New from NV

[Warboar]

Hello everyone as the title says I?m new and from NV.

I?m in the research mode but close to buying my first toy hauler.

Shortly I will be going out of town on a long term (1 year) work assignment and have decided to purchase a trailer rather than hotel or furnished apartment this time. 

I prefer to get a used hauler vs new as it will work better for my budget. I?m looking for something in the  26?-30ish Range. I don?t want it to be to large as I also plan to use this for hunting and camping with the family. I am not into campground camping so a monster 5th wheel is out. Not to mention I don?t care to drag the heavy hitch out of the back of my truck every time I need to haul something in the bed.
We currently have two quads but the wife is wanting to move into a UTV such as the Honda pioneer.

For those of you that have bumper pulls or have had them in the past are there certain ones I should steer clear of or pay more attention to? 
Realistically I?m looking to stay in the $15,000 range if possible.

Oh I forgot to add my tow vehicle is a 2015 Ram 2500 4x4 CC with the 6.7L Cummins motor.

Thanks for any guidance and advice.

 

[IBTripping]

Welcome to the forum. There are a lot of towing threads on the forum on safely matching a tow vehicle (TV) to a travel trailer (TT). The dry weight (UVW - unloaded vehicle weight) is useless in making that determination. What you need to know is the gross weight of the TT or GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating). To get this number, add the UVW and the cargo weight (CCC - cargo carrying capacity). For instance, as an example a toy hauler has a dry weight of 6,000 lbs and it's cargo carrying capacity is 2,455 lbs. So the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the TT is 8,455 lbs (6,000 plus 2,455).

On the driver's door of your Ram 2500 is a white sticker with a yellow border. That has the amount of gross payload (cargo) your specific truck can carry. It will also give you the gross weight your individual truck can tow. As an example, let's say the sticker says the truck can tow 12,000 lbs and the maximum cargo the truck can carry is 2,355 lbs.

In this example, because of a TT's high front there is greater wind resistance than a cargo, boat, flatbed or other type trailer. In addition, the large flat side of a TT acts like a sail and may be pushed around by passing semis and crosswinds. So, the standard for TTs is to not tow a TT weighing over 80% of the maximum towing capacity. So, 80% of the truck's 12,000 lb max tow capacity is 9,600 lbs. The toy hauler example has a gross weight of 8,455 lbs. So it is under the 80% (9,600 lb) rule of thumb.

However, we next need to see if the trailer maxes out the payload/cargo capacity of our example truck which, again, is 2,355 lbs. The TT tongue weight must be a minimum of 10% of the gross TT weight. So, the 8,455 lb trailer will have a tongue weight of 846 lbs. The weight distribution/sway control hitch will be about 85 lbs. for a total 931 lbs of cargo weight on the truck. Again, our sample truck has a max payload of 2,355 which is reduce by 931 lbs tongue and weight distribution hitch leaving 1,424 lbs for the passengers, tool boxes, generator, camping gear, and other stuff carried in the truck.

Since toy haulers tend to be heavy, it's easy to get too much trailer for your tow vehicle. So, get the max towing capacity and payload or cargo capacity of your specific truck from the driver's door sticker so you know how heavy a trailer your specific truck can safely tow. The math is simple, but may seem overwhelming on the first read.

If you want, you can post the max towing and payload capacities from the door sticker and one of us will gladly do the math for you.

I hope this helps.

 

[Warboar]

Thanks for the Information.

According to the RAM towing chart my truck is rated to tow some 17,180lbs. The max payload is 2,360lbs.  The GVWR for the vehicle is 10,000lbs and the vehicle is said to weigh 7,640lbs.  The GCWR is 25,300lbs.

So far none of the Toy Haulers I have looked at will exceed any of those numbers.  The heaviest one i've looked at so far had a GVWR of 13,000lbs+/-.  The dry weight was 7,950 and the tongue weight is 1,300. so I would have a working payload of 5,050+/-.  I don't believe I currently have enough weight in toys and gear to exceed their weight limit but I know how weight creep happens. 

Pretty sure i'm well within the tolerances of what my truck is capable of and I do intend to stay within the limits. 

 

[Alfa38User]

The towing charts are not always accurate. There is no doubt that Ram makes a truck capable of pulling those weights but... one of them may not be yours. Many of the published trailer weights are for an empty trailer, a rare bird indeed!!!

If you are talking 5th wheel trailers, 20-25% of the trailer GVWR should be used in any calculations and the result compared to the sticker on YOUR truck for payload/cargo. In your 13000 lb example that would be a 2600-3250 lb load and excludes any other cargo except the driver and full gas. Other cargo has to include a heavy hitch (200 lbs)

For a pull behind variety trailer, 10-12% of the trailer GVWR. is the load number to consider to which a sway control hitch etc have to be added.

For 1500 series trucks, and often a 2500 series truck, the load considerations are easily exceeded when considering 5th wheel trailers. Can the trailer be pulled? Yes. Can it be stopped?, Maybe. Can it be controlled under adverse conditions? Probably not.....  Towing a cargo trailer with a ton of bricks on board is considerably different to towing a 12ft high sail of an RV trailer.

 

[Lou Schneider]

Welcome to the RV Forum, Warboar!  What part of Nevada are you in?

Towable toy haulers are more rare than 5th wheel designs because of the need to maintain proper balance when you start loading toys into that rear garage.  The trailer axles act as the fulcrum on a balance beam, if you add weight behind the axles it removes weight from the hitch.  As a result toy haulers start out with a heavy tongue or pin weight.

5th wheel hitches are designed to carry more weight than a bumper pull hitch so they allow a greater range of allowable hitch weights.  1,300 lbs of tongue weight is above the rating of many equalizing hitches and receivers, so you will have to be careful which ones you select.  And be careful when you load the trailer so you don't add too much additional weight to the hitch.

 

[Warboar]

Thank you for your input. 

I am aware that many of the manufacturers inflate their numbers as a marketing ploy and this is why i'm not looking at trailers that are close to the tow capacity. 

So far I've towed my father's trailer from Phoenix back to Indy for him when his truck was totaled by a drunk.  His tow rig was a 2008-2009 2500 Avalanche with the 6.0L.  His Hauler was a 33' bumper pull and had a garage.  I don't know what it weighed with all his belongings and his golf cart but I imagine it was in the realm of what i'm looking at.  We drove in the spring so the weather was pretty windy the entire trip.  My truck did just fine towing his trailer even in bad cross winds.  Didn't have any trouble stopping when needed to slow down quickly.  The trailer brakes worked well. 
Two things I think I need would be an aux. fuel tank to extend my range and maybe airbags.  They aren't necessary but my friend has them on his 2500 and I like how it rides when towing his car hauler. 

 

[Warboar]

Lou i'm from Lost Wages, NV aka Las Vegas

 

[Lou Schneider]

We're almost neighbors.  My home base is over the hump in Pahrump, but I'm on the road more than I'm there.