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Topless and Towing! Impressions after my first tow!

tweak89

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Leroy
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Houston
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2020 Gladiator, 2002 Thunderbird
So not only did I go topless (doors still on) the entire Labor Day weekend, I also did my first meaningful towing with my Gladiator Sport S with Max Tow. I installed a Curt Spectrum brake controller (you can read about that here). I'm towing a 19' Vista Cruiser travel trailer rated at 3500lbs. I would imaging after loading all my gear and stuff it's closer to 4000lbs. I also use a weight distribution hitch with sway controller.

While it was just a short trip, I got to experience highway speeds, stop and go and low speed rural roads. I started with a fresh tank of gas and averaged about 12.8 gallons over around 135 miles with about 90% of that actually towing. I've towed this particular RV with 3 different tow vehicles: Silverado 1500 V8, GMC Canyon V6 and the Gladiator. All had a brake controller and used the same weight distribution hitch setup.

The Jeep performed on par with the Siverado 1500. The Canyon was not a bad tow vehicle by any means, but the transmission shifted up and down a bit more than the Silverado and Jeep with slightly worse gas mileage. I never really "felt" the RV at any time and the engine never felt like it was struggling even at 70+ mph highway speeds. While expect my mileage to be slightly lower on longer tows, I was happy to sill be in double digits, haha. So, overall I was very impressed with the towing capabilities on this first run and am glad that I didn't sacrifice anything when moving over from my Canyon.

This was also the first time I went completely topless and I have to say, it was pretty great. I was surprised how quiet the cabin was compared to driving around with just the freedom panels off with all the windows down (along the the rear slider). As long as weather permits, she'll be topless!


My hitch setup is pretty much identical to this one:
71BsqGaIU0L._SL1500_.jpg


My RV with the Gladiator (this was taken after I installed the brake controller, not from this past weekend).
68697123_370668617167075_7947545391623307264_n.jpg
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BBQBird

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Anthony
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Washington State
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2003 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, 2012 Hyundai Tucson
So not only did I go topless (doors still on) the entire Labor Day weekend, I also did my first meaningful towing with my Gladiator Sport S with Max Tow. I installed a Curt Spectrum brake controller (you can read about that here). I'm towing a 19' Vista Cruiser travel trailer rated at 3500lbs.

First off, awesome Gladiator Vader sticker!

Second, this is the review I've been waiting for. My wife and I have a 19RBS Vintage Cruiser, which I believe is basically the same as yours. We're currently towing with an '03 Jeep GC Laredo, and it's getting less and less happy towing over mountains, which basically limits us to trips north & south of Seattle. Planning to replace it probably in the next 6 months. Working out the pricing though, she's nudging me back into Ram 1500 land.
 
 



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