Looking at toyhaulers

[amxguy]

I retired in April, 2011 and am new at this. We have never owned a camper and need input. We are looking for toy haulers and need input from toy hauler owners. We want to make a good decision since we will be traveling about four months or more per year. We have looked at Voltage, Fusion, and Cyclones. Any feed back would be appreciated on these or others we should maybe look at.

[historyljc]

Hi amxguy. Welcome to the forum. With what are you planning on pulling your 5ver? What kind of toys are you taking along? I'm sure some of our toy hauler folks will be giving you the benefit of their experience soon.

[SarahW]

Howdy AMXGuy and welcome to the forum. Good luck in the search and congrats on the retirement.

[Steve N Sal]

Welcome to the forum amxguy. Hope you enjoy your retirement and your future travels down the road. Good luck in the search for that new rig. Be safe and Happy Motoring!!!!

[MSHappyCampers]

Hi folks! Welcome to IRV2! Happy to have you with us! Good luck & God bless!

[amxguy]

I'll be pulling with a 2000 F350 diesel dually. My toys are a 2003 Harley Electaglide Classic and a 2008 Goldwing trike with trailer.

[SmokeyWren]

The biggest mistake most toy hauler buyers make is buying too much trailer for their tow vehicle (TV), but after investing in the trailer they're too broke to upgrade their TV. So they wind up overloaded.

To prevent that from happening to you, determine the GVWR and GCWR of your tow vehicle. The GVWR will be on the door sticker that includes the VIN and tire info. The GCWR will either be in the Owner's Guide or Towing Guide. Then fill it with family, friends, pets, tools, floor jack, hitch parts that will be in/on the TV when towing, and other stuff that will usually be in the TV when towing the toy hauler. Then go to a truckstop that has a CAT scale. Fill up with fuel, then weigh the wet and loaded TV including driver and all the other folks and stuff.

Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded TV from the GVWR of the TV to determine max hitch weight you can have without being overloaded. Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded TV from the GCWR to determine the max weight of any trailer you can tow without being overloaded.

If the trailer is a travel trailer (TT, bumper pull), divide the max hitch weight you can have by 12 percent to determine the max weight of any TT you can tow without being overloaded.

Most wet and loaded tow haulers will have a hitch of about 17 or 18 percent of gross trailer weight. So divide the max hitch weight you can have by 18 percent to determine the max weight of any 5er toy hauler you can tow without being too much trailer for your TV.

On TVs with single rear wheels (SRW), the limiter is usually the GVWR of the TV. On TVs with dual rear wheels, the limiter is usually the GCWR. Figure both ways, then use the number that results in the lighter trailer.

Don't try to guess at the trailer weight. Use the GVWR of the trailer as the wet and loaded trailer weight for purposes of matching trailer to TV, and you'll usually be close to the real world. Some trailer manufacturers don't include the GVWR of the trailer in their specs. In that case, add the shipping weight or "dry" weight to the cargo capacity to get GVWR of the trailer.

[SmokeyWren]

Quote:

Originally Posted by amxguy I'll be pulling with a 2000 F350 diesel dually.

I was posting at the same time as you. Here's some numbers for your TV:

GVWR = 11,200

GCWR = 20,000

Your truck will weigh about 8,500 to 9,000 when wet and loaded for the road. If you use 8,500, that leaves 2,700 pounds for max hitch weight. 2,700 divided by 18% = 15,000 if GVWR is your limiter.

But in your case, GVWR is not your limiter. Your GCWR is 20,000, minus 8,500 for the wet and loaded TV = 11,500. So your max trailer weight is 11,500.

Looking at Fusion specs, all of the 5ers are too much trailer for your TV. Fusion has two travel trailer toy haulers that will work for you with wet and loaded weights less than 11,500. Models 260 with GVWR of 11,290, and model 295 with GVWR of 11,400.
Keystone Fuzion | Specs

Ford significantly increased the GVWR and GCWR of the 2005-'10 diesel pickups. 2005-'10 F-350 DRW has a GVWR of 13,000 pounds, and GCWR of 23,500. The trucks are heavier, so use 9,000 as the wet and loaded weight of your truck. That leaves a max hitch weight of 4,000 and a max trailer weight of 14,500. So if you trade up to a 2005 or newer F-350 DRW, you can tow the biggest TT Fusions, models 300 or 301, without being overloaded. But the lightest Fusion 5er toy hauler has a wet and loaded weight of 16,500. So you cannot tow it with an F-350 DRW before 2011 model year without being overloaded, unless the truck has the Tow Boss pkg.

For 2008 thru 2010 model years, Ford offered a "Tow Boss" pkg for F-350 DRW which raised the GCWR to 26,000 pounds. Those are rare, but if you find a used one that will probably be enuff truck for your Fusion 5er. Otherwise, if you want to tow a Fusion toy hauler 5er without being overloaded, you need a 2008.5-up F-450 pickup, or a 2011-up F-350 DRW.