Tow journey to the Frozen Tundra

The journey began Monday the 21st. Starting north of Denver and finishing 3 days later in Battle Lake, MN. 950 miles. I’ve pulled a couple trailers, boats, etc. over the years but this was the longest and heaviest I’ve done.

First about the trailer: it’s a 2014 Northwood Artic Fox 25y. Built for 4 seasons dry weight 6800lbs. We loaded it with about 2500lbs of our personal belongings as we have moved north.

On to the hitch, it’s a weight distribution hitch by Equal-I-zer. With the truck empty sitting in my level garage I measured from the floor to the top of the wheel well and wrote it on a piece of painters tape.

After loading the bed with some heavy tools and valuables, I remeasured with gaining a 1/4” of height. Attaching the empty trailer I gained almost 2”. I adjusted the hitch and got back to my original distance of an empty bed.


We loaded the trailer, and the gain was a mere 3/4”. An amazing hitch system and worth every penny of the $875.


This truck took tremendous care of my wife and I along with our golden retriever. We sometimes had to lock it in 4hi traveling through icy two lane roads of northern Nebraska and South Dakota. We felt very safe and confident on the dry interstate going 73mph.

Tank average for the journey was 7mpg.

Thanks for reading I’d recommend this truck/hitch combo to pull near ANYTHING ANYWHERE!!

 

Thanks for the info!

 

Thanks for the report on the hitch. I'm thinking of upgrading from a round bar style. I haven't heard anything bad about the Equal-I-zer.

-Jason

 

I’m definitely sold. What are you pulling Jason?

 

No doubt a nice move in winter no less. A few others here have posted hitting mpg in the 7's when trailering a decent load. Should be plenty of decent fishing at your new place in MN!

 

wow man, awesome! great photo too

 

Thanks for the info. Did you use the stock brake controller?

 

Great write up, one thing confusing me. Thought you'd be going South for the winter.

 

Truck looks great with that camper behind it. Travel trailer camping is the reason we upgraded from a Tacoma to the Tundra. Everything we liked was more than I would feel comfortably and safely towing with the Tacoma. Wife gave the go-ahead to upgrade so to the dealer we went. We've still not 100% decided on the camper we want but we got sites booked at least.

Got any more pics of the places you've been?

 

Great info, thanks!

 

I'm pulling a 25 ft. Rockwood probably 6500 ish fully loaded. Last trip to Key West I averaged around 10 mpg, at 65mph.

-Jason

 

Yes stock controller worked without issue

 

Yes- more than once when stopping for gas folks asked me ‘how far south you going?’ LOLZ!!

 

Awesome picture! Thanks for the write up as well.

 

How was the road noise? The Truck King Challenge guys claim the 5.7 howls like a banshee when towing.

 

4K rpm is a little loud