Que for one camper? or 23 ft solaris lite?

[TRLRTRSH]

Hello all,
it's me again... I received a lot of help in looking for a Que, but i ran into to some money troubles and once again i had to hold off Que shopping.FINALLY things are looking better for me(it's a bout time too)

The above Sunline2005 23 ft looks to be a great unit and not to mention it's VERY close to me.. It would seem that every Que i found was a million miles away this sunlinehttp://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2005-23Ft-Sunline-Travel-Trailer_W0QQitemZ130329168159QQcmdZViewItemQQptZRV s_Campers?hash=item1e5839491f&_trksid=p4506.c0.m24 5
Looks to be a fine unit.. and for some reason it's price so far is less(right now) expensive than ANY QUE i have found. My TV is a Toyota Sequioia with the V8.. The nearest Que i found was in Rhode Island which really isnt far at all but it was double the price of any comparable Trailer.

The reason we all want a Que is clear. light and easy to tow, but a good deal for More trailer is hard to pass up. I normally camp alone and rarely have to be a host, this is why i thought the Que would be ideal. I am sure that i can tow the 23 ft Solaris lite with ease with the Toyota.

I see plenty of folks on the road with TT's that they should not be towing.I dont want to be one of these people. I like to have room to spare-so to speak. I dont want to be the guy who can "just get by" or to go through the mountains and have my TV hate me for it.

My Toyo has a capacity of 6500 lbs.. I think that this will do fine Que wise.
But what about the 23ft solaris? is it possible to tow the solaris Lite with the sequioa safely?

Que owners like to keep them, I don't see as many for sale as other Sunline models
Thanks Gig

[Steve Collins]

Gig,

It would be helpful if you could give us some more information about the 23 ft trailer and your Toyota.

Your question is really one of towing capacity of the Toyota. You might have been better served to have posted it over in the Towing and Tow Vehicles forum. Not all the towing experts read the Que forum on a regular basis.

If you look back through the Towing and Tow Vehicles forum, you will see a number of threads asking the same questions about various combinations of tow vehicle and trailer. In each case, the poster was asked to provide much more detail about both vehicles. Once all the info is on the table, a discussion of capacities and capabilities takes place that answers the questions.

So, for the trailer, we need to know at least year and model number. We have the brochure for '03 in the Files section so any of us could look up things like tongue weight and dry weight and GVWR *IF* we knew the model number of the trailer.

Same for the Sequoia. Year is important, but so are things like 2WD vs 4WD, Automatic or Manual. Does it already have an adequate receiver hitch? Weight ratings of the hitch need to be greater than the trailer, so we need that information, too.

A critical item is the gearing of the rear end. It greatly affects towing capacity and ability.

Another big limiting factor is going to be the tongue weight of the trailer and maximum weight capacities of the front and rear axles of the Sequoia.

While some of us could go hunting on the internet to find some of these answers, it might be more appropriate if you did and then presented your facts so that the folks here that know much about these things could discuss them with you.

If you can fill in some of the blanks, there are a bunch of us here that will be glad to offer opinions and answers to your questions.

[Tweety]

Topic moved by moderator.
If the 23' is the 2299 that I see in the brochure the weight is not listed. But I would assume that it weighs in between the 2075 and the 2363, which would put it around 4100# with a GVWR of 5500. That's a very cool floorplan with lots of windows. Let us know if you're the winning bidder. Hopefully our towing experts will chime in.

[Sunline Fan]

It is a '05 2299 based on the pics in the ad.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2005-...=p4506.c0.m245

Apparently bidding has ended below the reserve though.

Jon

[TRLRTRSH]

Thanks for all of the replies,
I did not have all of the information until today. The seller did not sell the trailer, so i guess he felt oblidged to return my e-mails.The Model in question is a 2005 23ft sunline solaris light model#T 2299.I will review the Brochures and come up with the rest of the info that might make it easier to find the answers.

I spoke to the owner on the phone.I am going to go visit the trailer tomorow and see it for my self. My 06 Toyo4WD is the limited model. it does have a tow package with the Trans cooler. The V8 is supposed to have a bout 273-hp.it's an AUTOmatic..Right now i am usinng the stock tires that come with it,Gearing? I dont know what the gearing is, but i can tell you it's stock.I never thought about knowing the gearing. I had no idea it was a choice,i know back in the day you could specify... I did not know about now.I will look into this. The truck has the Towing pkg so it has the proper hitch(both of my toyo's do) The Tongue weight is around 500LBS and the gross trailer weight is supposed to be 5K. Naturally a class 3 .

I found all of the Brochures on the page and have already printed them out. I will look in the sections you mentioned.

I would not be going through all of this if i dead set on a Que. it's tiny, I could probabally tow it with Bicycle but the prices between the two have me baffled.

The auction did not go the way the seller wanted it to go, he had a lot of folks interested, but he did not get the number he wanted.I suspect that this trailer will not go for more than 5-6k sounds fair i guess...I am not an expert.

