What can we tow? Shopping Travel Trailers (1 Viewer)

[Atxrunner]

We are in the market for a travel trailer for a family of 4 and the ones my wife likes have a bunk room for the kids. The one in particular we like is 33' long with a dry weight of almost 6000 lbs and a hitch weight of 650 lbs.
I would hate to have to sell the GX but even adding helper air bags, weight distribution anti-sway hitch I have a feeling this is too much weight and length for the GX. Even with minimal gear packed this would put the numbers at the maximum for payload and towing weight.

Opinions please. Thanks

2010 GX460 with 148k miles

 

[Acrad]

Yeah.. that really takes the 460 off the list if you want to stay in "rated" capacity once you load things up.... LX 570 doesn't do much better at 7000 lbs. The LX had an adjusted tow rating after 2010.

The 2008-2010 LX was 8500 lbs.

200 series LC is 8500 (2008-2010)... seems if you follow through the years slowly declines to present day 8100 lbs as of 2021

 

[Atxrunner]

Yeah.. that really takes the 460 off the list if you want to stay in "rated" capacity once you load things up.... LX 570 doesn't do much better at 7000 lbs. The LX had an adjusted tow rating after 2010.

The 2008-2010 LX was 8500 lbs.

200 series LC is 8500 (2008-2010)... seems if you follow through the years slowly declines to present day 8100 lbs as of 2021

Thanks for the info... I wonder if the payload capacity is any better on an early LX570. Just checked my door frame on the GX and my payload is 1155 lbs

 

[Acrad]

1,411 lbs shown here

https://www.cars.com/research/lexus-lx_570-2010/specs/

Used 2010 Lexus LX 570 Specs & Features | Edmunds

Detailed specs and features for the Used 2010 Lexus LX 570 including dimensions, horsepower, engine, capacity, fuel economy, transmission, engine type, cylinders, drivetrain and more.

www.edmunds.com

2010 Lexus LX 570 Base 4dr All-wheel Drive Specs and Prices - Autoblog

2010 LX 570 Base 4dr All-wheel Drive specs (horsepower, torque, engine size, wheelbase), MPG and pricing.

www.autoblog.com

 

[Acrad]

These specs show up in 2010 LX 570 owners manual

https://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM60F67U/pdf/OM60F67U.pdf

 

[Atxrunner]

These specs show up in 2010 LX 570 owners manual

https://drivers.lexus.com/t3Portal/document/om-s/OM60F67U/pdf/OM60F67U.pdf

View attachment 2606469

Thanks again! Still not looking good even for the LX because of that payload number. Maybe I will convince the wife we need to keep the GX and just buy an old cash 3/4 Ton truck for the travel trailer.

 

[Tex68w]

Years of towing with diesel 1-tons has spoiled me to where I don't like to tow with these SUV's if at all possible. That said, they can tow decently well but I have a habit of not pushing them anywhere near their max tow rating. Personally I wouldn't pull more than 70% of their max tow rating, things get very dynamic at speed and when modified. The biggest detriments to towing are under sized brakes and a flexy chassis and I don't like to stress those systems anymore than necessary. The trailer you mentioned is certainly out of the question and I wouldn't be keen on towing it with a 200-series either. Don't forget that's the dry weight, once you add in water, furniture, gear, food, tools, interior accessories, utensils, luggage, etc. you'll easily tack on another 1,000lbs in weight.

 

[r2m]

Also consider if you'll be doing any "passes" over major mountain ranges. Even if you are within tow ratings, that will still be a huge strain on a vehicle. A trailer that large, you may want to consider a U.S. diesel truck. (Gulp, did I just say that!)
I have a buddy with a big 'ol trailer, I don't recall just how large but he has a newer GMC diesel crewcab and he says on trips from the west coast to east coast, he can tow that thing over passes no problem at the highway speed limits!
Remember, that pulling a trailer is only half of the rating of a vehicle, the other half is the stopping! You don't want to tow something so big that it compromises your own stopping ability. Maybe keep the GX for local stuff and get a full size diesel truck for the trailer?

 

[Littlehouse]

Years of towing with diesel 1-tons has spoiled me to where I don't like to tow with these SUV's if at all possible. That said, they can tow decently well but I have a habit of not pushing them anywhere near their max tow rating. Personally I wouldn't pull more than 70% of their max tow rating, things get very dynamic at speed and when modified. The biggest detriments to towing are under sized brakes and a flexy chassis and I don't like to stress those systems anymore than necessary. The trailer you mentioned is certainly out of the question and I wouldn't be keen on towing it with a 200-series either. Don't forget that's the dry weight, once you add in water, furniture, gear, food, tools, interior accessories, utensils, luggage, etc. you'll easily tack on another 1,000lbs in weight.

100% agree with this. I think the only trailer I'd pull with this is an offroad teardrop, A-liner, or pop-up. Maybe even those small airstreams....

