Towing question

[brianlajoie]

I tow my 3010RE with a 2012 F350 SRW. We went over 5 10,000 foot mountain passes in under a week this summer. I would not consider using a F250 to pull the rig.

 

[Bohemian]

Getting the tow capacity is very easy. Getting sufficient payload takes a little more thought.

 

[JohnD]

Nice rig. Dont worry, If I see you towing up Raton, I will give you a little push. LOL. Just kidding, I doubt you will need it with the 4:10s

With the 4.10 rear end, I had no problem pulling over the big three passes on I-70 going to the 2014 Colorado HOC Fall Rally in Rifle, Colorado a couple of weeks ago.



I was going 45-50 MPH going up those passes without pushing the engine.

I feared that if I still had my old truck (1996 Dodge Ram 1500 4x4) for that trip, it would have probably been it's final voyage ever.

With that truck, the last time I made that trip I had to put the truck in 4-wheel drive going up the passes, and could barely keep 10 MPH on those hills while winding the engine pretty hard.



The new owner bought it to pull his car collection back to the east coast . . .

So far he had made two trips without an issue!

Of course, he doesn't have the Rocky Mountains and the Continental Divide in his way, either.

 

[SilverRhino]

My wife and I are in the process of deciding what unit to purchase. We are very interested in the 3010re. Can this model be towed with a Ford F-250?

To get good reliable, non-biased information.... Go to http://fifthwheelst.com This site will be able to answer all your questions.

 

[Bohemian]

Anecdotes vs science and technology. The meaning of statistics and safety. Probabilities.

Say there is a product where only 1 in 1000 people will ever die using it over 10 years. Ask a random person and 999 out of 1000 times they will say that the product is perfectly safe. Meanwhile a statistician will tell you that 30,000 people a year in the U.S. die from using the product.

Improve the product so only 1 in 1,000,000 people die and the statistician will tell you 30 people a year die from using the product.

We all roll the dice. It's just a matter choosing your bet. The long shot or the favorite.

Will your truck be easy to drive and safe or twitchy and unsafe. That is what towing specs and regulations are about.

 

[JohnD]

Anecdotes vs science and technology. The meaning of statistics and safety. Probabilities.

Say there is a product where only 1 in 1000 people will ever die using it over 10 years. Ask a random person and 999 out of 1000 times they will say that the product is perfectly safe. Meanwhile a statistician will tell you that 30,000 people a year in the U.S. die from using the product.

Improve the product so only 1 in 1,000,000 people die and the statistician will tell you 30 people a year die from using the product.

We all roll the dice. It's just a matter choosing your bet. The long shot or the favorite.

Will your truck be easy to drive and safe or twitchy and unsafe. That is what towing specs and regulations are about.

I think the real issue is not if the truck can PULL the trailer . . . ?

But can the truck STOP the trailer?

That is the real question . . . ???

The RV dealerships will tell us anything to get us to tow our trailers off of their lots . . .

We had a scare this past August with our Dodge Ram 1500 4x4, which barely passed the numbers test on the trailer pull numbers, and we just recently (7-weeks ago) replaced with a Chevy 2500HD 4x4, which makes our trailer easy towing (and easy stopping)!

I loved my old Dodge Ram . . . I never ever wanted to get rid of it . . . but in the end, it just wasn't up to the task to do what we wanted it to do, so it is now gone!

Shed a tear when I sold it and it moved on to a new life with someone else . . . but I don't regret the change what-so-ever for a better and safer truck!

 

[scottyb]

I agree with a previous poster. If you are shopping for a truck to tow any 5th wheel, go with the F350 / 3500. Same footprint, same fuel economy, very little price difference. Better to have the reserve without penalty.

 

[Speedy]

Now that I have become a part-time RV salesman "oh the horror" I witness the reaction on my customers' faces when asked if their vehicle will tow the trailer they are looking at. I ask if I can look at the number plate on the vehicle and start plugging in numbers to Dave's towing app. Most of the time the couple is looking at too much trailer and they are quite dismayed that their new vehicle will only tow a 17' to 24' basic trailer. At that point the vehicle owner says their tow capacity is this and "they'll be fine".

I also witness people like the members of this forum that come "armed" with all their vehicle towing specs and want to look at floorplans of trailers at are within their towing specs. So there are all types out there and I for one will not willingly sell them that is beyond their capacity.

 

[MagnoliaTom]

My wife and I are in the process of deciding what unit to purchase. We are very interested in the 3010re. Can this model be towed with a Ford F-250?

I just purchased a 38 rsrt Elkridge. It is similar in weight as the 3010 re. I towed mine with an 05 f250. It has the 6.0 PSD. it also came with the overload springs. Took the camper to Galveston this weekend which is about a 100 mile trip from our house. No problems pulling, stopping or starting in Houston traffic. Rear end squats about 2" when hitched. Got 11.7 mpg for the trip. I don't know about the newer trucks but my 9 year old truck handles it just fine

 

[JohnD]

Towing question should also be a "Can I stop this thing?" question...

Now that I have become a part-time RV salesman "oh the horror" I witness the reaction on my customers' faces when asked if their vehicle will tow the trailer they are looking at. I ask if I can look at the number plate on the vehicle and start plugging in numbers to Dave's towing app. Most of the time the couple is looking at too much trailer and they are quite dismayed that their new vehicle will only tow a 17' to 24' basic trailer. At that point the vehicle owner says their tow capacity is this and "they'll be fine".

I also witness people like the members of this forum that come "armed" with all their vehicle towing specs and want to look at floor plans of trailers at are within their towing specs. So there are all types out there and I for one will not willingly sell them that is beyond their capacity.

Heartland needs to take that "I can be towed by" link off of their website as it only covers up to 2013 tow vehicles, plus it uses dry weight as the calculator, which I'll bet a months pay that it has misled countless trailer buyers into a trailer that is too big for their truck!

After we brought our Trail Runner home and parked it alongside the house I was looking over the Heartland page about the trailer we purchased, and I clicked on that link and typed in '1996 Dodge', as that was what I had, and it only listed the 1996 Dodge Dakota as being big enough, but not my Dodge Ram 1500, which was clearly the bigger truck!

Hhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm.................

Now, we pulled it for two seasons with the Dodge, but it was just barely enough truck for the trailer.

Now, I have way more truck than I need . . . life is good!

 

['Lil Guy']

Too new at this to give advice but I would feel better with more truck. That's the reason I went with the E289 instead of a full profile rig. I'm right at max payload in my Ram 2500CTD. Probably has to do with me being new at jerking these things down the road. My comfort level grows each time out.