Now days, a “half-ton” pickup can usually carry a lot more than a literal half-ton, but the “half-ton” nomenclature remains. Unfortunately the Toyota Tundra did not have the towing capabilities sufficient for our 25 FB trailer. These classes originally referred to the payload of the truck, see Part I for more on payload.
#Airstream air compressor 4 gallon full
Once we narrowed it down to a truck, we had to decide what class of truck we wanted: half-ton (Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado 1500, GMC Sierra 1500, RAM 1500, etc.), three-quarter ton (Ford F-250, Chevy Silverado 2500, GMC Sierra 2500, RAM 2500), or full ton (Ford F-350, Chevy Silverado 3500, GMC Sierra 3500, RAM 3500). We contemplated purchasing larger SUV (there are only a handful out there that can tow a trailer), but ultimately decided that a truck would be more versatile and much more capable. We wanted it all to be integrated from the start.
We were not interested in installing an aftermarket trailer brake controller, or receiving hitch, or anything else. Some gas stations do not have diesel and some that do, only have it for a few bays. Diesel engines will (typically) last longer and are much more fuel-efficient and have more torque, but they are more expensive to maintain, louder, and smellier. We didn't want some behemoth dually full-ton diesel pickup that could tow 30,000 lbs. As large as necessary to tow the trailer but no larger.For a truck, this means having an extended cab (four doors), and no suicide doors (back doors that open the opposite direction of the front doors and require that the front doors are open). It had to have a roomy and comfortable interior large enough to support two humans and two cats.Trucks are wide, heavy (will accelerate quickly even in 4L down steep hills), and do not have the tight turning radius of a Jeep, but for many flatter or straight 4WD roads, high clearance and 4WD is good enough. Again our Toyota RAV4 can do very limited off-road (and we have pushed it further than we should), having a truck with higher clearance and better 4WD capability is a nice perk and will allow us to get to places we haven't been able to reach before.
Some mountain passes have 7-8% grades (up and down). We had to educate ourselves on the various tow ratings and capacities (which are covered in Part I of this post). Note that at higher elevations you lose a little horse power, some Colorado passes are as high of 11,000 or even 12,000 feet. First and foremost, it had to be capable of safely towing a fully loaded trailer, including up and down mountains (and living in Colorado, there are plenty of mountains).Once we settled on an Airstream, and specifically a 25-foot Airstream, we were off to the races searching for a tow-vehicle. Our old Toyota RAV4 is capable of many things – but towing a trailer is definitely not one of them!
Sarah and I decided on the first option, and really don’t see the point of the second unless you already own a capable tow-vehicle. Choose the tow vehicle first, and find a trailer that you can tow it with. Choose the trailer first, and then choose a tow vehicle that can accommodate it.Ģ. When choosing a trailer and a tow vehicle, there are generally two approaches:ġ. What came first, the tow vehicle or the trailer? In this section we will talk about the considerations we made in choosing the tow vehicle for our 2011 25 FB Airstream trailer. This is by far the most critical aspect of choosing a capable tow vehicle that is safe to tow. In Part I, we talked about weight ratings and capacities of the tow vehicle and trailer.
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