Ultra Lite Campers

[believe]

I would like input from anyone that pulls a camper with their van. We have a Pontiac Montana. I think the towing capacity is 3500. We do not want a pop up. I am looking at ultra lites and other pull behinds (icamp, r-pod, scamp). Please let me know if you have any experience with specific brands and how well your vehicle has handled pulling them.

Thanks

 

[clkelley]

I would like input from anyone that pulls a camper with their van. We have a Pontiac Montana. I think the towing capacity is 3500. We do not want a pop up. I am looking at ultra lites and other pull behinds (icamp, r-pod, scamp). Please let me know if you have any experience with specific brands and how well your vehicle has handled pulling them.

Thanks

I have a T@B and although my tow vehicle is not a van, it is 4.0 V6 Truck with a 5,000 lb limit. Many people that own T@Bs tow them with vehicles with a 3500 lb limit. I LOVE my T@B!!!

I recently saw an R-Pod at an RV show. I liked the way it looked

 

[Cindy F]

What about a hybrid? They're light and you don't have to pop out the ends if you don't want to.

 

[keylime359]

We have a Coachman Mseries and we pull it with a Honda Pilot
http://coachmenrv.com/products/model/?ProductID=2&SeriesID=48&Product=Travel T
we have the unit with the slide and love it!

 

[Cindy F]

We have a Coachman Mseries and we pull it with a Honda Pilot
http://coachmenrv.com/products/model/?ProductID=2&SeriesID=48&Product=Travel T
we have the unit with the slide and love it!

OOOH! I love that!

 

[2goofycampers]

If the camper, it's contents, the hitch, the contents of your Montana including people don't weigh more than 2750 pounds I'd say

 

[ChristusG]

I've researched this over and over again. We have a Nissan Quest mini van that also has a 3500 pound weight limit. I've looked at all the ultra lites. We still cannot pull any of them. Sure, we could pull them unloaded, but we gotta bring stuff with us LOL! I guess we could probably pull a T@b, but I havent looked into those because they are too small for two adults and two kids. So we're going the route of the pop up. We're picking it up tomorrow!

 

[SCCamper]

Another option for a travel trailer for you might be a Trailmanor. Their lightest model 2619 has a dry weight of 2673 lbs. That would give you about 827 lbs to play with before exceeding your towing capacity. I have owned a Trailmanor and they are a very unique travel trailer. They are built very well and are very light for their size. We towed ours initially with a GMC Jimmy. Only thing is, they are rather expensive. They have their own msg board at trailmanorowners.com. The reason I sold mine was because I just wanted a bigger shower. If you have any questions about them, I'd be more than happy to answer. Hope this helps.

 

[DaveInTN]

We towed a 1900 lb (dry weight) pop up with our old 1999 Pontiac Montana. So, even with our stuff and the kids I don't think we exceeded the 3500 lbs limit. However, the handling and power were dramatically affected, and in just a short time we began to damage the transmission. It was constantly "searching" for gears. We also blew the intake manifold gasket, but I've learned that is not uncommon in that GM engine, and in fact there was a class action lawsuit related to it.

I tell you this just to show my experience. It's possible your Montana has a different engine and/or transmission and you would have a great towing experience, but don't push the towing capacities of any vehicle. Make sure you consider the weight of all your gear and your family in calculating what your vehicle can safely handle.

 

[Cindy F]

HI-LO has come out with a new camper called the Mojo, it is so adorable http://www.hilomojo.com/trailer_pictures.html

 

[believe]

We went out looking yesterday. We found a new 2008 TrailSport Hybrid. According to our family size we could tow this and still be under or at the towing capacity. We do plan on having the transmission cooler added as well as something to do with the oil, just can't remember what is it called off the top of my head.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

You never want to pull anything maxed out to the limit for which your vehicle is rated. We RUINED a vehicle rear-end doing this,(we never towed over, just to the allowed max).

And DaveIn Tn is absolutely right,"the handling and power were dramatically affected" when you max out your allowed weight.

