First Time Towing an RV

First time pulling anything with The Beast, first time getting an RV. The Wife and I decided on the Grey Wolf 22BH Bunkhouse. Weighs in at 4600 ish dry, GVWR of around 7600, well under max for the Tundra. A few notes: with the WDH, it hardly sags, and that is with no air bags. Tows it like a champ, definitely notice it back there, but not bad. One big thing to note, I have read lots of people having issues with the factory brake controller. Knock on wood, it all worked great. Just set the gain and go. Just my experience, hope it continues to work like it should. Was really worried today about picking it up and the brake controller not working. Just wanted to post my experience in case it helps someone out or puts them at ease.

 

Here's the best sideview.

 

Beautiful truck and RV my friend!

 

Right on! Looking good. It looks like you could benefit from air bags. I am thinking of installing for when I tow my boat.

 

I'm still debating it, I have read both ways where some say it helps, some say the WDH and bags fight each other which makes it bounce back and forth down the road. I am totally up to suggestions, and still weighing all the options.

 

Thank you sir!

 

I have no experience with both.

 

How many people sleep comfortably in that trailer? Shower cramped?

 

Comfortably? I'd say realistically 5 or 6 depending on size. One in each bunk, and the dining table turns into a bed that one adult or two kids could sleep in, and then two adults in the queen bed. The shower is an average RV shower, I'm 6'4 235 and I fit fine.

 

airbags made huge difference in ride quality over rough roads and big bumps. you dont want to use airbags to jack up back end with weight distribution hitch it needs the weight for the friction sway control to work properly. i just pump up airbags till the back of truck just started to move and checked pressure so now i just set them to 20psi and go. my tt is 7500 lbs. the trd rear sway bar really made difference for towing also

 

Glad the factory brake controller is working well!

Beautiful setup!

 

Gotcha, thanks for the advise. What did you notice different with the sway bar on?

 

Thank you! Hope it stays that way and doesn't wig out like others have said. Still no harness for the 18 for the P3 brake controller.

 

Agreed. Enjoy!

 

Beautiful truck and trailer. What's the tongue weight on the trailer? I'm in the same boat as you are. Debating on airbags myself. I'm towing a Mallard M33. Dry weight of 7900. My Tundra does a great job towing it with a WDH and sway bar. Have you camped anywhere yet?

 

Thank you! No we haven't camped yet, very soon though. Tongue wait is supposed to be 485, haven't measured it yet. 7900 lbs dry? Must be a good sized trailer, ours is around 4600 dry.

 

Nice set up! I tow a 37' Shadow Cruiser (7,000 lbs empty) just fine with my Tundra. I do have Helwig helper springs and a WHD with sway control. Probably towed about 3,000 miles total so far with no issues. I do not use the tow/haul mode. I do put it in shift mode and keep it 5 gear, 2,000 rpm at 60 mph on CA freeways. I get around 9 mpg. Happy camping!

 

So no issues pulling it up the CA hills? Do you have other passengers in the truck? I'll be doing some camping in the NC and VA mountains this winter and was curious about how it would handle that. I get about the same on the MPG's so far.

 

No issues on hills. Going up I5 over the Grapevine here from Southern California to Central California I am down to 45 mph at 3k rpm. It is a long grade if you're not familiar with it. I usually have myself and 2 others with me. The rest of the family in another vehicle. We have taken our trailer to Yosemite National Park the last 2 years, those have been our big trips. Also camped on the beach a half dozen times or so. Good times.

 

That sounds awesome!

 

Nice looking setup. The wife and I are about to get ourselves a Forest River Rockwood Roo 23FL. It'll be my first time towing with the Pro as well. GVWR is just under 6500 lbs w/ tongue of 750. I am trying to work WDH + sway into the deal. Thats all I'll have starting out. Hopefully it doesn't sag too bad.

 

That should be just fine. That GVWR is almost 1000lbs lighter than ours. I leveled out our truck, it has some slight rake, so similar to a pro. With the WDH the front is slightly higher than the rear, but you really have to look for it. We worked the WDH into the deal as well, and the deal we had somewhere else that we walked on. You just have to figure what you want to pay first then work the hitch in, seems like it's pretty common practice.

 

I made it abundantly clear I wasn't comfortable driving away without the WDH+sway and that was a deal breaker. They ended up throwing that in and even had a cool Vietnam vet show me how to hook it up and break it down between all his stories.

 

Do you have anything other than the WDH?

 

Nope just the WDH.

 

First time towing with my 5.7 tundra this weekend. Total trailer weight was around 6000 lbs. using. W. D. H. No airbags. Towed. Nice. no bounce, once i figured out how many links to use on WDH chain. If. I ran. At 65-70. M. P. H. Tow/haul mode Transmission was continually hunting for a gear. And I was getting aroun 8. M. P. G. But if I drove around 59-60 m p h. Transmission would stay in 5th or 6th gear on flat ground and I would get around 9. M. P. G. And seemed happier around 60. M. P. H. sleeping in trailer: my trailer has 2 queen beds that come down from the ceiling,, its a toyhauler trailer.. wife and I slept pretty good. the shower is small. quick showers only. as water supply is limited , dry camping. ( 2018 jayco 161 octane toyhauler, generator honda e3000is, strapped into the bed of the tundra.)

 

Your experience was really similar to ours. Took it out this weekend for a trial run. You kinda have to find that sweet spot where it isn't hunting for a gear, and the right mph. I found it seemed happiest around 60 mph, and that's where I was happy too.

 

Nice set up!

 

The factory brake controller has 2 settings, default is for trailers 5k and less, 2nd setting is for trailers up to 10k. It is changed in vehicle settings while trailer is plugged into truck.

 

I checked and did not see the difference. Only electric brakes and hydraulic brakes (something like that). Maybe I am missing something. My factory brake controller is darn near maxed out and still not "locking" up the trailer brakes. It def slows it down. Anyway, not trying to hyjack the thread. The Tundra did good towing the trailer and they did throw in the WDH W/ Sway.