half ton trucks towing 727 aircraft. You also need to consider the tow vehicles ability to stop in a big hurry and you need to worry about how it handles in a cross wind and when a semi passes you. I sincerely doubt you will be able to tow anything with a Suburban and be comfortable. You may not want to restart the buying process for your tow vehicle again but after your upcoming trip it will be the first thing on your agenda.

That is a very ambitious trip. It can be done, but I do not think you or your family will enjoy the trip.  I think you are looking at six or so days each way.  In addition to travel time you are also going to have to allow time for setup an teardown each day.  That is going to add one to two hours to the day.  We had a TT a number of years ago and took a trip to Yellowstone.  The longest day was the first one where we traveled about 480 miles.  After that we tried to keep it to 300 to 350 a day.  We had a19' Weekender and we were towing with a Toyota Tundra set up for towing so we had lots of power.  If you have not planned your trip out, you may want to do it now and see if it reallys is something you want to do.  If you can add a week to your trip, which is often difficult due to jobs, you may want to think about doing that instead of pushing so hard.  If you have not done so already, you may want to consider a weekend trip or two to get used to setting up the new unit and to insure you have all the supplies you need. 

If you do take the trip, please let us know how it turned out.

I think by the time you hit Missouri, you're going to be looking for a vehicle upgrade.

Old Blevins said:

Ya lost me there.  The Rockwood has a GVWR of 6691, right?  If the Grey Wolf has a GVWR of 7574, you?re getting heavier, not lighter.  Ignore dry weight.  Nobody travels with an empty trailer.  Use GVWR.

Here?s the math you?ll want to consider for any trailer you?re looking at.

Your TV has a max CCC of 1369 lbs.  Your WD hitch is going to be around 100 lbs.  3 passengers and gear Will likely be 500 lbs or more.  so you have at least 600 lbs of your capacity already used.  That leaves about 770 lbs for your hitch weight.  If it is 12% of the loaded trailer?s weight, you can manage a trailer with a GVWR of 6400 lbs.  That?s putting your Suburban at its limits. I?d suggest not going that far.

The other thing to consider is how hard it will have to work to pull the trailer up mountain grades.  You?ve already tested it with a trailer that is around 5400 lbs empty, and noticed it felt like that much weight was killing your Suburban.  So one that will be over 7500 lbs loaded will be much worse than that test drive.

If you can withdraw from the deal, do it.  Step back, take your time, and do some more research.

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Yeah sorry about that, I was looking at the 1300LB dif in the Dry weight.    And thinking that would make a big dif.  Based on everyone?s post looks like I still need to do something about the tow veh.    ???

johnaye said:

That is a very ambitious trip. It can be done, but I do not think you or your family will enjoy the trip.  I think you are looking at six or so days each way.  In addition to travel time you are also going to have to allow time for setup an teardown each day.  That is going to add one to two hours to the day.  We had a TT a number of years ago and took a trip to Yellowstone.  The longest day was the first one where we traveled about 480 miles.  After that we tried to keep it to 300 to 350 a day.  We had a19' Weekender and we were towing with a Toyota Tundra set up for towing so we had lots of power.  If you have not planned your trip out, you may want to do it now and see if it reallys is something you want to do.  If you can add a week to your trip, which is often difficult due to jobs, you may want to think about doing that instead of pushing so hard.  If you have not done so already, you may want to consider a weekend trip or two to get used to setting up the new unit and to insure you have all the supplies you need. 

If you do take the trip, please let us know how it turned out.

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Thanks for the tip.  The wife has us traveling 8 hrs each day and one day 10hrs.    I have tried to explain to her that we can?t do that many a day.  I?ll need to take a look at the trip details and see if I can adjust it to 6hrs per day

Badlands Bob said:

I think by the time you hit Missouri, you're going to be looking for a vehicle upgrade.

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I think I?m going to start working on that now.    Appreciate everyone?s advice

Driving an RV all day long is a lot different than driving a normal car all day. Most people limit themselves to 300 miles per day. I limit myself to 250. You just don't make good time with an RV. Figure 45 miles per hour average if you are lucky. Some even average 50. If this is suppose to be a vacation don't mess it up by too much driving. That can really ruin the trip.

I drove our class C from Beaufort SC to lower Delaware in one shot. Wasn't enjoyable at all. Me, DW, and the dog we're all miserable by the time we parked in the yard.

Taylorm3 said:

Thanks for the tip.  The wife has us traveling 8 hrs each day and one day 10hrs.    I have tried to explain to her that we can?t do that many a day.  I?ll need to take a look at the trip details and see if I can adjust it to 6hrs per day

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If you drive six hours every day, you're not going to have any sightseeing time to speak of. Driving 6 to 7 hours for each day you drive is one thing, but if every day is a driving day, everyone will be tired, no one will enjoy it, and you won't see much except passing scenery. There should be several days with no driving planned, other than within the park itself, or the local sights.

That 50 mph average people are talking about generally includes meal time, rest stops, and fuel stops, all of which bring down your average for the day, even though you might be traveling 65 mph, or so (don't plan on higher speed -- the RV won't like it). So if you figure about 2,000 miles one way, at 50 mph, you'll have 40 hours, or a workweek's worth, of driving time one way. Obviously you'll have the same going back. That's 5 8-hour days each way. And you have two weeks? So you've maybe got 4 days to spend looking around if you drive that 8 hours each day going and coming.

It's doable, but you'll be tired when you get there and tired-er when you get home. You can have fun, but you need to be aware of what this really entails. You also need to keep in mind that once you're off the Interstates, especially in Wyoming, you'll likely average closer to 35 or 40 mph, perhaps less. Some of those roads slow you down more than you might think from looking at a map.

OK, there have been a lot of "discouraging words" here, so I'll add something not quite so glum. Though you can't see all of Yellowstone in four days (if that's how it actually works out for you), you can see quite a bit of stuff (there's a LO-O-O-TT to see), and it'll be a different kind of experience than anything you can get in the east, lots to see, lots to learn, lots of pictures/videos to take, etc.

Be sure you get on the Yellowstone website and heed their cautions. It's bear country, but a little care makes it not a problem. It's dry air, for the most part, and dehydration can catch you unawares, but drinking lots of water should take care of that. It gets chilly at night, 40s, maybe occasional 30s, even in the summer, at night, with bright, searing sun during the day, even if it's only 60-70 degrees out for a high temp. Bring jackets. You're at 6,500-8,500 feet, depending on where you are in the park. Bring sunscreen. Wear hats and sunglasses.

Even with all the above you can have a good time after you get there, but just be aware of what you are getting into, including the short visit.