SUV vs 1/2 Ton Pickup Towing! Things you need to consider.

[@wayneerikson1163]

I think something that gets forgotten about is wheelbase... trucks usually have a longer wheelbase over SUV which adds stability.

[@cdw143]

Also distance from the rear axle to the hitch. I have towed with an expedition and a 1/2 ton truck, the truck is way easier to back a trailer up.

[@raycalandra1887]

I tow a 26ft 6300lb (fully loaded) travel trailer with either my 1/2 ton truck or my 2019 Expedition Limited. Our Expedition has the max tow/max cargo package which rates it for 9300lbs towing and 1530lbs Payload. My loaded tongue weight is around 850lbs. My 2020 Ram Ecodiesel has the same towing capacity, but has 1735lbs of payload capacity. I like towing with truck better, especially since it gets way better fuel economy than the 3.5 Ecoboost Expedition. But the Expedition does handle towing our Travel Trailer well.

[@rockinrranch1431]

I recently towed our Catalina 261BHS for about 40 miles with my wife’s 17’ Ford Expedition. I noticed a big difference in handling with it from my 22 crew cab 4wd f150. The expedition is a max tow with a 9300 lbs tow rating with about 1500 lbs payload but because it’s not the EL, the wheelbase is shorter than my truck and I definitely noticed that it wasn’t as comfortable or smooth when compared to my truck.

[@patryan8065]

I towed a Lance model 1985 with our 2021 Expedition Limited w/HD towing package and 22" wheels. We traveled throughout 29 states putting on 26,800 miles pulling the Lance. My Cat scale measurements had the CGVW at 12,500# vs a manufacturer rating of 15,000#. The Lance weighed 6050# vs a 5800# spec and it towed like a dream. The Expedition pulls it like a freight train and has a 9200# towing capacity and 1605# of payload. My axle capacities were 87% for the front and 94% in the rear. We averaged 10.5 mpg while towing and much of it was in the mountains as we live at 7000 ft. For this year, we purchased a 2024 Rockwood 2516s which is almost exactly 1000# heavier than the Lance. We have camped 3 nights in it this year and have pulled it 1100 miles. Now my mpg is 8 which is largely due to wind resistance as the 2516 is over one foot taller than the Lance. my largest concern is tongue weight. Without making any load adjustments I came in at 950# vs 930# Ford rating. I will adjust our tongue back to somewhere in the 800-850# range.The 2516 scaled actually less on the axles than the Lance did. Running a Fastway e2 WDH on both trailers but upsized to 12000 for the Rockwood vs 10000 for the Lance. Expedition has been bulletproof over it's 55K miles.

[@Loveinlife1980]

Wheelbase is also a large contributor to how well a truck or suv tows, especially in high winds. A bit surprised it wasn’t mentioned.

[@logan9758]

It’s something that is pretty obvious and he’s mentioned many times

[@shawn3838]

Toyota Sequoia was our SUV of choice. A 2008 Limited with a tow package gave us the 9400 lbs even though we never came close to that pulling our Jayco X18d when loaded was less than 6000 lbs. After 240,000 reliable miles we got my F150 PowerBoost with a 6 1/2 bed equipped for our future retirement camping trips.

[@facilitiesmaintenancebyarne]

I tow with a 2011 Armada with 9,000lbs tow and 1450lbs payload. Our trailer is 25' and probably 5,500 loaded. Just my wife and I, we lay all the seats flat and have a cavernous and protected cargo (camping gear) storage area. We prefer this setup. I run an equalizer hitch and it tows rock solid. That being said, if I were to go any bigger/heavier in the trailer department, it wouldn't be with a 1/2 ton pickup or a 1/2 ton SUV... I'd step up to 3/4 ton, minimum.

[@ericoswald7608]

Used to tow a 5,000 pound trailer with a Jeep Grand Cherokee with 3 liter eco diesel. Towed very well and had it weighed to make sure I was within limits. I knew I was at the limits so upgraded to an F350 with the 6.7 liter diesel. It’s overkill but now I don’t worry about how I load the trailer.

