Towing Question

[PilotguyR6]

Hey everybody. I am planning my annual pilgrimage to the EAA Airventure in Oshkosh, WI this July. Its not so much a pilgrimage I guess because I only live about 2 hours away but its a little bit of a drive anyways. I am renting a travel trailer again this year but this one is a little bit bigger than last years. Its a 33' Jay Flight trailer that weighs in around 6300lbs loaded up. I have a 3:55 Bighorn Quad Cab ED with a tow capacity of 7810lbs. I have been looking into all the numbers for a few weeks now trying to see if I bit off more than I can chew and so far it seems I;m within my trucks limits. Any suggestions or things I should look out for with this setup so far? I am planning on using a weight distribution hitch when I tow it. I also have been trying to figure out what classification of hitch comes standard, I am assuming is a class 4 with a 10000lbs limit, would that be correct? Let me know what you all think.

Matt

 

[JSchneib]

Hi Matt,
I towed my 30' travel trailer with my '15 ED. Trailer was more like 7500 loaded and my truck tow capacity was 8950. It did okay, struggled a bit on the big hills in Colorado and ran a little warm going up the mountains. Wind was also a factor for speed and gas mileage. I think your truck will do it if you are paitent and take your time.
John.

 

[Mic Tod]

Hi Matt,
I towed my 30' travel trailer with my '15 ED. Trailer was more like 7500 loaded and my truck tow capacity was 8950. It did okay, struggled a bit on the big hills in Colorado and ran a little warm going up the mountains. Wind was also a factor for speed and gas mileage. I think your truck will do it if you are paitent and take your time.
John.

Do you know what kind of mileage you got towing?

 

[JSchneib]

Do you know what kind of mileage you got towing?

Usually around 13. Sometimes as high as16 and as low as 11. Depended on wind and nice flat roads.

 

[issanni]

My suggesting is, be patient with the truck, don't try to push it too hard especially if the temps outside are pretty high. I towed a 20' car hauler loaded to over 7500 lbs last week in 95+ degree temps and the truck did fine but saw the temp creeping up to a point where I wasn't comfortable and pulled over to stretch and let the truck cool down. Got about 13-14 mpg towing this trip loaded and about 14-15mpg empty due to headwind all the way home.
Got 16-17mpg towing the same trailer a couple weeks earlier on the same route loaded to about 5-6klbs and get 18-18.8mpg towing the trailer empty.

I use Hot Shot Secrets EDT in my truck and I love the extra power it seems to have when using it. I've seen my average unloaded/not towing mpg go up by 1-3 mpg after I started using EDT.

 

[StevenB]

I have a heavy (almost maxing out) 34 foot TT and tow it with my '15 crew cab short bed Eco fairly fine. I added the Air Lift 1000 bags to the rear of my truck and that helped with smoothing the ride and removing the squat. Took about an hour to install at home. Claiming hills I see my temps increase but this past weekend I cruised at 55-60 on the flat freeway in 100-108* air temps and I was more than pleased with my coolant, oil and trans temps. I was getting 12-13 mpg on the freeway.

Like issanni said - just be patient. I'm not afraid to climb hills while towing, you just gotta know when to take it easy.