Towed for a Class-C

[NDBirdman]

Been looking and have been receiving many different opinions on type/size of dollies or car trailers.  One local trailer dealer told us they won't talk about a trailer for towing behind a motor home, they say it works for a while but too many RVs end up with transmission problems because of it so they would not talk about it.

Another one was willing to sell us their biggest, or widest dolly with elec. brakes until they went out and measured our car at 80 inches.  Said nope, your car is too wide for our widest dolly, darn it.  Mentioned to better half we needed to trade her Buick in on a smaller vehicle, maybe a Jeep.... got told not gonna happen!

Neither of our vehicles can be towed 4 down.  2018 Nissan Frontier (mini) truck and a 2021 Buick Enclave.  The truck can't be towed with a dolly, Buick says the Enclave can but can't locate a dolly wide enough.  So, I look at aluminum car haulers to keep the weight down some.  RV is a 2022 Leprechaun 260DS on E450 Ford chassis with a 7,500lb tow rating.  Wanting to keep weight down as low as possible and safely tow, will be a lot of mountain driving between ND and WA.  Before we picked up the Class C RV, we had elec. brakes installed.  I find it funny the RV came from the factory set up for towing with-out elec. brakes.  I've always thought they go hand in hand but I guess not... LOL, it has it now.

I guess my problem is, how long a trailer?  I prefer aluminum, I had a 20' car hauler but it's steel and one heavy sucker, the ramps for it really pushed my abilities to install/remove.  So, it's now gone.  The aluminum ones would be ok.  We looked at the tilt bed haulers, 18' but then there's almost 2 more foot of the bed in front of the tilt bed essentially making it a 20 ft (they don't make 16' tilt beds, would probably be perfect).  The truck is 17' and car is 16' so there would be 3-4' of wasted length not used/needed to jockey around.  They would order me a 16' with ramps but that would not give me enough room to move vehicle back n forth to balance the weight on the RVs hitch.  An 18' should but back to wasted space.

I guess, my question is, any suggestions?  I will consider any/all suggestions.  We're not in a hurry, we're considering waiting til next spring if need be, we're not in a hurry.  In the mean time, I'm open to a smaller used towed for sale already set up for towing.  Something with a clutch perhaps as I can use one.... LOL.   I've searched/found a company that makes a drive-train disconnect but as luck have it, not for my truck.  For now, we have some long trips planned and plan to get there/rent a car for the duration.

 

[Kirk W]

When towing a trailer, you need to always have 10-15% of the weight on the tongue for good handling and the 10% is a minimum with 12% better. If you balance the trailer by moving the car it will not tow well. With what the trailer will cost and weigh, I think that I'd look for a used car that is ready to tow.  Something like the Chevy Sonic or perhaps the Smart car  that are advertised on the market place forum. 

[Lou Schneider]

Is 7500 lbs the hitch capacity or really the tow rating of the RV?  Tow rating is the weight of the RV subtracted from the GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) of the tow vehicle chassis and are figured using the weight of an empty RV plus a 150 lb driver.  In practice since RVs are almost always loaded to their maximum weight you have to subtract it's Carrying Capacity from the Tow Rating to truly see what you can tow.  For example, if you have a 7500 lb tow rating and you have 3000 lbs of passengers and cargo in the RV you can really only tow 4500 lbs.

[bruce t]

With a C class I would first check on where the tow bar has been attached. I've seen them bolted to the body and not the chassis.

[NDBirdman]

10 hours ago, Lou Schneider said:

Is 7500 lbs the hitch capacity or really the tow rating of the RV?

Tow rating.  I'm thinking a toad already set up for towing like the one Kirk shared a link to would be better.  Unless I find a dolly that can fit an Enclave.  Aluminum trailers like I've been looking at run around 13k in my area new.

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, NDBirdman said:

Aluminum trailers like I've been looking at run around 13k in my area new.

It isn't just the cot of the trailer but they can also be a major headache to find a place for it when traveling. Many campgrounds have few, if any sites large enough for  the RV, trailer, and your unloaded car and those that do will almost always cost extra. Public parks won't cost extra but there will be few places that the entre rig will fit. 

[Jaydrvr]

https://www.rvnetwork.com/topic/149425-2015-chevrolet-sonic-toad-57000-miles-clean-carfax-7500/

[NDBirdman]

Thanks for the advise y'all!  Talking to my wife, she says I will wait until next spring/summer to add to the RV.  I like the Sonic shown but my better half said I'm done spending... LOL, she's the smart one.  In the mean time, I'm looking at idea's/suggestions for down the road.  She wants to just rent a car at destinations for now. 

[sandsys]

20 hours ago, NDBirdman said:

She wants to just rent a car at destinations for now. 

We did that. Enterprise actually came to a campground to pick us up then, later, drop us off when we visited Key West. (You can't drive even a small Class C into old town Key West.)

Linda

[Chad Heiser]

I tow a smart car four down behind my 5th wheel.  Smart cars are light, surprisingly roomy on the inside and easy to tow.  You just need to add a base plate and some wiring to power the lights while towed.  I have towed mine thousands of miles.