Travel Trailer

naturist · **Posted:** Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:36 pm

I bought a 21 foot Coachmen 179QB Micro. It weighs about 3300 lbs, and tops out fully loaded at 5,000. I looked at that 150 toyhauler, and ruled it out as I'm a tall dude and the bed wasn't long enough. What I got has a queen-sized bed in it, and though a short queen, it has room to make it a full length queen, so my feet don't hang off the end.

Bought it in December, too late for the season and had been winterized by the dealer, so except for the tow home (about 165 miles) it hasn't gone anywhere yet. But the wife and I did spend the night in it for New Years and we're planning on taking it 200 miles each way for a romantic getaway over Valentine's weekend. Prolly leave it winterized, though, as we'll be up in the mountains. then in quick succession I'll be taking it 200 miles each way to a professional convention (turns out there's a campground about 5 miles from the site of the convention) and then on a 200 mile business trip where there is a fabulous county park/campground that charges all of $7 a night for full hookups.

I've towed about 3000 lbs before without brakes, although this trailer has them. I picked the trailer up at the dealer up in the mountains, and immediately came down a 4 mile long, 7% grade, and never had to touch those brakes. I was amazed: the one thing DC did right was to manage to make the engine have some braking ability. I couldn't believe it. I set cruise control to do 45 mph down the hill, and it downshifted and managed to hold just over 50 all the way down without needing the brakes once.

hatchetman · **Posted:** Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:22 am

My 150 Blast has the Queen bed that comes down from the ceiling on a chain drive. It has 2 6' couches that can be folded out to beds also. My 600 Polaris Sportsman 4 wheeler fits nicely in it, but I'd like to upgraded to a Polaris Razor. Only negative is I have to stoop when under the queen bed when it retracted to the ceiling in the couch area. :evil:

jthomas12 · **Joined:** Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:40 pm **Posts:** 5

I don't own one, but these come in appropriate sizes for a Liberty.

http://www.shadowcruiser.com/

chrispitude · **Posted:** Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:33 pm

We just tripped across these today:

http://www.adventuremfg.com/Wedge/Wedge.html

We saw both the Cafe and Moonlighter today at a nearby dealer. Both have beautiful interiors with decent interior quality (a little better than our Rockwood, I think). We like the Cafe so much, I think we are looking at selling our 26' Rockwood to move to a 20' Wedge Cafe. It should tow like a dream.

- Chris

pipefactory · **Posted:** Sat Feb 09, 2008 6:22 pm

I built a 5' wide, 8' long 5' high teardrop. It has a fridge, sink, stove 2 storage cabinets, shelf inside with plasma screen w/dvd player all water, electric and cable hookup. Also is self contained with 2500 watt power convertier and water tank. We pull it with the crd and when my crd pulls my race car my wife pull it with her 07 Sebring. Havn't figured out how to post picks yet but it's cool.

Zonie · **Posted:** Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:00 pm

Is there a website for the Teardrop?

pipefactory · **Posted:** Sun Feb 10, 2008 12:27 am

Zonie wrote:

Is there a website for the Teardrop?

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2254161

BioCRD · **Posted:** Mon Feb 11, 2008 6:57 pm

I purchased the CRD specifically to tow a small fiberglass (Scamp) travel trailer, replacing a 3/4 ton pickup/Alaskan camper combo.
This 16 foot unit scales at ~2200 lbs with all our stuff aboard. Not roomy, but has all we need for camping, and it's great to drop the trailer and go roaming in the Jeep.

The Liberty tows it with no problems - tracks and handles good. no sway issues, plenty of power. I constantly wish I could select the gear/shift point!
We've put in maybe 5000 miles towing, lots of it in mountains, typical fuel use is 22 mpg.

Uffe · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:35 am

logiclee wrote:

I tow a Swift Challenger which is a UK built 23' trailer at around 3300lb.
Never had a problem, I would say the majority of UK bought KJ's will be bought for towing as it comes with a 3500kg max tow limit and is widley acknowledged as an excellent towing vehicle.
It was the main reason I bought it.

Cheers
Lee

Agree - the KJ is a very capable tow vehicle. Never had more than 4,000lbs on it though. Those 4,000 lbs were mostly horse and some trailer weight :lol:

The KJ pulled it very nicely, even uphill I could keep up with traffic.

