Towing a Travel Trailer

Shwabkid · **Joined:** Sat Apr 03, 2010 12:18 am **Posts:** 34

I just took a new job that requires me to be on the road alot. I am thinking of buying a travel trailer to use instead of buying hotel rooms. I know that the CRD has a 5K lb towing limit, but what weight would be the most ideal for economy and power? Plus is there anything I should look out for, like transmission overheating? I know I should get a break controller.

bhc04 · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 2:49 pm

Good easy tow, to check out. Trail Manor.

geordi · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 3:28 pm

I would try to get something with a sloping front end, the biggest problem you will find is the frontal cross section - Like pulling a big wall through the air. That by itself will put more drag on your rig than the weight of the travel trailer. For example: My 7.5' wide by 20' long by 7' high (9'6" clearance) enclosed box trailer only weighs in at 2000 lbs empty, yet when empty I could NOT pull it faster than 65mph - The wind resistance was far too great.

Conversely, my 6' wide by 12' long by 6' high (7'6" clearance) FULLY LOADED at 4000 lbs pulled easily at any speed I asked of it, up to 75mph.

You might be able to find a smaller trailer that is less than 6' wide range, but would you be happy with something that small? The CRD is roughly 5'6" wide, and just over 6' tall (at least mine is with the taller tires) so if you can stay around 6" wider on each side, you shouldn't feel a huge resistance from the wind.

That gives you a potential width of about 6'6" that shouldn't drag too heavily on the CRD. More wind resistance is the same as more weight, and it kills your mileage. Without the wind resistance, you should get about 19mpg towing.

ibedonc · **Joined:** Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:40 pm **Posts:** 236

Shwabkid wrote:

I just took a new job that requires me to be on the road alot. I am thinking of buying a travel trailer to use instead of buying hotel rooms. I know that the CRD has a 5K lb towing limit, but what weight would be the most ideal for economy and power? Plus is there anything I should look out for, like transmission overheating? I know I should get a break controller.

you should look into a gde tune and TC , I pull a 21' amerilite loaded @ 3800lb and before the tune it was not fun , now with the gde turbo and suncoast TC , it is a breeze took on the texas hill county @70 mph with no problems , when not pulling able to get 33mpg +

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 6:42 pm

I have a 17' Casita Spirit Deluxe trailer that looks like a fiberglass Airstream. It's dry weight is 29xx# with a tongue weight between 350-400 depending on what your carrrying so that's over the 300# where jeep says you need a WDH and loaded they are around 3500#.

This trailer and the CRD are made for each other but you'll want the GDE full torque tune that will almost certainly require a better then stock torque converter. You'll have no problem maintaining speed on just about any mountain.

Oldskull has the same trailer. Mine has AC, hot water heater, furnace, full bath including toilet, shower and sink, kitchen sink, large I don't recall the size 3 way refrigerator that will freeze ice, rear table that makes a double bed, side dinnete that makes a single bed, 16 gallon water tank (25 available) gray and black water tanks.

The question is are their campgrounds where you'll likely be and will they have full hookups. There have been some "full timers" in these trailers so it has been done.

They are small enough so the standard mirrors are fine. Here's their web site. They are custom made to order eliminating dealer markup. Used ones occasionally show up but they hold their value very well. In 2007 I paid half of what my 1999 cost new. They're made in Texas and you have to pick it up or pay for delivery.
http://www.casitatraveltrailers.com/home.html

Joe

warp2diesel · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 7:05 pm

When I have towed I found out for some reason, using cruse control going up a hill drives up the EGT much more ~250F than using my foot. I have never had a problem using cruse in the flat lands, even with some wind. Going down a hill with cruse, the trans will drop down into a much lower gear and rev the engine higher than I want to.

If you have not gotten rid of the stock muffler and the 2 1/8" choke flange on the back of the cat, consider if you have the time and money. It will help your torque and drop your EGT with any tune, even stock. My towing EGT dropped by 200f when towing after getting rid of the stock muffler and 2 1/8" choke point on the back of the CAT. With all the reported turbo failures, allowing your turbo run cooler, will not hurt it.
Good Luck

sota · **Joined:** Fri Aug 07, 2009 7:44 pm **Posts:** 379

my question for you would be, are you going to be spending THAT many days out and about where the cost of cheap hotels would eclipse the cost and upkeep not only on the travel trailer but of the jeep as well. yes it'll tow it nicely but you'll be using more fuel and you'll need to keep on top of the maintainence as you'll DEFINITELY be entering into the "severe duty" service listing. :mrgreen:

naturist · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 8:57 pm

I have a 21 foot, 3500 lb empty (close to 5000 lb fully loaded) 8 foot by 8 foot frontal surface TT, and my 2005 CRD is box stock. I can tell you that the best thing you could do would be to go for a fold down trailer of some sort, either a pop-up tent-trailer, or something like the Travel Manor or Hi-Low camper, although the latter company is now out of business, I understand, and their trailers tend to be heavy, unlike the Travel Manor ones. It is the wind drag that most effects your mileage and experience.

