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Travel Trailer towing

53K views 58 replies 26 participants last post by  tag1 
#1 ·
I currently have a 2012 Tundra with the 4.6L engine, 4x4 double cab. Looking at buying a new truck and am intrigued by the Colorado/Canyon diesel. I tow a 31 foot ultra-light travel trailer 140 miles in the Spring, and again in the Fall, to our lake site. The trailer is 5,200 pounds dry, We don't carry any water with us as it is on site. Current truck has 301 HP and 329 ft/lb torque, it does an adequate job towing. Colorado diesel has 180 HP and 369 ft/lb torque but is about 700 pounds lighter. I am searching for anyone who has towed something of this size, the weight would not appear to be an issue, I am just wondering how the truck will handle pulling a billboard down the interstate, and how it will handle the side-winds and jostling since it is a smaller footprint truck. I would be interested in the crew cab long bed which would give the most stability for this truck. Any insights would be appreciated..
 
#2 ·
I can contribute somewhat. To answer your question in a short way, It depends. To answer it more thoroughly, read on.

I wouldn't pull that thing across country, but the Colorado will definitely do the job for 140 miles.

Is your new truck a dedicated tow rig or is it a commuter truck/daily driver the rest of the time? Do you like to go fast? Both make a pretty big impact on what truck you'll be happy with. Colorados are way easier to park than Tundras. Hell, my wife won't even drive the Tundra.

Alright, let me explain where I'm coming from. I'm long winded so if you get bored easily, bail now.

I have a 18' car hauler that I pull my crawler on and it weighs 5400-5600 depending on gear sometimes more or less. It's not exactly aero friendly but it's no box. I Tow it ~400 miles every 4-6 weeks.

First tow rig was a first gen tundra with the 4.7, a very similar motor to what you have, albeit made less power back then. It towed great. Then, I had a 5.3 suburban and it towed terribly compared to the tundra even tho it was larger than the first gen tundra by quite a bit. They have the same amount of power, but the Toyota transmission was better than the Suburban. Tundra tow rating was 7100, Suburban was 6800... oops back to the subject.

The diesel Colorado tows better than both of those trucks did.... unless you like to tow 80mph and then either gas truck will out perform it (but only at that speed) The Colorado will outperform most small gas v8s at everything except speed. If you like to go fast, you'll miss your v8.

The Colorado doesn't have the horsepower, I presume, to keep a load moving through the air that quickly, which brings me back to the point I was trying to make.

All that being said, i think the wind resistance pulling that trailer is going to be tough on the Colorado, if you're wanting to drive fast. If you like to drive 65 when you tow, you'll be golden.

I took a 1100+ mile trip last month (not towing) and experimented with speed and mpg and you literally get 1/2 the mpg at 80mph than you do at 65. Yes, you read that right... 30mpg at 65 down to 15mpg at 80. Dang aerodynamics, you can't trick them.

Tim
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the info. I am not bent on keeping up with traffic when moving the camper. We take it to the lake in April and it stays there until October when we bring it home. To stay above 60 mph and occasionally hit 70 on downhills would be fine with me. I drive about 20,000 a year, and 2/3 of that is just me going to work, etc. so the 30 mpg looks really intriguing.
 
#5 ·
Hey guy's new here. I have had my Colorado Dmax since July 2016 but haven't towed with it. Wife and I are renting/borrowing a travel trailer this summer to do some camping. Expect it to be 22' and around 4500lbs dry - no problem for the DMax right?
Anyway just looking for any advice, insight, recommendations etc. Haven't towed much so pretty much a newbie.
Specific question, do I need tow mirrors and if so any recommendations?

Thanks guys, glad I found this forum.

Love my diesel Chevy Colorado!
 
#7 ·
[QUOTE="YakaFett, post: 14345, member:
Specific question, do I need tow mirrors and if so any recommendations?
[/QUOTE]

If you find any, like real tow mirrors that replace you're stock ones and aren't just ones that add on to you're stock mirrors, let me know ha. You should be fine though. Rockcrawler had lots of good points. Just make sure to turn on tow/ haul mode especially if you don't have trailer brakes. No real way to learn but by doing. Just take your time and be mindful of everyone and everything else around you, especially when turning or changing lanes.
 
#6 ·
No problem for the baby duramax. If the trailer is much wider than the tow rig, you'll wish you had tow mirrors.

Measure the tongue of the trailer and your hitch and determine how much of a drop hitch you need to pull level. Especially important with a dual axle trailer, not as important on a single axle trailer.

The key to successful towing is accurately setting the tongue weight, that will make or break your towing experience. But, on a travel trailer you don't have complete control of that, only can adjust how you load your gear on it. See if you can find out the tongue weight of the unit and plan accordingly. If it's much over five or six hundred lbs you may want to think about a weight distribution hitch

Also, how far are you going to be towing? If you're just towing to the next state over then you can probably live with however it is the way it sits.
 
#8 ·
No problem for the baby duramax. If the trailer is much wider than the tow rig, you'll wish you had tow mirrors.

