New guy needing some help.

[wmn2]

Hi all, I’m new here. My wife and I are looking for a travel trailer for ourselves and our 4 kids. Main use is for traveling for our son and daughters gymnastics competitions, and weekend getaways and we would like to start traveling full time in about 4-6 years. We live in Upstate South Carolina and like to travel to the ocean and sometimes the mountains. What holds us back the most is my truck. I have a 2009 ram 1500 that is rated for 6200lbs. We are interested in the keystone passport 2920bh. Is this going to be ok with my truck for what we want to do? A new truck is out of the question right now so I need to stay light but we want 4 separate bunks for our kids. When we decide to go full time we will most likely upgrade to 5th wheel with a 2500 or 3500 truck.

Thanks for any help you can give

[sourdough]

What are the numbers for your truck? They are on the placards inside the driver's door. GVW, GAWR (F/R), payload?

You're looking at a 7200 lb. trailer....with 4 kids, you and your wife. It will be a stretch I imagine. It only has 1533 load capacity and with that many folks you will probably need most, if not all, of it.

If you have a tongue weight of 936 lbs.(7200 x .13), 125 for a hitch, plus 60 for a battery....you need to subtract 1116 from whatever the payload is on your sticker - to start.... Let us know.

[wmn2]

GVWR-6800
Payload- 1620
GAWR front-3700
GAWR rear -3900
GCWR-12000
Max trailer -6650

Is this all the number you need? I guess when I looked, i was seeing dry weight of 5600 lbs on the trailer and know my truck can support 6200. Am I looking at it the wrong way? I just had the transmission rebuilt in it and definitely don’t want to do that again.

[sourdough]

Yes - you see it in the wrong way IMO. The max trailer is 6650. The gvw of the trailer, which is what you need to be looking at, is 7200. The empty weight, which it will never be if you use it - or add a battery, which you have to, is 5667.


But here's the catch. IF, and I doubt that you can, but IF, you only loaded 983 lbs. in the trailer (4 kids, 2 adults, all their stuff; toys, clothes etc., PLUS 60 lbs. battery, 120 lbs. propane - leaving you 800 lbs. for EVERYTHING for camping and the amily) you would be here....

Trailer - 5667 dry + 983 lbs. cargo = 6650. 6650 x.13 = 865 lbs. for tongue weight. Add 100+ lbs. for hitch, family of 6 - 750 lbs.?, stuff in the bed - 300 lbs. etc. = 2015 lbs. vs payload of 1620. And, I don't think you can make that.

GVWR for the truck is 6800 - I didn't see the truck weight but around 5200?? If so, 5200 + 2015 = 7215 = 415 over gvwr. If the trailer weighed 6650 (and I don't think you will make that unless you don't carry everything everyone needs) and the truck was 5200 you would be 150 lbs. under GCWR - too close IMO - the family gaining weight would close that gap.

IMO it's too much for your truck. If a new truck is out of the question I would be looking at something several hundred to a thousand pounds lighter. Not trying to rain on your parade but the trailer is more than the truck wants. AND, I've had trannies rebuilt several times. I don't know that I've ever had one that was super strong after a rebuild - even "beefed up" ones. I had one on an F150 rebuilt 3 times before the warranty expired. Got it fixed, hauled a 12' Uhaul from Lubbock TX to Palacios TX and back (never towed anything else), a year later it blew its guts out again, out of warranty.

OH! And by the way, welcome to the forum! I'm sorry I didn't bring good news.

[Gegrad]

Yeah, that trailer is WAY too much for your truck. Hate to say it, but I don't think there is a single conventional trailer out there with 4 separate bunks that your truck can handle. You might consider looking at one of those hybrid models that have like 3 fold out sides that turn into queen beds. That is probably your only option your truck can handle that can come close to the number of beds you need. Something like a Passport 217 Express might do the trick for you. Here is the link to it:
https://www.keystonerv.com/travel-trailers/passport/floorplans/217exp-express/

[wiredgeorge]

Well, the towing police have pointed out a lot of stats that indicate a different truck might be in order... won't go there for that reason. When I decided to go 5th wheel, I got rid of my F150 and went F250... You just gotta go with what works if you want into the game. I will also point out that SC is hot and humid and you might want to find a trailer with 50A electrical service which means 2 A/C units or at least it will be wired to accept a 2nd unit. The A/C isn't all that expensive but if it isn't wired for a 2nd, you will end up with issues trying to figure out how to install another unit.



