Hi Im looking to purchase my first toyhauler or travel trailer for my family and need help deciding the appropriate size and weight of trailer for safety reasons, minimize general wear and tear on tow vehicle and obtain maximimum fuel economy so im leaning towards lighter unit, my question is with my current factory set up what weight size trailer should i be purchasing how heavy 5000,6000,7000,8000,9000 pounds, keep in mind I live in BC Canada and will be towing through the mountain passes.

My Tow Rig:
2002 F250 supercab short box 4x4
v10 automatic 3:73 gears
34'' tires
GCWR-17000LBS
GVWR-8800LBS

 

Bumper, Fifth Wheel, or Goose Neck?

2002 Ford Towing Guide
https://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/...02_default.asp

Guide list your truck at 10,500 maximum trailer weight with a weight distributing hitch.

That includes 150 pounds for driver everything else you have to subtract from that number so.

Start with 10,500 pounds subtract weight of all people going to be in truck, all gear, gas, water and leave yourself 10% wiggle room.


All that being said that is what the specs are we all know with the right hitch and equipment these trucks can tow much more but not legally.

 

Probably about 7k lbs. like what I've got. 26'. Your gear ratio is what's gonna hurt on those mountain passes.

 

If I read your post correctly:

GCWR 17000 Gross Combined Weight Rating==Truck and towed
-GVWR 8800 Gross Vehicle Weight Rating= max. weight of truck and cargo loaded
= 8200 The weight you can tow in theory. Weight out of your truck means more you can tow. It is a balancing act.
If your 34" tires are not stock start reducing both weights.

 

Well, to start things off, I will point out you have one of the most capable tow rigs ever built. Nice place to start!
The 3.73 gears and big tires are a bit of a bummer, but really it just means you'll almost never use OD and will use 2nd a lot on the hills.

Now it's time to think about your priorities...
What kinds of toys are you going to haul?
How many people?
What kinds of roads?
How many miles per year do you expect to haul it?
Bumper pull or 5'er?

5'ers are great because they result in a short overall rig and tow nice. But the additional frontal area will cost you 2 mpg or more. A bumper pull with a good hitch will tow almost as nice and leave you the bed to haul toys. Since you mentioned mpg, I'm going to have to suggest bumper pull. Set it up with Equal-i-zer or Twin Cam WD system and it will tow almost as sweet as a 5er.

 

I'll share my decisions to help you make your own.
It is usually just my wife and I. Sometimes my nephew and one or two of his sons.
Our toys are quads and dirtbikes. 2 quads, or 1 quad and 1 bike, or 3 bikes, or 4 bikes, or sometimes even 2 quads and 2 bikes.
We probably put 4-6K miles on trailer each year.
We very rarely stay in RV parks. Big water and holding tanks were a must for boondocking for days on end.
We frequently end up on dirt or gravel roads. Sometimes bad ones.

Our decision: Bumper pull for mpg. Smallish as it is usually just two of us. And I like my wife, so we decided to go "snug" and keep it as light as possible without compromising durability. Smaller is lighter...
The part most find odd: We did NOT get a toy box. Toy haulers felt too much like "garages" to us, and they tend to be very heavy. Also, I have a pretty sensitive sense of smell, and small gas/oil/coolant spills are inevitable. Toy box out.

All the dirt roads will shake most trailers to pieces. "Lite" trailers wouldn't last more than a couple years.

Instead, we shopped for a very sturdily built travel trailer that could take the abuse. Chose a Nash 22H about 7 years ago. Considered one of the best built "entry level" TT's out there.
Welded up a rack to carry one motorcycle off back of Nash. Made racks to carry 2 quads on top of truck bed. In process of making rack to carry one motorcycle off front of truck.

This setup works PERFECT for us! Still able to cross Donner Summit at 55, even fully loaded with all toys and gas and 100 gallons of water and firewood and and and...

If we had a couple kids all the time, would consider one of the 27' "bunkhouses", but would again NOT go with the light weight versions. I would go burly rock solid so I could put rack on back and have it not shake apart.

 

Oh, another thing to consider is slides or no slides.

Slides are awesome in their ability to make the interior much bigger and more spacious!