Measure the tongue of the trailer and your hitch and determine how much of a drop hitch you need to pull level. Especially important with a dual axle trailer, not as important on a single axle trailer.

The key to successful towing is accurately setting the tongue weight, that will make or break your towing experience. But, on a travel trailer you don't have complete control of that, only can adjust how you load your gear on it. See if you can find out the tongue weight of the unit and plan accordingly. If it's much over five or six hundred lbs you may want to think about a weight distribution hitch

Also, how far are you going to be towing? If you're just towing to the next state over then you can probably live with however it is the way it sits.
Not towing too far so worries there. The trailer we are looking at renting has tongue weight of ~435lbs and they provide a weight distribution hitch.
 
#11 ·
I'm not towing a "box" but My flatbed trailer is 83" wide between the fenders, bout 101" overall width. With a rig loaded on the trailer, I can't see anything out of the rear view mirror except a toyota grille.

With that being said, I've never had any complaints about the side mirrors. I never even gave them any thought. They work. They're convex, and you can see the whole lane behind you, the trailer fits in the lane.

You may be more comfortable with wider mirrors, but I don't think they're needed.
 
#13 ·
As far as towing goes i have a crew cab long bed and absolutely love the truck. I tow my box trailer that is 8.5 X 16 foot box with a toolbox at the nose with 3 dirt bikes and 2 quads with the usual gear gas firewood etc. I will be adding bags to the truck since the rear end is soft for me. But beside that the truck tows great. Just need bigger mirrors to get past the trailer. I will keep you guys posted if I find any.
 
#14 ·
I will be adding bags to the truck since the rear end is soft for me.
Oddly enough I felt the same when hauling two semi trailer brake hubs (100 pounds each or so). Granted I had them at the very back of the bed, it felt like the ass end was sinking, which I never had on my f150 unless I loaded it firewood.
 
#15 ·
"As far as towing goes i have a crew cab long bed and absolutely love the truck. I tow my box trailer that is 8.5 X 16 foot box with a toolbox at the nose with 3 dirt bikes and 2 quads with the usual gear gas firewood etc. I will be adding bags to the truck since the rear end is soft for me. But beside that the truck tows great. Just need bigger mirrors to get past the trailer. I will keep you guys posted if I find any."


Socal, here's what I'm going to install on my Colorado, as soon as it gets built and delivered.

http://www.clearviewmirrors.com.au/10060/Holden/

Even though they are in Australia, delivery is about a week ARO. I've been corresponding with them and following comments on the plain ol' Colorado forum, and these seem great. These guys have electrical contacts that hook right up and it's just a bolt off, bolt on, otherwise. There's a vid to show you how, and I think it's available if you drill down on the site.
 
#18 ·
Welcome, Colorado Joe. CV mirrors are worth the huge price. They look just fine, and were a necessity when pulling my Escape 5.0TA 5th wheel. And, even if your vehicle is new, maybe now you can find a decent youtube on pulling off the door panels. Then, you could save big time on Chevy installation. One suggestion. If you buy, see if there's a way of getting your plug ins exposed OUTSIDE of the door panels. The mirrors themselves are easy on easy off, and if you are going to go months without towing, it would be worthwhile to return to stock, good looking, factory mirrors.

No, I did not get the safety package. My peddler missed it while we were ordering - head up his ***, like most of them. More concerned about getting my name signed and moving on to the next easy money. I would have done so, had he found it available. Did half a lane change on a dark and stormy night in Wash state, pulling the trailer, with a car in the other lane. If you were ever so crowded, sincere apologies from a member of the club of temporarily out to lunch drivers. I have sworn that I will go 10 miles out of my way, rather than try and make an exit that crept up on me, so I'm workin' the problem.
 
#22 ·
I am really interested in this truck, I currently have an 09 F150 with a 5.4 and tow a 22' Travel trailer that is 4300 lbs dry. I do haul it with water and loaded to no more than 5300lbs. The ford is great for my needs and pulls this setup easily but I really want/need a commuter that is better on fuel and will still tow my TT the 6 or 7 times a year I go camping. I also have weight distribution and anti sway setup and the TT has an aerodynamic front cap. The difference in my situation is that most of my getaways are into the Rockies where I can experience some fairly decent, lengthy grades. Anyone have any experience or thoughts on this duramax in the mountains towing a travel trailer?
 
#24 · (Edited)
Just the usual boring advice. Check ALL ratings. If you're less than 75-80%, except for GVWR, which you can crowd, but not exceed, then gofer it. Yes, you will gear down on grades, but no one, either in this forum or the main Colorado forum has reported either overheating or braking problems. Readers, feel free to correct me if I missed a relevant post.

We tow an Escape 5.0TA, bed hitch. Heavier than yours, tows great. Our hitchweight is certainly more than yours, but it's limited only by the bed rating. I'm sure that even if your hitch weight is low enough, you will want your WDH and stabilizers. With a bed hitch we get out of those requirements.