[@raycalandra1887]

Enjoy your video on this subject. We tow our 26ft 6300lb (fully loaded) travel trailer, which has a loaded tongue weight of 850lbs, with either our 2019 Expedition Limited or our 2020 Ram Ecodiesel 1/2 ton. Our Expedition has the max tow/max cargo packages, which rates it for 9300lbs towing and 1530lbs Payload capacity. It handles our travel trailer well and maneuvers into tighter spots better. However, I prefer towing with the Ram since it has the same towing capacity but more Payload capacity at 1735lbs. Plus it gets much better fuel economy than the 3.5 Ecoboost Expedition. I certainly would not be comfortable towing anything bigger with either of my tow vehicles.

[@EpoxyAndButylTape]

I tow my 26 foot sailboat every year for the past five years, (7600 pounds with trailer)with my 2005 Land Rover LR3 V8, (7700 pound tow rating). The LR3 is so heavy that I can barely even feel the trailer behind me. I’ve had panic stops plenty of times, and no problems stopping. No weight distribution hitch, but the trailer does have two axles and four very good electric brakes. I previously had an LR3 with a V6, and same tow rating, but the engine did struggle a bit.

[@robertwylie5567]

Good grief! Of course large SUV’s can tow a travel trailer just fine. When i was growing up, my dad slapped some heavy duty air shocks on our 1972 Country Squire station wagon with a big ole honkin V-8 and we pulled a 30 foot travel trailer all over the US with no issues.

[@zenderxt]

I have a Durango Tow N Go, with the Hemi engine rated to tow 8700lbs. It does support the use of a Weight Distribution hitch which as per the manual is required to go above 500lbs tongue and 5000lbs trailer weight. One thing that I find with SUVs or at least mine in particular is they seem to be more "balanced" for their unladen weight over their front and rear axles. So when you throw a trailer on the back it seems like it's "easier" to overload your rear axle before hitting your payload number.

[@dandennis8465]

We used to tow with a full size station wagon back in the late 70’s/80’s.

[@noahmcdaniel4920]

People mention wheelbase for stability with longer trailers, but something that often gets forgotten about is rear overhang distance. The longer the distance between the rear axle of the vehicle and the hitch, the more leverage the trailer can apply to the vehicle when experiencing side to side forces (sway). Same reasoning why fifth wheels are much more stable than bumper pulls. This is why something like the VW Touareg is probably the best mid-size SUV for towing and tows comparably to very large SUV's like suburbans and expeditions as long as the payload and tow capacity still check out.

[@adame52]

We've had our 2018 2WD Expy with the upgraded tow package (same as your limited) for four years and have towed our 26' Keystone 219BH for two years with a WDH. It's a great setup for us bc with our 3 kids (9 - 14 yo) and 2 dogs we stay well enough under our payload and hitch weight capacity while easily managing the

[@tbland13x]

Love all your towing / travel trailer advice, and that you always emphasize safety! You mostly reference half ton pickups, because they are the gold standard, but if you can also include the "full size SUVs" like you did in this video that would also be great. Besides the payload weight capacity... I'm also interested to know your thoughts about the "Max Length" for a large SUV because of the short wheelbase. I have 2024 Sequoia TRD Pro and want to make sure I'm matching it with the right size TT.

