New Toy Hauler! Need Some Recommendations

I agree with other peoples recommendations to get a bigger truck.

 

I'll got outside in a few and let you know. The truck doesn't bounce all the time. Most of the time you don't feel anything I'm just looking at making it better. I've done my research and I probably won't even go with airbags as it seems like they aren't as effective with it already having a WDH

 

I'll stick with my Tundra it does the job just fine

 

If it’s within specs you should be just fine! Seems like nobody will answer the question simply because they are upset that your toy hauler is within capabilities of your truck?
Yes it’s long, but the truck isn’t even squatting. It’s sitting level. The OP isn’t an idiot, he probably drives safely, and if anything, he actually looked for something within his capacities.

just let him do his thing. He obviously cares about keeping everything within specs. He was just asking a simple question. I understand that this trailer looks too long, but if the trailer has been engineered well, and we know the truck is engineered well, he should be good to go.

as for the original question, yes, get some tires that have the three peak snowflake on then. Les Schwab sells an all terrain (mazama all terrain) and it does well in snow and has the three peak snowflake. Now sure about towing in the snow, but as long as you have a brake Controller to center the trailer behind the truck if it slides, you should be somewhat good. Towing in the snow will likely always be sketchy. As always, I would recommend E rated tires (10 ply), and get the highest rated trailer tires, and If you can, get USA made tires. However, if your trailer and truck tires are rated or the load I wouldn’t worry about it too much. At that point you would only need to upgrade for better winter traction.

airbags help a lot with load management. Of course, they don’t replace equilizer bars, but they do help the truck handle the weight tremendously. They do give a harsher ride though, especially when empty. I have air bags on my first Gen (which used to squat with any sort of trailer, more than likely worn out leaf springs) and they work like a champ. When/if you purchase them, however, buy a portable off road (not a cheapie from Home Depot or orielies) well made air compressor for inflating those bags.

 

I appreciate the recommendation I will look into those tires

I've done my research online and have consulter with people I know who tow campers on a regular basis. If I felt like the truck would not be capable of towing the camper I would have went with something else. The safety of my family is my number one priority so I needed to make sure that it was safe. I spent the last year researching campers and narrowed it down to this one.

Also if you guys/gals are ever in the market for a camper I recommend Cheyenne Camping Center in Walcott Iowa. I saved $5,000.00 by taking the trip there over local dealerships here in Colorado

 

The catch 22 is everything you do to add stability (e rated tires/air bags/ sway bars etc) adds weight which puts him that much further over GVWR so it is hard to make a good recommendation.

Regarding tires on the TH, IMO the first destination after picking up a new travel trailer should be to the tire shop for tires that aren't made in China. My father in law had 2 of the 4 China-bombs on his rig explode on the highway before he switched all of them out. One of the blowouts did a couple grand worth of damage...

 

Its all in the math that's why you can't just jump into buying things to add to the truck because the weight matters so much. I went on a diet just to make sure the load can be as low as possible

I will take a look at those tires the next time I got out to the lot where I store the camper, I never thought about that so thank you

 

Yes that is true! My WDH weights like 80-100 pounds. I’ve never weighed it before but dang it’s sure heavy.

 

Is the bouncy ride on concrete roads with expansion joints? If so not much you can do but I have seen that you can add shocks to your trailer axles. It’s supposed to help out.

It’s the way the force of the trailer pushes against the truck whenever you hit a joint in the road. It happens whenever you pull any trailer.

 

You got it! that's when I feel the bounce

 

To answer your question about tires the best snow tires I have had are Firestone Winterforce. But those are strictly winter tires.

Nice camper!

 

Thank you!

 

Wow. That thing is sweet! Winter tires are the best on ice, but maybe not for towing. If your looking for "better" i've been pretty pleased with my BFG KO2's as an all-terrain tire. Durable and rides well even with E load rating. You can pump up the pressure to help with the weight of the hitch in the back. Others seem to like the Cooper XLT AT3's i think. All terrains are great in Colorado as we get snow, sun, ice, and heat waves within a few hours or a few hundred miles as you know.

PSA / soapbox: Folks, please check your door jam for your payload capacity. My SR5 reads 1,265 lbs fwiw. I have 500 lbs of people / dog in my family (with that number to increase as i get fatter and my 2 kids grow) so i shouldn't rock this hauler with my Tundra no matter how awesome and inviting it might be...Be safe out there people!

 

OP. I live at 6500' in Utah. I just switched from running on Duratracs for 5 years to a set of BFG T/A KO2's. The Duratracs were hands down better than the KO2's in the snow.

My cousin also lives here and has a house up on a mountain at like 9000'. His driveway is insane. He has run everything from KO2's to Duratracs to Toyos to some off name brand he got from the local tire shop(I think they were rebadged cooper all terrains). He said the KO2's are his least favorite in the snow.

People generally say they love whatever all terrain they have simply because they are probably better than whatever dog crap all-season came on their truck from the factory.

The KO2's do feel a little firmer and more stable on dry pavement than my D-tracs did though, but they are a little louder as well.

I just died.

 

*** Not all K02's have the 3 peak severe weather rating. So if you go that route be aware that it varies by size. Also don't run MAX psi and an empty bed. This is the first year i'm planning to run KO2's year round and not swap out for Blizzaks (non-studded winter tire) in the winter. So far so good, but i also drive accordingly. I find it helpful to know how much better snow tires are than AT/ All season's (as mass-hole mentioned above) so that when you are on i70 in a group of cars on ice thinking your "doing fine" you realize you are one mistake / momentum disruption away from catastrophe.