As for multi use, that's why we bought ours. It is our only 4 wheel vehicle. We live in south St. Louis and have no problems navigating old city streets. Even with Clearview mirrors, which are a must for towing your trailer. One other caveat. The headlights are the WORST. OK for driving now, but I need to get them upgraded before we take off for our 2-3 month Canada summer vaca..
 
#25 ·
One other caveat. The headlights are the WORST. OK for driving now, but I need to get them upgraded before we take off for our 2-3 month Canada summer vaca..
What don't you like about the headlights? We have a Canyon and I found ours great. Nice, bright, wide view on the sides of the roads and reach out rather far too. Usually get brighted by other drivers when I have my low-beams on because they are pretty bright too.
 
#26 ·
Maybe the Canyons have better ones. I don't know. But the Colorado's are awful. This has been quantified by both Consumer Reports and the national Transportation Safety Board. About half as powerful as the competition. We kept our brights on last winter while towing in the dark (and no, the lights were not pointing up), and no one blinked at us to dim them...
 
#29 ·
Tell us! We got caught trailer towing in the rain after dark, looping around, looking for our way through a dark highway maze of on and off ramps, getting passed on both sides by loco locals. Nightmare. I started to research aftermarket replacements but got sidetracked. Any ideas?
 
#30 ·
Hmmm. I even read a few articles that said both the Colorado and Canyon don't have good lights. I mean, like I said, I think they are great on my Canyon. Does anyone else with a Canyon not like the lights on them? I know the headlight cover looks different on our trucks, but I figure they have the same bulbs. Unless the actual setup of the headlight changes how they project the light.
 
#31 ·
Well, let see. My Hyundai Accent commuter have way better headlights than my Canyon. The beams are dim. But I really love my truck so I just overlook the dimwit who designed the dim light.

I don’t have any issue with my truck, but After reading so many issue with the 2.8l that I am second guessing paying for it over a V6.
 
#36 ·
I ordered a set of LED replacement bulbs last night, we'll see how they do. I've been following a few threads on a different forum for some replacement housings that give us two square projector housings and an LED light bar around kind of like the GMC lights have. Been toying around with getting a set of those as well. Only issue with those is they change the style of bulbs from stock. So I went with these https://www.theretrofitsource.com/led-bulbs/head-fog-light-bulbs/h11-morimoto-2stroke.html first reason was they have an interchangeable socket so I can change from the stock H11 to the H7 that the replacement housings use with only a $5 swap kit. The other reason is the diode dynamics LED's I was also considering have a 4-6 week lead time at the moment. I don't want to highjack this thread any further off topic so I'll throw up a post once I get them.
 
#37 ·
Compared to the lights I had on my 2000 Honda CR-V with the oxidized lens covers and even my 2011 Kia Optima and 2010 Honda Civic, the lights on this truck are head over heels better. I will say my 2004 Silverado 2500HD had great lights and they shined out really far. But I like these best on the Canyon.
 
#38 ·
Hell, my wife's '13 Ford Escape had way better lights, but in the same breath, my '04 Jeep Rubicon had sucky lights. Soooo, when these burn out maybe the after market will have much better lighting options. MAC:rolleyes:
 
#39 ·
see that's my problem I'm coming from a 2015 Wrangler that had horrible lights so I had upgraded to the JW Speaker LED headlights that are some of the best performing lights I've even had the joy to drive behind. So coming back to the Colorado with these sucky lights has been a real disappointment.
 
#42 ·
@RollyPollieBenito i totally agree.

@bigoilbob While some users who have complained about problems are quite dramatic, that doesn’t lead me to disbelieve them. I am more inclined to believe them. Most people will tell you how great their truck is to justify their purchase. I don’t know of anybody who will tell you what they bought was junk unless it is.

There is also another forum that starts with Colorado and ends with fans dot com where there are many many more members. Many threads about problems and new problems popping up (the bent turbo fins is the newest I’ve been reading about)

Two things I try to keep in mind which help me keep my sanity.

1: online forums aren’t exactly a great sample size since most owners without problems will never join a forum

2: many of the problems are popping up very early on the trucks life, so if you’ve made it a few years without any problems you might be free and clear.
 
#45 ·
@RollyPollieBenito i totally agree.

@bigoilbob While some users who have complained about problems are quite dramatic, that doesn’t lead me to disbelieve them. I am more inclined to believe them. Most people will tell you how great their truck is to justify their purchase. I don’t know of anybody who will tell you what they bought was junk unless it is.

There is also another forum that starts with Colorado and ends with fans dot com where there are many many more members. Many threads about problems and new problems popping up (the bent turbo fins is the newest I’ve been reading about)

Two things I try to keep in mind which help me keep my sanity.

1: online forums aren’t exactly a great sample size since most owners without problems will never join a forum

2: many of the problems are popping up very early on the trucks life, so if you’ve made it a few years without any problems you might be free and clear.
Exactly you are right Rockcrawlerdude..I am agree with your two things.
 
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