Towing a heavy trailer with a Titan

[Old Man]

Hi Everyone,

We are thinking about buying a toy hauler. Toy haulers seem to be a lot heavyier then most trailers. It seems like most of the 24' to 26' toy haulers are about 6,500 to 7,500 pounds dry. With the trailer loaded with gear and toys I'm guessing we would be looking at about 9,000 lbs. This is without water or gas in it. Water and gas would be filled up when we get out to where we are going. I was wondering how many of you tow up around the max of 9,500 lbs. with a Titan and how well do they do. Is it crazy to even think about towing this much with a Titan?

[akangl]

I've done it, well, I've done more than tow just 9500 lbs with my Titan, I towed 11,000 lbs ONE time with it and I probably wouldn't do it again. The truck did great, but you could tell it was too much trailer. There's more to the equation than just the weight of the trailer.

First, take your truck to the scales with a full tank of gas, you and whoever else is going to be in it, plus you camping stuff (whatever you would put in the bed).....weigh the truck. Subtract this number (in my case 6105) from the GVWR (6499) and that will give you the payload capacity left for the tongue weight of the trailer........in my case 494. Now keep in mind that most tongue weights are around 10-12% of the trailer weight.

Next, weight the trailer........by the time you add options and everything most trailers are much heavier than thier stated dry weight. Add this number to the weight of the truck to get the gross combined, make sure you don't exceed 14,800 lbs (the max GCWR), truthfully you want to stay less than 80% of the max. If you are approaching the max (or even the 80%) number on the GCWR with the dry weights on the trailer then you are looking at way too much trailer.

Finally, you need to keep length in mind as well, I tow a 24' trailer with mine and probably wouldn't go much longer than a 28' trailer. We have had the tail wag the dog even with sway control and a WD hitch........its NOT a good feeling.

Hope this helps, also visit the rv.net forum, lots of good info over there as well.

[travism]

If you want your Titan (or any half ton truck for that matter) to last, I wouldn't recommend towing more than 75-80% of the maximum tow rating for more than the occasional short distance trip. For long or frequent trips you either need a smaller trailer or a heavier duty truck at the weights you are listing.

[rrichard]

I bought my Titan because I was buying a toy hauler.
I wanted to stay in a half ton truck but wanted enough power to pull the hills, so I chose a toy hauler to match up with the truck. I bought a 21 ft Desert Fox that met all of my needs. The RV plus my wife's Harley and my Ducati weigh in at about 7500 lbs. I have towed it three times and have been very satisfied with truck. The Desert Fox is a great toy hauler, good build quality, big bathroom and a great floor plan. The floorplan is all open, no bedroom, the bed is electric over where the bikes would go. I put the wife's bike in the rear and mine up front, this gives room to move back and forth and the ability to lower the bed and sleep with the bikes in the RV for the long trips that require an overnight stop. This RV has more liveable space that other campers at much longer lengths.

[DStewart]

I tow a 26ft Weekend Warrior and when I'm loaded up I am usually around 9-10k. Honestly if I had to do it all over again I would have either gotten a smaller trailer or a bigger truck. Yes the Titan will tow it well however you will pay at the pump as the gas mileage sucks. I get around 8mpg on the flats and 5mpg if I'm pulling passes. But since the truck is paid for it will be a while before I get another truck. So I will have to keep up on my maintenance add air bags and hope for the best.

[GT1300]

I have a 24 trail-hauler by r-vision loaded with gear 2 streetbikes(03 busa,03 r1)I'm around 8-9000 lbs depending on water and gas in fuel station and the truck does great get 8-10 mpg depending on driving style but I believe I'm about at my limit and still tow safely and stop good

[Old Speed]

i tow a 20 foot wonderer toyhauler and my titan tows it great it is only about 7000-7500lbs fully loaded with 2 atv's i get about 13mpg. that combo of weight of trailer and titan seems to be perfect! at lease in my opinion i get good gas while towing. i got TONS of power still i went up some passes there at the oregan and cal state line going up 1000 foot climbs and i was passing people left and right going up the mountian and still have plenty of power!

[Cali_Titan-SE]

If you do get a toyhauler make sure to get a weight distribution hitch included with your trailer. Toy hauler trailers are always tongue heavy (800lbs on my 23ft Attitude) and are rightly so as you add weight in the trailer. This can really present a load on your bed especially when you throw wood or extra gas in the back for long trips. Also get a good sway bar (hydraulic if possible) if you plan to tow in windy areas as heavy trailers tend to 'wag the dog' when the wind blows or trucks pass.

Good Luck!!

[Jetboy]

Agree you will need a good weight distributing hitch, properly installed to move some of that hitch weight back to the trailer and to the front wheels. The key with the Titan is going to be not exceeding GVWR so you want to lighten up the hitch as much as possible while staying at 10-12% of trailer weight. With a toy hauler that means loading the stuff you would normally put in the bed back in the trailer. With a 1/2 ton you will usually exceed GVWR before you exceed the tow rating, especially with passengers.

[james_95]

I am definitely taking it to the MAX. I have an 04 and I towed a 25ft Thor Wander Wagon, with full water, 5 seater sandrail (about 1800lb) and a dirt bike for about a year. I switched to Amsoil 75-140 early on and I have not had a problem with the rear end. I now have 18,000 miles on my Titan and got some more toys so I upgraded my trailer. I now pull a 30ft Weekend Warrior, 1800lb sandrail, 120gal of water, 450F dirtbike, Raptor 660 Quad, and a 50. I have been on 4 trips with the stock steal diff cover and the rear end was running an average of 210 but would get up to 250 on the steep grades. The truck tows like a champ....I'm not saying it's like a diesel cause it's not but compared to any other 1/2 ton, it's top notch. I recently switch to the PML aluminum diff cover and what a difference. The rear was running at an average of 180 and the max it got to was 209 during towing. The rear end during average driving runs between 110 - 145. Oh yeah, one more thing; I installed Ride-Rite airbags (air-lift is junk) and put the air valves in the wheel well compartment.

[Big-J]

I pull my 05 Warrior FB2600 and when I have that thing loaded with all my stuff its
about 9200 LBS. Take a look at my recent posts, I was asking the same question a while ago. Does good up hills. Keep an eye on the Transmission temp gague on inclines and grades, shift properly, you should be fine.

I have distribution hitch (no sway bar) 4x4 with big tow kit, prodigy brake controller, PML diff cover, yada, yada, yada,.. towed up to Pismo from Fontana CA, its about a 230 mile trip and that voyage has more steep inclines then any other trip I have been on. The Cajon pass out here is real nasty but the grade coming out of Oxnard seemed to be worse. (2nd gear 4000 rpm 40 mph) for a long time. Same as Cajon pass but not as bad

The truck pulls great though!!

-Jason