2020 CM can it pull a Rockwood 2516S >

Hi All
I haven't pulled the trigger on purchasing the Rockwood 2516S with a few questions:
The trailer is configured with the kitchen on the forward end having a dry weight of 6237 lbs. and a loaded estimated weight of 7165 lbs. The dealer states the tongue wt. would be 978 lbs. Looking at the Toyota specs the max loading on the tongue is 1010 lbs.
So obviously I will need a WDH. How much weight typically would be transferred to the front axle?
What would be the recommended changes to the suspension? air bags upgraded shocks?
I'm figuring on traveling from Ma. to ND and into Canada and back.

appreciate your comments

 

That’s a lot of tongue weight. That’ll eat most of your payload. Your truck likely has 1200# of payload or less depending on trim. Any trailer over 3000# would benefit from WDH. I towed a similar sized / weight trailer to the lake and back with mine. Had an equalizer WDH dialed in and it did fine. But it’s a lot of camper. I was only towing 55 miles. Long distance would not have been ideal.

 

Welcome from LA (Lower Alabama)!

 

Welcome from NY.

 

First off, welcome to the forum! It's a great resource and a fun place most of the time.

In addition to keeping the tongue weight within limits you will want to weigh the truck to get an accurate idea of your total payload. Payload is the Achilles' heel of the Tundra.

Keep in mind that all weight on the truck, regardless of what axle bears the weight, is deducted from your payload. That's the tongue weight of the trailer, any mods you do, all passengers and gear put in the truck. Yep, even that travel mug with your preferred beverage. It all counts against payload.

The only mods I would suggest to a 2019-2021 Tundra that you plan to tow with would be to add the auxiliary transmission cooler, and if you don't off road you could add a rear sway bar. Suspension changes and/or airbags don't increase your payload rating, contrary to what many think, so keeping the truck stock helps keep things in line. If it doesn't feel like it can handle it when stock then you should probably reevaluate what it is you are doing with a 1/2 ton truck designed around 2006-2007, because that's what all '07-'21 Tundras are. Adding suspension to make it feel better or airbags to get rid of sag can misguide you into actually overloading the trucks payload rating pretty easily.

Once you're sure your within limits then, if you have the buffer in payload for them, you do the mods to made it more comfy.

 

Welcome to the forum.

some great advice so far and my honest opinion would be to keep looking and go with a different camper. Once you buy it, you will find more uses for it and push your truck more for various reasons. As mentioned, the payload is the key here and I just ran into a slew of not fun moments because of mine. It is well below 700lbs tongue weight and I have a WDH. That said, I recently evacuated and put a cooler and a freezer in my bed, plus the generator in case things got bad... The truck did not appreciate these changes and made it far less comfortable for our short distance drive.

 

most helpful advice thanks

 

Hi All
I am a bit confused. Will a WDH cause a change in the tongue weight? If so how much?
I understand that the purpose of a WDH is to increase the loading of the front axle and decrease the loading on the rear axle.
Thks

 

All the WDH will do is help with stability, it helps "distribute" the weight, but it still doesn't change the weight on your ball.

 

Yes and no... TW is TW (and that's a lot of it)

A WDH won't "change" it (other than adding 50-100 lbs to it - the weight of the WDH itself) but it will redistribute it, transferring some forward to your steer axle, and some back onto the trailer axle.

But it's still there and goes against your payload no matter what.

Your Tundra is a very capable towing beast, but that's a lot. Your bearings, brakes, etc. won't like it.

Lots of people with Tundras tow ridiculously overloaded all the time (there's a Towing with Tundras FB page that is particularly cringeworthy) but towing over your limits is not a relaxing way to vacation.

 

A WDH will absolutely change the weight on your hitch / rear axle by distributing that weight forward to the front axle and rearward to the trailer axles. The weight of the hitch will likely negate the tongue weight savings. Your payload will likely remain close to the same. But your steer axle will remain properly loaded giving you better control and your rear axle squat will be less.

