Just another Towing Question

[JR Thomas]

Afternoon all. Just purchased a 2019 Max Limited approximately one month ago. Starting to look into travel trailers for some weekend fun with the family. Little did I know the window sticker of "towing package" is a bit miss leading. We have a 3.31 rear axle ratio that limits our towing capacity. New to the RV life and towing so still doing some research, but general question for the group. Given what I know so far, is the below too much for comfort? Family of 6 so need to be cautious...

Shipping weight of the trailer, assuming this means "dry" is 5,976 lbs

Carrying Capacity 1,624 lbs

Hitch 746 lbs

Length 33' 10"

Height 10' 10"

Is the above possible, or is daddy looking for a new truck Your insight is appreciated.

 

[LovinPSDs]

Off the hip, that guy is going to be to big for a non HD tow Expedition....

I'm not sure I'd go that long even if it did have the HD tow as well

 

[JasonH]

Add the HD Tow components. The components have been discussed at length on this forums. Gearing isn't an issue for that size trailer, but you'll need a properly configured WDH. My trailer has similar specs and it tows fine.

 

[shane_th_ee]

Afternoon all. Just purchased a 2019 Max Limited approximately one month ago. Starting to look into travel trailers for some weekend fun with the family. Little did I know the window sticker of "towing package" is a bit miss leading. We have a 3.31 rear axle ratio that limits our towing capacity. New to the RV life and towing so still doing some research, but general question for the group. Given what I know so far, is the below too much for comfort? Family of 6 so need to be cautious...

Shipping weight of the trailer, assuming this means "dry" is 5,976 lbs

Carrying Capacity 1,624 lbs

Hitch 746 lbs

Length 33' 10"

Height 10' 10"

Is the above possible, or is daddy looking for a new truck Your insight is appreciated.

I see your location is Washington... Have you thought about where you want to go camping? Because with a 33' travel trailer, you can just about forget about camping in any national park campgrounds and/or national forest campgrounds. We have friends with a 33' trailer. It's pretty awesome to have a private bedroom for mom and dad and a bunk room for the kid. What's non-awesome is they're stuck in RV parks because they don't fit anywhere else (outside of a few state parks). Don't forget that if you get something that large you will likely not be able to take it when your friends with tents/smaller trailers invite you to go camping somewhere. Our friends are now looking to downsize into something that will fit where they want to go. Seriously, go poke around recreation.gov and look at site lengths for the CGs you want to visit. Yes, the NPS.gov website says places like Ohanapacosh will fit trailers that large, but there's only like 2 spots one of which will be taken up by the CG hosts.

Which is why we have 6 of us in 22' 3" trailer...

Wait! What am I saying? Why do I want one more person fighting for reservations in the good campgrounds? You'll be fine with a 33' trailer. You might even want to consider a bigger one if you upgrade the cooling capacity of your truck and add a trailer brake controller.

 

[LovinPSDs]

Checkout the Rockwood Mini Lite 2509S - 26' (could call it 25' if it really messes up reservations) - tons of room, mines 5150 dry, only down side is HEAVY tongue weight but that can be worked around.

 

[Edistobob]

We tow a 25' Airstream that our last Cat scaling showed trailer weight of 6900 lbs with a tongue weight of 820 lbs. While I have no doubt that your Expy could pull your proposed trailer with no issues, I think you would really be pushing or exceeding the individual axle weights on your Expy, especially when your entire family is in it. We have the Expy Max with HD towing package and are within 30 lbs of exceeding the front axle rating and within 320 lbs of the rear rating, and within 140 lbs of the gross vehicle weight rating. Our Expy has a payload capacity (occupants and cargo) of 1577 lbs. That quickly gets eaten up with people, any pets, gear, and tongue weight. Our math says that with two people, about 40 lbs of pets and 820 lbs of tongue weight, plus our cargo, we are within 140 lbs of exceeding that 1577 lb sticker capacity. You can figure what your comparable weights would be and see how your Expy would fare. A family of six can really add some weight. Some people do not mind exceeding axle and/or cargo limits; some do. But, whatever you do, take a look at where you'll end up and decide your tolerance level. By the way, we use a Reese weight-distribution hitch on ours. My personal opinion is that you'd be safer with much more cushion for gear and cargo if you switch to that new truck.