[@Road_Trip_Warriors]

Nice video! You always produce some great content. I wanted to share our experience towing a 2019 Flagstaff E-Pro 19BH (dry weight 3,100; purchased in 2022). We tow with a 2022 Toyota Sienna Hybrid with a tow capacity of 3,500 lbs. Although we are right at our limits, the experience has been good. But just to be clear, our Sienna is certainly NOT an ideal TV!! This is what we have and we just do what we need to do to make it work. 1. Since purchase (We have owned it for about 14 months), we have put (as of this writing) 14,467 miles on our rig. 2. We do have a weight distribution hitch (Camco Eaz-Lift TR3 600lb). It tracks very well! 3. It tows very well on flat to moderate inclines 4. Our longest trip was an almost 13,000 mile road trip (about 10,000 while towing) from FL to WA state, and back, over a 2 month period through 24 states. 5. Our biggest challenge during that trip was the steeper inclines. Going up those, we would not push it more than 35-40 MPH. 6. We had ZERO issues with transmission, engine overheating or any other issues related with towing. 7. We certainly have a brake controller (Curt Wireless Bluetooth) 8. Since purchase of our rig, and during our long road trip, we have have NO major issues (2 small roof leaks did need to be sealed; it is a 5 year old rig) and just some minor things. 9. While our TV is certainly NOT an ideal TV, it works for us (this is all that we have to tow with). 10. We usually keep our speeds at 55-60 on the highway although with a tail wind and moderate decline, we can comfortably go 65-70 MPH. 11. Our gas mileage while towing ranges from 17-21 MPG. Best during our cross country road trip was 23 MPG with a tail wind; worst was 14 MPG with a head wind. 12. We have 3 driving modes in our TV; Eco, Normal and Sport. We have only towed using Eco mode. 13. Stability while towing has not been an issue. I had another WDH before the Eaz-Lift TR3 and it did not perform as well. 14. We tow with our tanks relatively empty except for nominal amounts in the Black/Grey tanks and about 10 gallons in the fresh.

[@malifestro3319]

2016 Ford Expedition Short Wheel Base. To tow our 28 ft 8000lb Cougar 24sabwe comfortably I did the following - Custom rear springs +800 lbs over stock, Bilstein 5100, Cooper Discover ATX 18" tires, 5 star tow tune, 175 degree tstat, larger front IC, and a good weight distro hitch. This works extremely well. Also, you MUST get as much weight back on those front wheels as possible. If you don't it will not have the right caster and will move around a bit. If you do what I did, it will be fantastic. If I did it again, I would 100% get the larger wheel base model for towing, but we got the shorter to fit in the garage. Otherwise, I love it. Suspension mods made a HUGE diff. Oh and lastly on the trailer I added a Lippert Road Armor kit. Won't have trailer without it again.

[@cytraax]

How did you get more weight onto the front axle? I'm not familiar with everything you listed.

[@malifestro3319]

@@cytraaxWhen you load the rear up it takes weight off the front wheels. A weight distro hitch will put some back. Depending on how it is setup, it will put back more. I use a Husky Centerline and if you get the saddle bracket up one notch vs down on, it will make a huge diff.

[@JoeRaleigh]

Just purchased a 2024 Expedition XLT with HD towing package rated to tow 9,200 lbs. We will be pulling an imagine 23LDE which is 28.5 ft tongue to bumper and 5,600lbs dry. The dealer is installing a BlueOx SwayPro hitch and leveling system. It's usually just my wife and I, and sometimes our grandson. Based on your VERY informative video and comments below, I am confident that our Expedition do an excellent job.

[@Treeplanter73]

A properly equipped Toyota Sequoia with the heavy duty towing package and WDH, will tow quite well.

[@erfrulla]

My father once told me that if you have a 1,000 pound tail you should have a 3,500 pound dog

[@noahmcdaniel4920]

Good luck finding a tow vehicle that's 3.5x heavier than a 25-30+ foot trailer.

[@drmayer]

2017 expedition EL tows my 5000lb wake boat really well. Like having three rows for my family of 5. Can fit a 4x8 sheet of plywood inside with seats folded down. I often think about going to a pickup but would miss the covered storage and three rows. A utility trailer serves the need of carrying landscaping material/brush/etc and does it better than a truck bed.

[@kendahltitcomb8063]

2019 Expedition with tow package and we have the BH250 (6000lbs loaded) its a bit long but does well. We've upgraded to new sway control hitch with makes a big difference. Use to tow with our 16 Expedition Max and nothing could stop that thing. It was a beast!

