Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Camper size?

What length/weight could my 2013 Chevy 1500 (5.3) comfortably pull. I don’t plan on mountain driving.

Your owners manual will have the info. you need. Unless it's changed, I believe 1/2 ton vehicles usually limit out pulling 7,500lbs with a class III hitch. Even that weight is usually when using a weight distributing hitch (WDH. see link below). You also have to take into consideration how much gear weight you will have in the camper AND tow vehicle. I tow boats much more often than campers, but a camper (of equal weight to a boat) will feel like you're pulling more, because there is more wind resistance. You also want to make sure you have an electronic brake controller in your tow vehicle.

WDH:

https://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto...s/towing-weight-distribution-systems.htm

A modern 23' will be fine if you add a plug for trailer brakes. I say a modern camper cause the newer they ,the lighter they usually are due to modern materials.


For 2 adults, or even those 2 plus a kid or 2, I fail to fathom why folks want to pull around some of the monstrosities that they do.. It's camping... spend the bulk of your time .... outdoors.

Not nicessarily. Plenty of 23’ campers out there in excess of what a a 5.3 is rated for. Depends on gear ratio, how much you put in the RV, and how many people are in the tow vehicle. Do yourself a favor and go to am RV forum and do a
BUNCH of reading before you pull the trigger on anything.

GVWR is a term that will define the limits of what you SHOULD be towing anyway.

FWIW I agree with Gunzo on the part about getting out of the camper though.

4000 pound camper plus your gear and supplies is gonna be close I’d say

10x10 tent would work well.

Open the driver side front door of your truck. On the back pillar there will be a yellow tag. On that tag there will be several numbers. One of them will be the GVWR. That will tell you the most your truck can effectively pull. The GVWR listed will be the total weight of the trailer...wet and fully loaded. When we were looking with a F-150 we found that a 23' to 25' was about as big as we could handle. Then look for a similar tag on the trailer you are looking at. I would suggest that you not trust the salesperson to tell you the truth. They will tell you your truck can pull a trailer based on the dry weight of the trailer. You may be able to, but not for long.

You may want to sign on to www.rvfourm.net. They are very friendly and will be happy to help. Good luck.

The GVWR on your vehicle is not the “total weight of the trailer”

Your owners manual, or the yellow door sticker should give all of the information! memtb

I have a 4.6 Ford 1/2 ton set up to pull trailers and I pull a 27 ft. camper about 5200 lb. The truck is under powered for 27 feet. The 4.6 is good for a 21" camper and 4000lb. If you are not 100% in favor of a camper and willing to spend the money to get the right truck you will be miserable with the performance. Having the right truck that will pull the camper comfortably and at highway speed is half the battle. Get more truck than what the specs call for. With the 5.3 you own I wouldn't go over 21 ft and 4000 lbs. A 21 ft. camper will have the basics for 2 people. If you are taking grand kids or kids you will need 27 feet of space. I think your 5.3 will be underpowered for 27' unless it's got some really low gears in the rear end.

kwg

That is entirely dependent on your axle gearing, your manual will help you figure out your towing capacity.

Just remember the heavier the load you pull the more the vehicle will work and the less performance you will have.

Less than the rv dealer will try and sell you.

Prius has a pretty low gear .

NEVER max a vehicle out whatever the spec. code on the door says - subtract 20-25% - you'll enjoy travelling far more than being on pins and needles going down the Interstate .
Besides small campers are cool - they're easy to store/tow/cheaper and easier to sell .

If you want to maintain typical traffic speeds and not be “that guy” on the road holding up traffic; 50% of towing capacity for mountains and hills, 67% for flatter areas.

Ask this on an RV forum and it turns into one the best chainsaw type threads here.

On the RV forums you need a kenworth to tow a fuggin pop up coleman...

My travel trailer is tagged at just under 8k pounds....my wife packs 5 weeks of stuff into it for a weekend trip....i love my wife but nobody needs to change clothes 3 times a day...

Anyway I towed my "8000 pound camper" with a half ton Ram for one season. Anytime I had to tow the thing it sucked, even if it was a short trip of 60 miles. I had her and three kids in the back seat and it stressed me the he'll out.

We bought a 3/4 ton truck and towing the camper was instantly better. I had the weight distribution hitch on the half ton and I even use it on the 3/4 ton truck. The heavier truck makes me feel better when towing the camper.

Can it be done....yes, should it be done.....thats up to you.

Chevrolet says 8700 pound towing for the 5.3 1500. My 5.3 1500 struggled with a 6000 pound trailer so I went with the Duramax on my current truck.

There’s no way im towing 8000 plus pound anything with a half ton especially when it’s suppised to be recreational.

Alwaysoutdoors, is exactly right, it is the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating for that particular vehicle. Each vehicle has one whether it be a 2005 Chevy or 2005 Peterbilt Tractor. Trailers and campers have them listed on them also. Now some trucks may have a GCWR on the inside of the door. If you see GVW on the truck or camper then that should be the empty weight of that particular vehicle, all should have one so that you could figure your empty weight and then figure how much weight you can add before you reach the GVWR of that vehicle.


I don't claim to be a camper towing expert many of you guys tow them way more than I do, BUT however I did stay at a HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS years ago.


All jokes aside years ago I owned an extended cab 2003 GMC Sierra 1/2 ton, 4x4 with a 4 speed automatic, the 5.3L Vortec and 3.73 rear gears. I also owned a 1987 Playmor camper (single axle) that was 16 foot long it weighed about 3800 pounds if I remember correctly. It was mainly our hunting camper, but I did take it back into the National Park a few times camping. With a bunch of gear in it enroute to hunting camp it weighed well over 4000 pounds. Of course the camper did have good electric brakes on it.

Here was my experiences with that combination. I live in the mountains, but my deer camp is pretty well in the flatlands 242 miles away. Heading out to deer camp I would hit some pretty good grades and then on the way back was a 6 percent grade probably 5 or 6 miles long. When my 2003 GMC, 5.3L hit the grades with the camper it felt like it didn't have any guts to it. It started loosing speed would be down in 3rd (drive) and until the truck finally down shifted to 2nd gear it was slow. Now after it hit 2nd gear and higher rpm's the truck woke up and would run the speed limit or better. Even on flat interstate roads, slight grades would make the truck shift back and forth between 4th gear and 3rd gear.


Really and truly I was disappointed in the towing ability of the 5.3L truck, so what did I do? In December 2005, I traded the 2003 GMC for a new 2006 Chevy 2500HD, Duramax/ Allison, crew cab, 4x4 truck. Of course you diesel guys know when I hooked the 2500HD to the same camper it was the difference of night and day. The 2500HD would pull the same camper up the 6 percent grade in 6th gear and never break a sweat, wow I thought that's the way it should be.


A few years ago we sold the 1987 Playmor and bought a 21 foot dual axle camper that is fiberglass, but it still weighs real close to 4000 pounds about the same as the old 1987 Playmor. The Playmor was all metal so that proves that some of the older campers were pretty dang heavy even though they might be short.


Sorry about the book, but really and truly the 1/2 ton, 5.3l truck will tow 4000 pounds or more just fine, however it won't be the fastest thing up the grades. One other thing and I will shut up. Pulling power is only one factor, but stopping power is just as important. Whatever camper you buy make sure it has real good brakes that work, or you will find yourself in a pickle somewhere when some ding dong head pulls out in front of you.

All THAT!! But you only forgot one thing: NEVER listen to the salesperson as to what you can/should tow...