Short bed 3/4 ton Cummins and 29' 5th
I just pulled a 2011 Jayco Eagle Super Lite from Vegas to Utah to Seattle last month. Its 29' 10,000 gross, has the long pin box standard and radius front cap. I pulled it with my 2002 3/4 ton Dodge short bed quad cab 4x4 Cummins w auto and 4.10 gears. It has stock size tires and suspension. It has the trailer towing and camper packages and is rated to tow a 11,450 lb gooseneck. I have a gooseneck adapter that hooks to a flip over ball in my truck bed.
I could tell I was towing, and had to plan for merging etc., but I never got worried. I backed it up into a tight space over a slope and worked it into and out of tight campgrounds and drove 55 to 65 on the highways. I'm a small single woman in my late fifties and it didn't worry me at all.
I could tell it was back there with a bit of porpoising on rough stretches, but not bad and didn't feel out of control. I took a four hour "short cut" to bypass Salt Lake City on a barely two lane twisty windy in the mountains through a reservation with loose cattle grazing and never felt out of control. I never saw high crosswords though.
I had to U turn real tight several times into steep ditches and back out with my truck tilted one way and my fiver the other. I kept my neck on a swivel and saw I always had clearance.
I'm real happy I stayed with the short bed quad cab SRW rather than going to a long bed crew cab dually. I can get in and out of spots that I just couldn't make otherwise. I've been hitting the forest service roads weekends looking for trout streams and will be able to get into spots a bigger truck couldn't go.
For sure a big long dually would be more stable at speeds, but I like my shorty just fine. And I'm real happy to NOT have a two hundred pound hitch in my bed!
Namaste
Kate
Your mileage may vary. Professional drivers on a closed course, do not attempt at home. If you see symptoms including diahrea, vomiting, eyes bleeding, or swolen nasal passages, seek professional help.
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