New TT family

[r_sheffield2]

My wife and I have always enjoyed camping and decided to upgrade from the tent to a TT for us and our 3 littles ages 4, 3, and 1. I have a few questions to ask in the more specific forums, but wanted to say hi to everyone. We bought a 2016 Outback 255UBH and a 2016 Ford Expedition (w/tow pkg and 4x4) to pull it.

[Northofu1]

Congrats and

[wiredgeorge]

Welcome from the Hill Country! Sounds like ya'll have your hands full. Your kiddos will talk about camping trips when they have families!

[flybouy]

Welcome to the forum. As you are new to travel trailers I'd start by urging you to take a look at the yellow and white door sticker that list's you tow vehichles load capacity. It will look like this.

The camper you listed has a GVWR of 7,550 Lbs. Typical tongue weight is 13% of that so Just under 1,000 lbs. Add another 120 lbs. for a good weight distributing hitch and your tongue weight will most likely be over 1,.000 lbs. Most of those Expeditions have a 6,500 lb. limit for towing and about 1,600 payload capacity. A 28' camper is a lot of "wind sail" behind an SUV with P metric (passenger car) tires and most likely over the weight rating of the SUV hitch.
That bPayload number also does not include all the stuff you put inside like the kids, their car seats, the DW, kids toys, cloths, snacks, drinks, etc. I'm not trying to rain on your parade the first time on the site here but juist thionking of the safety of those precious little ones.

[Gary R.]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Sounds like you and the family are ready to let the good times roll!

Be safe!

[dutchmensport]

Congrats and welcome! Our son started tent camping with us at age 6 months. Here he is now, 35 years with his own little boy, and they still camp with us (although in a fifth wheel now).

Love those little ones like there's no tomorrow, because... tomorrow they will be grown and no longer "little". They grow so fast and you do miss that later in life.

Congrats again on your new camper. And hope every trip is a success and a joy!

[Sarge2]

Welcome from Michigan.... have fun with the TT... and enjoy the site..

[Gegrad]

Originally Posted by flybouy

Welcome to the forum. As you are new to travel trailers I'd start by urging you to take a look at the yellow and white door sticker that list's you tow vehichles load capacity. It will look like this.

The camper you listed has a GVWR of 7,550 Lbs. Typical tongue weight is 13% of that so Just under 1,000 lbs. Add another 120 lbs. for a good weight distributing hitch and your tongue weight will most likely be over 1,.000 lbs. Most of those Expeditions have a 6,500 lb. limit for towing and about 1,600 payload capacity. A 28' camper is a lot of "wind sail" behind an SUV with P metric (passenger car) tires and most likely over the weight rating of the SUV hitch.
That bPayload number also does not include all the stuff you put inside like the kids, their car seats, the DW, kids toys, cloths, snacks, drinks, etc. I'm not trying to rain on your parade the first time on the site here but juist thionking of the safety of those precious little ones.

I will say this... At my old job in NC we had a 2016 Expedition (fleet vehicle) with the Ecoboost and was 4x4. Now it was a stripper model (rubber floor mats, etc), but it was a 4x4, and that expedition had a yellow sticker payload of over 2,000 lbs. So OP may not be overweight there, depending on their expedition. They may not like the ride due to the wheelbase, but it could very well be within weight.

[r_sheffield2]

Thanks for the input. The expedition with the tow package has a towing capacity of 9,200 lbs, but I’ll definitely check the numbers again. I am going to look at the tire construction and make sure they are up to the task. We’ve driven it for a few hours and I’d like to reduce the sway.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by r_sheffield2

Thanks for the input. The expedition with the tow package has a towing capacity of 9,200 lbs, but I’ll definitely check the numbers again. I am going to look at the tire construction and make sure they are up to the task. We’ve driven it for a few hours and I’d like to reduce the sway.

You have hit the nail on the head. The tires need to be up to supporting a load and your payload sticker had best be in line with the actual payload you will be hauling. There are various hitches with load distribution or sway control that alleviate some of wagging on a bumper pull. I am not an expert here but I am sure others can make suggestions. Did you drop the receiver onto the ball on your vehicle without any sort of fancy hitch?

[spicercars]

Welcome from northern MN.

[flybouy]

I seriously doubt the OP s expedition is a stripped down model. The door sticker is the only way to tell. That "towing capacity" really doesn't translate to campers. The max load capacity typically will get exceeded long before the tow capacity.

[travelin texans]

Originally Posted by r_sheffield2

Thanks for the input. The expedition with the tow package has a towing capacity of 9,200 lbs, but I’ll definitely check the numbers again. I am going to look at the tire construction and make sure they are up to the task. We’ve driven it for a few hours and I’d like to reduce the sway.

The number you should be concerned is the payload which is the yellow/white sticker shown above, not tow capacity.
You will likely exceed this payload weight long before you'll tow the max capacity.
Payload is everyone/everything in/on your vehicle including the WDH + the tongue weight of your rv, which in your case is very near a 1000lbs & must not exceed that number on that tag.

