Posted: 4/15/2025 9:45:39 PM EDT
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Will a SUV with 5000 LB towing capacity work with this 3600 lb RV? And what older SUV would work? Maybe a 2004 4.0 Grand Cherokee or an Xterra. Both have 5000 LB towing capacity. I know nothing about this guys. thx |
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Is that dry weight, or loaded weight? Occasional towing, or full-time? Long-distance towing or short? |
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As someone with literally millions of miles with a trailer behind me I will say it's much more enjoyable to pull a trailer well under capacity than at capacity. Also, like the other poster asked, is the 3,600 pounds dry or wet? RV manufacturers are notorious for being overly optimistic about weights. A 3,600 lb dry weight RV will easily gain 1,000+ pounds by the time it's behind you. Also, as is the case with every travel trailer and every tow vehicle, you will run out of available payload and then tongue weight before you run out of tow rating. |
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If you know a weight, you must have a model in mind. Post that so that we may better understand the unloaded vehicle weight, its cargo carrying capacity, and tongue weight. As a general rule, those "3,600 lb" trailers tend to get fat when loaded for a trip. However, you don't have to have the overkill of a 3/4 ton to haul anything. Every time I go camping, I always see a tow combo that would likely be squirrelly, but they must make it happen somehow. They didn't ask and I don't volunteer my opinion. Just wave and say hi as I walk by their site One thing to consider is how far you plan on travelling. If you are only making 1 hour trips at the most on backroads, you might get by. I drove 3 hours in the 20+ mph crosswind yesterday towing my camper(about an 1.25 hour on I-95) and I would hate to have been near my max towing specs. -------- Funny story kinda related: 2 years ago, I towed my camper to the site and returned home to get my wife and the golf cart as the wife was going thru chemo. Switched out the 250 for the Honda CRV(16 mpg on the truck vs. 33 mpg on the car when empty) and spent the rest of the week at the campground. All week long, I was getting those same weird looks from the old coots and a few even asked me about it. Told them that the CRV towed the 7,500 lb camper like a dream and watched their eyes bulge. Then, later in the week, I had to make the 2 hour run home for a work appt and then returned with the 250. I am sure there were some stories told about the guy towing with a CRV. Moral of the story... there may be more than meets the eye, so I assume that it's best to MYOB about someone's towing rig. |
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Originally Posted By XxSLASHERxX: Will a SUV with 5000 LB towing capacity work with this 3600 lb RV? And what older SUV would work? Maybe a 2004 4.0 Grand Cherokee or an Xterra. Both have 5000 LB towing capacity. I know nothing about this guys. thx If you are looking at Nissan get the Armada. The 5.3 is a great engine for pulling (8500lb rated) |
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The listed camper weight is bone dry. Load that sucker up. My 19’ camper says 4100. Loaded full for a trip, 5500 lbs. I pulled it with an Expidition EL easily. I pulled it a couple times with an explorer around town. No way I would take a trip towing with the small suv. |
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| I'd want something like a Suburban or expedition AT THE MINIMUM. I've towed trailers with an XJ, different 1/2 ton trucks, and 3/4 ton trucks. The guys who say you don't need a 3/4 ton truck have never towed with one... and t hat RV will weigh 6000 lbs by the time it's travel ready with water, food, clothing, propane, etc. IMHO that trailer is borderline for a half ton truck. I can see that rig tail whipping off the road on a windy day if you try to tow it with any midsized SUV... |
Another old guy
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Our camper is rated at 4560Lbs empty and aside from clothes in the closet that's how it is towed. (empty tanks, etc) All the gear goes in the truck bed. I think you are going to find that you may be over the tongue weight with the Exterra, iirc it's around 500 lbs. That said, I bought an F250 for a tow vehicle and equipped it with a WD hitch and sway bar. No way was I going to pull it with a 1/2 ton.  |
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Originally Posted By Ops: I'd want something like a Suburban or expedition AT THE MINIMUM. I've towed trailers with an XJ, different 1/2 ton trucks, and 3/4 ton trucks. The guys who say you don't need a 3/4 ton truck have never towed with one... and t hat RV will weigh 6000 lbs by the time it's travel ready with water, food, clothing, propane, etc. IMHO that trailer is borderline for a half ton truck. I can see that rig tail whipping off the road on a windy day if you try to tow it with any midsized SUV... While it’s always nicer to tow with a bigger vehicle, it’s not always a requirement. Some of the newest F150s have a tow rating of 14k lbs. I know a few people who have towed near the limit on an F150 and it handled it just fine. If I was in the OPs place, I’d probably look for something with a little higher tow rating. Another thing….will the OP be towing with an SUV loaded with people? That will reduce your ability to tow if the vehicle is full of people. |
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It's just me and the wife in the vehicle. Less than 5 hour trips. We carry light. Kinda minimalists. 3600 dry weight. Maybe 6-8 trips a year. A week stay will be the most we stay. |
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Originally Posted By XxSLASHERxX: It's just me and the wife in the vehicle. Less than 5 hour trips. We carry light. Kinda minimalists. 3600 dry weight. Maybe 6-8 trips a year. A week stay will be the most we stay. Older Durango with the 5.9 2000-2006 Tahoe/Yukon/Suburban/Yukon XL were pretty bulletproof, rust would be the biggest issue buying used. You want the 5.3 motor (standard in XL/Suburban, optional on Tahoe/Yukon). Older v8 Explorer could probably handle it. Expedition, too. |
Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it.---John Adams
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OP.....knowing what you have, and what it is is important when discussing stuff. It sounds like you have a Travel Trailer.  Load your Travel Trailer up with a full tank of water, full propane tanks, then load all the other crap you'll bring with you, and take it to a scale. Now add 200lbs to that weight. This is the weight you'll be pulling. Now find a vehicle that will comfortably pull at least 1500-2000lbs more than what you are going to be pulling. This is important for long hill climbs, head winds, and side winds, and steeper grades. Look at the gross vehicle weight and then do the math for real towing capacity. Make sure the transmission, drive line, and brakes are up to the task. Do the research and don't just rely on others to tell you what you need....KNOW what you need and don't skimp out with a small motor or smaller vehicle. . |
Occid Vel Occisus Est !!