 

[Calidad]

I do recall you have the 6000lb max limit Expedition. With 5 people you need to be looking at trailers that are 3000-3500 at most dry weight. Even if you had the HD Expedition max load weight of 9300lbs you still have 5 people meaning the weight of ( people, 5 people of gear, stuff, food, water meaning less trailer weight given you have more people and stuff weight.
I have 4 people but we bring 4 full sized bikes. Or bring boats etc plus we go places as mentioned above that 25ft+ trailers aren’t allowed. So my replacement shopping is 20ft max ideally 19ft max and most tend to be in the 3000lb range loaded. I have a HD Tow pack Expedition.

 

[flying68]

I do recall you have the 6000lb max limit Expedition. With 5 people you need to be looking at trailers that are 3000-3500 at most dry weight. Even if you had the HD Expedition max load weight of 9300lbs you still have 5 people meaning the weight of ( people, 5 people of gear, stuff, food, water meaning less trailer weight given you have more people and stuff weight.
I have 4 people but we bring 4 full sized bikes. Or bring boats etc plus we go places as mentioned above that 25ft+ trailers aren’t allowed. So my replacement shopping is 20ft max ideally 19ft max and most tend to be in the 3000lb range loaded. I have a HD Tow pack Expedition.

With 5 people and having a Max, the payload shouldn't be a concern. Assume ~1600 lbs payload capacity on the Max, 5 x 170 lbs (airline std wt per pax) = 850 lbs, gives 750 lbs for available tongue weight. That gives you between 5000 lbs and 7500 lbs for a trailer weight (15% to 10% tongue weight), but he would be limited to the 6000 lb (4x4) or 6300 lb (4x2) max trailer weight. In any scenario though it is down to what the actual loaded weights are and his comfort level.

 

[Matt Marshall]

I see your location is Washington... Have you thought about where you want to go camping? Because with a 33' travel trailer, you can just about forget about camping in any national park campgrounds and/or national forest campgrounds. We have friends with a 33' trailer. It's pretty awesome to have a private bedroom for mom and dad and a bunk room for the kid. What's non-awesome is they're stuck in RV parks because they don't fit anywhere else (outside of a few state parks). Don't forget that if you get something that large you will likely not be able to take it when your friends with tents/smaller trailers invite you to go camping somewhere. Our friends are now looking to downsize into something that will fit where they want to go. Seriously, go poke around recreation.gov and look at site lengths for the CGs you want to visit. Yes, the NPS.gov website says places like Ohanapacosh will fit trailers that large, but there's only like 2 spots one of which will be taken up by the CG hosts.

Which is why we have 6 of us in 22' 3" trailer...

Wait! What am I saying? Why do I want one more person fighting for reservations in the good campgrounds? You'll be fine with a 33' trailer. You might even want to consider a bigger one if you upgrade the cooling capacity of your truck and add a trailer brake controller.

FWIW, we pull a 32' Airstream w/ our 2019 Expedition Max. We've stayed in state parks here in Michigan and National forest campgrounds in Michigan and beyond (most recently New England) w/ our Airstream. Many state parks in Michigan even allow class A motorhomes much larger than our Airstream!

When it comes to National Forests campgrounds, you need to hunt around a little, but it isn't a 'mission impossible' effort on our part to find such sites. Most recently we stayed at a semi-rustic national forest campground in New Hampshire. It was gorgeous.

Beyond that, if you are equipped for boondocking, National Forest lands are a great totally rustic option for rigs of most any size (check ahead of time to make sure it is allowed in your desired national forest... in my experience it is more often than not).

All of this said, we still choose to stay in RV parks, KOA sites, etc. about 50% of the time, as many of these locations have certain accommodations and nearby attractions that our young boys love to do after a long day of hiking, fishing, whatever.