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How much can I reasonably tow?

39K views 40 replies 16 participants last post by  CalcityRenegade 
#1 ·
I have a 2010 LE CC 4wd without the Max Utility Package. Nissan states top towing is limited to 7000# and I respect that.

My question is for all of you who tow, how heavy of a travel trailer can I safely pull given that I get a weight distributing hitch and brake controller?

We are looking into a possible travel trailer in the spring and wanted advice on what other drivers have found they can comfortably tow and other such advice.

Thanks,
Paul
 
#2 ·
I have comfortably towed a 32' tag-a-long camper with mine. It was only advertised as weighing 6537, but ready to camp, it came in around 8,000lbs. I thought I would mention the actual vs the advertised just in case you are new to the market. They give those dry weights without removable appliances, mattresses, etc, so be aware of it.

I towed this without the big tow also.
 
#6 ·
IMHO, I wouldn't do that. My TT weighs 6,000-lbs on the scales and there's NO WAY that I'd tow it across country w/o the big tow package, locally I would, but not for any inter-state long distances. I would guess that something like a Jayco Jay Flight 26bh would be fine for it though. Just my $.02.
 
#4 ·
I have towed A LOT actually with mine, various wts, lengths, etc. That is the heaviest I've done. If I had it to do over again, I would go lighter, but it still did well for me. Get a good brake controller, such as the Prodigy-it comes highly recommended, maybe some helper springs or the Roadmaster Active Suspension, and you'll be more than OK. It is a very capable 1/2 ton in my opinion. If you get over 5,000lbs, definitely get a good weight distribution hitch.
 
#5 ·
Did you get the tow package with the Towing 3.36 gears?? if not then don't go more than the rated weight. pay attention the GCVWR. It is what you should never exceed to be safe with your tow/towed vehicle on the road.
 
#9 ·
Thanks for all the great posts. My intention weight wise is to find a trailer that would top out at no more than 6000# fully loaded (supplies, water etc).

It looks like the only difference between my base LE and the Max utility package on a LE is the extendable tow mirrors and the lower final gear ratio (only listed options that are towing specific).

My hope is by being 1,000# lower than the rated weight I will have an increased safety margin. I could easily see taking a trip from KC to Yellowstone and the Colorado Rockies with such a set up.

Any suggestions in TT's that members have had good luck with?

Thanks again,
Paul
 
#11 ·
The Trailer Life towing guide says as an average rule your tow vehicle should be rated at 15 - 20% more than you plan to tow.
My Titan is rated at 7400 pounds and my camper weighs almost 6000 pounds loaded.
Another thing to remember if towing a camper is that they have a large frontal area and a lot more drag than towing a boat or car.
As you can see I'm conservative, but I've never been in a situation towing that my vehicle could not handle, including an emergency full brake stop from 65 MPH after topping an overpass on I-95 on a trip to the Keys.

Bo conservative and you will never be disappointed.
 
#13 ·
Not a bad rule of thumb at all....Having said that, I was placed in a situation no one pulling a camper would wish on their worst enemy....I-40, just past Black Mountain (from your side), drafting behind a semi box, and a brick hauler passes us both....long story short; a few miles longer, all three of us top the hill to crawling traffic. Brick truck left the road, semi was locking them up, and so was I....Titan and trailer performed excellently. I could have stopped in half the distance that I was left.

I've heard a lot of talk about the "tail wagging the dog", and I absolutely NEVER felt that way about my set-up. I had a good anti-sway hitch attachment, good weight dist hitch, good break controller, etc, etc.

Bottom line is do what you feel comfortable with, and although nervous after I found out ACTUAL wt of my unit, I had already pulled it on a couple of trips, looked back on those good experiences, and carried on! Would I do it again....most likely NOT! The next one will be lighter!
 
#14 ·
Buying a travel trailer is never an "easy" choice when it comes to which model to get. When it comes to weight, I would ignore the posted dry weights and just make sure the trailer's GVWR is at or under your tow rating. There's no guarantee that you'll never be over that weight, but that gives you a number that should be easy to locate and reference when looking. GVWR is the trailer's max loaded weight rating, which would include full tanks and full of gear and appliances.

For reference, the trailer in my signature has a GVWR of 9,500lb, a shipping weight of 6,600lb and a loaded-for-2-weeks weight of around 7700-8000lb. The biggest weight issue was/is tongue weight, it put me over GVWR while still being under GCVWR and both GAWR. I did a 3,000-mile road trip with this setup last month and it did great.
 
#15 ·
Yahooligan, it doesn't say in your sig if you're big tow or not. Just wondering.
 
#16 ·
Sorry, yes I have BT and LOVE the BT mirrors. Seriously. I don't recommend towing without them or some other extended/towing mirror. :cheers:
 
#19 ·
Yeah, I'm pretty sure they'll mount, its just that the in-channels are made differently for the bigger mirrors IIRC. That's definitely an upgrade worth doing, if towing! If it came down to it, I'd certainly do w/out the visors for the mirrors!! I'm just not towing anything wide right now.
 
