Camper Towing Review

[brevard828]

After about 1300 miles of break-in we hooked up our Coleman lite 35' bunkhouse. Its dry weight is just over 7000 lbs, loaded Im just under 10,000. After setting it on the hitch it was almost perfectly level. I added the load leveling bars just for the bounce mitigation. I averaged just over 9MPG going up and down steep mountain grades windy roads. Tow haul did great and managed shifting and speeds well. I felt the shuttering or spark knocking people described immediately starting out. I figured I had an ignition wire or plug issue like others had described, however after a few miles and hill pulls it worked itself out. I figured since this was my first tow the engine/computer was still learning. 6-8% grades most of the way and I couldn't be happier with my purchase. LOADS of power left with the 7.3 gasser. Never thought I needed more and the truck did a great job of managing the torque and shifting! On my 2008 6.4 the sway control bar was always used, however this time i decided to go without to test the trucks built-in sway control. It handled beautifully at speeds around 65 on the straights.

 

[AK_in_OR]

Good writeup! Thanks for sharing!
Sounds like a good trip all the way around.

 

[Marley]

I've gotten cocky sense purchasing the 7.3. Lol
Every trip out I'm running with full 60 gallon fresh water tank and bed loaded down with you name it.
It's nice having the right tool for the job.

Very nice rig you have. ?

 

[brevard828]

I've gotten cocky sense purchasing the 7.3. Lol
Every trip out I'm running with full 60 gallon fresh water tank and bed loaded down with you name it.
It's nice having the right tool for the job.

Very nice rig you have. ?

I have yet to find the limit of this truck. Unless you're really pushing the GCVWR of the truck i doubt you'd need the diesel power! I pulled the same hills that I used to pull in my powerstroke and the torque sensation was very similar. It didn't have the unlimited "boost pull" sensation but plenty of power left nonetheless. Definitely not $10K's worth of power difference!

 

[Sneeder]

Thanks for the review and pics! I'm going to have a similar setup on my 2022 ordered last week.
Did you have to do anything to adjust the hitch height? The tremor is going to sit higher than my current Sequoia, so I'm wondering if I have to lower the hitch ball to level out the Colman travel trailer.

 

[brevard828]

Thanks for the review and pics! I'm going to have a similar setup on my 2022 ordered last week.
Did you have to do anything to adjust the hitch height? The tremor is going to sit higher than my current Sequoia, so I'm wondering if I have to lower the hitch ball to level out the Colman travel trailer.

Oddly enough my 6.4 powerstroke had a 2" lift so i left my hitch at its old height which was essentially all the way down. i had previously set it up by the book, following the hitch manufacturer's setup line by line. I remember that with proper setup the load bars should be perfectly parallel with the tongue when under load in order to do their job. I adjusted the hitch height accordingly. The tongue weight is easily added or subtracted by adding a link or subtracting a link when connecting the bars.

With the camper on the hitch the truck barely settled and was perfectly leveled on the Tremor. I hooked up the weight distribution bars purely for bounce mitigation. I added connected the first chain with any tension as not to take any weight off of the truck. It handled the bumps perfectly.

From the Sequoia;s height youre probably going to have to drop it down. Thankfully the tremor wasnt any higher because the hitch was as low as it could possibly go.