It would be nice to have some towing trip reports

[Nodak]

was looking at some owners doing some short/long reports about towing either 15/17/19 campers ?

i would prefer some long distance or long time frame trip reports, but i'll take anything.

most YT videos i see are about the 5th gen pulling like a casita or escape

and most of those YT video are not necessarily 6th gen 4runneroff road people vs some that are on here in the forums or driving around more beefed up rigs.

Sponsored

 

[ttominator]

It wasn't long, 2 1/2 hours, but it was up into Idaho mountains. I rented a 2023 Gulf Stream 20' , 2810 pound trailer to go camping in for a wedding. The TrdPro had no problems pulling the load. Only thing I would change would be that if I was to do it more often I would get stabilizer bars. I had some trailer sway above 65 MPH.

 

[Nodak]

It wasn't long, 2 1/2 hours, but it was up into Idaho mountains. I rented a 2023 Gulf Stream 20' , 2810 pound trailer to go camping in for a wedding. The TrdPro had no problems pulling the load. Only thing I would change would be that if I was to do it more often I would get stabilizer bars. I had some trailer sway above 65 MPH.

was that empty weight rating or gvwr ? that seems light at 2810 lbs for what looks like a fairly large camper. the dry weight is usually between 3100-4300 depending on options.

the gvwr probably was closer to 5000 or 5500 or 6000, which then i can understand the swaying

right now i am looking at a escape 17 with around gvwr around 4500, looked at a 19 but the gvwr is pushing to close to 6000 for my comfort

btw thanks for the info

 

[ttominator]

The owner that listed the trailer claimed that as the Gross weight. But wouldn't surprise me if it was heavier. It was a single axle though, 20' if that helps any.\

 

[pmedicj]

I tried to DM user @4Rghostpro about towing as it looks like he has the same size camper I’m getting ready to setup which is about 3500-4500lb but got no response he hasn’t been seen here since late 25’ According to one of his posts it “towed great” and his setup looked good.
I’m currently waiting on an equilizer weight distribution hitch per some other recommendations on the forum to tow our 21’ forest river e-pro, I’ll update once I get it setup but from what I’ve seen in other post around the web it should be good to go.

 

[Nodak]

The owner that listed the trailer claimed that as the Gross weight. But wouldn't surprise me if it was heavier. It was a single axle though, 20' if that helps any.\

i think i found your specs for the one you rented, that sloped front end is easy to distinguish from the 20RBS series.

i thought you had a 20 series not a 17 series

2023 Gulf Stream AMERI-LITE 178RB

 

[BonRunner]

Does your model comes with trailer brake? If not, I'd suggest install this REDARC Tow-Pro model: https://amzn.to/4pljqjb. Don't get the crappy bluetooth model from CURT.

Our 6th gen has trailer brake connector to use with this. Easily 20 mins or less project.

I towed 3k lbs, 21 ft long camper with no issue. Make sure the trailer is balance & level. Your MPG will crap the bed. I was averaging 9-10 MPG in the mountain pass.

 

[Nodak]

9-10 mpg, that was just flat road towing mpg in our tundra, worse if you had hills/mountains.

think it went down to 6-9 mph in mountains when i pulled a 6x12 uhaul from GA to ND thru the i-75 North thru that one mountain with like a 7% curvy grade

i can live with 9-10 in the mountains with a 4R vs our tundra.

 

[TRON]

I towed our 29’ rv trailer about 300 miles for our last trip. I have the redarc tow-pro liberty installed and an anti-sway load-leveling hitch. I was only able to tow at about 60 mph for the trip due to wind and slowed down for hills. Overall did great, averaged around 10mpg. Total load was ~5500. I have the SR5 so more towing capacity and running bfg tires. Go slow, don’t push it!

 

[spyder40]

2025 ORP hybrid and towing an aluminum tandem with my SxS around IN/TN/KY. Loaded it's ~4000 and tows great. Plenty of power and much better than my 21 ORP. No problem on the highway running 70. Mileage is around 10-11. I had a Redarc brake controller on my 21 and loved it. This one has the OEM controller which works but I think the Redarc worked better

Sponsored