[67mayor]

Hey All,

I've got a '06 4.7L Commander XK with the tow package. We're looking into a good deal on a travel trailer. Got them talked down to a good price, but now I'm looking at the trailer weights and am concerned.

The trailers dry weight is 6000lbs which is just under the 6500lb max in the manual, but the tongue weight is listed at 1010lbs which is 360lbs over the 650lb max per the manual.

How much am I putting the vehicle and safety at risk if I stretch the limits here? I plan to buy a weight distr. hitch and brake system. Is there anything else I could do to modify the vehicle or hitch to accomodate these weights and what kind of costs would I be looking at?

I don't plan to be doing a lot traveling with the trailer really. Plan to park it on a lot for the summer and possibly bring it home for the winter. It would be nice to know I could take it out on the road without too much concern for my vehicle.

 

[adamag25]

most weight distributing hitches are only rated at 1000lbs tongue weight. The tongue weight of a trailer should never be more than 10% of the GVW of the trailer. I would check into that 1000lb rating on the trailer to make sure that is correct. I doubt a trailer manufacturer would design something in that way.

 

[GPintheMitten]

You could probably do it, BUT, never tow it with fresh or waste water in it, never tow it in windy conditions and don't load your XK or the trailer with a lot of stuff.

That said, everybody brings too much stuff camping. And there are a lot of light weight travel trailers on the market. I recommend against it. You can get a nice trailer for about half that weight.

I think your safety would be compromised at some point on the highway and it is not worth it.

 

[robby]

I agree,
That tongue weight spec is way out of line.
Usually tongue weight is kept at 10 to 15% of trailer weight, and I cannot think of many normal vehicles that can support over 1000lb of tongue.
My 24 FT enclosed Pace is only at 900 lb tongue when loaded at 9600 lb.

Rob

 

[67mayor]

Thanks for the advise guys. I talked with my Jeep dealer's service department and a travel trailer dealer. They said that a weight distributing hitch would reduce the stress on the toungue sufficiently and that they wouldn't tow it across country but for a trip to the lake in the spring and to storage in the winter it would be all right.

The weight at the tongue does strike me as odd, but thats even what the 09 brochure for the same trailer says. 17% of gross trailer weight.

Has anyone towed anything close to this heavy with there XK? If I get a good enough deal, it might be worth a try or maybe I'll have to borrow 3/4 ton truck.