That's interesting. In aus and I think also the US has a 2800kg tow rating on the KJ. In Denmark we got a 3350kg tow limit. I bought the KJ as well because of the great towing abilities and the nice on-road dynamics. Well at least with new tyres on it (grr these have been worn in a bad way, they rumble as hell. Recently I swapped tyres while doing the brakes and having the bad pair on the front wheels is hell!).

What type of brakes do you use in the UK for trailers?

In Denmark we use a brake which activates pushrods when the trailer-car connector is compressed. The pushrods then apply a brake on the tyres of the trailer in the back. We don't use electronics or hydraulics for braking although many other countries do. Braking tests of trailers in Denmark is that when driving 30km/h (20ish mph) we apply the brakes as hard as we can, and we need the whole rig to stop in maximum 6 meters.

logiclee · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2008 6:48 am

Uffe wrote:

That's interesting. In aus and I think also the US has a 2800kg tow rating on the KJ. In Denmark we got a 3350kg tow limit.

In the UK the manual is rated at 2880kg while the Auto is rated at 3360kg towing in addition a 140kg nose weight is allowed. This gives a maximum allowable gross trailer weight of 3500kg. The V5 UK registration document gives maximum towing weight of 3500kg. To be legal the 3500kg trailer must have weight distributed so 3360kg is shared between the wheels and 140kg is measured at the hitch.
Same goes for the Patriot, maximum towing weight 1425kg, maximum trailer weight including 75kg nose weight is 1500kg. My main gripe about the Patriot is it's low towing weight, most 2.0 diesel saloon cars are rated at 1800-2000kg.

Quote:

In Denmark we use a brake which activates pushrods when the trailer-car connector is compressed. The pushrods then apply a brake on the tyres of the trailer in the back. We don't use electronics or hydraulics for braking although many other countries do. Braking tests of trailers in Denmark is that when driving 30km/h (20ish mph) we apply the brakes as hard as we can, and we need the whole rig to stop in maximum 6 meters.

Similar overrun brakes are fitted in the UK, there is no actual brake test other than they must be in good working order and not defective. Most trailer manufacturers and insurers insist on a yearly service.

Cheers
Lee

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2008 7:59 am

I also bought our CRD specifically tow a TT. We have Casita 17' Spirit Deluxe. Full bath with hot and cold running water, AC and furnace.
http://www.casitatraveltrailers.com/home.html
Weight loaded is in the 3000 to 3500 range and since I put on a lift pump the CRD is a fantastic Donkey

Prior to the lift pump any grade and it shifted madly up and down every few seconds like a stubborn dog :cry:

I think the rounded shape of the Casita trailers slip through the air better.. Like a Air Stream without the big $$ and polishing :wink:

Joe

danoid · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2008 1:10 pm

People's eyes always pop when they see this...

And I have to smile when I answer the inevitable questions of, "does that Jeep really pull that?"

It's a 27' Surveyor, supposed to be 3900# dry. Last summer I weighed it (with a full tank of fresh water & 2 full propane cyl - empty gray & black tanks) at 5600#. I'm definitely stretching the limit.

I use the Hensley Arrow and it's stable at 65 mph. I can't say how much better or worse the $3k hitch makes it because I've never towed (this trailer) without it.

On a fair day I get 13-15 mpg out of the combo, I've pulled up to 17 and as low as 12 mpg. (By comparison I had a 2004 Hemi Durango that pulled 10 mpg and a 2002 gasser (patooie?) KJ that pulled 9 mpg.) I keep the cruise at 65 mph for 2100 rpm in 4th. She don't really like pulling this in 5th.

I've pulled about 6700 miles with only one issue, an engine overheat and power derate on I75 southbound from Cincinati (spelling?) into Kentucky. (but that's because everyone decided to stop at the bottom of the hill - if I could have hit it running with the t/c locked I think it wouldn't have been a problem) I just kept my foot on the floor and waited for the trans to overheat, then it locked up in 2nd gear (I knew it would). Once the t/c was locked she tugged up the rest of the hill at about 40 mph, screamin all the way.

It's a happy little tractor, and probably by far the most fuel efficient vehicle (no longer) available in the USA that can tug this much. Once it's paid off (and Suncoasted and lifted) it's tugging days are over - I plan on getting a Cummins - when I can afford it. Then I'll keep it around for commuting and mudding.

