Towing with a four cylinder

Ours has a 11' long box with queen size bed/dinette & couch that folds out into a single bed. It's a basic camper and we call it our Aluminum tent with heating and cooling.

 

Bandit's Roost NC Campground & Mount Pisgah (on the BRP) Campground are our favorite campgrounds, so far. Our next camping trip will be to Hunting Island SC State Park next month. This will be our first trip there.

 

Have not had it weighed, but the manufacturer says the CL11RD weighs 1400lbs dry. We carry about 200lbs of stuff in the camper and another 400lbs of coolers, Kayaks, fire wood, gear & food in the back of the pickup. I estimate the Camper @ 1600lbs plus 400lbs in the back of the pickup for a total of 2000lbs load.

 

Great! Looks like a great spot. Might try to squeeze in a fall trip maybe

 

After our trip to SC, may try to get to Bandit's Roost again this year, too.

We like sites 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, & 32.

 

Thanks for the tips. My TT is a 19 foot hybrid, so should fit in most spots.

 

We stayed on #27 site on the water earlier this week and it's large enough for a 50' rig. You should not have any problems finding a site with plenty of room.

 

Been testing fuel economy towing the CampLite camper on interstates in 4th gear @ 2500RPM in central and eastern SC with and without Kayaks mounted on Thule Racks. Hauling estimated 1900lbs with camper/camping gear/Leer Shell, and 2000lbs with Kayaks/Thule Racks added to the load.

Previous test 550 mile round trip to Hunting Island SC with mileage checked on interstates averaging 55MPH "without" Kayaks. Mileage was 17MPG.

Just got back from a 200 mile round trip to Lake Wateree SC "with" Kayaks getting 18MPG averaging 55MPH on interstates.

Kayaks must reduce wind resistance and Taco feels like it has more power on the hills @ 55MPH. Testing results from ScanGaugeE. Taco is stock except for mods in signature.

 

Learned a couple things last week. Wanted to take bicycles with kayaks camping. With a 2"X4" aluminum rear bumper on the camper, did not want to hang two bikes & rack on the camper bumper and did not want to put the bikes on top of the pickup shell increasing wind resistance. Found an extended hitch I could mount a Swagman XP bike rack on between the camper & pickup. It worked out nicely.

Before I had been hauling the camper with a 3/4" rise hitch. This bike rack set up worked with a 2" drop hitch, letting the front of the camper ride a little lower. Found I could use 5th gear on level & slight uphill grades @ 60MPH average @ 16MPG. Before when using the 3/4" lift hitch, I could not tow the camper up any grade, without going to 4th gear on interstates. All I can figure by lowering the front of the camper slightly, gives "less" wind resistance.

Will test fuel economy in this configuration at lower speeds in 4th gear on back roads in search of better MPG. Best fuel prices found in SC last week were $3.49 per gallon.

 

Towing an Starcraft AR-one 18fb 21.6 footer with a 2001 2.7 liter. Dry weight of the camper is 3080 lbs.

Using weight distribution hitch, sway bar, and transmission cooler.

The drive home it handled extremely well even on the steeper hills it pulled them just fine.

 

Thanks for sharing the info.

We're thinking about a trip to Zion & Bryce, to name a few parks, and wondering about how well the four cylinder would handle towing our camper in the high elevations & mountains out west. Our camper with everything in the back of the pickup including Kayaks & bicycles total about 2000lbs of load.

Appreciate hearing from other folks towing in the mountains with a four cylinder.

 

My boat is guesstimated to weigh about 2100 pounds. I tow in 3rd gear (4spd auto) and limit myself to 65 mph. The Taco does surprisingly well.

 

Nice looking rig! Four cylinder Tacos make great tow vehicles.

Saw the road sign in the last two photos & thought the photos were taken in NC until realizing you are from Texas. Guess Dale has a few roads named after him in other states, too.

 

Thanks, That's at Texas Motor Speedway just north of Fort Worth. That's where I needed to turn to go home, so I thought I'd take a couple of quick pics.

I just had a transmission cooler put on it today, and bought a different receiver that will get the nose of the trailer a little higher.

 

Does everyone use a transmission cooler? I'm looking to get a small pop up or slide in camper, maybe like 1000- 1100 lbs. Should I get a trans cooler even though that's well under the load range for the 2.7 (3500 lb)?

 

If you have an automatic transmission, good idea to install a transmission cooler. I have a 5 speed manual transmission, so do not have a transmission cooler.