What vehicle is "big" enough?

[retired2001]

My neighbor just bought a 1983 Avion TT which has been kept in an airplane hanger (looks brand new). It is close to 30 feet long and according to him weighs around 8500#. Now for the question, what vehicle should he look for to pull this TT? I have experiance with 5th Wheels and MH's, but not bumper pulls. Any advice would be appreciated. It was "delivered" to him behind a Suburban. Thanks! Bob

[retired2001]

My neighbor just bought a 1983 Avion TT which has been kept in an airplane hanger (looks brand new). It is close to 30 feet long and according to him weighs around 8500#. Now for the question, what vehicle should he look for to pull this TT? I have experiance with 5th Wheels and MH's, but not bumper pulls. Any advice would be appreciated. It was "delivered" to him behind a Suburban. Thanks! Bob

[RustyJC]

What's the Avion's GVWR? If it really is going to hit the road at 8500 lbs, a 2500-series Suburban adequately equipped should handle it. I suggest that he use Ken Lenger's spreadsheet HERE when he's ready to go vehicle shopping.

Rusty

[TXiceman]

AS a general rule, that size Avion will need a 3/4 ton truck, Suburban or pick up, your choice.

You will need the larger gas engine and in my opinion, the 4.10 axle.

We tow a like sized Silver Streak and tried towing it with a 5.7L, Burb with a 4.10 axle. It would pull it, but we got 7.4 MPG at 60 MPH and lost speed on the hills. We had moved out of a 36.5' Avion 5er and towed it with a 1 ton diesel dually. The diesel dis a better job towing about 7000# more combined load than the Burb did. We are keeping the diesel and sold the Burb.

You seldom hear of any complaining about having too much truck, but you sure hear about not having enough truck.

Work through the spread sheet as noted above and make sure you are within manufacturers ratings.

Ken

[WA4SLC]

My Travel Trailer's dry weight is about 8700 lbs. When I weighted it on the CAT scales at a truck stop it's true weight the way I pull it down the road is closer to 10,000 lbs.
I pull mine with a 2004 Dodge Ram 2500 with the Cummins diesel. My truck does a good job with my TT. Your neighbor needs to make sure he gets a good hitch and sets it up acording to the instructions that come with it. With that much weight the tow vehicle needs to have load range E tires. They have stiffer side walls that help prevent sway and have a higher load rating than the P-Metric tires.
My setup is very comfortable to drive, because the truck can handle the weight and the hitch is set up properly.

[Randy the sly old fox]

Checking the old Chevy Truck web site and I found that the 07 3/4T Burb is rated for 9700lbs of trailer in 4x2 and 9400 in 4x4. Probably not enough for a TT with a dry wt of 8500 lbs. A 3/4T Truck with the same engine is rated around 12,000lbs of TT depending on model. If you change over to a DuraMax you can handle 13000 lbs.

[xc-mark]

IMHO you shound never figure on towing with somthing thats more then 70% of the OEM rating . ex if the OEM says you can tow 10,000 lbs figure it will do OK (not good) with 7000 lbs. If your going into the mountains or it over 4000' high or hot reduce that margine to 60% of max OEM spec. Long distance towing diesel is the only way to go if your moving over 5000 lbs. the GM 8.1 L truck pull very good and the same can be said about Ford and Dodge V-10 gas motors . Bottom line is 3/4 ton truck/ suv with 4.10 gearing and 280 hp min unless all your doing is going across town (and its not over a mountain).

Any 1996 and newer diesel will pull it just fine with 3.73 or more gearing.more power less gear is fine .

[bobinyelm]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">IMHO you shound never figure on towing with somthing thats more then 70% of the OEM rating . ex if the OEM says you can tow 10,000 lbs figure it will do OK (not good) with 7000 lbs. If your going into the mountains or it over 4000' high or hot reduce that margine to 60% of max OEM spec. Long distance towing diesel is the only way to go if your moving over 5000 lbs. the GM 8.1 L truck pull very good and the same can be said about Ford and Dodge V-10 gas motors . Bottom line is 3/4 ton truck/ suv with 4.10 gearing and 280 hp min unless all your doing is going across town (and its not over a mountain). </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Your formula may work great for gassers, but diesels change the equation a bit.

I have a 1-ton Ford 7.3 liter Powerstroke van with 3.55 gearing (4.10 WOULD be better) that is rated to tow 10,000 pounds, and using a PullRite and Hensley Arrow hitch to tow a 34ft enclosed cargo trailer weighing 12,000 pounds, the van does very well.

Handling and braking are more than adequate (absolutely NO sway), and power is reasonable despite the rated 215hp.

I have over 30,000 mi towing this combination and engine, transmission, and van are like new. In fact, after 80,000 towing miles (w/ various trailers) out of the 93,000 on the van, I still have 50% of my original brake pads left, and the original tires lasted 62,000 miles.

BTW, I get 12mpg towing 12,000#, 15mpg towing 6000#, or 18mpg towing 3500#. 20mpg empty is the usual.

One does have to have patience when towing such loads, but if you are willing to let your horsepower set the pace, and you have a good hitch and brake controller, diesels will deliver the goods.

Bob

[Ray,IN]

xc-mark, Your percentage is ultra-conservative. The generally accepted percentage is 80% of vehicles rated capacity.
To the OP; This TT weight calculator is great for determining what tow vehicle you need or maximum size of TT for your tow vehicle. You'll notice all the weight calculators use a safety margin of 20%.

[TXiceman]

If you know your true weights of the truck and trailer, I see no reason not to go on up to full GVWR and GCWR. if you are working with estimated weights, I'd stick to no more than 80% of the vehicles rated tow capacity.

With our 5er and dually, we were right at GCWR, fine on GVWR. Now the truck is a diesel and I would not push a gasser to that kind of limits.

Ken

[xc-mark]

xc-mark, Your percentage is ultra-conservative. The generally accepted percentage is 80% of vehicles rated capacity.


Yes it is! But when I have traveled in a pack its not much fun waiting for my dad to craw up hills at 35~40 mph when I can steam up hills at the speed limit with a lot more weight....