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Pulled a small Jayco w/ a Grand Cherokee. 6200 lb tow rated and well within the rating. Maybe 60%. First trailer and quickly learned that towing is the last concern. Braking, handling, sway control matter considerably more. Bought a 3/4 ton Ram hemi and upgraded the trailer. |
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Originally Posted By Ops: I'd want something like a Suburban or expedition AT THE MINIMUM. I've towed trailers with an XJ, different 1/2 ton trucks, and 3/4 ton trucks. The guys who say you don't need a 3/4 ton truck have never towed with one... and t hat RV will weigh 6000 lbs by the time it's travel ready with water, food, clothing, propane, etc. IMHO that trailer is borderline for a half ton truck. I can see that rig tail whipping off the road on a windy day if you try to tow it with any midsized SUV... There is so much that goes into towing that making a blanket statement like that is stupid. We towed a 30', 7k lb TT all over the NW with a Durango without a problem. Durango is definitely a mid-size SUV even with it's 8k+ tow rating. |
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Originally Posted By XxSLASHERxX: It's just me and the wife in the vehicle. Less than 5 hour trips. We carry light. Kinda minimalists. 3600 dry weight. Maybe 6-8 trips a year. A week stay will be the most we stay. In AL you should be fine. Honestly I'd worry more about tongue weight then trailer weight. A good WDH is live changing. |
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Originally Posted By XxSLASHERxX: It's just me and the wife in the vehicle. Less than 5 hour trips. We carry light. Kinda minimalists. 3600 dry weight. Maybe 6-8 trips a year. A week stay will be the most we stay. I'd stay away from rigs like Xterra's, Jeep Liberty's etc. for towing TT's or anything longer because of their short wheelbase. They can get squirrely real quick with a breeze. |
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Our camper is about 3600 dry & I pull it with a 2500 Suburban rated for 9999. I doesn't struggle even in 100 degrees going up a mountain pass fully loaded with gear, food, water, propane, etc. I hate maxing out towing capacity, especially on 1000 mile plus hauls one way or mountain passes. Weight distributing hitch, brake controller, transmission cooler & temperature gauge, rear facing lane awareness camera on the camera you can see when driving in real time are all awesome. |
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We have a 2020 Coachmen Apex Nano 187RB with the off grid and outfitter packages. Its gross weight is 3800, in reality, closer to 4000, due to it being about 4350 dry. We tow it with either my Jeep WK2 with a 5.7 Hemi, or for shorter trips, we tow it with Wodstock's WK2 with the 3.6 Pentastar V6. Tow ratings are 7200 & 6200lbs. We've gone to both Maine and Florida with it. The brakes on both Jeeps (Mine has the HD brakes, hers are SD), combined with the trailer brakes, stop it fine. |
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Originally Posted By NIevo: I'd stay away from rigs like Xterra's, Jeep Liberty's etc. for towing TT's or anything longer because of their short wheelbase. They can get squirrely real quick with a breeze. |
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Originally Posted By Actiondiver: Our camper is about 3600 dry & I pull it with a 2500 Suburban rated for 9999. I doesn't struggle even in 100 degrees going up a mountain pass fully loaded with gear, food, water, propane, etc. I hate maxing out towing capacity, especially on 1000 mile plus hauls one way or mountain passes. Weight distributing hitch, brake controller, transmission cooler & temperature gauge, rear facing lane awareness camera on the camera you can see when driving in real time are all awesome. The 2001 2500 Suburban my parents had pulled their 26' TT (~6000 lbs.) like a pro. There's something to be said about the aerodynamics of an SUV (or a bed cap) blending into the trailer rather than airflow going over a pickup's cab, transitioning to the bed, and then hitting the front of the trailer. It can definitely be felt. |
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Originally Posted By d16man: If you are looking at Nissan get the Armada. The 5.3 is a great engine for pulling (8500lb rated) Originally Posted By d16man: Originally Posted By XxSLASHERxX: Will a SUV with 5000 LB towing capacity work with this 3600 lb RV? And what older SUV would work? Maybe a 2004 4.0 Grand Cherokee or an Xterra. Both have 5000 LB towing capacity. I know nothing about this guys. thx If you are looking at Nissan get the Armada. The 5.3 is a great engine for pulling (8500lb rated) +1 on the armada. Ours is a 2019 and a beast. 
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The SAE J2807 tow rating standard that manufacturers throw around basically means, "This is the absolute most you can possibly tow before shit starts breaking." Much like it is a lot more fun to go fast on a slow motorcycle than it is to go slow on a fast motorcycle, it is much more enjoyable and stress-free to tow well under the rating than to nudge up against it. Also, unless you are in a one ton you will almost always run out of payload before you run up against tongue weight and/or max tow rating. Finally, manufacturer weight ratings for trailers are usually somewhere between wishful thinking and total bullshit. Pulling at 60-70% of max rating is the sweet spot. Source: A couple of million miles with a trailer behind me. |