Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Travel Trailer/Campers questions....help guys...

Class II (solid 1 1/4 square tube)max weight is 3500lbs, Class 3(2" square tube) is 7500lbs and class 4(also 2" square tube) is 10000lbs.

The ball size is dependent on the tongue it fits into, 2 1/8 or 2 1/2 would be common for the size of trailer you are looking at.

Air conditioning is nice as long as you have a generator or camp where you can plug the trailer in, otherwise it is useless.

Gas stove eliminates the need to draw on power, battery or land, for cooking and if you ever run out of power you can crack a vent and window and briefly use it for heat.

If the trailer comes with electric brakes and most do, you will need a controller. There are many designs but all do the same thing, I have a Tekonsha P3 and it is very handy as I have towed trailers of varying size and I can easily adjust how the controller works.

Hand cranks for the tongue are OK, they are not that hard to twist unless you have some injury preventing you from cranking it around.

Solor recharger is nice if you camp where you have to use battey power all the time but most end up buying a generator and recharge batteries that way, otherwise the solr will extend the use age time available before needing a full recharge, unless you get crazy with the Solar panels then it should be able to recharge the battery on a sunny day, but these systems are expensive.

Standard propane tanls are good enough for me, just make sure you fill them before a long trip.

Aluminum wheels are just cosmetic, your preference is all that matters here.

We always thought about getting a travel trailer, but could never figure out how to get it into our Hotel room.

Oops. Mismatch on my Max weight numbers. I forgot about the note I made in the margins of the text I was looking at. (had to take a trailer course as I used to be on a list to move generators around in emergency situations) Numbers were incorrect in the book and the numbers I have written from the instructor are...

I 2000/200
II 3500/350
III 5000/500
IV (WC) 7500/750
IV (WD) 12000/1200

Jay, you will need to help me out here though as I do not recall what was meant by WC and WD.

Also, they still don't match your numbers so maybe just ignore me altogether. Since they are notes, they could be wrong, although they do match some pages I just Googled out of curiosity. Inconclusive though as there were different asnwers out there as well.

Are these numbers federally mandated, industry, other ??

Murph, unless I am not understanding your end statements, I'm being told it would be a mistake NOT to get a Load Distribution hitch with distibution bars, everyone gets those? Unless your talking about something else...

Oh No. Those are indeed a great idea.

What I was referring to is mostly done on a flatbed type trailer, not a camper anyways. What I meant was that people will try to reduce the problem of too much tongue weight (the weight on the ball) by moving the load towards the back of the trailer, playing with it's center of gravity.

This will certainly relieve the load on your trailer hitch but will also make the trailer very unstable making it wobble and snake along behind you.

Alternatively, too much weight on the ball can detrimentally lighten your trucks front end. Steering and braking can eventually become effected in a very bad way. Fun if you like to pop wheelies though....

I should have been more clear perhaps.

Murph I pulled the numbers from my head and from a website to double check I was remembering right.

http://hitches4less.com/trailer-hitch-classes.html

I would recommend going one step beyond the load distribution to an anti-sway system, Reese makes a dual cam style that effectively locks in the trailer while straight ahead but when turning the arms simply slide over the cam. I found the dual cam to be much superior to the friction style.

http://www.reeseprod.com/video/runvideo.asp?video1=WDDualCamSwayControl.flv

gotcha thanks guys.

The Internet seems to vary on this one. I can find sights supporting my instructor's numbers, your numbers, and even for other numbers. Obviously, they can't all be correct. In any case, you definitely need a bigger receiver for your truck. That is for certain.

Perhaps Randy it's worth a call to the appropriate motor vehicle authority to make sure you get the right system to protect you if there is ever a conflict.

The talk of Weight Distributed Hitches has perhaps answered my other question though. I wonder if the WD does not stand for just that, Weight Distributed versions.

Also, check the towing capacity on your truck. I can't remember now if you mentioned it. A bigger hitch class doesn't increase trucks capacity beyond the manufacturers number.

Most of the numbers are reasonably close, at least close enough I wouldn't worry too much about it. Once you get into the monster size weights 7000lbs and up you pretty much should be looking for a class 4 or higher.

Good point on the trucks towing capacity, 5000-7000lbs is a rough estimate for most half tons, which is why many come from the factory with class 3 hitches.

Also look for a numerically high rear axle for towing heavier loads. Z71's usually have a couple of ratios available, in the early 2000's they were 3.90 or 4.10.