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Travel Trailer w/ a 1/2 ton, what's realistic?

3766 Views 44 Replies 26 Participants Last post by  Farmguy
Hi all.

My wife and I bought a pop up camper during COVID and are looking to upgrade to a travel trailer. I've been trying to stay around 32 feet or less and about 6,000 lbs. I recently bought a '22 Silverado RST crew cab w/ a short bed and a 5.3 v8. Towing capacity is 9,200 lbs.

For the most part we camp state parks within a couple hours of the house but wouldn't mind venturing out a little further. We live in Ohio so no mountains here but if we were to go south through West Virginia or Tennessee we could hit mountains if we went that route.

Is this a realistic set up? Am I pushing the limits too far with a 1/2 ton and a trailer of this size or should I be looking at something smaller? The camper we like is pretty much right at 6k.
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I am not an expert on the subject by any stretch. We bought a Mallard M27 in February. At the time I had a 2017 Silverado crew cab Z71 4x4 with the short bed. The Mallard is 30 feet and dry weight is around 5800 lbs. My truck was rated for 9200 lbs towing. It came with an anti sway weight distribution hitch. I did replace the rear shocks on the truck from the Ranchos to a Monroe with the outer springs on it. The truck was stock so it had the rake and when we hooked up the TT to it, it was basically level. I pulled it several times with no issues whatsoever. Even went through Atlanta once. I now have a 2021 Silverado, pretty much the same truck, but it was leveled at the dealership before it was even sold. It sagged the rear end a ridiculous amount. So I installed the Timbrens on it and also replace the Rancho's on the rear with the same Monroe shocks as the other truck. The new truck I think only has an 8200 or 8600 rating, I have to check to be sure but it pulls it just fine as well.
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