#20 ·
Mirrors....gauges.....gears....:eyebrow:

Sooo much easier to simply NEVER buy any truck new or used with-out the factory tow package and optional lower gears...:)

PERIOD!
 
#21 ·
I have an 07 Titan with the big tow package. I tow a 3500lb car on a 1500lb trailer, with tools and other stuff - I figure 5500-6000lb. No problems. I do use a weight equalizing hitch, I have been trying to balance the loads and I use a prodigy controller.

Ray
 
#22 ·
I sold my '04 crew cab SE non-Big Tow 2 years ago, but I routinely towed my 20' boat/motor/trailer combo that was 4200 pounds and the truck didn't even know it was there. Occasionally I would tow my friend's Parker 2520 to and from the ramp or boat yard. This boat is over 30' long on the trailer with a 9.5' beam and the total load weighed in around 9000 pounds. You knew it was back there but the Titan handled it with no problem. In both cases the Titan did a far better job than my previous 2000 Silverado 1500 extended cab with the 4.8 V8.

I recently upgraded to a slightly bigger boat and now I am shopping for a new truck to tow it with, a 2010 PRO4-X crew cab is on my short list.
 
#26 ·
:eyebrow: The Parker 2520 is a 25' boat (that's why it's a 2520 instead of 3020) and has a dry weight of 5800-lbs. If you put two Yamaha F350, that'd be what, maybe another 1,000-lbs at the most??

The other thing to consider is that towing a boat is much different than a Travel Trailer. A 6,000-lbs Travel Trailer has a 800-850 lbs actual hitch weight where a boat that heavy would have closer to about 300-lbs hitch weight.

DeadRiver has towed a nice huge boat that's way heavier than my Travel Trailer but my hitch weight is heavier than his boat's is. ;)
 
#23 ·
I recently upgraded to a slightly bigger boat and now I am shopping for a new truck to tow it with, a 2010 PRO4-X crew cab is on my short list.
If you now have a boat bigger than 9000#, the only thing on your list should be a one-ton dually with a diesel. Any half-ton truck would be WAY too small for that boat.
 
#28 ·
Thanks, I agree, however, my new boat/motor/trailer package is around 6000 pounds, no issue for the Titan or really any of the new 1/2 tons. It's only on the rare occasion that I might help out a friend with a substantially larger boat.
 
#29 ·
Went to the KC travel show last weekend and checked out a lot of TT's. We did find a few TT's we liked that had GVWR of 5000# to 6000#. With a Tow rating of the 7000# (because I do not have the Max Utility Package) I would imagine this would be a reasonable set up. I think when we do buy next year I will cap my GVWR to 5,500#'s.

Always hard to admit but wish I had the Max Utility Package so that I had not restricted my tow rating by 2,400#'s. Live and learn.

Jayco 2010 appears to be in the front running at the moment.

Paul
 
#36 ·
Paul I second the Jayco, I have owned two last one being the 23 ft expandable but Friendly advice, get a slide out you will be much happier and easier to resell. Don't worry about towing any of those jayco's the titan will drag them around any where with out a problem. ;)
 
#30 ·
Looks like a nice TT! :)
 
#31 ·
Paul, that's a nice looking TT!!! I like those Jay Feather... FWIW, I'm glad I got a Jayco because there's a Jayco Dealer close to my house to get parts from and it's been a really easy trailer to DIY repair so far. Oh yea, and they use very common parts so most any RV Shop is quickly familiar with the parts used on them.
 
#33 ·
It in fact does not. All have the same tranny coolers, tranny's, shift points, springs....the only thing that is different is the rear gearing.
 
#35 ·
LOL, that's right.
 
#37 ·
Guys we just purchases a Jayco G2 26bhs and I bought my Titan before my hubby was around so no towing package. I put a 4 in lift and 35 bfg on my titan before hubby as well lol we are wondering if we can put weight distributor bars on with the lift...any advice would be great
 
#39 ·
I don't think that much lift and tire size should be an issue as long as the actual hitch drops low enough, And seeing as the chains can be adjusted I would think it would be fine!
 
#40 ·
Just wondering, for those of you that tow above 6000lbs. what kind of hitch do you use...class III or class IV.

I was looking for a class IV for the Nissan Titan and could not find a recommended match. I was looking at a travel trailer that weighs about 6400lbs wanted to make sure that I was being safe. Do you have any recommendations for a class IV hitch?
 
#41 ·
I have the factory tow package which includes a Class IV hitch, I have seen a couple people mention on this forum that the factory hitch is the only Class IV hitch and everything aftermarket is Class III, That's just what I have heard though.
 
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