Who is Towing a Travel Trailer and what are your experiences

[Muchmore]

Swapping to a 170 t-stat will drop your temps way down. In Texas with temps at 100+ degrees in the summer, my truck averages around 190-195 with street and highway driving, so the t-stat is definitely doing its job.

May I ask how the cooler thermostat helps your truck from overheating when driving around town or towing?

 

[SmokieRiver]

Are you using a weight distributing hitch? Will be towing. 21 ft Malibu next season, but only to and from storage about 50 miles when putting the boat in the lake. Thanks!

No, I do not find it necessary on my 2014 23LSV. With the dual axel trailer and the v-drive the weight is distributed nicely on the trailer where the sag is managable (about 1 inch more than what my 2015 F150 Platinum had) and the drive is stable. Also, I have yet to find anyone that has successfully used a weight distrubuting on a Malibu (or Boatmate) trailer with surge brakes.

I would think with a 21 foot boat you'll be fine.

 

[TXRaptor]

May I ask how the cooler thermostat helps your truck from overheating when driving around town or towing?

I did not say it keeps it from “overheating”. A lower temp t-stat opens much sooner than the factory t-stat, thus keeping the temps down compared to others without it. The factory t-stat does not overheat your truck, but simply makes it run at a higher operating temp.

 

[Muchmore]

Gotcha

 

[IHAVETWO]

TOWED A 6000 LBS CAMPER.DID GREAT WHEN I FOUND RIGHT WDH.I ENDED UP WITH REESE STRAIGHT LINE HITCH.PERFICT HITCH FOR RAPTOR.PS ONLY HAVE SCAB.

 

[blwn]

I've noticed with the EB that since it has the torque and doesn't need to downshift, that temps can creep up on long grades.. If you just drop down a gear I would bet you would see lower temps

 

[Brett Rahn]

Springs bent?...wow. I know the rear is soft but bending is a whole another issue...
Have you looked into the Anderson WDH?...I ran one when towing a
1973 29 ft Airstream and it worked awesome!

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I had local shop add 1 steel to each spring as all the Deavers springs like + 1-2-3. Isn’t for towing that came from Deavers they said they add steel to stock stack. So I had my local shop do it for a 1/3 the price and man does that really help. I can’t run a wdh as tongue is to short

 

[Knobbie]

Thanks. My other problem is my garage height is 80". I can't get into the garage if I raise it even a couple inches.

I towed a 26ft travel trailer camper 5k lbs dry with stock suspension and WDH for 1 year, sometimes with a golf cart on an open trailer behind the camper too. With wind or passing semi, the tail definitely wagged the dog. White knuckle ride at times to properly describe it. I had Deaver +3 leaf springs installed and it's night and day. Stock is 4 leafs with a 2" block, Deavers have 12 with no block and that's not the HD ones. Towing and not towing are great, both much better than stock, more like it should be. I've been towing travel trailers for around 30+ years. Deaver springs are kind of an expensive option, around $1,700 total installed for me but worth it. It's the only significant mod I've had done. I haven't done enough off-roading to give an opinion on the performance with Deavers.

 

[TO 8217]

Great info here ! I just bought a new UTV and will have lots of extra equipment plus trailer so i was wondering about weight and towing capabilities .

 

[LastLight]

I am about to purchase a 29' travel trailer that is about 5600-5700 Dry weight. I am glad I read this helpful info first.. Looks like i may need to make some upgrades just as a precaution.