[scrubjaysnest]

Originally Posted by Bill

Dave -

You are quite right for the towing you do. Florida to Missouri is basically flat terrain. Most of the comments are directed at folks who plan to tow in high mountains with steep grades. Although the tow vehicle manufacturers never mention it, the requirement placed on the tow vehicle for these two situations is quite different. This makes sense, I think you will agree - it is harder to pull a trailer up a steep hill for hours than it is to cruise along a flat turnpike for hours. That was the basic intent of J-2807 - to prevent manufacturers from cherry-picking their tow conditions when stating a rating.

Bill

I agree Bill and I understand Dave's frustration but for our selves we don't travel the I-75 or I-95 corridor which is relatively flat. This past winter we crossed several 15% grades and I think the smaller TV's even with the lighter TM's would be well aware of the grade. Tampajohn found that out about a year ago. It's a case of what type of towing are you going to do.

Kikeehn is in AZ; if he stays south of Mesa on I-10 or I-8 that is fairly flat driving like FL. But north of there is a different story. Now you get into things like what is the TV weight compared to the TM. This can have the tail waging the dog. If you take our TM at 3680# that only leaves 920# margin for a tow rating of 4500#. Take 10% of that number which just about every 2720SL or SD will have for a tongue wt is 450#. That's 50# below what most bumpers are rated and class III hitches without a WDH.