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Old 11-09-2010, 12:40 PM   #5
Mr. Adventure
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Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Williamsburg, VA
Posts: 668
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Quote:
Originally Posted by desertdiva View Post
OK- here I am, a soccer mom that wants to give my kids the summers that I used to have. Tooling around the country in a camper and seeing everything to be seen.. without the DVD in play.

I am in the midst of purchasing a minivan. I am also in the process of purchasing a Trailmanor. I had my heart set on the 3124kb, for versatility and storage capacity. Now I am looking at minivan tow ratings, and can't find one rated over 3500lbs.

So, I am now thinking that somethings gotta give... or does it?

Does anyone know of a minivan that can be upgraded to tow more?
How disappointed will I be to give up the 3124 in lieu of the 2720 in order to scrape in under the tow capacity?
Now for my 'dumb girl that doesn't know much about cars' question... how real are those tow ratings? Can they be pushed, or will you really be entering a danger zone?
Would I be better off to give up on the minivan and move to a SUV (much less useful to me in the day to day) in order to retain the ability to pull a bigger cargo?
Any help will be appreciated.
We have a lot of diversity in how people use TrailManors and where they use them. Extreme uses mandate more tow vehicle. Tow ratings are guidelines, not laws, but towing is something to be studied and taken seriously in all tow vehicles.

I've had great experience with my Highlander, which has a little bit firmer suspension than the Sienna. We have Sienna owners here that are the best sources for telling you about Siennas, which are superb minivans.

For me, the 3124 is too heavy for most of the lighter tow vehicles because TrailManors tend to actually weigh more on the road than the brochure might have you thinking (my 3023 weighs almost 4000 pounds when I consider it lightly loaded). Here's my numbers on the truck scale:
http://www.trailmanorowners.com/foru...ad.php?t=10652

Let us know if you'd like us to help with the calculations on something specific.
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2005 TrailManor 3023
2003 Toyota Highlander 220hp V6 FWD
Reese 1000# round bar Weight Distributing Hitch
Prodigy brake controller.

"It's not how fast you can go, it's how fast you can stop an RV that counts."
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