I've towed that trailer in nearly empty condition, and I've towed a Jetta diesel on a dolly, also about 3500 lbs, and the TT gets me about 14 miles per gallon, plus I can feel it back there, whereas the dollied Jetta netted 18 mpg, and might as well not have been there from the feel of it.

geordi · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 9:11 pm

With a properly loaded trailer, you do NOT need a weight distributing hitch to suck money from your wallet! Do not just load a trailer until it has exactly 10% of the total weight on the tongue - Use your brain when loading it.

The proper way to load a trailer is so that the frames of both vehicle and trailer are STRAIGHT through the ball, or horizontal and parallel to the roadway. Too heavy, and the nose of the trailer / rear of the Jeep will droop, and the ball will be lower than the frame at the far ends of the vehicles. This is incorrect loading, put more weight behind the axle of the trailer.

Know this - The frame of the Jeep can handle a LOT of tongue weight, although I would not suggest that you (or anyone) load it beyond about 300 lbs or so. I have the skills needed to evaluate my own setup, others should do what they are comfortable with. My big box trailer actually has MORE than a 200 lb tongue even when EMPTY - The tongue is putting down close to 350lbs. I'm not happy with that trailer's design, but it is supposed to be used as a car hauler - So maybe the behind-the-axle weight when loaded

"proper" loading is BALANCED, nothing more. Because it is insanely difficult to get to truly balanced without possibly making the trailer "ball-light" which is actually negative tongue weight... USA manufacturers and their lawyers have focused on suggesting a 10% number so that people will (in many cases) over-load the front end of the trailer.

The problem is when braking suddenly. Imagine that all the weight inside your Jeep and trailer are water - When stopping, the weight will transfer forward, pressing harder on the front wheels of the Jeep, lifting up on the ball and lightening the rear wheels. If the ball is lower than the front of the frame (ball heavy loading) then the front wheels are already not pressing as hard on the road as an unloaded Jeep. When you brake, the weight in the trailer will shift forward too, pressing HARDER on the ball, LIFTING the front wheels just as you need them the most - To stop you. This could EASILY cause instability. If the frames are parallel to the road (properly loaded, no matter the weight numbers) then the force will be transferred evenly through the ball, and the chance for an accident or loss of control is much reduced.

This need to have the frames level is also why you can buy "drop bar" hitches, to raise or lower the location of the ball on your Jeep, so that it matches up with the front of the trailer. A level trailer and a brake controller are MUCH more valuable than some WDH tension chain contraption trying to compensate simply for bad loading.

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Sun Mar 06, 2011 11:55 pm

The weight issue is probably not what you should be worried about at this point. As the others have said the wind loading is the biggest problem. Although the CRD is only rated for 5000# in North America, the exact same model CRD is rated for 7000# in Europe and can handle that tonnage with ease on either side of the pond. The American lawyers just had more influence with the sales department at DCX.

Squeeto · **Posted:** Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:17 am

Ahh, now we get to yet another advantage of owning a diesel.

I pull my little 12oo lb pop-up and don't even realize it is there. Fuel economy is nearly the same and hills are no problem. :CAMPING:

I have a Aliner or Chalet type homebuilt clone. Look into these companies for an option of a hard shell pop-up trailer.

OldSkull · **Posted:** Mon Mar 07, 2011 3:25 am

Joe already tell you about our litle Casita except how wonderfull and easy to tow they are cutting in the wind like a blade! The fridge is 4,5 Cf not a small cooler you find in tent trailer and you can get a 13 feet version with all the same option except of course the side dinette. Plenty of space in the bathroom and it's a fiberglass shell so dont worry about the floor like old Boiler or Scamp CT with plywood screw direct to the frame.

I never use a WDH, just a anti sway bar + Tekonsha Prodigy brake control unit and I estimate the total weight of my CT fully loaded with water, food and gear to 3000 pds I got a solar system and a extra fan in the bathroom but a front AC instead of a top one like Joe so it fit under a 8 foot garage door.

