Please help! Towing a travel trailer questions

[kjetjl]

I have asked questions here before about Fort Wilderness and camping so I would like to again rely on the generosity of fellow DISsers.

I am not a camper but my husband camped with a pop up with his family when he was growing up. We used it once but it is too small for our family. Because it was smaller, we easily towed it.

Purchasing a travel trailer is within our reach in the next year or so.

We have a 2004 2500 Chevy passenger van 5.3 L V8. We have 6 kids.

We are a little confused at how much trailer weight we could actually tow?

Is there a website that fully explains, GVWR, dry weight of trailer, etc. so we feel secure we are looking at the right size trailers?

Also, we live in Michigan and are just trying to get a rough idea how much insurance would cost. We also are looking into how much it would cost to store.

Thank you so much for anyone who can lead us in the right direction in our research!!

 

[BRDof3]

RV.net has a lot of info, but be ready for a bunch of technical info. Your owner's manual should have your vehicle's tow rating, gross combined vehicle weight rating, and tongue weight ratings. When you are shopping for a TT, you want to use the TT's gross vehicle weight rating, NOT the dry/shipped weight. You won't be towing it empty, so using that rating is misleading. Your 5.3 engine is likely to have a 7-8k pound tow rating, so your TT's gross weight needs to be well below that.

You're better off dealing with the varying personalities on RV.net than listening to the camper salesman. Their job is to sell the camper, not provide you with accurate vehicle specs (if they even know what they mean.)

 

[AuburnJen92]

where is bigdisneydaddy here?

oooooh scott? where are you???

 

[LONE-STAR]

My parents have a 99 GMC 2500 van and tow a 30' TT between 4500 & 5000 pounds with no problem. They have the 5.7 motor in theres. Going 65 mph they get about 9 mpg.

 

[Brer Bear]

GVW: Gross Vehicle Weight - the actual weight of a vehicle.

GVWR: Gross Vehicle Weight Rating: The maximum allowed GVW for a vehicle.

GCW: Gross Combined Weight: The total weight of everything - tow vehicle, trailer, etc.

GCWR: The maximum allowed GCW.

GAW (front or rear): The Gross Axle Weight - the amount of weight on that particular axle.

GAWR (front or rear): The Gross Axle Weight Rating: The maximum allowed GAW.

UVW: Unloaded Vehicle Weight, also know as "Dry Weight". This is the weight of a trailer with no liquids or options. The GVW of the trailer will usually be 500-1500 pounds more than this number.

Tow Rating: The rated towing capacity of a tow vehicle - generally based upon curb weight plus one 150-lb driver. This number is NOT designed as an indicator of what you can tow under normal conditions, but it is useful for comparisons.

Above was quoted from Westronics, a moderator on RV.net. As BRDof3 pointed out, that is an excellent resource. Just a word of warning, there are some widely differing opinions..some say you can tow the full weight rating, some say you must tow 10% less to be safe, but ALL agree to not believe the RV salesmen! They are interested in making a sale..period.

According to http://http://www.trailerlife.com/output.cfm?id=42175 you can tow in the neighborhood of 6500 lbs with the proper equipment. Keep in mind that this is with your van "empty" except for the driver. Even if you allow 1000lb for your brood, there are a bunch of campers in the 5k range that should fit your needs.

Whatever you get, get out there and camp!

 

[kjetjl]

Thank you so much for the information!!

I am big on researching as much as I can before even dealing with a salesman of any kind. So I thank the posters who have confirmed my opinion of not trusting them.

If anyone wants to share more information, keep it coming.


p.s. I made a mistake, our van is a 6.0 L V8 not 5.3.

 

[Brer Bear]

If you have a 6.0, depending on the length and equipment you can probably go from 7500lb and up! Bottom line, you are in MUCH better shape than most folks when starting out camping as far as tow vehicle.

 

[Tnbob]

Don't forget, the salesman wants to sell you something, do your own research and don't skimp on the safety aspects.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

the owners manual for your van should have a section on towing and explain the ratings as well as what your van is capable of. Others have already posted the relevant terms and their meaning so I wont repeat that. I would assume that the van already has at least a class 3 hitch on it ? you will need to determine if it wired for a 7 way trailer plug including a 12v+ lead to charge the battery on the trailer. IIRC a 2500 series Chevy van would already have the extra capacity coolers that you would need.

