How big is too big?

[Davidjc]

Right now I am 22'11" tip to tail. The longest of the top 3 of our options for the couples trailer replacement, in a few years, is 28.5.

https://www.granddesignrv.com/travel-trailers/imagine-xls/23lde

I have an email into Grand Design to see if that length is tip-tail or not. Your trailer seems like a pretty good comparison when it comes to length and weight. Thanks!!! @Grumpaw tagging you so you can see what we are considering

Yes. Total length is important. I was once on a phone call with a sales person and I kept asking the total length and he kept assuring me it was 26'. I knew better so I asked if I'd be able to close the garage door on my 27' garage and he said "oh no." You have to consider the tongue and rear bumper and spare. Total length turned out to be 31'. Lol. Don't know why they have such a hard time admitting Total length.

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[Juany118]

The ability of the heavier truck as well as safety make it worth it. 3/4 ton and up come with stronger sturdier everything that matter for towing like brakes. The stability and brakes alone are worth skipping the half Ton trucks. You can use a half ton for a lot of things and it will work fine. But if your towing something a ranger can't handle and do it often a bigger heavier truck is going to be a smarter bet in all ways but money most likely lol.

This post made things click.

You can actually have "too much" truck. Frame flex in a trailer can be a product of the tow vehicles suspension being to stiff so that more energy is transmitted into the trailer.

Second trucks are designed to brake safely based on their weight. An F-150's 60-0 braking distance is 123 ft and the F-250's is 163 ft. Add in the trailer's brakes and the combined unit can still brake inside the same distance.

Trailer brakes don't simply exist so that the combined unit stops within the same distance, they exist so that the trailer doesn't pivot at the hitch, and essentially try to wrap around the tow vehicle, as the tow vehicle is stopping. The size of the tow vehicle doesn't have a huge impact on stopping the trailer in that circumstance.

The idea that "bigger is better" by definition, beyond towing and payload capacities, only really applies in the event that you get catastrophic sway in a trailer. The bigger the tow vehicle the more sway you need to effect handling. The thing is between sway control hitches and electronic sway control that kind of catastrophic sway is incredibly rare.

 

[Juany118]

Do what I did and rent a few TTs near the same size and weight of what you want and tow them yourself before buying. See for yourself how the Ranger handles the TT you want with your particular driving skills. The three biggest problems towing with the Ranger are 1) No brake controller 2) no towing mirrors 3) tiny gas tank. Through the mere application of money, I've fixed all those problems in my Ranger and you will want to in your as well, if you haven't already.

Here's a review I wrote about a very long road trip I made towing near max with several crossings of the continental divide. https://www.ranger5g.com/forum/threads/6464-miles-towing-7200lb-tt.25658/

I have the OEM trailerbrake controller, the one that hooks in through the third brake light so the collision avoidance and adaptive cruise will trigger the trailer brakes, and I have after market modular tow mirrors. The one annoying factor was the small gas tank, towing a ~5000 lbs Salem FSX, on my recent 600+ mile round trip.

Edit: read your thread and shared the same experience that you did with the larger trailer. Glad to read their wasn't a big difference.

 

[Frenchy]

I have the OEM trailerbrake controller, the one that hooks in through the third brake light so the collision avoidance and adaptive cruise will trigger the trailer brakes, and I have after market modular tow mirrors. The one annoying factor was the small gas tank, towing a ~5000 lbs Salem FSX, on my recent 600+ mile round trip.

Long Range Automotive in Idaho can help fix that

 

[ctechbob]

Long Range Automotive in Idaho can help fix that

Traveling with a wife/girlfriend/dog will fix it too. There's no way one of the 3 of us doesn't have to stop for one reason or another after a whole tank of fuel (~2hrs-ish).

'I Need to pee' - Stop for gas
*whine* *WHINE* *BARK* - Stop for gas
'What's for lunch?' - Stop for gas

etc

 

[Juany118]

Traveling with a wife/girlfriend/dog will fix it too. There's no way one of the 3 of us doesn't have to stop for one reason or another after a whole tank of fuel (~2hrs-ish).