[@204bcrider]

AUDI Q7 IS THE BEAST saw it on british columbia mountain from Alberta to chilliwack pulling 33ft camper, climbing to roger pass and coquihalla mountain.

[@Chato4570]

This is why I don't plan on selling my diesel Excursion

[@g.t.richardson6311]

I do not tow often, and no big RV trailers, I’d have check numbers but our 2012 expedition has tow package and could probably handle a decent load. What I do know is that I’ve driven it in 20+ inches of snow with zero issues. While an automatic has multiple lower gears that work great

[@terranncegilmore]

I tow our 5,300 lb, 26 foot NoBo 20.3 with a 2019 Chevy Suburban with the 6.2l V8, it tows the NoBo fairly well

[@CookieMonster_1969]

I have never towed a travel trailer with an SUV, but I used to tow a 16' cargo trailer with a Ford Expedition, for work. I do not recall exact numbers, but the Expedition was spec'd to the trailer. I think it was in the 7500lbs area, with dual axle & electric breaks. The vehicle towed just fine without a weight distro hitch, but I could see using one. Gas milage was horrible, in fact it was so bad I think they would have done better buying a diesel truck because that trailer was connected 75% of the time. I don't think it got 8 mpg on the hwy.🤷‍♂

[@500spyder]

2021 Suburban Z71 5.3l with max tow. 8100lbs tow rating, don't recall the cargo capacity right now, but similar to your expedition and has a CGVWR of 14,00lb. I tow a 2007 Springdale 26 foot TT, 7600lb gvw but we do t load it up to the max. 4 kids, so we need the seating and the sleeping room. It tows great, fuel economy goes to about 24l/100km (Canadian) lol. I'd like to go to a 24 foot trailer for less length and wind affects, but handling is good, I'm sure the stabilitrak that also will apply trailer brakes helps a lot.

[@ralphiewyowyo]

Great video content. I have had this subject on my mind. We tow our 2018 Grey Wolf 23DBH with our 2018 Durango GT AWD and a sway control hitch. I would say it does ok. We don’t do long distance trips here in the upper Midwest, but to lakes in MN. I would someday like to get into an Expedition or Tahoe so we can haul the family & have that better towing capacity. I would be very uneasy taking our current setup to the Black Hills for instance.

[@elijahcavin2408]

You can tow max if it's just a driver it seems. I have a small cayenne suv that's rated for 8k but I'll probably never pull that much because of the balancing act necessary to hit that limit and the wear it'll put on the car. That's why I really like a dually. You can load the cab full of people and usualy get very close to max tow and not worry about being over payload.

[@joemcbride3564]

Wheelbase...payload capacity...rear suspension...TV length...4 reason a truck is better to pull with...

[@masonkaye5]

If you tow more than 3k lbs I would not recommend any suv. A truck being solid rear axle and being able to take more tongue weight will be more comfortable and safer 100% of the time when towing

[@williammurrell1321]

Denali hitch pintle

[@kenpolzel412]

I agree with your, keep the Expedition

[@Gizamalukeix]

I pull a 30ft travel trailer with 2 slides with a 2010 Jeep Commmander just fine.

[@jaccole]

Love your videos. Think every one purchasing an RV, long time RV’s , RV salesmen and engineers at RV manufacturing should watch your videos. We formerly towed a 17’ Sonic Venture with our Tahoe 5.3 L with W/D hitch and Gen-Y flexion hitch (I know, I know! Overkill!) and it did ok. I probably could have gone up to 21’ RV and felt ok, although I am conservative. We have friends towing a 27’ TT with Jeep Grand Cherokee. Don’t get me started! Too many people think you just connect that RV and drive off. They have no idea all the physics going on behind that tow vehicle. They also don’t realize tow specs are determined using flat bed trailers (Big difference) for max results and bragging rights by auto manufacturers.

[@gunfighterdrummer]

Best to get that console up front. Wouldn’t want to risk it with annoying people.

