If your budget can handle this, you will have no regrets. and address some travel costs that are common to all RVers. That being said, the NV is not a Duramax, but it rides and handles a lot better though. I my experience the NV pulls really well and can handle the hills. When you put that kind of weight on a vehicle you need to have patience. If you want to pull hills all day long at 70 MPH, I would look at the Savanna with the Duramax diesel. I don't think I would buy the one from Nissan as you can find a better unit at a better price if you buy it yourself. I use an Equalizer Hitch and have had really good luck with it. Using the truck scale you can see if the WD is working correctly and that the axles aren't overloaded.Īs far as the brand of WD hitch, I would find one that has some type of sway control built into the unit. When you use a WD hitch, you want to use a CAT or other truck scale to get the most accurate picture of the weight you have put of the vehicle. So the hitch weight isn't as important as it's more of a guide. The WD hitch doesn't add or subtract the hitch weight, it distributes it onto both axles of the tow vehicle. So with 1000lbs off the payload that leaves about 1200lbs for people and gear, so for me 250, the wife 130, and kids 24, 50, 65, and 18 that leaves about 660lbs for gear. Currently my trailer weighs in at a porky 8456 with a hitch weight of about 1000lbs (can't find my calculations right now), but I use a WD hitch and per the CAT scale all axles were under thier ratings. My trailer (Outback 301BQ) for example weighed 7226 (mfr #s) with a cargo capacity of 1774 for a GVRW of 9000lbs. IMO 6500-7500 is very doable, but also on the high end of the limit. I travel with six people and I have to be careful of what I pack because it adds up quick. When you have 7 people and you travel for an extended period of time you have A LOT of stuff, and that stuff weighs a lot. So be sure to find a trailer that has a high payload/cargo rating. The plan seems totally reasonable, but be prepared to learn a lot of information about vehicle capabilities (GCWR, GVWR, RAWR, FAWR, etc.) and trailer capabilities and repair. If you have experience towing a big RV, I'd love to hear your setup. We like the looks of the NV reasonably well enough and its utility seems fantastic for our purposes. Thanks so much for any advice you can offer. What is everyone's experience towing that much weight up hills with a car full of 7 people? Will we be OK with this plan or are we not thinking about this the right way? tongue weight an absolute limit? Or is that increased by the weight-distributing class IV hitch? Would it be better to get a non-factory hitch?Ĥ) We would like to take the RV cross-country, which definitely means some mountainous terrain along the way. RV, we could be exceeding the tongue weight. Some RVs distribute 12-14% of their weight onto the tongue, so for a 6,000 - 7,000 lb. I noticed that you can get an optional Class IV weight-distributing hitch with the SL 3500, and it seems like that is what we would need.ġ) Does the plan sound reasonable for our situation?Ģ) What is the maximum dry weight for an RV we should be looking at? Our plan would be to leave 7 seats in the NV passenger van and take out the rest.ģ) I noticed that the NV has a tongue weight limit of 870 lbs. towing capacity, we are thinking that we can tow a pretty big RV that could sleep 7 people. Our first choice right now is the Nissan NV Passenger 3500 SL. We are also in a place where we need to replace our 9 year old minivan with a new vehicle in the next year or so. We are considering RV'ing for the next few years to see the country. My wife and I have 5 kids (ages 10, 10, 10, 9, and 7) - 4 boys and 1 girl. And I am brand new to the concept of RV'ing, other than seeing friends do it.
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