Yahooligan wrote:

There's more to towing than simple wheelbase to trailer length ratios and basic weights.

FWIW, my '05 Titan has a wheelbase of 139.8".

An '05 Ram 2500 regular cab long bed and quad-cab short bed have a wheelbase of 140.5". A whole 0.7" more. Guess what? The shorter-wheelbase trucks (Quad cab long bed are 160.5" wheelbase) have a higher tow capacity, much higher than my Titan.

So anyone that wants to go after a 1/2-ton truck owner for towing a trailer that's "too long" for its wheelbase has their work cut out for them

Keith99RS wrote:



TY for your uneducated post. The Titan towing is rated from 9100-9500lbs. I am towing a 30ft TT. Max GVWR of it is 8,000lbs. I tow usually a tad over 7500lbs. No issue with grade, no smoked brakes on the truck. 80,000 miles I am on my second set of rotors and pads. Your trailer brakes should be adjusted so your truck is not doing the stopping for both. Ford even states this in their tow guide. No truck is designed to stop itself and it's max tow load repeatedly with little or no assistance from the trailer. Please illustrate to us where I or others are unsafe if we are within design parameters of the truck.

jmtandem wrote:

Keith,

Sounds to me from your response to the "80 percent rule" question, that those towing need to know thet weights they are towing. How many have weighed their trailer, weighed their tongue and then weighed the payload including themselves for the truck's load? I would suspect not that many. More interesting and a disservice to the RV community are the sales tactics of only talking in terms of dry weights. The only time that trailer is at 'dry weight' is taking it home the first time.

Having questioned the eighty percent rule and agree totally with you about not knowing exactly what somebody's trailer really weighs, I don't send a boy to do a man's job. I tow a Pacific Coachworks 299bhs Tango trailer with a turbo diesel one-ton truck. Needless to say, it works very well. It goes without saying I don't 'fall on my face' climbing hills. And I even have a tongue scale to be sure I am in the 13 percent ball park. While I find little comfort in the 80 percent rule, I think that a 30+ foot trailer warrants considerable thought about what will be used to tow it. I like plenty of reserve power, rated sea level power at alitiude in the mountains that comes with a turbo diesel, and 19+ mpg not towing so I drive my signature truck. Everywhere I tow, there are long grades up to eight percent for as many as seven or eight miles without a break, leaving Reno for Sacramento is a mostly steady 35 mile climb to Truckee, then another eight miles of steeper clmbing to Donner summit at 7300 feet. Diesels are incredibly popular around here as the hills are flattened by the engine. It is the long long hills that really shows whether the manufacturer has the tow ratings dialed in or if it is sales hype.

jmtandem wrote:

ej,

Nice sarcasism but seriously your are under in your tongue weight. If you are really at 8000 pounds trailer weight, the tongue should be 10-15 percent or 800 to about 1200 pounds. Good luck and happy towing.

DavidP wrote:

I agree! Anything over 26 Feet you need atleast an F350
dually.

DavidP wrote:



I agree! Anything over 26 Feet you need atleast an F350
dually.