 

Thank you, so there is minimal amount of change to the tongue weight like less than 100 lbs?

 

No matter what the chuckleheads at the RV dealer tell you, a WDH isn't a magical device that gives an Rav4 the ability to pull a 35 foot toy hauler.......

 

all they want is a sale they are slinging the BS

 

Tongue weight may decrease by several hundred pounds from the trailer. Hitch weighs about 100# though. Only way to know how it affects your setup is to take it to the scales. You can cruise the towing forums and see how it affected other people’s tow setups

 

That trailer is too much for a tundra. While it may pull it down the road it will not tow it. That set up will be really rough in anything but ideal conditions on flat straight roads. You will come to dread pulling it and therefore will not use it as much. Find a smaller lighter trailer and enjoy your travels far more.

 

I agree thks

 

Most WDH's weigh close to 100 lbs. so some of the weight they'd take off the tongue, they also add to the tongue... kind of a wash in that respect.

BUT... A properly set up WDH will make for significantly a better towing experience and a more stable "planted" truck and trailer.

My little Lance is only 5,500 lbs. wet and loaded, and for the first 6 months or so after we bought it I towed with no WDH. It's not like I "need" to transfer a lot of weight, but it has much better manners with my Andersen.

Without it feels like two objects hooked together and sometimes fighting each other, wanting to bounce in opposite directions and at different frequencies.

With the WDH it feels more like one cohesive unit, or at least two objects playing nice together.

The Andersen also has excellent anti-sway properties built into it... I've been towing on some days when I had no idea how hard the wind was blowing till we stopped and got out.

 

We roll with this one. No need for WDH, sway control, or even tow mirrors.
Limiting factors ... single axle and sleeeps 4

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a33914924/winnebago-hike-overlanding-trailer/

 

Yep, if I'm towing my trailer that means I'm on vacation.

I don't want to feel like I need a nap when I get to my destination. (I may take a nap, 'cuz I'm on vacation and I love a good nap, but I don't wanna' "need" one)

Find a trailer with a good floorplan and it doesn't have to be huge to be very comfortable.

Mine is only a 16' box (21' overall) and with the slide out it's fine for me, my wife and 3 dogs. (The dogs are always underfoot, but they're always underfoot in our 1,500 SF house too)

I personally prefer having a smaller trailer, since we mostly boondock and I wouldn't be able to get into a lot of the spots I like in a bigger rig.

 

Will, here’s a thought for you to consider. It’s common for people to haul the biggest trailer they can handle but most people find that if they get a smaller trailer it’s easier to use in every regard, so it gets used much more often.

 

One more thing to look at is a walk around bed . Makes a huge difference for enjoying your sleep. Crawling over your spouse at 2am or vice versa can really make for some poor sleep. Most of the bigger trailers have them some of the smaller ones do not.

 

Very true, however when it's just wife and I we set up (most cases) the alternate sleeping bed that doubles as dining area. You can always bonk in the double then go to your separate sleeping areas.

 

Spot on. You spend the majority of the time outdoors and only go inside to sleep, relieve yourself, and eat if the fly's are bothering you. If I wanted to tow my house to a camping area, I might just as well sit in my backyard and cook and drink brewhaws. Only thing I can't do in my back yard is fish.

 

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

 

Agreed, that is the only thing I might do differently if I were doing it over again. Mine has the East/West bed, and the next size up is N/S walk around.

3' longer, a few hundred lbs. heavier, and (at the time) about $7K more. Hasn't been an issue yet but we are getting older.

It can be a challenge getting out of the bed sometimes, not from crawling over humans, there's just so many dogs!

 

Agree with most of what’s being said. Love our Coachmen Apex so far. Walk around bed, slide, bunks, full bath, outdoor kitchen, double axle, less than 4500#.

 

I'm old and sometimes camping is overrated. No place like home.

 

I bought the Rpod to tow with my Tacoma and i wasnt happy with how it did on the longer hills so i bought the tundra.

 

Cool pics!! Where is that?

Here's some Anza Borrego Bighorn.