'I Need to pee' - Stop for gas
*whine* *WHINE* *BARK* - Stop for gas
'What's for lunch?' - Stop for gas

etc

Well that's true. On our last long trip, to see the eclipse, my wife and daughter drove separately so the munchkin didn't miss more than 1 day of school and I would wager the 13 lb Rat Terrier that was riding with me (the Coon Hound was with the wife and kid) welcomed the extra break along the way.

 

[Frenchy]

Traveling with a wife/girlfriend/dog will fix it too. There's no way one of the 3 of us doesn't have to stop for one reason or another after a whole tank of fuel (~2hrs-ish).

'I Need to pee' - Stop for gas
*whine* *WHINE* *BARK* - Stop for gas
'What's for lunch?' - Stop for gas

etc

Yeah but when you have a bigger tank it makes it easier to where you don't have to stop as often for gas alone especially when gas prices seem ridiculous between stops

 

[Juany118]

Yeah but when you have a bigger tank it makes it easier to where you don't have to stop as often for gas alone especially when gas prices seem ridiculous between stops

I was thinking that. But then I also realized how would mess with the payload. Right now I have close to 1600 lb because I did not get the FX4 package. If I add a bigger tank and more fuel that will eat into that 1600 lb. That may or may not be worth it, depending on how big I want to go with a trailer, since bigger trailers usually mean bigger hitch weights.

 

[ctechbob]

I was thinking that. But then I also realized how would mess with the payload. Right now I have close to 1600 lb because I did not get the FX4 package. If I add a bigger tank and more fuel that will eat into that 1600 lb. That may or may not be worth it, depending on how big I want to go with a trailer, since bigger trailers usually mean bigger hitch weights.

This, and I don't care what anyone says about Australian standards being higher etc, I'm not putting that metal fabbed tank in a truck that is going to see lots of highway duty.

It isn't crash tested. FWIW I tried to look into what these 'higher standards' were and came up largely empty. Granted, I only spent an evening looking into it before I lost interest, but if anyone has that data, I'd love to see it.

You want to talk towing safety and then slap an untested 'offroad use only' tank in there that holds more fuel, your arguments are largely invalid to me.

 

[Juany118]

This, and I don't care what anyone says about Australian standards being higher etc, I'm not putting that metal fabbed tank in a truck that is going to see lots of highway duty.

It isn't crash tested. FWIW I tried to look into what these 'higher standards' were and came up largely empty. Granted, I only spent an evening looking into it before I lost interest, but if anyone has that data, I'd love to see it.

You want to talk towing safety and then slap an untested 'offroad use only' tank in there that holds more fuel, your arguments are largely invalid to me.

I hadn't even considered crash test safety. This in my daily driver with my 10 yo in the backseat. Yeah no thank you.

 

[TJC]

I wouldn't go any longer than what I already tow, although very slightly heavier wouldn't be a problem. @Grumpaw is about the same length as me, but heavier.

My opinion is that we are both at the max length for the truck.

26DJSE - 26' box 29' tip to tail

Nice setup! And you had the good taste to color coordinate!

 

[Frenchy]

I hadn't even considered crash test safety. This in my daily driver with my 10 yo in the backseat. Yeah no thank you.

If it makes you feel better, I have not heard of a single fatality related to a Australian made fuel tank meant for extra range. If it was an issue you would hear about it

 

[TJC]

It's really not a problem towing a trailer like we're referring to. The Ranger isn't a "small" truck....actually around the same size and weight as the late 90's early 2000's F-150 give or take a few hundred lbs.
Back in them there "olden days" we towed larger, heavier trailers with regular cars. I towed a 28 foot Holiday Rambler thousands of miles with a standard size 1971 Buick Skylark station wagon with a 350 V-8 and a 3 speed auto.
The Ranger is fully capable of towing what we have.

I towed all over the west with a 1973 Plymouth Fury III. Looked just like this one. It was fine.

 

[9zero1790]

I towed all over the west with a 1973 Plymouth Fury III. Looked just like this one. It was fine.

when was a kid my parents towed a 30 ft airstream with a pontiac bonneville lol. but those were steel sleds back in the day. big v8 , steel everything. people were paying more attention to the road then too.

 

[9zero1790]

worth putting in that the 3/4 and up trucks from ford have a bigger fuel tank.

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