You can find lot of small CT in different material, the Escape trailer 15' is a nice exemple. Try to find a CT with a 4,5Cf fridge a 48" bed (Minimum) and a bathroom, Avoid stick camper (Wood stud) and hybrid (Water penetration problem) Aluminium, fiberglass or alumalite composite last longer and keep there resale value.

kkutzner · **Posted:** Mon Nov 21, 2011 9:23 pm

This is my first foray into lostjeeps. I'm tyring to reply to OldSkull and how he made out with his CRD and travel trailer. I have an 05 KJ with 3" JBA lift, front struts, rear bilsteins and upgraded springs in the rear, just added at 100k miles- the suspension rocks. I also got the tranny rebuilt and added a cooler too- all of this about six months ago.

My wife and I bought a 18' travel trailer @ 3300 dry- with a double axle. I got dealer installed WD hitch with anti-sway, and it carried nicely the 40 miles home- the back does not even sag at all with 265# hitch weight.

I'm going to add a DORMAN Part # 621017 which is supposedly a HD cooling fan, which should upgrade my KJ to the "towing pakage". My buddy had an 05 CRD and it was torquey and peppy, so I'm envoius of the superior towing capabilites.

How have you made out with the CRD and with the Casita? We have a Keystone Passport UltraLite 189ML. Nothing like doubling the Liberty fun with a travel trailer, eh?

jinstall · **Posted:** Tue Nov 22, 2011 1:24 am

nursecosmo wrote:

The weight issue is probably not what you should be worried about at this point. As the others have said the wind loading is the biggest problem. Although the CRD is only rated for 5000# in North America, the exact same model CRD is rated for 7000# in Europe and can handle that tonnage with ease on either side of the pond. The American lawyers just had more influence with the sales department at DCX.

and a manditory 62mph(100kph) speed restriction. I know I have the e-spec hitch and towed in Europe, up to 6600lbs.

Wobbly · **Posted:** Thu Nov 24, 2011 11:14 pm

This is similar to the trailer we tow with the CRD: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neVYlmAFIEA

kkutzner · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2011 11:13 am

This is the TT we're pulling with my 05 KJ with 2.5" JBA adjust-a-strut lift with HD rear springs/Bilstein shocks, new tranny and tranny cooler. It's a new 2010 Keystone Passport 189ML. I think the sloped front end helps a lot. The KJ has no sag with the 265# hitch weight, even before connecting the WDH. Of course, we have a WDH with anti-sway and electric brakes. It's just under 19 ft hitch to back and is 3400# dry. At 11k, it was a steal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNoziq6Eeyk

I towed it home, about 60 miles or so, including 4-lane highways with 18-wheelers passing me, with complete confidence. We do some rough camping but I intend to keep it as light as possible, so I wouldn't be filling the water tank, etc. With a curb weight of 4000 for the KJ and 3400 for the TT, that puts me at 7400# dry. Obviously adding a tank of gas, my wife and I, dog, TT propane/battery, and gear may add up to 750-1000#, but I'm well under the 10,150 max weight.

I plan to travel at dawn or dusk whenever possible, where there would be minimal wind. If there's wind or gusts, I ain't going anywhere near a highway. We'll see how it goes- can't wait for Memorial Day!

We found an awesome campground on the bay (DE State Seashore State Park) just off Rte 1 south of Bethany Beach. $38/night with electric, water, sewer. $100 gets you a state tag/permit to drive on the beach across Rte 1, so I get to include a lil sand wheelin' too- and the beach was empty in August when I was there. That's $400 for a week at the beach with beach access for the KJ- that's a deal.

Any feedback is appreciated!

Wobbly · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2011 12:56 pm

If you are afraid of wind-induced sway, look into the Hensley Arrow hitch. We take our trailer up the Columbia River Gorge when the cross winds are howling and semis are passing us at 70 MPH.

kkutzner · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2011 2:57 pm

Thanks for the heads up! I've started checking that out- already noted as pricey but safety first with towing. They now make a smaller Cub version for a 2-6k TT. I'm going to give what I have a whirl and go from there. Looks like they are about 2k.

Wobbly · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:05 pm

I found a used one on Craigslist for $800. There's a competitor with a somewhat similar design which might be cheaper than a Hensley.

kkutzner · **Posted:** Tue Nov 29, 2011 4:15 pm

yes I did see some on Craiglsit; in fact I found a Arrow for $1000 about 10 minutes from me. I am definitely going to keep this in the back pocket in case I feel I need it when we start heading out next year. Before I would go further, I would ask Hensley if there is a minimum tongue weight, since my TT is only 265#. They don't have any minimum tongue weight requirements listed on their site- perhaps there is none- but they will be the first ones I call in the event I feel I want more stability.

Your help is greatly appreciated! I've also seen the competitors. Nice to know I have a extra option if needed.

Towing a Travel Trailer

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