P.S. my parents have a 40 motorhome and toad their KJ. I keep telling them it's on the wrong end...

logiclee · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2008 3:05 pm

I notice the US trailers tend to have the axles set further back than UK models. What sort of load are the US trailers putting on the hitch?

Cheers
Lee

KeswickDave · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2008 5:05 pm

Can I sneak a trailer-pulling gasser in here without causing a commotion?

This is my 19.5' Sun Valley RoadRunner, weighs in at 2700 lbs empty, probably 3500 or so loaded conservatively (no dear we can't bring the toaster oven...)

I pulled it from Toronto to Cape Cod, up to Nova Scotia and back to Toronto via Quebec last summer, about 3400 miles in 2 weeks without problems. Temp guage never budged although there were a few big hills which slowed me down.

Mileage was... well, bad! I never did a full accounting but it varied from around 9 on the worst tanks up to about 13 on the best (most level/downhill) runs. At that rate you have to plan your next fuel stop carefully. I carried 5 gallons in a jerry can just in case but never had to use it (came really close once though).

I'm using a Reese WD system with dual-cam anti-sway and have been very happy with it's performance - I pulled it a few shorter trips without it and it is like night and day.

One tip if you're buying, don't tell the wife that you can pull 5000 lbs, or you will be looking at the biggest possible trailer as close to 5000 lbs as she can find ;-)

(Look honey this one is only 4500...) I ended up limiting us to 20' and 3500 lbs as this is what I was comfortable with, and this one fit the bill perfectly.

Dave

hokiecb · **Joined:** Tue Oct 31, 2006 9:23 pm **Posts:** 46

KeswickDave wrote:

9 on the worst tanks up to about 13

Oh wow... too many used crd's out there to tow @ 9mpg... I think i'd be checking out autotrader.com. :lol:

danoid · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:25 pm

logiclee wrote:

I notice the US trailers tend to have the axles set further back than UK models. What sort of load are the US trailers putting on the hitch?

Cheers
Lee

From my calculations about 1000# out of 5600#. I took it to a truck stop and had the axles weighed individually, hitched then unhitched. That's a big sight over the 600# tongue limit (probably about 100# is in just the Hensley). So to compensate I added the AirLifts in the rear coils. Next comes some load range E tires and eventually a bigger axle cover for more oil capacity.

danoid · **Posted:** Tue Feb 12, 2008 9:28 pm

KeswickDave wrote:

One tip if you're buying, don't tell the wife that you can pull 5000 lbs, or you will be looking at the biggest possible trailer as close to 5000 lbs as she can find ;-)

(Look honey this one is only 4500...) I ended up limiting us to 20' and 3500 lbs as this is what I was comfortable with, and this one fit the bill perfectly.

Dave

That's exactly what we did, and ended up overshooting a little. Good thing it's mostly flat here in Michigan...

logiclee · **Posted:** Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:15 am

danoid wrote:

From my calculations about 1000# out of 5600#. I took it to a truck stop and had the axles weighed individually, hitched then unhitched. That's a big sight over the 600# tongue limit (probably about 100# is in just the Hensley). So to compensate I added the AirLifts in the rear coils. Next comes some load range E tires and eventually a bigger axle cover for more oil capacity.

Thought it must be high. The tongue limit is quoted at 140kg for UK KJ's but most travel trailers use an Alko hitch with built in friction stabaliser which is rated at 100kg. The Police do stop and check so we have to stay under. With the axles being more central on UK trailers it isn't really a problem.

Cheers
Lee

chrispitude · **Posted:** Wed Feb 13, 2008 7:44 am

You really have to shop around over here to get a decently low tongue weight. Even most ultralights will have a 500-600lb tongue weight. The Hensley Arrow hitch is another 190lbs on top of that. The 26' Rockwood I bought has a real tongue weight of 350lbs, which is one of the lowest I've seen in a trailer that size.

- Chris

logiclee · **Posted:** Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:35 pm

As you can see from the pic below UK trailers have the axles pretty central.

The above unit has a maximum weight just above 4000lbs and a tongue weight of 220lbs. Cost is around £19000 ($38000 US.)

UK roads are too small for big tow cars so the heavy compact KJ with high torque is ideal and is why it's so popular over here.

Cheers
Lee

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