BUT.... A well built one that will handle rough roads will add at least 1000 pounds. Per slide. Ouch. And they can be prone to air and eventually water leaks. And each cubic foot of internal volume means that much more to heat in the winter.
A cheap trailer with a slide should be kept on the asphalt to avoid premature disintegration. Even so, plan on repairs within a few years.
A good trailer with a reliable slide will be heavy.
Gotta weigh that decision carefully!

 

I should share this as well....

Every time I walk into a 25 to 27 foot 5th wheel with a super slide, I get ALL KINDS of jealous! They feel 4X as big as our trailer and I want one. Bad.

Then we take our little trailer out and I realize the dream 5er could cost close to 50% more in fuel costs (more windage and lots more weight) and then I am content again.

We have a couple 400 mile trips lined up in the next couple months. 1600 miles worth of gas at 9 mpg (big truck, big tires, LOTS of hills) will hurt. But if it was 6 mpg or less, I probably would have to cancel one trip

 

I tow heavy equipment for hire and do calculate mpg at each fill up. Weight alone has little effect on mpg. I can have 5000 lb of low profile load on my flatbed, or pull 4500 lb dovetail trailer and difference in mpg is barely noticeable.
Put 3000 lb big box on my flatbed and mpg nose dives.
I would strongly advise 5-er. In my travels I have seen lot of 3/4 ton pickup with big trailers laying on their sides on perfectly straight freeways.
WD bars are patch on the bad setup and will help only to some degree. Some people don't understand that most pickups are build for small turning radius, not for heavy hauling.
When you hook up 8000 lb trailer on your bumper hitch your safety will suffer. Short bed helps here, but again -with limits.

 

Fellow BC'er here.
'01 F350 V10 3.73 RWD stock tires.
Pulled our 32' 8000lb trailer from Vancouver over to the Kootenay's and looped back through Salmon Arm.

Truck did great. I drive by my temp guages and climbing Rogers Pass I kept her steady at about 75KM/HR with the tranny temp hitting 225*F near the top. Was a very comfortable towing experience as the truck had no problem with the load.

Cheers,

Mike

 

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

my truck is already equipped with a hitch and aftermarket brake controller

my first choice is a bumper pull trailer not 5ver

my total combined family weight will be 750 pounds

my toys 1 quad and 2 kids dirtbikes will weigh 1100 pounds

now add misc. fuel grocery cloth tools etc.. 250 pounds

my total weight is 2100 pounds

so what should be the ideal weight of the trailer that i purchase?

 

You need to take your truck to a scale and weigh it to get an actual truck weight not a guesstamation weight by what other trucks weigh. Then add you weights you stated you would add, now subtract from your combined carry weight and that's what you can pull. Remember fudging any of those #'s and you could be putting your saftey and others on the road in harms way.

 

You may want to subscribe to RV.net as well and ask. Members there are RV'ers and could give you additional tips and what nots.

From the information you provided, I would go with a toy hauler. The toys would be too much to put in the bed. Then, add the family and such will leave not much for the tongue weight. Clothes, grocery, etc. could go inside the trailer/toy hauler.

Don't go by the dry weight of the trailer when shopping. Use GVWR of the trailer to estimate what your GCVW would be. A rule of thumb is to be around 80% of your GCVWR, while not exceeding your truck's GVWR.

Good luck.

 

Thank you all who responded, I dont even have to check another website a lot of good information for the old v10 right here, from what i have read seems like a smaller toy hauler is the way to go for me, lighter does mean lighter on the wallet too less wear and tear too, weight as mentioned in the above posts at 6000-7000 pounds loaded will be ideal. That will put me in the 16-21 ft range for a toyhauler.

 

Here IMHO you have more freedom for the independent opinions.
I got good seniority on RV.net, but in later years the site got focused on promotions too much and I couldn't stand the "censorship" where replies not in the lane of the sponsors were simply deleted.
Your conclusion to go with up to 7k trailer seems logic, but the truth is that there is too many variations that play role and you have no way to know about them until you hook up. My final suggestion would be to try to tow the trailer before purchase with close to max weigh without any bars. If you can handle it OK without bars, that you will be comfortable towing it with bars. If you start fishtailing at highway speeds, I would not risk my life and life of my family on buying such thing.