bunkhouse/slide

[mtaviator]

Hello ~

I am looking for any suggestions on tt. My husband really likes the Pacific Coachworks Tango 257BH. But, I would like something a bit shorter. So, here is what I'd like to find. Not really sure it exists ...

Under 27 ft.; under 5500 lbs (pulling it with a 2006 Jeep Commander with a 7200 towing capability); bunks; at least one slide.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[Jim Godward]

I'm going to plagiarize Carl L in my response.  I have a Jeep GC and no way will it .pull the gross weight of that trailer in the west.

What is the Gross combined weight allowed for that Jeep.  Even at 4800 lbs you have to account for the Jeep loads beyond the 154-lb driver and fuel.  In the mountain or Pacific west you also have to account for high altitudes and long steep grades.  We recommend deducting 10% from the tow rating -- 20% in the west.  We also recommend using a trailer's GVWR, gross vehicle weight rating.  Unladen weight is meaningless.

I fear that your ambitions greatly exceed your Jeeps means.  Start looking at hybrids and pop ups under 4320 lbs GVWR -- 3840 lbs in the west.

FWIW, we have a trailer in our local Ham Club that weighs about 4500@ with all the gear in it.  My Jeep struggles with it here in MT except on relatively flat ground with only me and a few radios, a couple of batteries, a full tank of gas and a flat of drinking water - about 3 gallons.  I think you need a different tow vehicle of as I indicated above, a different trailer

 

[mtaviator]

Thanks for the response. I suppose to each their own but we don't quite agree with some of your figures. As stated we are looking for a TT UNDER 5500 lbs, and hope to be in the 4500 lb range. The GVWR of a TT is predicated simply by the axle capacity. The weight that matters is the ACTUAL weight of the trailer. This is comprised of the dry weight of the trailer plus everything we add to it. We already know the weight of all of our junk (belongings, fluids, etc.) from our present travel trailer (actual weight of the trailer minus the UVW). We weighed it on certified scales when loaded up on our longest trip to date, packed to the gills. While different for all sorts of people, our junk weighs in the neighborhood of 800 lbs. But we are figuring on 1000 lbs to be on the safe side. Also, we have weighed the Commander, again with all our stuff (and us) in it, and we can go up to the 7200 GTW limit and be within the GCVWR of 12,620. So here is how it plays out for us using a hypothetical 5000 lb trailer-

5000 lb UVW of trailer
1000 lb of our junk (and fluids) in the trailer
6000 lb GTW

At a 7200 lb capacity we would be at 83% of our max capacity. We don't live near any tall mountains but I have to say, our Commander has a Hemi and we've never actually had to bury the throttle with our current trailer up steep grades. We will be using a Hensley Arrow so sway or tow properties ought not to be an issue.

Anyway, I really do appreciate your concern. There are many people on the road that have unsafe overloaded rigs. As we don't intend to be among them- if anyone can see a problem with our numbers, please do tell.