Towing with a 6 cyl 4WD Nissan Frontier king cab automatic

[Lakama]

We are planning to get a Coachman Clipper CFB travel trailer with a GVWR of 3675#. We would like to get a 2015 Nissan Frontier 6 cylinder 4WD king cab to tow it. The tow capacity is 6300#, frontal area limit is 30 sq ft and the GVWR is 4700#. The dealer didn't even know what a frontal area was. Do you think we can tow this with this vehicle without difficulty? What can we do to make this a safer and more efficient experience?
Thanks

 

[Rob&Deryl]

Go to a Nissan dealer and open the drivers door of a vehicle as similar to the one you are thinking about.
Take a picture of the two stickers. One is on the B pillar and the other may be there or the door. These will tell you about that vehicle, not the brochure numbers.

You need the GVWR and the cargo carrying capacity for the vehicle.

You can likely pull the rated weight but can you control it or stop it? Can you carry the tongue weight?
Take 10% of  the GVWR of the trailer (which is the tongue weight) and subtract it from the carrying capacity of the TV (tow vehicle). What's left has to accommodate people, stuff, hitch, gas etc.

Horsepower isn't the biggie here except for getting up to speed. First you need to be sure your load is safe.

Fuel mpg is going to take the biggest hit after you go over 55 mph. Hills might be a big challenge with a small truck and smaller engine.

Anyway, my $0.02

 

[Oldgator73]

We are planning to get a Coachman Clipper CFB travel trailer with a GVWR of 3675#. We would like to get a 2015 Nissan Frontier 6 cylinder 4WD king cab to tow it. The tow capacity is 6300#, frontal area limit is 30 sq ft and the GVWR is 4700#. The dealer didn't even know what a frontal area was. Do you think we can tow this with this vehicle without difficulty? What can we do to make this a safer and more efficient experience?
Thanks

We have a 2016 Frontier we tow our Winnie Drop with. Your "tow rating" is 6100 lbs. You can't tow 6100 lbs. the GVWR is 5816 lbs with hitch wt of 610 lbs. Payloayd is 1368 lbs. But with my vehicle there is a sticker inside the door indicating I need to subtract 198 lbs due to options added. If I were you I would not look at any TT's more than 4000 lbs UVW. If you think you take more than say 1400 pounds of stuff then go lighter on the TT.

We tow a Winnie Drop that has a 3800 lb fully loaded weight rating. Tows that great. No problems.


Edit: Moderator repaired broken end-quote tag

 

[73Camper]

Sorry, too much trailer for the truck. Talk about the tail wagging the dog. I have an f250 v8 and a 3500lb empty TT and i wish i had more power

 

[Oldgator73]

Sorry, too much trailer for the truck. Talk about the tail wagging the dog. I have an f250 v8 and a 3500lb empty TT and i wish i had more power

I'll have to disagree with you. If you need more power than you have in your F250 V8 then you need to take it somewhere to get it fixed. This is the problem with opinions; they're like you know what and everyone has one. Come on, if you need a 3/4 ton p/u to pull a 3500 lb TT there's a serious problem somewhere.

 

[73Camper]

I'll have to disagree with you. If you need more power than you have in your F250 V8 then you need to take it somewhere to get it fixed. This is the problem with opinions; they're like you know what and everyone has one. Come on, if you need a 3/4 ton p/u to pull a 3500 lb TT there's a serious problem somewhere.

You can never have enough power or truck. Its a FORD, they lack power from the factory lol. Had the Ford years before I got the trailer.

AND thank you for your service!

 

[Oldgator73]

You can never have enough power or truck. Its a FORD, they lack power from the factory lol. Had the Ford years before I got the trailer.

AND thank you for your service!

I have to disagree again. You can have too much power. I would never buy a Freightliner to tow my Winnie Drop. Our Frontier does just fine. You know what FORD stands for: Found On Road Dead.

Thank you. I'm happy I had the opportunity to serve.

 

[73Camper]

I prefer Fix Or Repair Daley

 

[kdbgoat]

Ford backwards:
Driver Returns On Foot. ;D

 

[73Camper]

Ford backwards:
Driver Returns On Foot. ;D

Love that one. Its new to me.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

While Lynx gave you good and proper advice, I think can safely say in this case that if that Nissan has the specs you cited, it will have no problem with that trailer.  It's true than any individual example of the truck will have different ratings for Max tow and Payload/CCC, but the numbers you gave are sufficient to absorb any options and variations and still tow that trailer nicely. However, it's a wise idea to check the rating sticker on the door post as Lynx0849 recommends.

 

[COHauler]

Sorry, too much trailer for the truck. Talk about the tail wagging the dog. I have an f250 v8 and a 3500lb empty TT and i wish i had more power

The Nissan Frontier has a 18-1 power to weight ratio with the V-6 @261HP.

Your 5.4L F250 has a 30-1 power to weight ratio with a 260 hp V8.

So in other words, the Nissan should perform a whole lot better that your current truck. I was so privileged to drive a F350 5.4L that had a plow and a sander in the bed. If I wasn't in 4Lo and floored, it wasn't moving. That was about the weight of a light travel trailer. Worst truck I have ever driven.

 

[Pugapooh]

I have never heard of "frontal area".  Can someone please explain?

 

[Oldgator73]

Frontal area is what they normally cannot show in PG-13 movies.

 

[berky]

Frontal area is the area (in sq. ft.) of the front of what you are towing.  A boat with a 6 ft. beam and a hull 3 ft. deep would  have a frontal area of 18 sq. ft.  Ditto for a pop-up of the same width and height.  A travel trailer 8 ft. wide and 8 ft. tall would have a frontal area of 64 sq. ft.

So Nissan is saying you can pull a boat or a pop-up (!) up to 6100 lbs., but no go on the travel trailer.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Frontal area is measured in sq ft and is the size of the front-facing portion of the towed load. It is important because the more front area you have, the greater the wind (air) resistance to movement. Most of the horsepower & fuel cost of towing is due to air resistance, not weight. Moving all that air out of the way is hard!  A low trailer loaded with 10,000 lbs of bricks is much easier to pull than a tall & wide 5W RV of the same weight.

The tow vehicle itself has "frontal area" wind resistance, so low profile trailers don't increase it much, but a tall or wide trailer behind it can easily double or triple the air resistance effect.

 

[Gary RV_Wizard]

Re the 30 sq ft frontal area:
Nissan used to state 60 sq ft up to 2013, but when they changed over to the SAE J2807 standard for tow ratings, it was reduced to 30 sq ft. for 2014 and later.  I think this means they used a 30 sq ft trailer profile when they tested per J2807 and that the test ratings reflect that.  I don't think it means that 30 sq ft is the max limit the truck can tow, but it could well be that the SAE tow ratings would be lower if the frontal area was increased.  It makes sense that it would be, since a greater frontal area puts more load on the tow vehicle.

So what berky says is the practical truth: you can tow a 6100 lb low & narrow trailer, but maybe (probably?) not a 6100 lb taller/wider type.

 

[Oldgator73]

Let's be clear. The Nissan Frontier 4x4 Crewcab with 6 cyl cannot tow a 6100 lb trailer. By my calculations the heaviest fully loaded trailer it can tow is around 5400 lbs.