tow vehicle for Uhaul CT?

[Trac]

My husband is thinking we need to buy a truck to pull our new to us UHaul CT 13 behind. I told him I thought because it is so light that we could pull it behing just about anything.

Tell me what is your tow vehicle?

[Jon in AZ]

The truth is somewhere in between. Loaded weight will likely be somewhere between 1500-1800#, so a tow vehicle with a minimum 2000# rating is required. There are a number of suitable non-truck options.

Some people tow this trailer with popular 1500# rated vehicles (CR-V, RAV4, and Forester), but that's very marginal, especially since most CT-13's do not have trailer brakes.

I tow our similar-sized Scamp 13 with a V6 Honda Pilot, rated 3500#. For us part of the issue is four people and extra gear in the vehicle reduces towing capacity. We also live and tow frequently in mountains and canyons, so a bit of extra performance margin is helpful.

Bottom line, besides the trailer you have to consider what else you're bringing with you.

[mary and bob]

We tow our CT with a 2012 Dodge Ram 1500 that has the 5.7 Hemi engine. But that's only because we also have a Casita SD17. Before we bought the Casita and Ram we towed the Uhaul with a 2003 Honda CRV, but the Honda wasn't a good tow vehicle choice because the Uhaul was right at the CRV's rated tow limit and the Uhaul does not have brakes. Figure the Uhaul weight is generally known to be 1250 lb, but loaded for use can be over 1500 or 1600 lb. The truck works good for us because sometimes we take a lot of stuff, two bikes, screen room, 10 X 10 canopy, chairs, gas grill, spare tire, tools and other misc. stuff. Probably a mid size SUV would work fine, depending on how much stuff you take along. I think there are a few Uhauls listed in the weight table of the "trailer weights in the real world" thread.

[sokhapkin]

Originally Posted by Trac

My husband is thinking we need to buy a truck to pull our new to us UHaul CT 13 behind. I told him I thought because it is so light that we could pull it behing just about anything.

Tell me what is your tow vehicle?

To tow a trailer you need a good truck. There is no other way.

[Civilguy]

Originally Posted by Trac

My husband is thinking we need to buy a truck to pull our new to us UHaul CT 13 behind. I told him I thought because it is so light that we could pull it behing just about anything.

Tell me what is your tow vehicle?

Tracy,

We had a teardrop trailer that was about 1,500 lbs loaded and towed it with an AWD 6 cylinder Passat rated at 2,000 lbs towing capacity.

Then we had a Casita FD 17 that was about 3,200 lbs loaded and towed it with an Audi Q5 rated at 4,400 lbs towing capacity.

Now we have an Escape 21 that is about 4,600 lbs fully loaded and tow it with a Jeep Grand Cherokee with 7,200 lbs rated towing capacity.

In each case, we were (are) much closer to one of the other rated capacity limitations than these numbers might seem to indicate.

Closely evaluating the tow vehicle's payload and axle ratings is necessary as some vehicles cannot realistically tow at their rated capacity without exceeding one of their other rated capacities.

Aside from this, you might want to carefully consider if this trailer will satisfy you in the long term. Some stay with light and small trailers, others find over time that they prefer something larger and heavier.

[groys02]

We went from central Iowa to north of Cheyenne WY to pick up our U-Haul camper... 600+ miles... towed it home with a 95 Neon, 5-spd. It worked out fine, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

We recently swapped pickups, and now have a 93 Ranger with 73k miles on it, and a 5-spd. This feels real good. With a topper on the back of this modest pickup, we can put the weighty "stuff" in the back of the pickup, so it's got several hundred pounds of extra stability... and the camper itself stays fairly light. Steep upgrade?... just shift down a gear.

Works for us.... your results may vary....

[vintageracer]

"Smart" Tow Vehicle when fuel mileage is of key importance.