One of the biggest things to remember is that the weights on the van and the trailer will be shown as empty, whatever capacity you have will have to include people, fuel and ALL supplies, trust me it adds up quick.

I used to pull a 27 ft travel trailer that weighed 5000# dry as purchased, by the time we got all our junk in it and filled the fridge it weighed 6400# in its trip ready form all stocked up and ready for vacation. That did not include ANY water in the supply tank or waste in the gray or black tanks.

Do yourself a favor and buy a good hitch setup, at the minimum you will need a Reese dual cam or Equalizer style weight distributing hitch, dont skimp on this if you are buying any trailer over 23-25 ft, it will be money well spent and will keep you safer than a friction type sway setup. Many of the dealers try to make big $$$ on selling you the hitch assy with the trailer by saying that they will "set it up". Any competent shop can do a setup easy and its not rocket science, shop around first and see what others charge that way you will have an idea of the going rate for the one you like and you will be better equipped to get a good price.

I pay around $400 a year for insurance for the trailer, its added on my vehicle policy. I am in the SE MI, mid MI area.

I think that will get you started......

 

[minkydog]

I will second the suggestion to check out RV.net. I've been a part of that board for the last 5 years and it is a wealth of RVing information. Yes, you might have a few knuckleheads who want to flaunt their superiority with confusing terminology--their version of "mine is bigger than yours." Just go to the site and cruise. Then, when you decide to ask your questions just be upfront--"I'm new and I don't understand all the terms, but this is my rig(what you told us) and these are the things we absolutely must have. What would you suggest?" Most of the people on RV.net are very nice and will bend over backward to help you.

Incidentally, we started out with a tent, then a pop-up. We're on our second trailer and I don't know how we could have done it without our buddies at RV.net.

 

[kjetjl]

the owners manual for your van should have a section on towing and explain the ratings as well as what your van is capable of. Others have already posted the relevant terms and their meaning so I wont repeat that. I would assume that the van already has at least a class 3 hitch on it ? you will need to determine if it wired for a 7 way trailer plug including a 12v+ lead to charge the battery on the trailer. IIRC a 2500 series Chevy van would already have the extra capacity coolers that you would need.

One of the biggest things to remember is that the weights on the van and the trailer will be shown as empty, whatever capacity you have will have to include people, fuel and ALL supplies, trust me it adds up quick.

I used to pull a 27 ft travel trailer that weighed 5000# dry as purchased, by the time we got all our junk in it and filled the fridge it weighed 6400# in its trip ready form all stocked up and ready for vacation. That did not include ANY water in the supply tank or waste in the gray or black tanks.

Do yourself a favor and buy a good hitch setup, at the minimum you will need a Reese dual cam or Equalizer style weight distributing hitch, dont skimp on this if you are buying any trailer over 23-25 ft, it will be money well spent and will keep you safer than a friction type sway setup. Many of the dealers try to make big $$$ on selling you the hitch assy with the trailer by saying that they will "set it up". Any competent shop can do a setup easy and its not rocket science, shop around first and see what others charge that way you will have an idea of the going rate for the one you like and you will be better equipped to get a good price.

I pay around $400 a year for insurance for the trailer, its added on my vehicle policy. I am in the SE MI, mid MI area.

I think that will get you started......

Thank you bigdisneydaddy....you have given us some info that we had not even thought about. We have a class three hitch, but no idea about a 7 way plug or lead to charge battery.

And thanks to everyone who has given info/suggestions. We have a lot of reading/research ahead of us but I think we have a start in the right direction.

 

[69RoadRunner]

I would expect that the van would have a 7 way plug in the back already, but maybe it was an option.

A Class III hitch means, at most, you can tow 5000 pounds. Now the other limitations mentioned above could limit that even further.

 

[Brer Bear]

Amen to what BigDisneyDaddy said about a good hitch setup! I had a plain sway bar setup on my first 27 foot camper and was NOT happy with it's performance. This is what most dealers will try to sell you with your camper.