Buying your first camper is a crap shoot. When you do a lot of research and figure out what you THINK is right, after a few trips out camping, you will start to modify your thoughts on what is important and necessary to make camping fun. This means many folks go from first camper to another aand another after that to get the camper that actually fits their needs. Only experience will get them there... that means a used and inexpensive first try makes sense to me, at least.

[Glenda Clark]

I have a 2016 Chevy Silverado 1500. 4x4.
It's a Short Bed. 6.5
But , it has a V-8 engine. 5.3 Liter.
I have No problems towing my 2018 Keystone Bullet Premier 19FBPR.

Sometimes , from what I am reading , and learning , it takes a bigger truck to pull a lot of these trailers.

[wmn2]

Yes I would love to go 2500, but a truck payment that is more than my mortgage is out of the question. I think going with just double bunks will be the route I need to go until we decide to upgrade. My kids are young, 9, 7, 6, and 2, so if they need to share for any reason, a double bed will be plenty of room. I got it made with 2 boys and 2 girls so sleeping arrangements are not hard. The main reason for the travel trailer is the competitions we have to travel to. With a family of 6, hotel rooms are out of the question because it requires us to have two rooms. We end up finding vacation rentals for the weekends, but it ends up costing us 2-3 times more than what it would with a travel trailer.

[sourdough]

I think you are in a position where you are going to have to make some significant compromises between what you would like to have and what you can realistically tow safely. Remember, the paramount thing you should keep in mind is that you are towing a large RV with 4 children, yourself and your wife in the tow vehicle - your world. You are towing with a 9 year old 1/2 ton with a fresh tranny rebuild. Anything could fail. The last thing you want is to have some catastrophic failure that harms the family, or worse. Safety should be the number one priority.

Six people in an RV is a LOT. Trying to live comfortably in one means you need a really big trailer IMO. With a 1/2 ton that is an impossibility. Ours is 37' or so and we are 2 people and a dog and we feel cramped - I can't imagine 6 folks trying to occupy that space - but it's been a long time since we've had children with us.

Here's a link to a trailer that would sleep everyone. Not ideally, but you aren't going to find that with your tow vehicle. You can review other models at keystonerv.com. There will be big differences in weight when looking at various models so keep that in mind. The link on this one shows a dry weight of 4232, about 1400 less than the one you listed. I didn't crunch the numbers but you will still be pushing it simply due to the number of people and all the "stuff" that requires you to take.

https://www.keystonerv.com/travel-trailers/passport/floorplans/239mlwe-express/

If you proceed buying a trailer I would highly recommend that you have LT tires on your truck and new shocks. Depending on the trailer and the shape of the truck, you may want to add air bags as well; all to stabilize the truck.

[wmn2]

So I’m very glad I’ve posted here. Learned a lot in one day. Through talking with my wife, we will wait. I have family in Ohio and we would like to go West with the trailer and that’s impossible with this truck. I’ll have it paid off within a year and then we will just start putting the monthly payment in a savings account for a big down payment on a 2500 or 3500. Like you said, their safety is most important. The plan was to upgrade to a 2500 eventually anyways, so waiting a little longer won’t be a big deal. Like I initially said, we both have jobs that we will be able to work remotely in the future and we want to travel then because we will be able to work from anywhere. Getting the truck we need for that will take priority over getting a travel trailer now.

[ken56]

Welcome to the forum. I have to agree with the others that right now with the 1500 you are underpowered and not enough weight capacity. I have towed an 8000lb trailer with a former 1500 5.3L truck before and while it will pull it, it was not pleasant.


You are right to delay until you can get what you really want in both the trailer and the truck. In the mean time spend some time on these boards and ask questions and learn some things about RVing. Its a great experience for young kids and you will have memories for a life time.

[LFord]

I have a 2009 ram 1500 that is rated for 6200lbs. We are interested in the keystone passport 2920bh. Is this going to be ok with my truck for what we want to do? A new truck is out of the question right now so I need to stay light but we want 4 separate bunks for our kids. When we decide to go full time we will most likely upgrade to 5th wheel with a 2500 or 3500 truck.

Thanks for any help you can give


What engine in that RAM 1500?

[Northofu1]

I would go with a gently used Hybrid. It's cheaper and lighter. It will be easy to sell again, and give you time to figure out what exactly you need, and time to save up for a newer truck. Not to mention, time to look at other rigs and their combinations and ask the owners questions while at parks. You have lots of homework to do, the more you do the more educated your guess will be :)

[wmn2]

What engine in that RAM 1500?



5.7 liter Hemi

[sourdough]

What engine in that RAM 1500?

The problem isn't the "oomph", I've had several 5.7 hemis as the OP has, the problem is the weight.