Titan towing

[pyromedic]

Has anyone done any serious towing with the truck yet? I've been talking to friends and I'm getting a little nervous about getting the Titan. I know it's a great truck but, I'm hearing I should get a deisel to tow a 28-30' travel trailer that will weigh around 7,000lbs dry weight. I'm sure the Titan will pull it. I just want to be safe and they say with a deisel I won't even know it's back there. I live in south FLorida where it's flat but, if I want to go to the mountains some day I don't want any problems.

Let me know what some of you seasoned towers' think...

Thanks

[Doghouse]

Considering that for you to go to the mountains, you have to make one long haul nearly at the max tow. That may be pushing it. Besides you may need to look at the CGVW (Combined Gross Vehicle Weight). This is Truck, trailer, people, gear, gas, water....

As a rule of thumb, you should tow only 80% of max for any long distance. 80% of 9500 is 7600# not much room for gear, but still under the tow value.

Tow your rig to a weight station (or local gravel yard) and have them tell you the wet weight. Then and only then can you make a safe judgment.

[Coolhand]

Yo, Pyro, check out the forums on www.pickuptruck.com if you haven't already. There are a few good threads about towing.

If I were you, I'd be very nervous about towing 7,000 lbs over an extended distance in the Titan or any of it's competition (ie: F150, Dodge Ram, Silverado...). Sure, the manufacturers "rated" it at 9,000+ lbs with a torture test in the desert somewhere, but they also probably discarded that vehicle after the test. I regularly tow ~3,500 lbs, which is approximately 65% of the rated towing capacity of my vehicle.... and let me tell you, you sure as hell know you're towing something. Especially as the vehicle gets older. It's being pushed around, it crawls up the big hills, and it's aging prematurely . Unless you're just cruising up and down the Florida coast acouple times a year, I'd seriously consider a beefier tow vehicle (bummer).

[karlconnell]

Pyro, everyone has given some good advice and I agree with what Doghouse and Coolhand have said. Net, that is too much trailer for the Titan. I would look at a trailer that has a dry weight of no greater than 5,000-5,500 lbs. for long trips, especially in the mountains. Something that big is really meant for a 3/4 or 1 ton from the big 3 with a big block V8 or deisel. The Titan is tuff and it does tow our setup extremely well but is just isn't built to tow something that big.

I think I provided this link to you before but the forum below is great for gaining knowledge about everything related to towing a travel trailer:

http://www.woodalls.com/cforum/index...s/forum/41.cfm

Karl

[pyromedic]

Thanks for the input guys, I haven't decided what to do yet. I want to gather some more info and maybe get my wife to settle on a trailer that's a little lighter. I really want to get in to a Titan but, if like you said it's not that good of an idea unless I go with a biger truck or maybe a smaller trailer. I'm going to check out those links now and get some more info. If anyone else has any input I'd like to hear it, particularly if you are towing a trailer with the Titan and what type and how heavy.

Thanks

[karlconnell]

Pyro, If you and your wife do want a longer trailer and yet, want to stay with the Titan you should look in to ultra-light types of trailers. Most manufactures have a ultra-light series:

Fleetwood
Forest River - very reliable brand of UL's.

A couple to start with at least.

This is the perfect time of the year to start looking as there will be many rv shows coming up in the next couple of months.

Karl

[pyromedic]

Karl
We've been looking and yes there should be an RV show coming down to my area very soon. As for now I'm just going to look for the trailer that we want so I can decide if the Titan will be big enough. I like the ultra-lights and that will probably be the one we go with. I found this guy on one of the web links he seems to have it down to a science about how much you can tow or not. Here is the link to his site http://www.geocities.com/dgrvweb/howmuchweight1.html

[greasy]

My CC LE 4x4 with big tow package tows my '28 boat like is not even there.
The boat weights 8200 lbs and has disc brakes on all 4 wheels.

[Derwud]

The Titan will tow 7000 lbs with ease. I've towed my 22 foot trailer a couple of times with a Titan and it worked great, no white knuckles.

[karlconnell]

Pyro, I was just going to provide the same link to you as well. I forgot I had it book marked.

Starting with a 7,000 lb dry weight is much different than pulling 7,000 lbs wet, but I agree that the Titan would pull 7k wet just fine. Most of the mfr listed dry weights don't include options much less, 1 or 2 battery's, full propane tanks, hitch weight, etc. Once you starting adding those things plus your gear (ready to tow) you can easily get up to 8,500 lbs which I would not want to tow in the mountains. In addition, a 10-15% tongue weight on 8,500 lbs wouldn't leave you with much (if any) room for cargo, family, or other items you may want to throw in the back of the truck (particulary if you get the 4x4 crew cab).

Greasy, Depending on the configuration of your boat it probably has much less tongue weight than a travel trailer would have. A boat typically has much less drag as well...not like towing a big rolling box behind you. That's one big *** boat though...have fun!

Karl

[Skip Hess]

My 2WD CC pulls my travel trailer @5200 lbs WAY nicer than my 6 liter GMC ever did. I agree with the others though, if you are pulling long heavy trailers the diesel heavy duty is the right choice. The Titan is a great truck and tows great too BUT it is still a 1/2 ton truck and meant to be used like a 1/2 ton truck. more than most all of us need. After 5 GMC's I am psyched about my Titan.

[outahere]

There was a long and entertaining argument at pickuptruck.com, in the "war room" forum as to whether or not the Titan is a decent tow vehicle. Some of the participants stated flat out that no way can the Titan tow, going up a hill, with a 3.36 ratio rear end. They just could not seem to understand that the transmission ratio in the 5 speed auto also plays into this.

[Derwud]

It's amazing what people don't know, nor do they care to listen when shown the correct answer. There is nothing like passing a F-150 while towing my trailer with a Titan.

[70boss]

Yeah... that thread was amusing to say the least. I participated in that one quite bit, and a Chevy driver even spelled out all the math invloved. Some people are just thick headed. I am picking up a Harley on Wed. I am still driving an Armada, so we will again get to test the towing.

[karlconnell]

70boss, you certainly put up a good fight in the war room. There was some good info over there, especially on the RPM comparison's. Hey, you even put a link to my write-up in the open roads forum on our towing experience.

Karl