Can a Class B tow a heavy trailer?

[zimm]

I've been trying to figure out the best way to travel the country and camp off the grid or with hookups and bring my Jeep Wrangler 4 door for off-roading.

Are there any class B's that can tow a car hauler with a 4 door Jeep on it safety and within towing limits?

Other options are buying a 3/4 ton truck with slide camper and pull a trailer.

I used to use the Jeep to pull a Casita trailer along, but I'd rather the Jeep ride on a trailer have a more comfortable tow rig.

[Rockwood27]

The Jeep will be at 4K+ lbs and a trailer might be 1.5K lbs. That places you outside the towing abilities of all Class B's except some of those on a Chevy van 1 ton chassis. My 2012 Roadtrek 190P can theoretically tow a bit over 7K lbs. It's limiting factor is the amount of tongue weight that's applied to the hitch. The tongue weight is amplified at the rear axle, which could be overloaded. I don't think a RT 210 can handle that much tongue weight. Of course RT stopped making the Chevy based Class B's, so only used ones are available.

Personally, I would rather tow 4 down. Some campgrounds may not allow you to park your trailer on your site or even in the campground.

[zimm]

Originally Posted by Rockwood27

Personally, I would rather tow 4 down. Some campgrounds may not allow you to park your trailer on your site or even in the campground.

Hmmm... I've always been afraid of 4 down because of tire wear and if something breaks off-road, I lose the capacity to drag it home.

Well it looks like I'll need to explore other options then. Seems nearly impossible to find a rig that'll sleep 4 and a dog and pull a Jeep that isn't a huge Class A or C+, which I can't afford anyway.

[SteveJ]

0A different way, maybe. A 90's era Chevy Tracker/ Suzuki Sidekick. They 2 door only weighs about 2600lbs. They are actually quite in demand and the resale $$ shows it. Very dependable, easy on gas(30mpg easing around in the back country), quite a bit of after market goodies, but not exactly a dynamo for power.

The newer ones, I think '99 and up went to a rack and pinion front suspension and are not as well suited to the back county knarley(sp?) stuff. They will flat tow if it comes to that.

Disclaimer: One brother owns a 4dr, another owns 3 2dr-s and is buying a 4 dr, likely tomorrow.

[JonK]

While my Spinner has a 5000 pound rated hitch that doesn't mean I can tow 5000 pounds since the GCWR is just over 15000 pounds, if the van is at 11000 pounds , near its GVWR, that means I can only pull 4000 pounds and stay within the makers limits.

So, you need to know both the hitch rating and the GCWR to know what is safe.

[BillsPaseo]

A decent quality car hauler trailer will be closer to 2500 lbs unless you go all aluminum, which saves weight but doubles the price. Most of the cheap 7K rated flatbed trailers aren't really constructed to carry that much weight, and the frames can buckle under the weight of a heavy Jeep. I learned this the hard way when I warped the frame of a brand new trailer loading a 5K lb Rubicon onto it. Ended up replacing that trailer with a 10K rated one that was way sturdier and actually built for that job.

[Jon in AZ]

I own one of the Chevy Express 3500 Class B's referenced in an earlier post. It's a 2014 with the big 6.0L engine, a 6-speed automatic, and a pretty substantial tow rating, but I think your proposed set-up will be pushing the limits. It won't be much fun in the mountains for sure. I've often thought a Samurai would make a perfect four-down toad, but nothing bigger. And in the end it's a 1T van and rides and handles like one.

I wonder if you need to be looking at a 1T dually truck. Unless you're looking at a really small slide-in, you're likely going to run out of payload with a 3/4T.

No easy answers here, unfortunately.

[engnrsrule]

We tow an older Subaru Forester 4-down and our diesel Sprinter drives like there is nothing there. Mileage when pulling this 2900 lb toad drops from 22 without to about 18.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by engnrsrule

We tow an older Subaru Forester 4-down and our diesel Sprinter drives like there is nothing there. Mileage when pulling this 2900 lb toad drops from 22 without to about 18.

Curious... I didn’t think it was possible to flat tow any Subaru. Details?

[bitman]

Originally Posted by zimm

I've been trying to figure out the best way to travel the country and camp off the grid or with hookups and bring my Jeep Wrangler 4 door for off-roading.

Are there any class B's that can tow a car hauler with a 4 door Jeep on it safety and within towing limits?

Other options are buying a 3/4 ton truck with slide camper and pull a trailer.

I used to use the Jeep to pull a Casita trailer along, but I'd rather the Jeep ride on a trailer have a more comfortable tow rig.

I bought a cargo Nissan NV3500 and added a Colorado Camper Van pop up top.

I then converted the back end to a Class B. By choice, I don’t have a toilet or tanks, but I could (there is room). It sleeps four, two upstairs and two down.

AND it tows up to 9800 pounds. I bought this model for the very reason you stated — to tow a lifted Jeep on a Car Hauler.

CCV does full conversions, too.

[Rockwood27]

Originally Posted by Jon in AZ

Curious... I didn’t think it was possible to flat tow any Subaru. Details?

Most manual transmission Subarus, up to about 2013 (maybe 2014) can be towed 4-down.

[Jon in AZ]

Originally Posted by Rockwood27

Most manual transmission Subarus, up to about 2013 (maybe 2014) can be towed 4-down.

Hmmm... My last Subie was a 1993. Neither automatics nor manuals could be flat towed back then. Automatics had an electronic locking center differential that could be disabled by pulling a fuse and towed on a dolly, but manuals had an always-on viscous center differential and had to be flat-bedded. Wonder when that changed?

[engnrsrule]

Our Forester is 2005 and a manual transmission. In fact we lucked out, finding it on Craigslist, fully TOAD equipped. In this vintage, there are no speed restrictions either. Nice since our sprinter likes to go 65-70 all day long. A lot of vehicles that can be flat towed say 55 mph max.

[Brad1998RD]

Originally Posted by Rockwood27

The Jeep will be at 4K+ lbs and a trailer might be 1.5K lbs. That places you outside the towing abilities of all Class B's except some of those on a Chevy van 1 ton chassis. My 2012 Roadtrek 190P can theoretically tow a bit over 7K lbs. It's limiting factor is the amount of tongue weight that's applied to the hitch. The tongue weight is amplified at the rear axle, which could be overloaded. I don't think a RT 210 can handle that much tongue weight. Of course RT stopped making the Chevy based Class B's, so only used ones are available.

Personally, I would rather tow 4 down. Some campgrounds may not allow you to park your trailer on your site or even in the campground.

I've not seen a Campground that would not let you pull a trailer in. You just have to use a booger space like a pull through. You can also buy an aluminum car hauler which is alot lighter than steel and just as good. I'd rather trailer than tow four down. Don't have to worry about your Jeep breaking off roading just load it up and go. Also trailer bearings are alot cheaper and easier to maintain than the wheel bearings on vehicles nowadays. Less tools involved as well. You can also back up a trailer, four down not so much

[Rapid Robert]

We sold our Travato for this reason. Not sure what you want to spend but we just purchased a 2019 Winnebago Outlook 24' with 5000 miles for $50K O.T.D. from a dealer. So probable can be found for less from private party. With the V10 you can tow pretty much anything, plus it will better handle all the other requirements you have.

[Coolchange]

We QUICKLY tired of loading one off and on an trailer, seemed like a lot more opportunity for damage, and if we just stopped somewhere for one night, loading and unloading was a HUGE pain. Got rid of that set-up after just a few trips, two thumbs down.