[@Hazwaste63]

Get an F250 with a front bench seat and a gas engine to maximize GCWR. Seats 6. Too many kids for a 6-seater? Take two vehicles. We've towed 21-26' TTs with SUVs. Between payload limits and getting blown around by sidewinds and semis it's just not fun.

[@ericd2791]

i have a 2008 jeep grand Cherokee, & i can tow our 2016 Starcraft Travel Star 239TBS like nothing. i can tow it & put some cargo in the back of the jeep. the rest my wife haul in her 1999 Chevy suburban 2500. i do noticed the handling is about the same on the jeep.

[@F450FTW]

That 3L diesel has an oil pump driven by a belt that goes through an oil bath. $3k to replace it. No way would I want something engineered that way.

[@LordoftheEagles]

I like that while you make generalizations you always default and remind that its per vehicle and varies, and to check YOUR specs. That said, E Trailer carries a weight distro hitch for my unibody. Do companies make them for them unibody suvs that shouldn't use them?

[@hectorliriano1953]

Hey JD. Great content as usual. Can you make a video towing the surveyor using your wife’s expedition? I’m thinking of buying a pre owned expedition and would love to see your input on it towing.

[@bobcochran1925]

I’ve seen that the max tow package 536 isn’t on many used expeditions but most have the class IV tow prep package. What is this?

[@2K9s]

Did y’all consider the Tahoe or Suburban with a Duramax?

[@lynnwilson1958]

Don't some of the smaller SUVs have limitations or guidelines on the frontal area of the trailer?

[@martineakes5143]

Most if not all SUV's have guidelines on the frontal area of the trailer, you just have to do some research and find them. For the 2017 Expedition EL it's 60 square foot for the 9200lb tow package and 30 square foot for the 6600lb tow package.

[@steveshay5364]

SUVs are only for large families? That's ridiculous. The SUV advantage is inside storage. In a truck with two people and two dogs most of the storage has to be in the bed where it's subject to the weather and easier to steal. In the SUV that's all inside where it's dry and safe. With the truck you need to empty the bed before you could head to dinner or go exploring, and then that stuff is just sitting around your camp or crammed in the trailer.

[@linkfloyd4908]

My first tow vehicle was 2017 Yukon. I do not recommend it unless you have a very small trailer. Max tow capacity on the GM triplet SUVs are all lower than an expedition max tow package. We upgraded to a 2019 expedition with a max tow package. There's no comparing the two. The expedition is my tow vehicle for a trailer that's about 6,000 lb loaded. We usually camp four to five times per year.

[@JohnSmith-lw2bm]

Is it a dually suv? No? Can’t tow anything then. 😂

[@texillini1]

Has your wife test driven a Suburban, Tahoe, or Yukon’s? If so, how did she like them?

[@koljag5]

I tow a small hybrid trailer with my 2008 highlander, worst great

[@joshlower1]

These half tons aint even half tons anymore, half tons should have 2k payload and 10k tow rating. Might as well just get the suv.

[@peterdement]

The main question should be "how often am I going to use it to tow" if less than 10% of the total miles driven then the SUV is the answer.

[@jaccole]

Does not matter how often you are going to tow. You have to be safe 100% of the time. The Law of Physics doesn’t care if you are towing 10% or less of the time of your total miles. Safety First.

[@peterdement]

If not towing 90% of the time then chose a RV that is within the safe limits of the SUV not the other wy around.. @@jaccole

[@jaccole]

I agree, but that is not what you stated in your original post, (" if less than 10% of the total miles driven then the SUV is the answer”), unless I misunderstood? Unfortunately, the average person buys the tow vehicle then tries to justify maxing out the tow specs with the wrong RV, which you should never do.@@peterdement

[@joshlower1]

If your gonna tow anything of any respectable weight yiu need a 1 ton of bigger anyhow.

[@texandy89]

Bring back the Excursion and the 2500 chevy Suburban and 2500 GMC Yukan