So, I bought my first travel trailer and...... questions...

That looks really nice! Is it a 7 ft wide or an 8 ft?

 

thanks. We are looking forward to our first real camp out in the new rig. Hopefully within 3 to 4 weeks we’ll head up into the Sacramento Mountains to a RV park near Ruidoso with the dogs and stay 2 or 3 nights.

medic2230, It’s 8 feet wide.

 

I’m glad we went with an 8 ft also. Quite a bit of difference in towing the 7 and 8 footers with the wind load in the front. But so worth the extra space and having a slide out. You’re going to love using that thing.

 

I run the Rockwood Mini-lite 2109S. 4200 lbs dry weight, so do have to keep the packing light. Run 57-60MPH and get 9.5 mpg. Right now running the stock Goodyears but looking to upgrade the tires. Just finished a trip to Central Oregon, 8 hours from Sacramento area. Not fast but very comfortable. Running a weight distributing hitch rated for 5000 lbs. When I hook it up, whole setup is level.

 

I wish you the best of luck. Sorting through the umpteen different trailer brands/models/features available is a chore, then finding the one you want for sale is a chore.

 

Nice rig! Same TT as mine. My WD hitch is rated 600/6000 and it handles the trailer nicely.
Congrats on your trip from Sacto to Oregon. Hope you like your trailer as much as we do ours

 

I'm looking for a small, about 16 ft trailer. But I wand a dry bath. Don't like the wet baths. Any recommendations?
Thanks

 

Lance 1475?

 

Roscoe. You can save yourself some weight if you are using developed campgrounds. These will have potable water hook-ups, electric and dumps for grey/black water.

So, you could leave the batteries and water at home, saving you 100 lbs or more. Water and electric will be available at the camp. FWIW, water weighs about 62 lbs for 7 gallons. More precisely.......62.4 lbs per cubic foot of water or 7.48 gallons.

None of this applies if you camp in primitive areas.

We pulled a 10' Coleman SantaFe pop-up with a Chevy ninnivan, then a Chevy TrailBlazer. Had trailer sway 3 times, twice with the ninnivan and once with the TrailBlazer. My a55 harvested seatfoam during those events. Cross winds were interesting and very erratic. Fortunately the pop-up is lower profile than a full sized TT. Cross winds will see the TT like a sail. Be careful, the TT can take control away from you in a heartbeat.

Later, we pulled the SantaFe with a GMC 2500HD, the truck didn't even notice the camper.

Good luck, pull smart.

 

Might be different as I have a second gen but I watch my temps on an ultra gauge and shifting down when descending hills while towing doesn’t heat up the tranny much at all. There is torque converter slip happening but nothing compared to climbing a steep hill under heavy throttle with a big load. That generates tons of heat.

In the second gen when no throttle is being applied the injectors turn off. So in my case the engine braking is due to the engine compressing air and then venting it without any gas being burned or power being generated. The motor actually cools down quite a bit while doing this.

Third gen might be different.

 

Great thread here...plenty of relevant real world towing advice.

We tow a Forest River R-Pod, and weight and stopping distance for safety were big concerns before we pulled the trailer trigger.

Just over a year since we bought our travel trailer, and towing the R-Pod has been a good experience thus far with a dry weight just under 3,000 lbs.

Packing smart, pulling with fresh water tanks empty, and doing our grocery/ice shopping once we get to our campsite has also saved us valuable travel weights.

We carry two humans, two dogs, and the usual bbq/camping gear for two fully adult beveraged adults. I got a Tekonsha P-something brake controller, and our dealer installed a WDH and sway control that really help inspire towing confidence.

Pulling hills even at the lower end of the tow/vehicle capacity ratings had me eyeing a Tundra...but having a smaller truck for trail/off road flexibility was one of my priorities also...so keeping our Tacoma was the solution.

I will be re-gearing my 2019 Tacoma...going the 5.29 route, so I am very curious to see how the TT tows once new gearing is installed and broken in.

Really enjoyed reading all 12 pages of this thread...great info in here.



Our Tacoma/R-Pod set up.

 

We are currently looking at downsizing our older 23footer at 4800lbs. DRY. The truck does not like it at all. Honestly it was miserable driving a trailer that heavy. It's really the wind resistance that gets you.

The one my wife and I are looking at since we have 2 children is this layout Wildwood FSX 178BHSK. https://forestriverinc.com/rvs/travel-trailers/wildwood-fsx/178BHSK/4584

Also another worth considering which is similar but not yet out is the Jayco Jayfeather Micro 199 https://www.jayco.com/products/travel-trailers/2021-jay-feather-micro/199mbs/

Both of these are a Dry Weight of under 3800lbs. The truck should tow it fairly well.

 

I'm in your same thought process. We already have a trailer that's a tad under 5k dry from when I had my 2500HD Diesel Truck. I just love the size, and capabilities of the Tacoma for when we go out and about on trails, etc. I also like it for my commute to work. The problem is we love camping as well in our RV but only do it maybe 5-6 times out of the year. I'm to the point where I may just rent a truck when we want to go camp or instead of selling our current RV to buy a smaller one I'm even tempted to buy an older model 3/4Ton Truck to use just to camp.

Like you though I think I'm going to try the Re-Gear option first. Honestly what annoys me more is the constant down shifting.

 

Are yall planning to re- gear and still run the stock tires?

Who here has regeared and noticed an improvement while towing? And what gear did u go with? 4.88s or 5.29s?

 

I noticed a big difference switching tires. I went up a tad at 265/75/16 Load Range E 10 ply. Way better for the trailer than the stock tires. I dont even think the stock tires are LT tires. They are soft. When i removed them from the rim you literally could squash them down LOL. My new Mickey Thompson 10 plays I literally could stand on them while they were upright without a rim and they still didn’t fold down.

As for re-gear I’m thinking of going to 4.88’s. I thought about 5.29’s but I’m afraid with my long commute to work it will be too low of a gear. Not sure.

 

I’m tuned, lifted w/Dakar heavy leaf pack & on 33’s. I’m thinking real hard about 5.29’s to see what happens. After this Houston to Utah trip I’m currently on, getting between 7-9 mpg’s my wife is considering trading her Lexus IS350F for a bigger tow vehicle. Possibly a GX, we aren’t sure yet.

 

Which tune did you get? OV?

 

No, too complicated and expensive after you buy all the crap needed. Check my signature for the link.

 

Interesting. Is it worth it? I like the added numbers.

 

I’ve been pondering the OVtune but $1000 for a few extra horsepower and a couple mpg isn’t worth it to me. The truck drives pretty good as is.