Towing

[TigerWho]

Anyone know if i'll have any problems with 1997 F-150 pulling 1997 Sunline Solaris T-2970.

 

[campkasten]

Tiger... that's going to depend on a lot of factors.

You need to know:

- How much your F-150 ACTUALLY weighs and how much it CAN weigh?
- What does Ford say is the max trailer weight you can tow with this F-150?
- What does Ford say is the max COMBINED weight allowed for this truck?

I looked online at the '97 Sunline brochure... a T-2970 can weigh up to 7000 pounds and is nearly 27 feet long. That's the same weight class as our T-2499 and about a foot longer.

The engine type/displacement and the rear axle gear ratio on the '97 F-150 are also important things to know. It's nice to have a bit more truck than you need to do the job. Having a little "cushion" when towing makes the truck last longer and tow more safely. For instance, you may be OK to tow with a 3.55 gear ratio but the 3.73 or 3.90 or 4.10 gear ratios are better suited for towing. Similarly, the smaller engines may be OK to tow with, but larger engines (or a diesel) are better suited for towing these heavier loads.

I know that with my small (5.3L) engine and a 3.73 rear axle ratio, my truck is pretty much at the limit of what we can safely tow. If we had the 2500HD or one of the larger engines, we could safely tow a heavier load. But we're OK for now.

Look at all your numbers. Talk to experienced towers of Sunlines... not just me, I'm a "newbie" when it comes to these heavier campers. I'm sure one of them will chime in shortly.

 

[kanyonkitty]

The 1997 T-2970 has a total length of 29'11" a dry weight of 4155 and a GVWR of 7000#'s. Figuring a 15% tongue weight that gives you 1050#'s of tongue weight on your truck.

The best thing is take your truck, loaded like you "were" headed for a camping trip including fuel and see what it weighs. Look for a sticker on your drivers door that should tell you the GVWR of your truck. Now add the guestimated tongue weight of 1050#'s & the actual weight of your truck together, these two numbers added together cannot (well should not) exceed the GVWR of your truck.

A little more info about your truck will help the guys on here give you better information. Truck info = GVWR, engine size, rear axle ratio, wheel base, the actual weight of the truck loaded with people, pets & gear as it would be headed for a camping trip.

"IF" all the weights look do-able, you WILL want a quality hitch with incorporated sway control, like Reese HP Dual Cam, or Equalizer.



Kitty

 

[pwb01]

The max towing weight for my F-150 (below) is 7500# which means I wouldn't want to tow more than 6000# to be comfortable. I'm towing under 5000# now and it's perfect.

 

[JohnGB]

Hi TigerWho

Welcome to Sunline Owners Club! Glad to have you with us.

I too looked up a 97, T2970. That is a nice floor plan. I also looked at the other floor plans. I like the T2990. Sunline made some really nice and light for the size floor plans during this time frame.

http://www.sunlineclub.com/docs/97.pdf

Here are a few things I see. Like was already said the dry weight of the TT is 4,870# and it has a dry tongue weight of 715# for that model. The dry means no LP in the tanks, no battery and no extra options installed that raise the weights. And then there is your camping gear. There may be a weight sticker in one of the kitchen cabinets that is what it was the day it left Sunline. That will be your closest weight short of weighing the TT.

I was most interested in the floor plan and dry tongue weight. The dry tongue weight is 715/4870 x 100 = 14.7% dry tongue weight. The kitchen is over the axles. That’s good as that heavy weight is mostly born on the TT axles. There is some small storage in the back of the TT. The fridge and the ward. And then there is storage under the bed, the bed room cabinets up front and most likely a pass thru storage hole up front.

When you are starting out with 14.7% dry tongue and a high % of your cargo space up front, the heads up is tongue weight can rise quick on you. Even if you load the camper dead even, which is not likely, a normal family takes on 1,000# of camping gear. A family with kids may be 1,100 or a little more. The camper can handle the weight.

So if you add the 1,100# of gear that is 5,970# and you still have all the way to 7,000# before maxing out the camper. For exactly even loading of the 1,100# (not likely) that raises the tongue weight to 878#. However with the floor plan, a prediction is the tongue weight can rise to the 16 maybe 17% range. That is now 1,015#. Less fresh water. If you fresh water and the tank is forward of the TT axles then it by itself can raise the tongue weight 50 to 200# pending the tank location.

Naturally these are predictions however I have 1st hand seen front loading TT’s rise really high in tongue weight pending where you put the camping gear. And we all want to take that gear as, hey, we have a beautiful TT, like a house on wheels and the stuff just comes. Maybe not on day one, but year 1 it ends up in there.

Point in all this is the truck has to handle the TT. The length and weight is part of the towing stability part. So now comes the truck. We need more info about your F150. Ford made so many variations and cab/bed styles that just being a F150 can mean a lot of different scenarios.

See this post. It may take you 10 to 15 minutes to read thru but it helps explain some of what TT’s present to being able to tow it down the road.

There is a reply on there are well asking info about your truck, your family situation and camping. If you can provide us with that info we can help show you how it stacks up.

Towing a TT - Info for those new to Towing

Hope this helps and good luck. That is a nice TT, however ideally you go into the deal eyes wide open on what it can come close to when you load the TV and TT all up to go camping. You may have to be real light on the camping gear in the begining. And in time you may need to upgrade the truck. But at least you understand this on the way in.

In many cases, mine included, after we got our 1st TT, we soon traded the truck to a larger one to handle the high tongue weights that came with that floor plan. Pulling was not the problem. What you see in my sig is my 3rd TT tow vehicle on my 2nd camper.

