Pulling a Camper

[Trippin01]

18' Jayco slx 174 Baja. last weigh in was 4400lbs, JT towed just fine, even over the pass.

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[PropWash]

Just installed my brake controller on the Gladiator, hooked up to my camper, and ran it down the road! Tracks nicely, brakes are working fine, nice low first gear to get things rolling! Highway speeds were good w/ this 5000# trailer hooked to it!

What kit did you use to hook up the controller? I just hooked up my Airstream using the same controller and the Tekonsha RAM adapter from Amazon and I'm getting full brakes when NOT activated and a Jeep systems error when I hit the manual override button. Working on troubleshooting now ;/

 

[Rwpoling95]

What kit did you use to hook up the controller? I just hooked up my Airstream using the same controller and the Tekonsha RAM adapter from Amazon and I'm getting full brakes when NOT activated and a Jeep systems error when I hit the manual override button. Working on troubleshooting now ;/

You may have the wrong wiring harness. The one pictured is the one I got for Jeep. I got one error initially when I hooked it up and used the manual brake function on brake controller. Trailer was not hooked up at that time, so I shut down the truck and restarted w no errors since then.

 

[bgenlvtex]

18' Jayco slx 174 Baja. last weigh in was 4400lbs, JT towed just fine, even over the pass.

Tell us about "the pass" please.

What pass? Elevation, grade?

 

[Trippin01]

Tell us about "the pass" please.

What pass? Elevation, grade?

Hwy 55, Maximum Elevation 4258 feet. Maximum Grade 7.0% ...
Hwy 21, Maximum Elevation 7037 feet Maximum Grade 5.0%
Headed to Yellowstone this weekend. Went on some ATV trails to Seafoam Lakes if you want to Google earth them (no trailer tho)
Installed a new bumper drain hole too.

 

[bgenlvtex]

Hwy 55, Maximum Elevation 4258 feet. Maximum Grade 7.0% ...
Hwy 21, Maximum Elevation 7037 feet Maximum Grade 5.0%
Headed to Yellowstone this weekend. Went on some ATV trails to Seafoam Lakes if you want to Google earth them (no trailer tho)
Installed a new bumper drain hole too.

Thanks very much, I'm not being nosey or demanding (despite outward appearances), I have a very real and specific purpose for asking. You are validating my predisposition to de-rate towing capacity by 40%, thanks for that.

Now tell us more about the sweet "primitive bumper mounted trail obstruction detecting device". In the hood those are called curb feelers.

 

[Trippin01]

Thanks very much, I'm not being nosey or demanding (despite outward appearances), I have a very real and specific purpose for asking. You are validating my predisposition to de-rate towing capacity by 40%, thanks for that.

Now tell us more about the sweet "primitive bumper mounted trail obstruction detecting device". In the hood those are called curb feelers.

There were longer and steeper grades on the hwy we took, Like I said trailer was 4400lbs (probably 4200 on the way back) Coolant reached 232 degrees, and I would say this weight was probably as high as I would recommend for rocky mountain towing. Concerning highway speeds, I think I was up to 80 once, 65-70 is comfortable, and it gets a little dicey above that. I'm running 500lbs tongue weight and a Blue ox anti sway/stabilizer. Engine ran cool the whole time. I would say above 5000 pounds in the Rockies would be torture, in my opinion. I'll update after Yellowstone, and it doesn't bother me if you need specifics. Feel free to PVT MSG if you like. Tell me what you are looking for before I leave so I can take notes for ya, and the site.

 

[Bullfrog]

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.

 

[Slapping_Rabbits]

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.

is that with a manual or automatic?

 

[Bullfrog]

is that with a manual or automatic?

Automatic with the max tow package.

 

[bgenlvtex]

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.

Fatty and Skinny went to bed, Fatty rolled over and Skinny was dead.

 

[avc8130]

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.

Do you plan to tow this often?

 

[Bullfrog]

Do you plan to tow this often?

No, we've been talking about downsizing to a smaller camper anyway since it's mostly just my wife and I anymore. Kids are growing up and less interested in camping with mom and dad. Even when I had my 3/4 ton we only camped 3 to 5 times a year.

 

[bgenlvtex]

There were longer and steeper grades on the hwy we took, Like I said trailer was 4400lbs (probably 4200 on the way back) Coolant reached 232 degrees, and I would say this weight was probably as high as I would recommend for rocky mountain towing. Concerning highway speeds, I think I was up to 80 once, 65-70 is comfortable, and it gets a little dicey above that. I'm running 500lbs tongue weight and a Blue ox anti sway/stabilizer. Engine ran cool the whole time. I would say above 5000 pounds in the Rockies would be torture, in my opinion. I'll update after Yellowstone, and it doesn't bother me if you need specifics. Feel free to PVT MSG if you like. Tell me what you are looking for before I leave so I can take notes for ya, and the site.

Not sure how I missed this post, thanks for the additional information. I have my own proprietary and entirely unsupported by practical experience opinion of the maximum practical towing capacity, and every time someone posts information about towing it hells refine that opinion.

Thanks again for sharing

 

[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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