Thanks for all of the help and replies. if i have again posted this in the wrong spot I apoligize

[Tweety]

The difference in price between the QUE and a regular Sunline is due to alot of the trendy high end components they used. The aluminum walls were not made by Sunline and were fabricated and shipped in from Indiana. Ditto the filon siding. To name a few more costly parts - memory foam cushions, that stove sink combo (which I hated), the nice ABS front cap, aluminum wheels. The normal Sunline was built start to finish here in PA in my neck of the woods. And a fine job they did!
I'm not criticizing the QUE (except the stove/sink), but having owned one I'd much rather have the 2299. If you think the QUE is small now, it's gonna get alot smaller after camping in it a few times Granted we had 2 people in it, and for 1 it would be MUCH better.
The weights for our trailer are on a sticker inside the medicine cabinet, so that would be a place to check in the 2299.
I've no doubt you CAN tow the 2299 with your vehicle since it's rated for 6000 lbs. The question is will you be happy with the performance. Also, will you be towing short distances on flat terrain or long distances over mountains will make a big difference in whether it's advisable.
You can get used values on nada.com. I'm getting $6500-7800 retail. I assumed it has an awning, but that's the only option I added.
Be aware that if it has the original tires it'll be time for a new set - even if they still LOOK good.

[JohnB]

Hi Gig

If you go see this camper, a nice little camper at that, copy down all the weight numbers on the Sunline weigth sticker. It is either in the bathroom medicine cabinet or in a kitchen cabinet.

That will give us what the trailer weights as it stands now with exception of an actual tongue weight.

In your truck manual there should be a chart and it lists GCWR. Gross Combined Weight Rating. Let us know that that is. It is the max the truck drive train can pull.

On your driver side door sticker there should be GVWR, and Axle weight ratings. Find them too for us.

Let us know when you get back if you are serious about this. It is going to take some time to sort out all these towing numbers and we are glad to help but I can tell you you will be close on the truck limits. How close don’t know until we all numbers are crunched. Pulling is part of the equation however supporting the TT weight is as big, if not bigger thing to deal with on small SUV’s

If your really want to get a hard solid number on what the truck can handle with a TT, stop by a truck scale or other scale and weigh the front axle and the rear axle. Get those 2 numbers. Only have in the truck, people or pets, full gasoline and try not to have much else. That is your base starting weights for the truck. If we know that, then what your truck can handle is based on facts verses estimations.

Good luck looking

John

[luvrque]

I would say it depends on how you will use the trailer. If you are just doing short trips like a few hundred miles and staying in one place then a larger trailer might work for you.
If your trips are of a few thousand miles ea. then the Que will be much better for your tow veh.
As far as Price the Que was the same price New as a 25 to 30 ft. normal trailer with Alum. sidding & cheaper windows Etc. Etc.
But I guess you know what the Que is.

When new the Que list was 25K & another same size trailer was app. 10-12K list.
When we first saw the Que at the dealer we loved it but I said I would never pay 20-25K for it.
So we looked around and then every other trailer looked Cheap in many ways, most had Alum. sidding, cheap smaller windows Etc. & None had a Full king bed which we wanted. I wanted the smallest trailer I could deal with ( with a full bath)...... It had nothing at all to do with my tow Veh.
I do not do small trips & wanted the ease of a small trailer.
In the end we got the QUE.
We are VERY happy with the QUE............

[Steve Collins]

We also need the actual tow ratings of the receiver on the Toyota. While you may feel that it is the "right hitch because you have the towing package", factory receiver hitches come with a wide variety of ratings.

A Class III receiver is not enough for WD towing of a 5,500# GVWR trailer. Class IV is required. (Class III is good up to 5,000 trailer weight and 500# tongue weight.) It is not unusual for a factory receiver to actually be Class II or III. The '05 T-2299 is rated 5,500# GVWR and while they didn't put the tongue weight in the brochure, every other 23' Sunline that I looked at in several years' worth of brochures had tongue weights over 500#. Without actually weighing the tongue, I think it's reasonable to presume that the tongue weight of the 2299 is over 500#.

The rear end gearing is also important. Anything less than 3.53:1 is basically inadequate for towing. 3.73 or higher is preferable. I towed for 9 years with a 3.53:1 setup and, while it was OK on flat terrain, the taller the hills, the more the truck strained. I would not even think of tackling a trip to the Rockies with that truck. I was very unhappy with it in some areas of the Adirondacks.

As JohnB, said about some other info he requested, if you are serious about this, please get the actual ratings for the receiver and the rear end gearing.

[Steve Collins]

The '05 T-2299 has been relisted on eBay.

[TRLRTRSH]

Hello all!!
Thanks for all of the many replies. I went to go visit the Trailer. I will write more tomorow when i have had a chance to sleep, but the bottom line is that I think it's too much trailer for me. I will also tell you that the seller is asking top $$ 10K for it.The reason is that he only used it 3 times and it shows.granted it is an 05 it looks amazing.

When i stepped into the unit i was hit in the face with New trailer smell. ThePlastic contact paper was still on the Microwave.The floor was spotless, the tires still had some of the "feelers" on them. This by far was one of the cleanest trailers i have ever seen. The person who does buy this unit will be basically getting a brand new trailer. They did all their cooking outside(as i do in my current Pop up) if there is anyone who might be considered an fanatic the seller is definetly the one,just looking around the guys house was the same way as was all of the Project cars in the driveway.

I bought my Jetski from a guy like this. I wish there were more people who took more pride in what they sell not asking big dollars for garbage. There is nothing as disheartning as seeing an item described as one thing and seeing it in person as something else.

i'll write back again tomorow to address all of the replies that you were so go to help me out with.
Thanks