Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

I'm looking to get a camper trailer and will be pulling it with the Cheyenne. I'd like to get some opinions from the board on my plan and what I'm missing and/or need before executing.

Truck specifics:
71 C10 SWB
Rebuilt 350
Rebuilt TH350C
Rebuilt 3.42 Limited Slip 12 Bolt
Front Power Discs
Rear Factory Leafs
Receiver Hitch is rated at 1,000/10,000


The trailers we are looking at would be at max about 4,000, and maybe 4,500 fully loaded with all of our glamping gear. The trailers at the upper end of this range, from about 3,500 and up all have electric brakes. Tongue weights run up to about 400. Length would be 17 feet or under.

Is this advisable? Would I need to run a weight distro hitch? Would the SWB be overcome under braking?

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

Trailer brakes would be a great idea,Weight distributing may not be required,I have towed a lot of trailers,and trailer brakes are a must,travelling down hills,emergency situations,and just driving with the idiots around you,

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

I think your truck will handle what you described with no problems at all !! Trailer brakes are a must though. Your truck would stop it all but situations arise when trailer brakes are a life saver. Not to mention keeping your trucks brakes in better shape longer..

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

One thing I'm worried about is trailer sway. Where the trailer begins swaying out of control and jack-knifing with the tow rig. I'm guessing it would be more prevalent with the SWB vs. a LWB.

What causes that, and how do I avoid it?

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

A few trailers that I have had trouble with them swaying back and forth (trying to get out of control) were ones with short tongues AND being pulled by a short wheel base vehicle (like a Jeep pulling a small home made short truck bed trailer). Good Shocks on both the rig and trailer make a big difference too! I also tend to run the air pressure in the tires on the higher side to avoid tire bounce that can get rhythmic.

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

Something with a torsion bar hitch might eliminate trailer sway. YOu have power discs on the front so I think you are fine.

But: what do you think your swb weighs? I think less than 4000 lbs, probably. If you are pulling something heavier than the truck then electric trailer brakes are a must.

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

Trailer sway is generally the result of too little tongue weight. An absolute minimum tongue weight is 10% of the loaded trailer weight. 15% would be better. A weight distributing hitch may also help overall control.

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

^ Spot on ^

An excellent brake controller is the Austrailian RedArc. Can be manual, proportional or fixed at whatever setting you like. It also fits nicely in the spot directly under the wiper switch. I believe the early trucks had accessories in this position, maybe a choke or something like that. Whatever the case, it was a perfect location that looks completely natural in the dash bezel of my '71 C20.

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

I have an equalized load trailer hitch for the 26' travel trailer that I have. I haven't put the stabilizer on it yet, but the one time I got in a bad cross wind in the Antelope Valley (California), it got pretty hairy. I just held the steering straight and let the wind whistle. That trailer is 26' with dual wheels, so really pretty stable. I didn't want to get into micro-managing the sway, but I'll be having the anti-sway kit welded on when I take the trailer in for some warranty work. I'm also looking at installing a rear stabilizer bar. I've been around this truck for 40 years, and the only time I've experienced pucker factor is after I had the Firestone Trans-Force tires installed awhile back. Even with 10 psi more in the rear tires, I get a lot of oversteer- enough that the wife even commented on my driving (like that's anything new!). :lol: That was without the trailer, btw.

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

I've been towing campers for 40 years. Anything over 3500 will have brakes. I use the Reese dual cam sway control its acts as a sway/ weight distributing hitch . The friction type in my opinion dont work well. If you get some sway it's best to keep your foot on the gas and manually hit the trailer brakes . The drag will usually straighten the rig out but even the most experienced operator can run into trouble watched a freinds rig roll on its side coming back from South Carolina. No one got hurt but the tow vehicle and rig were totalled.

Also keep an eye on the weight you put in the rig most people just throw stuff in and go not realizing that they are overloaded.

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

Good points to think about. I appreciate it.

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

My fresh water tank is in the front of the trailer and the waste water tanks are in the back of the trailer so a weight distributing hitch is a must have

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

Might be mentioned, but check your GVWR for your truck, I'm now curious myself. That's the max weight your truck is valued at, including the weight of the truck, persons, gas, cargo and everything else RV/tow. In other terms, everything. Your hitch is solid, just know that truck wasn't meant to tow 10,000. IMO you want to remain minimum 1K pounds lighter than the GVWR.

My guess is 4K or lower is a good place to be. I owned a few Fun Finders my old 4.7 Tundra could pull, the dry weight on those is 3800ish.


Agree and stabilizer bar makes a difference too. Just know weight distribution bars will leave A BIG MARK if you're careless and especially ALWAYS slack on their chains on & off - jack that sucker up until that happens. Imagine 800 LBs. behind a pipe striking your foot, for example. I know four guys who have been injured, and I'm one of them. Dumb luck no residuals to whine about, I forgot my shoes and ended up buying one's with a 3/4" thick tongue for the trip. Never felt that kind of pain before, not recommended;)

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

Just wondering, by you using the g word," glamping", are you looking for a vintage trailer to pull? If so, here are a couple of things to consider. Most, but not all, were single axle rigs and they get heavy in a hurry. Back in the day, camper manufacturers were not worried about selling a camper you could tow with whatever you pulled up in. Most people bought a heavy truck to pull a heavy camper. I pulled my Scotty ,(1100 lbs), all over the place with the 72 and it really never knew it was back there. A mid size say, Shasta Air Flyte will weigh in at 2100 fully loaded or there abouts. When you get much heavier than that, I'm afraid you will have to adjust your driving habits to blend in with traffic. Another thing we do and did, is take the parallel roads to the busy highways where we can to avoid semis and jackrabbit drivers on cell phones. Idiots are on every road, sorry I don't have a cure for that. With that said, proper brakes, hitches, and bags if needed are all good ideas. Happy camping.
PS, we love Navarre, we have stayed at the campground there several times over the last 15 years, even almost bought a 2nd home in a subdivision back behind Wal Mart during the housing crash of '08.

Re: Looking to Buy a Camper Trailer
 

Interestingly, this was my father-in-law's old truck. They used to tote my wife, her brother, mom, and dad in the single cab towing an old Shasta to go camping all the time. That one weighed in at about 2,500. I even towed that camper a few times in high school when the wife and I were dating, driving this exact same truck. No issues at 2,500 lbs. but what we are looking at weighs in a bit heavier.

Funny though - we rented a house directly behind Walmart from 08 to 09 when we first got the the area. Then bought near Hwy 87 in 09.