A Women's RV Forum run by Women RVer's!

Now that I don't have any money to spend, I sit around and think too much.

Anyways, my car can pull up to 1300 pounds. Is there any kind of trailer out there that weighs less than that?

Was also thinking that someday when I get more bills paid off, I would like to get a Jeep Liberty (used) and I think they can pull up to 5000 lbs. Has anyone here pulled anything with a Liberty?

Gotta quit thinking so much!!

You will have to do your homework on that question Barbie.

Towing ability depends on what transmission and rear-end the tow vehicle has in it as to what weight it handle. You can set two identical looking vehicles side by side and still have two different vehicles.

Trailer Life and a few other sites have tow vehicle recommendations concerning makes, models, year, motor, trans, rear-end, braking systems for a large number of vehicles.

And please don't listen to the salesman!!! He just wants to make a sale. If you go looking at vehicles don't tell them you want to pull a trailer. Do your homework first and have the numbers wrote down for the best options needed for towing a good weight. That way you can ask them exactly what the vehicle has in it for motor size, tranny and rear-end!!! Then you can make your decision. When buying a TT you always want to remember the gross weight of the trailer!!! And that will be very, very important when you are picking out a vehicle, you want to find out it's GCVW, "gross combined vehicle weight". GCVW for your tow vehicle will be a major factor in what 'weight' you can safely tow. The weight of the tow vehicle combined with the TT can not be over the GCVW rate. Better yet is f combined they are under the GCVW rate.

You can Google GCVW and learn about it.

Have I got you thoroughly confused now???

http://www.litetentcamper.com/

Barbie, I spent weeks and weeks researching this question last summer. We renovated a 1969 17 foot Shasta Lo-Flyte that weighs 1800 lb and we wanted a smaller tow vehicle. My sister, who lives in Tucson, drives a Liberty and tows a trailer which weighs slightly less that ours and has no problems with towing. She takes the trailer on long distance trips with no steering problems. My research showed the Liberty MAY have towing issues. Because of its short wheel base there MAY a problem with steering it strong winds or wind currents caused by passing semi trucks. There is research both pro and con on this issue. KAtie said she has never had a problem with steering when in windy conditions. A stabilizing tow bar can be installed on the trailer to prevent this. Instead of the Liberty we chose a Grand Cherokee as the tow vehicle. We went from St Cloud, MN to Yuma and home with no problems. While we love our vintage trailer and will keep it for close to home trips, we are now looking for a smaller modern trailer with a bathroom. After hours of reseach this winter I found a Canadian company Prolite that manufactures lite trailers to be towed with small SUV's and auto's. Haven't found any for sale close to home tho! . Casita makes a smaller traler, as does Burro and maybe Scamp. I'm heading to the Minneapolis RV show in 2 weeks to research any manufacturer's of lite weight trailers in this area. I don't mind driving around this area to get a trailer but going to Quebec might be a journey too far. Wait..isn't that an excuse to take a trip? Wonder what all paper work would be involved in purchasing a trailer in a foreign country and towng it back to MN.
Rita

Make sure that when looking at trailer weights, you look at the gross weight, not the dry weight. The dry weight is before any dealer add-ons, propane, personal item, food, etc. You need the weight fully-loaded. Also, you will need to be concerned about your cargo capacity of your towing vehicle - so that when you add the tongue weight (assume 12-15% of the gross trailer weight), you don't exceed the cargo capacity of your vehicle. And lastly, make sure your hitch can handle the weight. There's a lot to consider, especially when you are looking close to the limits of your vehicle.

dpf wrote:http://www.litetentcamper.com/

That is pretty cool! I like that it is so quick and easy to set up and is up off the ground. But it is pretty pricey at 5K.

Lots of things to thing about!

The Casita is not light weight at all. The Spirit Deluxe at 17' (it has a bathroom/wet shower) came out of the factory in 2008 at 3825 pounds totally naked. Add propane, a bit of water, food, clothing, cooking utensils, microwave, and your laptop with various bits of other things that creep over the door and you are hitting 4500 pounds any given day. That means a TV that can pull 5000 pounds and handle 500# tongue weight. The 16' is less weight as is the 13'. But it all depends on what you think you need in a trailer and what you are going to do with it. Live in it full-time....it can be done, but before you decide it is for you, you had better try living in a space that is 6' by 10' full furnished and that includes everything...kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, living room, dining room.

Just sayin, been there, done that for a year....

I think Escape makes a very light-weight small fiberglass trailer but they are also a Canadian company. A bit spendy tho.
If you are thinking about a tent camper check out Craig's List. I have seen lots of them for sale there at reasonable prices as people go to a larger rig.

Escape is a KZ company and last year started the small trailers - similar to the Sportsmen Classic with a few more bells and whistles.

Fun Finder has two smaller TT (14' and 16') that are light weight. The Jeep could handle pulling them.