I have an Equal-i-zer and LOVE IT! There are lots of other good setups out there like the Reese dual cam. Just ask lots of questions and try to find a dealer with a knowledgable service department. If you mention one of these setups and they look at you funny....you are probably in the wrong place...

I don't know how much pop-ups will sway, but a 25-30' camper with a poor hitch setup can be a white knuckle experience each time a semi passes!

Brake controllers...don't scrimp on those either. I have a Prodigy and am well pleased with it.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

I would expect that the van would have a 7 way plug in the back already, but maybe it was an option.

A Class III hitch means, at most, you can tow 5000 pounds. Now the other limitations mentioned above could limit that even further.

That weight limit should be 5000# for a non weight distributing and 10,000# for weight distributing, they will need to check it for sure but it should be in that ballpark.

 

[kjetjl]

That weight limit should be 5000# for a non weight distributing and 10,000# for weight distributing, they will need to check it for sure but it should be in that ballpark.

Ok, this is probably a stupid question....but I got out all our paperwork for the van and was reading through it all and the hitch does have the non weight distributing and the weight distributing #. I have no idea what that means?

Also, I am pretty sure we have the 7 way plug....still trying to figure out about the 12v + lead for charging.

 

[kjetjl]

We are in SE MI as well. I am not sure if you can name dealerships but are there any we should steer clear of?

 

[69RoadRunner]

Ok, this is probably a stupid question....but I got out all our paperwork for the van and was reading through it all and the hitch does have the non weight distributing and the weight distributing #. I have no idea what that means?

Also, I am pretty sure we have the 7 way plug....still trying to figure out about the 12v + lead for charging.

You probably don't have an extra 12v lead back there. Somewhere, my motorhome has 2 extra 12v leads back by the 7 way plug.

You can run an extra line if you want from the tow vehicle's battery or fuse box.

 

[LarryJ]

I have asked questions here before about Fort Wilderness and camping so I would like to again rely on the generosity of fellow DISsers.

I am not a camper but my husband camped with a pop up with his family when he was growing up. We used it once but it is too small for our family. Because it was smaller, we easily towed it.

Purchasing a travel trailer is within our reach in the next year or so.

We have a 2004 2500 Chevy passenger van 5.3 L V8. We have 6 kids.

We are a little confused at how much trailer weight we could actually tow?

Is there a website that fully explains, GVWR, dry weight of trailer, etc. so we feel secure we are looking at the right size trailers?

Also, we live in Michigan and are just trying to get a rough idea how much insurance would cost. We also are looking into how much it would cost to store.

Thank you so much for anyone who can lead us in the right direction in our research!!

Before you get bogged down over on RV.NET you should be prepared to answer the following questions and here would be a good chance to run them by us.

1. I can't find a tow rating for a 2500 passenger van with a 5.3 from HERE. Is this a conversion van or a regular GM produced passenger Van?

2. According to that link the 2500 cargo van with the 5.3 V-8 has a tow rating of 6,300 for the RWD and 6,400 for the AWD. Those numbers are for a 3.73 rear axle ratio and with auto transmission. Is yours a RWD or AWD and what is the axle ratio? I might be mistaken, but IIRC these tow ratings are for a stripped down van with only a 150lb driver and like 7 gal of fuel. Any thing in the Van other than that will reduce that tow rating. This can be a major draw back in a lot of the passenger type vans since you can put a lot of people, cargo and weight in a Van.

3. What are the numbers off the sticker on the driver's side door jam such as tire size, type inflation pressures, GVWR, FAWR, RAWR etc? Before you go much further you need to load everyone in the Van packed like you normally would with a full tank of fuel and get to a set of scales and weight the Van getting both the Rear axle wt and Front axle wt. This information is critical since when you hook up a trailer there is a lot of wt. put on both the rear and front axles of you Van and you don't want to exceed those door jam numbers. Also if you have replaced the tires specifically what brand, type, size and what are the max load and pressure numbers on the tire itself?