 

Slow day at work so I started looking up tires and their weight. I'm either sticking with the same size or bumping them up just a bit

Bridgestone Dueler H/L Alenza (Stock)

P275/55/20 – 42lbs - $195.00

Bridgestone A/T Revo 3

P275/55/20 – 41lbs - $229.99

LT275/55/20 – 48lbs - $270.99

P275/60/20 – 41lb - $251.99

Goodyear Wrangler TrailRunner AT

P275/55/20 – 37lbs - $215.00

P275/60/20 – 40lbs - $173.61

Goodyear Wrangler All-Terrain Adventure W/Kevlar*

P275/55/20 – 41lbs - $236.99

P275/60/20 – 45lbs - $247.99

Firestone Destination A/T2

P275/55/20 – 40lbs - $215.99

P275/60/20 – 42lbs - $220.99

Firestone Destination A/T2

P275/55/20 – 40lbs - $215.99

P275/60/20 – 42lbs - $220.99

General Grabber A/TX

P275/55/20 – 46lbs - $207.99

LT275/55/20 – 57lbs - $214.99

LT275/60/20 – 58lbs - $240.99

BFG All-Terrain T/A KO2

LT275/55/20 – 53lbs - $232.57

LT275/60/20 – 55lbs - $259.99

Sumitomo Encounter AT

P275/55/20 – 48lbs - $211.99

P275/60/20 – 49lbs - $217.99


Yokohama Geolander A/T G015

P275/55/20 – 41lbs – $200.99

P275/60/20 – 45lbs - $203.99

Hankook Dynapro AT2

P275/55/20 – 41lbs - $201.53

LT275/55/20 – 55lbs - $250.61

P275/60/20 – 45lbs - $204.85

LT275/60/20 – 57lbs - $255.81

Kumho Road Venture AT51

P275/55/20 – 45lbs - $186.00

P275/60/20 – 44lbs - $190.00

Falken Wildpeak A/T3W A

P275/55/20 – 44lbs - $223.69

Toyo Open Country A/T III

P275/55/20 – 42lbs - $243.35

P275/60/20 – 42lbs - $265.64

Cooper Discoverer AT3 XLT

LT275/55/20 – 55lbs - $232.99

LT275/60/20 – 56lbs - $275.99

 

I would seriously suggest Goodyear Duratracs and Goodyear Ultraterrains(Discount tire exclusive I believe) to the list if you want a solid snow tire.

 

I'm not here for the thread. I just love the handle @mass-hole

What a genius this dude is ... [this is a COMPLIMENT, not being sarcastic, no one start a slap fight)

That one is hard to beat

 

Nice toyhauler.
Weight seems reasonable. It is big. But if the numbers work and it's stable that's all that matters.

Trailer tires- Maxxis M8008. Do your research, I'll bet it leads to them. I've been happy with them on 2 different campers.

Tires- I just went with the Cooper AT3 XLT. If you require the 3 peaks rating then I'd recommend the Falken AT3W. Load E for either.

 

The name used to be maSS-hole because I lived in MA, and had a Trailblazer SS. I've kept the name but the not longer live in MA nor have a TBSS so it doesn't really fit anymore

 

Get load range 'E' tires, I picked Cooper AT3 XLT size 275/60/R20. IME the stock goodyear Duratracs are far too soft/wobbly for towing. IMO this will make the biggest difference. Yes, these are 3-peak snowflake tires.

Ignore the door jamb pressure, use this as a starting point for pressure:
https://www.tundras.com/threads/how-to-determine-your-new-air-pressure-with-lt-tires.56860/

I tried to get some real world pressures that people run, didn't get very far:
https://www.tundras.com/threads/what-pressure-do-you-run-when-towing-with-e-rated-tires.83294/

I'm planning on 65PSI Front and 70PSI rear for our towing.

Also:
- TRD rear sway bar
- Airbags or sumo springs (I went with the latter)
- Good WDH of course

What shocks does that night shade come with? Get bilstein 4600 or 5100 if you want an upgrade from the stock 'black' shocks. If yours are the same as the TRD 4x4 or Sport shocks then don't bother.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

What's the dry hitch weight? Typically the advertised weights from the manufacturer are just that, the dry hitch weight. Toy Haulers are also know to have a higher hitch weight. Looking at how much trailer is forward of the axles I have a hard time believing that 785 isn't the dry weight.

 

https://cheyennecampingcenter.com/i...rey-wolf-26mbrr-toy-hauler-travel-trailer-437

 

Looks like unloaded is 5400, max loaded 7800. You've got a lot of flexibility with the toyhaulers on how you balance your cargo. They have more tongue weight empty, because the cargo hold is rear of the trailer axles.

I had a keystone tailgator that sagged my Tundra really bad until I had the toyhauler cargo area loaded up. That's the one downside to the toyhaulers, they don't like being towed empty.

 

I will say I love my General Grabber ATX's I have towed in some crappy conditions and they did really well. That being said, I didn't have a giant box behind me catching wind just a heavy equipment trailer. One thing I will say is you will have to play around with the proper inflation. For max towing I had my tires at 72psi up front and 75psi in the rear that seemed to be the sweet spot

 

Doesn't look that bad to me, hitch weights mentioned earlier aren't bad either. But since it's BIG, expect it will try to sway the truck on windy days or when big rigs pass.

 

Agree. It's only 500lbs heavier than my current Greywolf 26BH. I pulled the 26BH all up and down the east coast with my Tundra, it was effortless. I pull the same camper now with my Armada.
I can't say enough good things about the Equalizer WDH.

 

The OEM's are putting Duratracs on 1 ton trucks from the factory. I dont think they would do that if they couldnt handle a trailer.

I've towed 3 years with mine through the Rockies and in some extremely nasty crosswinds without issue.