What do you TOW with your Tundra?

You do know i was referring to the Polaris ranger side by side he was towing?

 

HaHa! Yes, I did.

 

Trailer max. weight is 7k. 26 feet total length.
Towed 800 miles from Oregon up to Wyoming. Never went faster than 70mph.
Got 10.7 miles per gallon. Used wdh.


Dump trailer is 7x14. Total weight that day was around 8k.

 

Anyone have a good recommendation for a lightweight bunkhouse models camper that can sleep 4? Was going to look at the Grand Design 2400BH but my TRD Pros payload (1300lb) is too low for it.

 

Hitch weight is 505? That’s perfect I would think.

 

A lot of guys here have that trailer.

I'm happy with my 2018 Coachmen Freedom Express 25SE but I think they changed them in about 2023 and now you either give up some storage or the trailer weighs 500 lbs more.

 

My Coahmen Apex Nano 208 BHS is 4200# with a 540# tongue weight. Has 2 full size bunks and a queen. Single slide. A bit small for 4 full time campers

 

It is rv show season i would say try and find an rv show close and go look at tons of rvs and find one that fits your needs, towing ability and price range then do try to find one in the used market place.

 

Once you determine the floor plan and features you like, you can search for that floor plan style, and filter by the features that are important to you. We had a list of 7 things we really wanted. Then we prioritized the features. In the weight and length we wanted, we were able to get 5 of the 7. Did not get the banquette or step in shower we wanted. But they were the bottom two on the list. Most manufacturers make the same floor plans, so shop around for the price point, or the quality brands you want.

 

I strongly recommend a walk around bed.

 

Yeah I thought so too but then you research and everyone says you need to do the 15% GVWR rule and basically puts me right at payload capacity without anyone in the truck. Just don’t understand which metric I’m supposed to trust. The 15% rule basically means I have to buy a 3/4 ton truck to tow anything that my family would use.

 

I actually just started looking at this exact model. Only thing that gives me concern is that the 15% GVWR is at 900lbs which only gives me 400lbs capacity remaining for my family. Luckily for us, our 2 kids are both under 3 so I think it should be fine for now.
Any idea what your true tongue weight is when loaded up with propane and batteries?

 

10-15%. I've heard a lot of guys say 12% is a sweet spot. And is it GVWR or actual loaded weight (assuming the two are different)?

 

Haven’t been able to weigh it to check. My guess is heavier than I think. There’s also gear in the forward storage and a thick mattress pad as well as under bed storage and the water tank sits forward the axles.

 

Explain to your wife that the way the camper is packed for travel doesn't mean that where everything stays. I travel with enough water to get to the next pottable water location plus a few gallons. I put the cereal under the bed next to the water tank. Canned good and other heavy items stay under the rear dinette seats. Once on the road I fine tune by moving two cases of drinking water inside. One morning I noticed it took about 6 cycles to damp the oscillations after being passed by a semi. Moving those two cases of water from rear to the front brought it down to 3 cycles.

 

Yeah, seems like the absolute most conservative is the 15% but when you look at manufacturers, they base their tongue weight anywhere from 10-13%. And the GVWR is also a weird rule to me because as you mention, not every camper is going to be loaded to the absolute brim. The GVWR is just the max capacity. I don't ever plan to run it totally full, but the GVWR is brought up as the golden rule which I think hamstrings a lot of people because it is the most idiot proof way of doing it. Just hard to know with the loaded weight method because I don't have anything to base it off of.

 

We carry zero water as all of our campsites have water or a filling station. Our average tongue weight is probably 700# or so.

 

I’ve read many manufacturers also publish tongue weights without crucial items like spare tires, propane tanks, or batteries mounted to the front of the trailer. Those make a huge difference

 

I carry 21 gallons of fresh water in 3, 7 gallon containers in the bed of my truck or the back seat area. The rear seat delete asked me a lot of loading options others don't have. I also make sure until pull my fresh water plug before I leave so I almost never travel with water in my tank. I bought a coachman freedom express 192 rbs yesterday so I'm interested to see how it tires compared to the rpod.

 

yep. Another reason I’m nervous about being close to the limit. Just seems like the new gen of tundra really doesn’t do well for towing anything for more than 2 people.

 

I tow mine with a 2000 Tundra AC V8

 

I asked my dealer about that and they claim the Gulfstream trailers tongue weight is as sold. Two 20# filled propane tanks and the battery. Although I didn't weigh the tongue as soon as I brought it home, I did shortly afterwards and I believe the dealer. It's something that should be standardized.

 

The Airstreams are notoriously low from the factory. It is normal to add another 10 to 20% to the claimed weight. Some are even higher like a published weight of 700 lbs and an actual of over 1,000 lbs. Having a means to measure the tongue is a great move. A Sherline scale is handy. I have Weighsafe hitches with built in scales which are handy as well.

 

Hint: Use a 4x4 and find a way to keep the pipe from rolling.

 

22' boat + trailer = estimate of 4800#. Will try a bathrm scale for TongueW, but interested in full weight. Might look for a reasonable cost truck scale nearby.
BTW: Tundra is 8mo's new to me and handled 1st tow job very well.
Orig leafs + new Bilstein 4600s x 4 and new 265/65-17 hwy tread tires. Im very happy but might need new brake pads.
See this thread about my brakes: https://www.tundras.com/threads/1stgen-sr5-discs-squeal-only-while-trailering.154816/

 

As of today I tow this 2025 coachman freedom express ultra lite.

 

Gonna tow this next week:



This should be ready to haul it by the weekend. It was a mess when I dragged it home but I've given it a decent "restoration". Just need to road test it to make sure the brakes work right.





Looking much better now:

 

Yikes on those tires.

 

Yup. Original from 2003 and I'm confident the wheels had never been off the trailer before I took them off. It was only 3 or 4 miles of 30 mph back roads to get home but it was still sketchy.

 

Inspect / pack those bearings