Pulling a Camper

[Up venture]

Last night the curiously was killing me so I had nothing going on and the wife was out of town so I figured I would do a little test pull with the camper and go to a local establishment for some dinner.

Camper details
14' pop-up
unloaded weight 2685 lbs
Currently still packed from last trip less food and water in tanks.
Approximate load out weight 3100#

Manual Sport S tow package

My personal evaluation is the truck and trans handle the load just fine. The low first gear made it easy to get rolling. Was a bit of a learning curve to hit the proper shift points loaded so I was regularly under reving and short shifting. Still it handled the load fine with the human error. The trailer felt good pulling. The suspension I feel handled the load better than the Silverado though I still wasn't fully loaded so this could change. Under braking the trailer did push and I do have a brake controller on the way. This is my biggest haul I do and usually only a couple times a year so after reading on controllers I opted for a time delay and plan to get it turned in and hide it tucking it up in a cavity under the dash.

My towing was about 8 miles of curvey, hilly, and uneven county roads. Over the bumps and around the corners I felt really confident pulling. Up the hills depending on how much I was babying it I would run 4th or 5th. I don't feel like I was lacking power on the hills. Again this may change once fully loaded.


Over all I'm pleased and feel confident in the truck to handle the job and don't foresee any issue pulling. I did a bunch of math this morning researching the capacity of the truck and trailer combo and in my case I should be good.

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[giskard]

Thanks a lot for the impressions towing something with a manual! I've been looking for real-world stories about this as I wait for Hydro Blue to finally become available. I've driven nothing but manuals in my daily driver for many years until recently (switched to an electric car last year) so I've been eyeing the manual option in the Gladiator. But I do have to tow sometimes so I haven't completely made up my mind yet. Hopefully I'll be able to test drive one soon. There isn't even a manual Wrangler in stock at nearby dealers at the moment ...

Good job on the pics with the mirrors, too. I know the Gladiator is a bit narrower than my Colorado, so I wasn't sure how well the mirrors would see around a trailer. Oddly enough, I think my enclosed trailer is almost the same width as yours and it looks like you can see pretty well down the sides.

 

[Up venture]

Thanks a lot for the impressions towing something with a manual! I've been looking for real-world stories about this as I wait for Hydro Blue to finally become available. I've driven nothing but manuals in my daily driver for many years until recently (switched to an electric car last year) so I've been eyeing the manual option in the Gladiator. But I do have to tow sometimes so I haven't completely made up my mind yet. Hopefully I'll be able to test drive one soon. There isn't even a manual Wrangler in stock at nearby dealers at the moment ...

Good job on the pics with the mirrors, too. I know the Gladiator is a bit narrower than my Colorado, so I wasn't sure how well the mirrors would see around a trailer. Oddly enough, I think my enclosed trailer is almost the same width as yours and it looks like you can see pretty well down the sides.

I tried to maintain the same picture that I had in the drivers seat in the mirrors. It's kinda misleading though. Yes I can see the sides of the camper but traffic will sneak up on you. I'm researching tow mirrors and maybe even considering some doorless mirrors that reach out further.

 

[KVJ]

I put spot mirrors on each mirror so I can detect someone in my blind spot, and when towing I strap on a Walmart slip on tow mirror on the driver's side only which allows me to see someone following close behind the trailer and helps when on four lane roads. Don't need it on the passenger side, I seem to see well on that side including when trying to get back in the cruising lane after passing a slow vehicle. One thing about pulling a trailer....everybody wants to get around you.

 

[biggdave92]

Pulled my Jayco this week. It's a 29 footer and weighs in at just over 7,000 pounds from the factory. Pulled it from my house about 40 miles over very windy up and down roads in southern Ohio. I was actually really impressed how it handled it. I was pulling it before with my 3/4 ton Silverado that I traded in on the Jeep.

Glad you're still alive.

 

[Up venture]

I put spot mirrors on each mirror so I can detect someone in my blind spot, and when towing I strap on a Walmart slip on tow mirror on the driver's side only which allows me to see someone following close behind the trailer and helps when on four lane roads. Don't need it on the passenger side, I seem to see well on that side including when trying to get back in the cruising lane after passing a slow vehicle. One thing about pulling a trailer....everybody wants to get around you.

I liked to see your blindspot mirrors and what do your clip on tow mirrors look like.

 

[KVJ]

 

[KVJ]

Also:

 

[Markpod7]

whoa wait was this with manual?!

 

[Markpod7]

whoa wait was this with the m/t?!

 

[PapaHepcat]

Pulled my Jayco this week. It's a 29 footer and weighs in at just over 7,000 pounds from the factory. Pulled it from my house about 40 miles over very windy up and down roads in southern Ohio. I was actually really impressed how it handled it. I was pulling it before with my 3/4 ton Silverado that I traded in on the Jeep.

I have a 31' travel trailer that weighs somewhere between 6,000lbs - 6,500lbs. I'd love to hear more details about your experience. We're strongly considering also getting a smaller trailer for the same reason (kids getting older and abandoning us), but I'm not looking forward to getting a new trailer set up just the way we'd want it.

 

[scbass]

So what you are saying is: The trailer/tow package does not come with a brake adjuster package to activate the electric brakes on your trailer???

IF that is the case [and I assume it is by your and other statements] then someone at Jeep needs to lose their job. To say that I am disappointed would the understatement of the year...This is a 2020 model for the year 2020! This also tells me that most likely it does not have a 7 pin connector.

"7650 lb towing capacity"

I can see a class action lawsuit in the making for this one debacle.

Jeep beating the band and touting their tow/haul and no braking system...I gotta ask does the radio come with SPEAKERS???

They say the brake controls are coming later but aren't available yet.

 

[Ole Cowboy]

They say the brake controls are coming later but aren't available yet.

Hummm, good idea, ya think!

Let us hope it is not coming soon to a theater near you...

 

[MomsSpaghetti]

Pulled my Jayco this week. It's a 29 footer and weighs in at just over 7,000 pounds from the factory. Pulled it from my house about 40 miles over very windy up and down roads in southern Ohio. I was actually really impressed how it handled it. I was pulling it before with my 3/4 ton Silverado that I traded in on the Jeep.

Holy crap. Here I've been freaking out considering we are trading in our pop up for a larger travel trailer. I'm worried about the payload aspect. I also have the Max tow package and the camper we are buying weighs 5000 dry. The tongue weight is 580 so I've been concerned with running out of payload. What do we have , 1535 lbs payload. Add the family, down to 1200, add tank of gas - 1050, trailer tongue weight 580 which leaves 470. Firewood, weight distribution hitch and other stuff in bed of truck and we are close to being over the payload.

 

[TennesseePA]

This is what I am trying to sell to my wife, I almost have her convinced that we would get good value out of a travel trailer, even to the point where if she sees one she will show it to me. Problem is I want something unique, cool and off road worthy. I found a dealer that has some of the Black Series Campers in Stock only 1.5 hours from my house so I am going down there next week on my day off. The one I want has a dry weight of 5522lb and it holds 66 gallons of fresh water so that doesn't leave a lot of room for food and gear but I think it is doable.https://www.blackseriescamper.com/travel-trailers/hq17.html

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