I happened across this forum today and figured I would see if anyone had some advice for me. We have an 07 Durango SLT 5.7 without the factory towing package. We are looking at getting a 28-30ft travel trailer keeping the hitch weight around 600lbs and dry weight of the trailer in the 5000-5500lb range. According to what I have read the truck is capable of pulling 7200lbs max so that should give me a good 1500 lbs or so for family, dog etc.. Having the factory towing package and 392 gears it would have bumped it to 8750lbs but oh well.
I will have a weight dist hitch and sway control installed and am looking at the Equal-i-zer for this. It should also increase the hitch and dry weight also.
Just curious if this setup will push the limits of the truck and if anyone has any advice it would be greatly appreciated.
I've seen many gen 2 Durango towing and everyone had it's bumper darn near dragging the ground even with modest TT's in tow becuase of the very soft suspension. Love our Durango but the suspension (for lack of a better word) "sucks" and I don't even have a hitch on ours since we got it mainly for our kids skiing obsession.
The suspension can be improved as there is at least one forum member here that made the corrections for better towing.
Also keep in mind that most listed weights on TT are mythical diet numbers that you'll never see. That 600 hitch wieght jumps up when batteries and full propane tanks are installed. Add the family and all the stuff and your bumper is on the ground and your headlights are lighting up the tree tops........
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So...you're planning on towing the trailer dry? (Means with absolutely NOTHING inside of it except what came from the factory). Not many find that enjoyable. You can expect tongue weight of a 6000 lb. trailer (the one you mention with a bare minimum of personal gear inside) to be as much as 15% of that weight or 900 lb. in case you plan on loading personal gear before towing it.
Just a few things to keep in mind when doing your calculations.
Good luck / Skip
2011 F-150 HD Ecoboost 3.5 V6. 2550 payload, 17,100 GCVWR - 2004 F-150 HD (Traded after 80,000 towing miles) 2007 Rockwood 8314SS 34' travel trailer
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Thanks for the input, it's appreciated. lol, no I was figuring that if I get a trailer with a lower weight we could put the essentials in it and not exceed the maximum towing rate of the truck but it seems that it's going to be really close since the Durango has such a low tow rating and wheelbase.
Durango owners pulling RVs tend to report poor towing experiences with much more than about 5000 pounds loaded. There are a few "problems" with it from short wheelbase, low payload, and soft suspension. The powertrian is strong with the 5.7L and 545RFE.
If you plan to keep the Durango, check out the Lance 2185, or any number of hybrid models out there. 28-30' and/or 5500 pounds dry will really be pushing it.
The Equal-i-zer 4pt is a great hitch, so stick with it for whatever RV you choose.
A & A parents of DD 2005, DS1 2007, DS2 2009 2011 Suburban 2500 6.0L 3.73 pulling 2011 Heartland North Trail 28BRS 2012 VW Passat TDI
BiggD wrote: ---We have an 07 Durango SLT 5.7 without the factory towing package. We are looking at getting a 28-30ft travel trailer keeping the hitch weight around 600lbs and dry weight of the trailer in the 5000-5500lb range. According to what I have read the truck is capable of pulling 7200lbs max so that should give me a good 1500 lbs or so for family, dog etc..
With a "dry weight" of 5000-5500# and carrying only the essentials in the TT, you might have a loaded TT weight of about 5500-6000#.
The TV's "pulling capacity" of 7200# would limit the weight of TV passengers (excluding 150# for driver), cargo, optional equipment, WD hitch, etc to about 1200-1700#.
However, you also must consider the TV's payload capacity.
This value can be found on the Tire and Loading Information on the driver's door/pillar. Look for Maximum Weight of Occupants and Cargo.
That value must cover weight of passengers, cargo, WDH, etc carried in or on the TV PLUS the trailer-induced load added to the TV via the hitch.
Let's assume the stated maximum available payload is 1400# and you expect the weight of passengers, etc will be 800#.
That would leave 600# available for trailer-induced vertical load.
With a properly-adjusted WDH, the trailer-induced vertical load will be about 75% of the tongue weight.
That means the maximum allowable loaded TW (based on this example available payload) would be about 600/0.75 = 800#.
Assuming a typical loaded tongue weight is equal to 13% of the loaded TT weight, the loaded TT weight corresponding to an 800# TW would be about 6000#.
From this example, we can see that the TT weight is likely to be limited by how much your TV can "carry" versus how much it can "pull".
To have the best basis for determining how much a TT can weigh, you should load the TV approximately as it would be loaded for camping and get it weighed.
To that weight, you should add 100# for an Equal-i-zer 4-Point hitch. Then subtract the sum from the TV's Gross Vehicle Weight Rating which should be printed on a door/pillar sticker.
The difference is your best estimate of the allowable trailer-induced vertical load.
Tows beautifully using an Eazlift 1000 WDH. We love driving the SUV and having our house behind us. The best of both worlds. Mpg 11-12. Have towed it all over Mexico and Texas without any issues.
Wow.. my head is spinning now. I will take a look at the sticker when I get home and post it up here. It seems the D can tow, but it needs to be in moderation due to the limitations of it.
if it doesn't have the factory tow package, have you made arrangements to have a receiver, tranny cooler, 7-pin connector and brake controller wiring installed?
you'll have to duplicate the factory package, except for the rear end, in order to tow a TT.
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