Help with first TT selection

[Thetruck454]

Long winded first post, but here we go:

I’m looking for a travel trailer to tow with my Durango SRT. I know ideally you pick the trailer first, then the tow vehicle, but I unfortunately put the cart before the horse (although technically I have the horse and now am looking for the cart).

I have experience towing enclosed cargo trailers and open trailers with my previous trucks so towing isn’t new to me. With the Durango SRT I’ve only towed a 7x18 enclosed cargo trailer weighing 4000# and it laughed at it. With a 475hp 392 hemi, it has more than enough power. It was more fun than it should be taking off from a stop light cracking of 5k+ rpm upshifts and out accelerating cars next to you all while towing a trailer. The back end is so planted you don’t really feel the effects of the cross winds and there is zero pogoing effect over bumps (tow mode stiffens the rear adjustable Bilstien stocks to help control the trailer while leaving the fronts on soft). As far as braking the Durango has a factory brake controller and the trailer had electric brakes, but the Durango has 6 piston Brembo’s up front and 4 piston Brembo’s on back so it has significant stopping power. I also towed the same cargo trailer with a significant quantity of cargo (both middle seat and back seat down) and aside from squatting the back end enough to make me concerned, it displayed the same confident control as towing the trailer without the extra cargo. This tells me the Durango’s towing weakness is not the trailer weight, but is the tongue weight so I’ll definitely need a WDH with a TT.

The Durango has a towing capacity of 8700# with a maximum tongue weight of 870#. GVW is 7100#, vehicle weight is 5510#, and payload is listed as 1590#.

When looking at travel trailers I’m finding plenty of ones that fit my needs while keeping the GVW (not the underestimated dry weight) under the 8700#. What does have me nervous is a lot of them list a significant (for the Durango) tongue weight. When looking at dry hitch weights, I’m figuring in 2 full propane tanks @ 35# a piece, a couple batteries weighing 50#, a WDH, plus a honey pot and whatever cargo I’d put in the under bed storage so that means I’m going to add an easy 250# to the tongue. With that being said I’m ruling out travel trailers that list a dry hitch weight of over 600# to be safe. One thing I have found is some 5000# TT’s have a dry hitch weight of well over 600# yet some 6000# TT’s have a dry hitch weight of 550# or less.

In looking to keep the tongue weight low I’m looking at TT’s that have the bathroom and kitchen over or behind the trailer axles which should mean at least the gray and black tank should also be over or behind the trailer axles. The Heartland trailer’s I’ve found that fit my needs all while appearing to be within the Durango’s towing limits are the North Trail 22FBS (Dry weight of 5497#, dry hitch 395#, GVW 6900#), the North Trail 27RBDS (Dry weight of 6354#, dry hitch 572#, GVW 7400#), and the North Trail 28RKDS (Dry weight of 6780#, dry hitch 542#, GVW 8600#). I really like the Mallard M260 (Dry weight of 5866#, dry hitch 674#, GVW 6900#), but the dry hitch weight has me nervous so I ruled it out.



I guess my questions to the forum are:



Is the ratio of trailer weigh to hitch weight something that significantly changes when you load it up?

Should I be worried about 6000# plus dry trailer that lists a sub 600# dry hitch weight?

Can anyone see any flaws or wrong assumptions in my approach or have any other suggestions?



Thanks!

 

[Silverado23]

For starters ignore dry weight and work with the gross trailer weight. Yes it is the full weight. Second assume 15% of trailer weight will be tongue weight.
You will also need to factor any passengers and cargo in tow vehicle at some point also.

Why?
1.Dry weights dont include options cargo water etc .
2. Hitch weight can vary based drastically on loading. You'll also want at least 10% of the loaded trailer weigh on the hitch.


You mentioned your max tongue weight of 870#.
So 5800# would be max gross trailer weight and still allow a 15% or 870 to be at your tow vehicle max.

Knowing you want to add so much extra weight to the tongue you can select a lighter trailer and have more margin to stay under your numbers.

You can also take the trailer to a truck scale and find how much weight you have on axles and tongue.

Looking at the trailers you've chosen so far the only one to consider may be the north trail 22fbs but even with that your hitch weight may be much more than you expect.

 

[JohnD]

Forget that max tow weight number...it really means nothing.

Your tow vehicle will run out of payload weight rating long before you ever get close to that max tow weight rating.

This is where most new RV buyers make their biggest mistake.

And, don't forget that all of the family members will take away from that payload number.

And like you mentioned, you will need a WDH setup with any TT.