John

 

[awellis3]

I just went through same problem

Weigh everything - don't believe anything you read, seriously.
My 1995 T-2653 has a "brochure weight" of 4265#
I weighed it at a weigh station (empty) and it weighed 5300#.
Weigh truck separately then weigh truck and trailer. This will give you your base GCWR. You will then know how much extra stuff you can pack in the TT and TV before maxing out your recommended total.
TT + TV = (actual)GCWR
Max GCWR - (actual)GCWR = additional weight that can be carried in truck and/or trailer.

I felt I needed to know this before buying the trailer.

Teach

 

[TigerWho]

Thanks everyone

well... it's a done deal. purchased and towed w/ no problem. pulled real nice. really appreciate everyones help. being a first time owner, i'll probably be here often. take care and thanks again.

 

[doug.fedeli]

We have a 1999 T2970 and used to pull it with a 99 F-150 with 4.6 and 3.55 gears. It pulled it OK but there were times it wasn't fun. Now we have a 07 Expedition with the tow package. It made me realize how hard the truck was working to pull the camper.

 

[Gene-SUN]

Re: Thanks everyone

well... it's a done deal. .....

Congratulations

... i'll probably be here often. ....

We hope so!

 

[fiveaday-SUN]

We tow a 2007 257sr with a 2006 F150 fx4 5.4 with a 3.73 rear end and have no problems. this includes traveling through some hill/mountains in New Hampshire and New York.

 

[henryj-SUN]

Towing Myths

There's a lot of good info in this thread, but also some misunderstanding of the significance of that info. Since other newcomers may come across it in the future, I want to add a counterpoint to bring the thread back into balance.

Anecdotal towing experiences of how good our trucks are make for entertaining chatter around a campfire, but they are meaningless without real numbers from a weigh scale. The simple fact is that a manufacturer's specified 700 lb dry tongue will morph into a measured 1000 lb tongue weight in the blink of an eye.

Everybody's rig, expectations and experiences are different. YMMV, but weigh your rig and know what the limits are for GAWR, GVWR and GCWR... and read John's post Towing a TT - Info for those new to Towing.

Fiveaday, I'm not sure which trailer you're towing; your post says one thing, your sig another.

Henry

 

[fiveaday-SUN]

Here you go henry - a corrected signature.

 

[henryj-SUN]

Thanks Fiveaday. Now I know you have a rear kitchen; the one floorplan where you can actually affect tongue weight either way by how you load or how much water you carry where. However, you still need at least 12% TW. Also with that floorplan it is vital that you know how it's loading by weighing it several times until you're satisfied that you know how to consistently load it to be safe on the road. Although there is no substitute for a Sherline tongue scale or a commercial segmented scale, you can get a lot of info with the bathroom scale method just on your driveway. Take a weekend to play with loading locations and water to see where you end up. When you're satisfied that you know what is happening head out to a commercial scale to get a good set of numbers.

Bathroom Scale Tongue Weight I
Don't try this with a 2X4 as the instructions say. I use a 4 ft 2X8 to have enough strength to support a heavy travel trailer tw and I glued two pieces of dowel to the bottom to make a good fulcrum.

Bathroom Scale Tongue Weight Photos

Henry

 

[dperino73]

Does anyone tow their TT with a Dodge Durango?

We have a 2007 20'4" Sunline T1950 listed at 5000 GVWR. If we lease the Durango that has a towing capability of 6,200, can we get away with a 3.6L V6 engine or do we need a V8 Hemi? There is also a 7,400 towing capability option.
Thanks!

 

[Tod Osier]

We have a 2007 20'4" Sunline T1950 listed at 5000 GVWR. If we lease the Durango that has a towing capability of 6,200, can we get away with a 3.6L V6 engine or do we need a V8 Hemi? There is also a 7,400 towing capability option.
Thanks!

Without getting into the actual capacity numbers on the Durango, the 3.6L V6 is going to be a poor performer towing a T1950. We have a T-1950 (2006) and I've towed it with a Tacoma with a 4.0L V6 and I found the performance lacking. I tow with a 5.7L Tundra and feel that a 1/2 ton to tow a T-1950 is an excellent combination. There have been a number of conversations of about towing T-1950s here and the consensus is that a V-8 half ton (or similar) is about perfect. If you owned the vehicle already you could try it, but I think you will find it lacking, as I and others have.

 

[dperino73]

Without getting into the actual capacity numbers on the Durango, the 3.6L V6 is going to be a poor performer towing a T1950. We have a T-1950 (2006) and I've towed it with a Tacoma with a 4.0L V6 and I found the performance lacking. I tow with a 5.7L Tundra and feel that a 1/2 ton to tow a T-1950 is an excellent combination. There have been a number of conversations of about towing T-1950s here and the consensus is that a V-8 half ton (or similar) is about perfect. If you owned the vehicle already you could try it, but I think you will find it lacking, as I and others have.

Thanks so much for your input Ted. If the majority of my driving does not involve pulling the camper, and if the maximum amount of trips we will take over the 3 year lease will be 6-8 on mostly flat roads within 500 miles from home (most under 200) would you still recommend we go with the V8?

 

[Tod Osier]

I’m not familiar with Durango’s, but a big part of towing is stopping and controlling the camper. Campers are big - wide and heavy and tall. The larger the tow vehicle, the easier and safer for you and everyone else on the road. Larger includes heavier, which helps control the camper weight. A longer tow vehicle helps control the camper sway when towing. Wider is also nice, our Tacoma was narrow and this made backing much harder because you couldn’t see. If the Durango is lighter, shorter, narrower and lower hp than a v-8 half ton, My advice is to do as much research as possible before committing.

In my decisions I’m factoring in longevity of the tow vehicle, but that isn’t as important for a lease.

 

[dperino73]

Okay...great advice. I will compare the size and weight of the Durango to the Ram today. We do have a brake controller in the Ram which we plan to have transferred to the Durango, and we do use the weight distribution bars as well. Thank you again!