Help deciding. New travle trailer.

[Amrya]

Gah we see struggling. Our tow vehicle is a grand cherokee trailhalk with the v8 engine.

We are strugling between the following three trailers.
1) 2017 venture sonic 220 vbh
2) 2015 Minnie winnabego 2451 bhs (never used)
3) jayco flight 26bh

None are a perfect fit. We are worried about weight with the Winnie and jayco would they be too heavy for the jeep. We are planing a 9 week cross canada tour up and over the Rockies. The worries with the sonic is the lack of space for our family of 4 (and border collie) also hubs will be working on this trip so it's necessary for him to have a good space to set up. Thank you all for any help you can give

[Amrya]

Oh and we have also taken the added precaution of installing a strong anti sway (who's name escapes me atm) system.

[Amrya]

Thanks everyone. With the GC trail halk we went with the sonic. After all the math we will be fine both with tow capacity and weight limits being well under both gvwr, cvwr, toung weight etc.

Not only did we do the math, but had our numbers checked by our driving instructor (separate company who's sole company's job is to instruct long hall drivers)

We are all excited for this adventure

[westend]

I'd suggest that you understand the implications of exceeding the payload rating of your new vehicle. With presumed weights of passengers, cargo, WDH, and trailer tongue weight, you'll be right up against the payload rating of the vehicle.

If you are not understanding this rating, just ask. There have been other members on this Forum that have taken anecdotal information as gospel and have lost quite a bit of money trying to recover the use of their vehicle or upgrading, later.

[Amrya]

Thank you!!!

We are going with the small sonic just need to have the kids do a "bunk test"

Kids are tiny 5y old is under 40 lbs and 8y old is under 50!

[sam22]

I had no issue towing our 26ft trailer for over 12 000km last summer with our 2015 grand Cherokee, and it was only the V6. The trailer was 4600lbs dry weight. It was just two of us, so you'll have more weight in the car but the V8 can handle that. The payload for the grand Cherokee V8 is frustratingly low and I don't really understand why it's so low when the car weighs only about 5300lbs but has a GVWR of 6800. The axles are also rated to handle more than the payload limit.

We didn't go fast and some big mountain climbs slowed us down quite a bit, but I was never worried. It towed great during flash floods in Oklahoma and though +42C weather in New Mexico! I wouldn't want to tow anything longer than 26ft. The Grand Cherokee is a beautiful car!

[westend]

The absolute limit of what you can tow will be limited by the "Payload" rating of the vehicle. In other words, if that loading sticker mentioned previously says "1050 LBs", the weight of all passengers, all cargo, the weight distributing hitch, and the tongue weight of the trailer should all total less than 1050 lbs. Another wrinkle is that you can't go by the advertised, listed tongue weight. After you load the camping stuff, a battery, and some propane, that tongue weight will go up substantially. It will end up around 13% of the trailer's total weight.

[rexlion]

Amrya wrote:
I am finding some of this very confusing as our suv has a class IV hitch rated for 100 lbs. The trailers we are looking at are less than 450 in touch get weight. Are you possibly confusing the cherokee with the Grand cherokee?

I should back up a step, and explain that the hitch rating (1100 lbs tongue weight you refer to) is the rating for the hitch receiver that's attached to the bottom rear of the Jeep. It is not the rating for the Jeep itself. All I meant the other day was that your hitch is plenty stout. The rear suspension, the attachment points, and other factors come into play. I just looked at the 2014 GC owner manual I have, and for the 5.7L 4wd model it says 7200 lbs max towing with 720 lbs max on the hitch. Check your manual when you can because they can change the numbers sometimes.

[drsteve]

This means that the receiver assembly on your Jeep can handle 1100 pounds of trailer tongue weight when a WD hitch is used. It has no bearing on the GVWR or the axle ratings of the vehicle. It just means that it will not be the limiting factor.

RAWR stands for rear axle weight rating.

[Amrya]

That is 1100 lbs. Phone dropped a 1

[Amrya]

I am finding some of this very confusing as our suv has a class IV hitch rated for 100 lbs. The trailers we are looking at are less than 450 in touch get weight. Are you possibly confusing the cherokee with the Grand cherokee?

[westend]

Amrya wrote:
OK that's Greek... need some education here. Rawr? Will have the GC in hand on Friday. Again. Thank you all so much for your help with this.

There will be a loading sticker on the driver's side door jamb, "Passengers and cargo should not exceed XXX lbs." This will be your vehicle's payload rating. The vehicle will have to be capable of handling all the weights involved, including the trailer's tongue weight and the weight of a WDH.

[Amrya]

Thankfully my lightest ppl all weight less than 40 lbs! Dog included. 🙂 looking it up now

[afidel]

Rear axle weight rating, how much of the overall weight can be put on the rear axle. A good weight distribution hitch can help transfer some of the weight from the rear to the front, but there are limits. Basically you might find that you need to put the lightest people in the back and put essentially zero cargo on or behind the rear axle other than the trailer and weight distribution hitch to keep that number down. Once you get the vehicle load everyone and a full tank of gas and hit the nearest CAT scale and figure out how much your loaded vehicle weighs and how much is on each axle, that will tell you how much you can add and how much of it can be on the rear axle.

[drsteve]

In the flatlands, for weekend trips to the state park, I'd say go for it. What you're contemplating, I'd say no. Even with the Sonic, which is still going to be probably 5000 lb loaded for camping, with a tongue weight of 650 lb or more, you're looking at white knuckle towing.