REMEMBER,,when a vehicle is rated,,they are giving you the highest rating that they can possibly squeeze out of the vehicle, under the very best of driving conditions.
They will tell you the vehicle CAN pull X amount of weight,,(but they won't say, you REALLy shoudn't pull above X amount of weight)


just my opinion

 

[ChristusG]

I have a question....I hope we didnt just make a mistake. We JUST bought a pop up yesterday. We have a Nissan Quest mini van with a GVWR of 3500 pounds. The unloaded vehicle weight is 2175. The gross towing weight is 3500 pounds. So that means we have 1325 pounds to work with. But according to what you guys are saying, we really dont have that much to work with. Is that right? Because in that 1325 we have to include 4 people (2 adults and 2 kids) along with all of our luggage, gear, food, etc. Now I'm getting worried.

 

[Cindy F]

I hate that you have to play this weight limit game, it is SOOO frustrating!

 

[2goofycampers]

Your camper, the contents, and the complete contents of your vehicle should not exceed 75/80 percent of your towing capacity.

Anything above this puts stress on the vehicle and poses a safety risk.

How do you know if a salesman is lying? If his mouth is moving.

 

[BigDaddyRog]

Awww....c'MON...thats not FAIR!!!! Salesmen ONLY lie when there is oxygen present in the air.

 

[bigdisneydaddy]

Historically front wheel drive vehicles are not strong tow vehicles. This coupled with the fact that most modern cars are built for economy means that the engine wont have much extra capacity. a 4 cyl or small V6 will lack the torque needed to tow without straining. Even with a tow package, the trans cooler will be inadequate, if you plan to tow, take the vehicle to a trans shop (or other reputable facility) and have them add an external cooler. This will be money well spent since the cost of a transaxle rebuild is significant and heat is what will kill this trans. If you are a do it yourselfer it is probably less than a 2 hr job, could be less depending on how many parts need to come off in order to access the grille area.

The manufacturers have some very good towing info in their owners manuals, you should read up on yours and see what the numbers really mean.

Typically a 3500lb towing rating will mean the weight of the trailer and all things in the trailer.

A gross vehicle weight will mean the weight of all the occupants, fuel and cargo in the vehicle as well as the amount of weight that the trailer exerts on the hitch of the tow vehicle (commonly called "tongue weight")

A gross combined weight rating will mean the weight of the tow vehicle, the trailer and all of the cargo in both.

If you did tow with the van I would suggest not allowing it to "search" for gears when on the highway. This will stress the trans quickly. Your best bet is to drive in 3rd, it will keep the engine in the power a little more and it will prevent the trans from searching.

 

[BradyBz12]

We tow our 21' Kodiak hybrid with our 8 cylinder Explorer. DH added a transmission cooler and much of the way down from NH (very hilly until we get down through VA) we keep the overdrive off - gas mileage isn't as good, but it's better for the trannie.

We also try and keep the weight down as much as possible, which means tanks are empty and we just bring a jug of water for whatever we need along the way. We also don't do our grocery shopping until we get close to FW - you'd be amazed how much a couple of weeks' worth of groceries weighs!

We also pack some things in the Explorer itself, especially the heavy things like our dogs' crates. DH believes this balances out the weight better than towing everything in the camper which helps keep down the sway and excess tongue weight. (I'm probably not explaining that well)

He also thinks says it seems to require less HP to distribute some weight into the vehicle than overloading the camper - just his perception (no evidence to back it up), but he's a car guy and has been towing stuff for a long time.

 

[DaveInTN]

Would adding a tranmission cooler and making sure to stay 1000 pounds under the tow limit make sure that doesn't happen? If not, what about staying 1500 pounds under and adding a trani cooler?

I'm sure these things would have at least helped my situation. I was a complete novice then, and stupidly believed the salesman that sold us the PUP when he said "all you need is a hitch!". After we pretty much destroyed the Montana, we then towed the same pup with a 2003 Odyssey that had the Honda towing package. Had zero issues there.

To the OP and ChristusG: Lots of folks tow pups with minivans without issue. Just be knowledgable of your actual weights (I recommend weighing with cargo and people aboard to see where you stand rather than guessing), follow the manufacturer's recommendations regarding towing equipment and capacities, and take it easy.

 

[KristinU]

HI-LO has come out with a new camper called the Mojo, it is so adorable http://www.hilomojo.com/trailer_pictures.html

Wow, is that wicked cute or what? Less sleeping space than our Aliner, but definitely cool for a couple! It's like T@B meets traditional teardrop meets Hi-Lo/Trailmanor.