2006 Chevy Colorado

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an RV or an interest in RVing!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
S

saraheve42

Member
Joined
May 3, 2010
Posts
19
So, we just traded our 42 inch flat screen tv for a 1976 Prowler 20ft travel trailer  ;D We have a 2006 Chevy Colorado V6, but have never towed anything with it. We don't even have a hitch installed (...yet)Anyways, we can allegedly pull 4000 lbs.  and allegedly the trailer is about 2,800. We have yet to actually weigh the trailer, but hopefully will be doing that soon. My main question is this: Does anyone have experience towing with this type of truck? Can it handle a travel trailer? Thanks in advance! I'm sure I'll be coming up with LOTS of questions as we work to fix up our 1976 Prowler to make it our future home!
 
Welcome aboard.

With a 4000lbs towing capacity, you can't tow too many travel trailers.  My memories of Prowler's from the 70s are heavy trailers, I would be surprised if it weighs 2800lbs dry.  But at any rate, the dry weight is irrelevant to the equation.  You need the weight of the trailer when it's fully loaded and ready to go camping.

Also, the towing capacity is for a 150lbs driver and a full tank of gas.  From the 4000lbs, you need to subtract the following:
- what you weight over 150lbs (if you do),
- the weight of passengers
- the weight of gear in the truck
- the weight of any aftermarket options you added (steps, tonneau cover, trailer hitch, etc).

So as you can see, the towing capacity and weight of the unit are getting very close and strong odds the trailer will weigh more than the towing capacity, but you won't know until you hit the scale with it.

Here is what you need regardless of the truck and trailer combo
- a class III or IV hitch depending on the weight
- a weight distribution hitch with sway control (Reese Dual-Cam or Equalizer)
- a brake controller (Tekonsha Prodigy seems to be the best, I have a lower end)

Edit to Add:  BTW, I used to tow with an underpowered truck and an overweight trailer, while I am still alive to talk about it, I got a few scary moments.  It's not fun.
 
Welcome to The RV Forum and congratulations on the trade.  You are in for some awesome times.  Undoubtedly you will have additional questions, and we are here to help.  Our library can be helpful too. 

I'm not a tow guy so I can't help you much here. But, Welcome aboard!
 
Thanks for the warm welcome! I was afraid our truck wouldn't be able to pull it, even though the folks we got it from insisted we could. :-[  They kept pointing out that the brochure for this trailer from the seventies had a station wagon pulling it....I guess they don't even make small trucks as well as they used to make cars!
 
If the trailer brochure (dry) weight is 2800 lbs, your 4000 lb towing capacity will be barely enough once the trailer is loaded and you have passengers in the truck. As long as you aren't in a hurry, you can probably do ok.
 
What they say and what's real are maybe not so close.  I just gave up my 98 Ranger 4x4 4.0 V6.  It was rated at 5k and change I believe.  On a recent trip to NC, I was having issues pulling 2 motorcycles on a 5x8 landscape trailer.  Granted, it's a 3500lb axle trailer but it's still just a 5x8 landscape trailer w/ about 1200 lbs of motorcycles.  Also, the truck was high mileage but the motor never seemed to suffer any power loss even over the course of 200K miles.  Just because it says it can...  Now, my only issues were pulling steep grades but that's what I consider "problems pulling."

I'm a little afraid of that with my new truck too which is why I'm sticking as close to 70% of rating as possible.  It also probably depends on where you're going and how often.  If you're going to tow a couple hundred miles to the beach 2 or 3 times a year, it's probably OK.  If you plan on going around the country or out west, you might want to do some very specific math and test trips.  Good luck and keep us posted.
 
Thanks again for the insight!!! We plan to tow the TT from West Texas to Portland Oregon over the course of 3 to 4 days and then just park it there and live in it for a few years. We are going to be saving up, paying off debt and hopefully be fulltimers within the next 5 or 6 years ;D We just want to play it safe and it sounds like upgrading to a bigger truck is certainly in order. *sigh*
 
If you are only doing one trip, check to see if you can rent a truck for that.  Compare the price of that to what you would loose on the truck when trading it in.  I don't know what's more cost effective, but maybe worth looking into.
 
Oh good thinking. Does anyone know anywhere that rents trucks that have towing capabilities? Has anyone done this before? We really would like to avoid having to get a different truck (aka MORE debt) just to make the journey.
 
If the dry weight is right, most half ton trucks should be able to haul it.  But it needs to be equipped with a brake controller.  Brand new Ford and GM truck have optional built-in brake controller.  It could be possible some rental places have them.    I doubt any would install a brake controller though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 741 (members: 20, guests: 721)

Forum statistics

Threads
131,964
Posts
1,388,326
Members
137,718
Latest member
urnwholesaler
Back
Top Bottom