Towing a Popup

I have a '05 Silverado and the dealer said I should have no problem towing a small to medium sized popup camper off the bumper without needing the receiver hitch. From the ground to the trailer ball its

22". Is this too high for a small to medium sized (~15 foot) popup camper? If so, is there a drop hitch that works right off the bumper? I would imagine the weight of the popup would pull the hitch height down a couple inches also.

Thanks, Dan H

Reply to
Dan
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I guess you didn't get the tow package? If not and you are going to be towing any distance I would strongly suggest getting a transmission cooler. I pulled a pop-up with no problems with my 04 1/2 ton CC, but I also had the tow package with 373 gears.

Reply to
Sigwings

You can do it but I would not recommend it. Just go into someplace like Wal-Mart, pep boys, AutoZone and so on... and get a nice frame mounted hitch. You can install it yourself and if you ever need to pull something that is relatively heavy, you will have it. Generally, if your trailer has its own brakes use a good frame mounted hitch, if it does not then it will be less then 2,000 lbs and you can get away with the bumper hitch. With that being said, I have a Coleman Utah and it weighs about 2300 lbs, assuming the manufacturer has set the rear axle properly the tong weight should be about 10-12% the total weight (about 300lb in my case).

Your bumper is too high for the trailer IMHO (I use a 2" drop with my suburban and that hitch is mounted to the frame, so it is already 4 inches lower then the rear bumper) but the best way to check is to measure how far from the ground the trailer frame is... You want the trailer to ride as level as possible when the truck and trailer are completely loaded or you will have spring and tire issues town the road. These trailers tend to not have rear leaf spring shackles, the springs just sit free and ride back and forth as the axle bounces. If the front end it too high, you put considerable more force on the rear of the leaf spring and will cause more wear. If it were I, I would just look around, get a frame mounted weight distribution hitch, and install it myself. Then you can tow as much weight as you want and can get drop hitches to meet any height you want.

I doubt the weight of the trailer will pull down the truck more then an inch, they are relatively light trailers. My boat that weighs 8,600lbs (plus a 1,500lb trailer) only drops the rear of my suburban about 2 inches (~600lb tong weight dual axle trailer reduces the tong weight)... I do not know of any drop hitch that mounts to the bumper, so my suggestion is to get a real hitch and install it yourself. Be sure to get the light connection kit to wire the trailer lights. It is real "trick" it just plugs into the original wiring harness and install a heavy-duty flasher. Then you should be good to go.

mark

Reply to
r_d

Greetings,

The cheapest solution to this issue is to purchase a box receiver that bolts to the underside of your bumper. It's cheaper than a class III receiver that bolts to the frame but still allows you to use a 2" square tongue with whatever drop and ball size you need.

Try this link from J.C. Whitney:

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I still think it a better idea to go ahead and install a full size class III bolt-on hitch receiver, like this one:

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Cheers - Jonathan

Reply to
Jonathan

This is a very dangerous combo. You want at very least 10% of trailer weight on tongue, dual axle or not because. The range is 10 to 15%, not 5 to 7%. When conditiopns are right that trialer can take you right off the road with that little a tongue weight. (I have had it happen to a friend once) Your tongue weight should be 1000 to 1100 pound minimum with your combo. You have a unsafe towing weight balance. You are playing russian roulette with that combo.

Reply to
SnoMan

I agree, unfortunately that is the way the people that built the trailer set the axles. This trailer is an aluminum trailer and the axles are hard bolted to the frame and can not be moved with out re-drilling the frame and changing the locations of some of the frame that holds the boat. What I did was move the wench forward a little and now wench the boat about a foot and half farther onto the trailer. I think because it is an alumn trailer they had intended to have the axles carry the majority of the load but I never really liked the trailer very much. But now that 3/4 of the boat sits in front of the rear axle the tong weight is not too far off. I just don't know what it is... But I do agree with you too little tong weight is dangerous.

mark

Reply to
r_d

trailer

I had a boat once with a simular problem about 20 years ago. I moved the axles back about a foot or so on mine and it handled. I also shortened the tongue about a foot too (to better fit my garage at the time) so it balanced it out for backing up with a shortened tongue. It was a bit of work but it was worth the trouble. I towed it all over for a few years after that and never had a lick of trouble or stabilty issues after that.

Reply to
SnoMan

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