4. You mentioned your receiver has two sets of numbers with one being for weight distribution. What are those numbers.

5. Measure the size of you receiver opening and tell us what that is and if you have a 7 pin round connector on you Van?

I might have a few more questions, but these 5 will get you started.

Larry

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Ok, this is probably a stupid question....but I got out all our paperwork for the van and was reading through it all and the hitch does have the non weight distributing and the weight distributing #. I have no idea what that means?

Also, I am pretty sure we have the 7 way plug....still trying to figure out about the 12v + lead for charging.

If the van has the 7 way plug then it should have the provisions for that charging line already there, what you will need is the diagram that shows which prong (often times its printed on the receptacle cover, it will say "12v+" or something like that) it is and use a simple cicuit tester to check it for power. If it doesnt have power it may simply not be connected in the underhood electrical center, on a lot of GM trucks its simply a matter of connecting a ring terminal and placing a fuse, unfortunately I am not sure on the van.

The hitch will have a couple sets of numbers,

Weight carrying capacity:
typically....... 500 lb tongue weight, 5000 lb total weight. This is the weight max for a trailer WITHOUT a weight distributing hitch assembly. This would be a standard smaller trailer where you just place the coupler over the ball and secure it.

Weight distributing capapcity:
typically 1000 lb tongue weight, 10,000 lb total weight limit WITH a weight distributing hitch assembly. This would be the hitch assembly with some type of weight transfer bars as well as the above items.

The weight distr. assembly will have more capacity because it transfers weight into the chassis rather than all of the weight being bourne on the hitch assy. If you look up weight distr hitches on line you will see that there are weight bars along with the regular items.

Let me know if that clears things up any ?


I think you also corrected us and said the van had the 6.0 liter instead of the 5.3 ? just making sure.

 

[kjetjl]

Before you get bogged down over on RV.NET you should be prepared to answer the following questions and here would be a good chance to run them by us.

1. I can't find a tow rating for a 2500 passenger van with a 5.3 from HERE. Is this a conversion van or a regular GM produced passenger Van?


After initially posting, we looked through the manual, through paperwork and on all stickers on the van. We have 6.0 not a 5.3. I think (it is not in front of me) the manual says states between 7500-7900 depending on long or short wheelbase. We are not sure whether it is short or long but figured we would go with the lower number. It is a regular 12 passenger van.


2. According to that link the 2500 cargo van with the 5.3 V-8 has a tow rating of 6,300 for the RWD and 6,400 for the AWD. Those numbers are for a 3.73 rear axle ratio and with auto transmission. Is yours a RWD or AWD and what is the axle ratio? I might be mistaken, but IIRC these tow ratings are for a stripped down van with only a 150lb driver and like 7 gal of fuel. Any thing in the Van other than that will reduce that tow rating. This can be a major draw back in a lot of the passenger type vans since you can put a lot of people, cargo and weight in a Van.


Yes it is 3.73 rear axle ratio with auto transmisstion. It is RWD. We have 6 kids (age 3-14)



3. What are the numbers off the sticker on the driver's side door jam such as tire size, type inflation pressures, GVWR, FAWR, RAWR etc? Before you go much further you need to load everyone in the Van packed like you normally would with a full tank of fuel and get to a set of scales and weight the Van getting both the Rear axle wt and Front axle wt. This information is critical since when you hook up a trailer there is a lot of wt. put on both the rear and front axles of you Van and you don't want to exceed those door jam numbers. Also if you have replaced the tires specifically what brand, type, size and what are the max load and pressure numbers on the tire itself?

Where might we find a place to weigh the van? Haven't replaced the tires yet but will need to soon. Good thing to consider when we replace them.

4. You mentioned your receiver has two sets of numbers with one being for weight distribution. What are those numbers.


Again not in front of me, but I think it was 5000 lbs. or weight distributed(?) 7500 lbs.

5. Measure the size of you receiver opening and tell us what that is and if you have a 7 pin round connector on you Van?


Is this the 7 way plug (?) that would be on the back of the van next to the hitch.

I might have a few more questions, but these 5 will get you started.



Larry

I tried to answer the questions in your quote, never done that before so not sure if it will be successful.
Any suggestions would be appreciated.