PackerBacker
Active Member
- First Name
- Jon
- Joined
- Jul 13, 2019
- Threads
- 7
- Messages
- 40
- Reaction score
- 44
- Location
- De Pere (Green Bay area), WI
- Vehicle(s)
- '20 JT Sport S w/Max Tow
- Thread starter
- #1
TL;DR - The Gladiator did awesome towing our ~3900 lb camper and was light years better than our Honda Pilot that was rated for 5000 lb tow capacity.
Well, my family loaded up "Max", our JT Sport S with the Max Tow Package and took it on a 120 mile round trip camping weekend trip. This is our first pickup truck and loading stuff in the truck bed was great, especially when it came to hauling wood at the campsite and keeping bugs out of the cargo area when loading/unloading the truck bed. The JT did great maintaining 70mph in places with a 70mph speed limit and was incredibly stable. I checked all temperatures and everything was below normal temperature throughout the entire drive.
This is our first camper. Our history with the camper is that we towed it home in early June '19 with my wife's current generation Honda Pilot Elite (9 speed auto) AWD with the 5000lb tow package (hitch, harness + transmission cooler). After going on one family trip on county roads (owner manual says to not drive over 55 or 60 mph when towing with a Pilot, so the freeway was out of the question), we (my wife more than me) HATED towing with it. Even with the weight distribution hitch, the Pilot's relatively short wheelbase and fully independent suspension led to quite the squishy/bouncy ride -- apparently it's referred to as "teeter totter effect". Based on some research online, I knew it was time to call in a much longer wheelbase truck with at least a straight rear axle. After much debate with my wife about getting a full-size truck and many reasons to not do so now, my wife agreed to get the JT since it's marginally smaller than a full-size in terms of wheelbase and length. The payload and tow capacity of this Sport S with Max Tow were also very similar to some of the full-sized trucks with "the wrong gears" like the 3.21 Ram 1500 Laramie that I saw with a 14xx payload (lower than my 1533 lb payload in the JT) and ~8000lb towing. I mean no insult to Ram owners since they are super cool, and I'm sure we will end up in a full-size if we buy a much larger camper, but the JT is "just right" for our family (and garage space) right now.
Tow setup:
JT Sport S with Max Towing Package
Forest River Surveyor 19BHLE; 23' single axle travel trailer - Forest River says 3600 lb dry; I'm assuming it was 3900-4000lb loaded up (we really like the camper)
Blue Ox Sway Pro Weight Distribution Hitch (bought for the Honda Pilot, but it helps smooth out the ride even more) (awesome!)
Tekonsha P3 brake controller w/ 3014-P wire harness to make it plug & play on the JT (amazing!)
Fit System 3891 Clip On Tow mirrors - worked awesome for visibility; the verdict is still out there on them staying attached really good for longer trips (the brackets
We likely had 450-500lbs of passenger cargo (me, my wife, our two boys, and our dog)
I'm assuming there was another 150ish lbs of cargo in the bed
Pictures are of the JT and camper at the camp site and a couple I grabbed at a school parking lot close to home once we were back in town. (Yeah, I deliberately parked goofy at the school to grab a few pictures on as level of ground as possible.)
Well, my family loaded up "Max", our JT Sport S with the Max Tow Package and took it on a 120 mile round trip camping weekend trip. This is our first pickup truck and loading stuff in the truck bed was great, especially when it came to hauling wood at the campsite and keeping bugs out of the cargo area when loading/unloading the truck bed. The JT did great maintaining 70mph in places with a 70mph speed limit and was incredibly stable. I checked all temperatures and everything was below normal temperature throughout the entire drive.
This is our first camper. Our history with the camper is that we towed it home in early June '19 with my wife's current generation Honda Pilot Elite (9 speed auto) AWD with the 5000lb tow package (hitch, harness + transmission cooler). After going on one family trip on county roads (owner manual says to not drive over 55 or 60 mph when towing with a Pilot, so the freeway was out of the question), we (my wife more than me) HATED towing with it. Even with the weight distribution hitch, the Pilot's relatively short wheelbase and fully independent suspension led to quite the squishy/bouncy ride -- apparently it's referred to as "teeter totter effect". Based on some research online, I knew it was time to call in a much longer wheelbase truck with at least a straight rear axle. After much debate with my wife about getting a full-size truck and many reasons to not do so now, my wife agreed to get the JT since it's marginally smaller than a full-size in terms of wheelbase and length. The payload and tow capacity of this Sport S with Max Tow were also very similar to some of the full-sized trucks with "the wrong gears" like the 3.21 Ram 1500 Laramie that I saw with a 14xx payload (lower than my 1533 lb payload in the JT) and ~8000lb towing. I mean no insult to Ram owners since they are super cool, and I'm sure we will end up in a full-size if we buy a much larger camper, but the JT is "just right" for our family (and garage space) right now.
Tow setup:
JT Sport S with Max Towing Package
Forest River Surveyor 19BHLE; 23' single axle travel trailer - Forest River says 3600 lb dry; I'm assuming it was 3900-4000lb loaded up (we really like the camper)
Blue Ox Sway Pro Weight Distribution Hitch (bought for the Honda Pilot, but it helps smooth out the ride even more) (awesome!)
Tekonsha P3 brake controller w/ 3014-P wire harness to make it plug & play on the JT (amazing!)
Fit System 3891 Clip On Tow mirrors - worked awesome for visibility; the verdict is still out there on them staying attached really good for longer trips (the brackets
We likely had 450-500lbs of passenger cargo (me, my wife, our two boys, and our dog)
I'm assuming there was another 150ish lbs of cargo in the bed
Pictures are of the JT and camper at the camp site and a couple I grabbed at a school parking lot close to home once we were back in town. (Yeah, I deliberately parked goofy at the school to grab a few pictures on as level of ground as possible.)
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