 

[Tex68w]

Yea the 16'/19' Caravel, 16'/19' Bambi or the 16'/20' Basecamp would be all that I would consider from Airstream with the GX, 5,000lbs max GVWR load and under. I think aside from the off-road trailers and tear drops, the Casita's are damn near perfect for this platform.

 

[Washingtontaco]

the Casita's are damn near perfect for this platform.

And cool!

 

[ScofflawGX]

I'm in the market as well and have been eyeing up this one.

Forest River No Boundaries

 

[giovanni]

I'll just add to all of this by saying that I tow a 17' adventure trailer with my GX. Loaded weight (full water, extra gas, food, etc) is around 3800# and that is about as much as I'd want to pull regularly with the GX. It does it *fine*, but not with authority. It never feels twitchy or unsafe, but you can definitely tell it is there, and it is slooooow.

In a pinch, I would tow more short distances and infrequently, but I would not consider the 460 a good tow solution for anything over 4000 lbs.

MPG drops to around 9 while towing, so range very quickly becomes a factor.

 

[r2m]

I'll just add to all of this by saying that I tow a 17' adventure trailer with my GX. Loaded weight (full water, extra gas, food, etc) is around 3800# and that is about as much as I'd want to pull regularly with the GX. It does it *fine*, but not with authority. It never feels twitchy or unsafe, but you can definitely tell it is there, and it is slooooow.

In a pinch, I would tow more short distances and infrequently, but I would not consider the 460 a good tow solution for anything over 4000 lbs.

MPG drops to around 9 while towing, so range very quickly becomes a factor.

View attachment 2608331

And you do look very comfortable with the photos you've posted of you and your family with that trailer.
Wonder if your size trailer would be an option for Atxrunner (er, his wife)? Maybe point out some of the benefits of your trailer?

 

[BobinBend]

We tow a 19 foot travel trailer, mostly flat stuff but we have towed over the pass with it. It's close to 4300# and it does "fine" for us. I put in the 6500# OEM hitch and I run redline in my diffs and transaxle and engine oil and try to keep from trying to do anything too crazy. I have a bluetooth engine diagnostics monitor I have not used yet and will try to use it to keep an eye on my trans temps on our next trip. We bought a brake controller and a good sway bar hitch and the Dobinson suspension seems to be great for staying level and stable while towing)

But it has sure been a good way to get away and do some of our favorite hobbies (fishing, camping, eating/drinking, kayaking and just getting out into the outdoors) during these crazy Covid times

 

[Atxrunner]

We tow a 19 foot travel trailer, mostly flat stuff but we have towed over the pass with it. It's close to 4300# and it does "fine" for us. I put in the 6500# OEM hitch and I run redline in my diffs and transaxle and engine oil and try to keep from trying to do anything too crazy. I have a bluetooth engine diagnostics monitor I have not used yet and will try to use it to keep an eye on my trans temps on our next trip.

But it has sure been a good way to get away and do some of our favorite hobbies (fishing, camping, eating/drinking, kayaking and just getting out into the outdoors) during these crazy Covid times


View attachment 2609826

How do you like the Jayco? Any issues with it?

 

[BobinBend]

We actually like it a lot. Like any of the lighter trailers, it has some cheaper construction, but functionally it works great. We have to keep an eye out for "opportunities" to improve on the workmanship at the factory (resealed a few things, etc). We looked at a lot of the smaller ones, but they were just a little too small. We chose the fold down murphy style bed and use the costco tempurpedic type pad so it is super comfortable and it converts easily to a couch. We also like having a large dinette with a big window. Other than that, it has propane heat and a great solar panel system (two 170 watt panels with a lithium battery and a victor controller and a small 800W inverter) and we use very little electrical for led lights and charging phones and Ipads so we can go for days dry camping. It's no class A RV, but then we didn't pay that much either so it works perfect for us. Most of tools I would want to keep in the trailer, I will have in the back of the GX drawers, but I will be modifying the storage areas and adding a small HAM base station, redoing the dinette table with some USB ports and maybe adding a swing out BBQ station on the back (sound familiar like what we all do to our GXs). And if we go somewhere really remote with rough access, we will bring a tent or maybe buy a roof top tent.

 

[ltmx]

We love our little 16' Casita. The GX tows it all over the place (literally every trip includes at least a little driving over 10k ft) and it works well for our family of four plus a dog.

 

[AdventureFamily]

agree, stay around or under 4K the weight and water you put in adds up quick. You can look around for a early-mid 2000's skyline bunkhouse lite series. we love ours and have towed all over the western USA. Research , understand and use a weight distributing hitch system. When set up correctly they are amazing inventions. For some reason I've found people increasing rear springs ratings to tow and not using distributing hitches. I wouldn't do that personally on a lighter rig. Get a good brake controller , hitch system , get everything dialed in. Good luck and enjoy your adventures.