[sourdough]

You need to look at those numbers inside the driver door. As has been stated, the max towing capacity of a vehicle is a useless sales number; it has no bearing on the real life capability of a vehicle because the other critical numbers will be exceeded before getting to that optimistic number.

I've not owned an Expedition but I have ridden in them (neighbors have them) and test drove them. Rides "cushy" on the road (read mushy) for comfort and isolation from the various road anomalies. That means it was meant to be a "cruiser" not a "hauler". Many things contribute to that and the vehicle is designed from the ground up to do that one thing - not haul/carry a big load. To eliminate the sway you would actually need something that was built for hauling/carrying a load - a truck. From the shocks to the springs, axles, gearing, frame, tires, wheels etc. the Expedition was built for "cushy".

Note when you get those numbers off the door pillar that the MAXIMUM weight that can be put on your tow receiver is 600lbs. normal load and 920lbs. with a weight distribution hitch. Also note that a 7550lb. trailer at an average 13% tongue weight will come in at 981.5lbs. which exceeds your receiver rating. Too much trailer for the Expedition.

Since it is a bunkhouse model I assume kids. That will boost the load inside the tow vehicle and cut down the available payload considerably....and if you load the cargo area..... Post those numbers and we can see where you are.

Edit: Just for informational purposes:

https://www.rvsafety.com/images/pdf/FordTG2016.pdf

[r_sheffield2]

GVWR: 7500

Front GAWR: 3550
Rear GAWR: 4300

Tires: Michelin X LT A/S 275/55 R20

Combined occupant and cargo weight limit= 1398

Weight Distribution Hitch is a Reese Pro Series 49903 (1,000 lb capacity)

I'm estimating the tongue weight around 900 lbs (including WDH; haven't been to the scales yet) and passenger/cargo weight around 500, so I am definitely at the limit.

[wiredgeorge]

Originally Posted by r_sheffield2

GVWR: 7500

Front GAWR: 3550
Rear GAWR: 4300

Tires: Michelin X LT A/S 275/55 R20

Combined occupant and cargo weight limit= 1398

Weight Distribution Hitch is a Reese Pro Series 49903 (1,000 lb capacity)

I'm estimating the tongue weight around 900 lbs (including WDH; haven't been to the scales yet) and passenger/cargo weight around 500, so I am definitely at the limit.

Think your tongue weight will be close to 1000 lbs based on the trailers gross weight and the hitch will take you over 1100 lbs. If you have family in the Expedition, you are over your safe payload.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by r_sheffield2

GVWR: 7500

Front GAWR: 3550
Rear GAWR: 4300

Tires: Michelin X LT A/S 275/55 R20

Combined occupant and cargo weight limit= 1398

Weight Distribution Hitch is a Reese Pro Series 49903 (1,000 lb capacity)

I'm estimating the tongue weight around 900 lbs (including WDH; haven't been to the scales yet) and passenger/cargo weight around 500, so I am definitely at the limit.

If you load the trailer for actually taking a trip, having fun and carrying the essentials and things necessary for the kids you will be at 7000lbs. no matter how you slice it. 7000 x .13 = 910 lbs. Add hitch weight (120) = 1030. Now add the 500 for family =1530. Add gear for 4? (snacks, diapers, drinks, ice chest etc. - 60lbs.) = 1590. Now the tools you need for quick access in the event of a breakdown on the road (jacks, cribbing, hand tools, compressor etc. - 120lbs) = 1710. And as young as the kids are that number needs to go up on a daily basis as they grow. Oh, and at this point you have probably exceeded your gawrs as well.

As you can see the Expedition is in over it's head and going to get worse. You can add Bilstein shocks, air bags etc. but at the end of the day your family's safety depends on a proper tow vehicle to pull that trailer. I'd sell you my 3500 but I like it too much.

[r_sheffield2]

Help educate me here on all the numbers:
My GVWR is 7500 and curb wt is 5789.
7500 - 5789 = 1711.

If the sticker says max cargo load is only 1398, what happened to the other 313 lbs?

The ford towing guide rounds the curb wt up to 6,000 (factor of safety?), which still says payload capacity should be 1500.

[flybouy]

Originally Posted by r_sheffield2

Help educate me here on all the numbers:
My GVWR is 7500 and curb wt is 5789.
7500 - 5789 = 1711.

If the sticker says max cargo load is only 1398, what happened to the other 313 lbs?

The ford towing guide rounds the curb wt up to 6,000 (factor of safety?), which still says payload capacity should be 1500.

First off throw that Ford towing guide away. The ONLY pertinent weight is what that yellow door sticker says. Take a picture and post it and you can get real answers real fast. Otherwise it's just guessing and conjecture.

[travelin texans]

Have you had it weighed? I'd guess the actual curb weight is more than you've read.
You've gotten very good advice from folks on here & probably not what you were wanting to hear, but at the end of the day you & your families safety are the number one concern.