My vehicle CAN tow 3500lbs.....SHOULD I?

I bought a good backpacker's collection of pots and pans from REI and they are light and work great, so there are many ways to "go lite" wo doing wo.
One just needs to be sensitive and thoughtful about what they pack.

[Mr. Adventure]

Originally Posted by PopBeavers

...In general:

1. the longer the TV wheelbase (front axle to rear axle distance) the better.

2. The shorter the distance of TV rear axle to tow ball the better (reduces the tail wagging the dog effect, reducing sway)...

There was a table people were tossing around awhile ago that tried to specify the maximum trailer length you should tow based on the wheelbase of the tow vehicle and the distance from the hitch ball to the trailer axle (their formula was 1:2 for this, stated as a maximum). The problem is that while wheelbase is good for control, so also is the distance from the hitch ball to the trailer axle, and the premise of the table is therefore flawed. It's true that longer trailer-to-hitch ball distances go with bigger trailers, bigger trailers have bigger towing problems, and a longer wheelbase would help with that. But the big trailer is the problem, not the distance between the hitch ball and the trailer axle, where longer is better (TM's use this as an important part of making TM's easy to tow without sway).

Notice that I said tow ball to TV axle. The article you mentioned was using tow ball to trailer axle. Not at all the same thing.

For a 5th wheel trailer the tow ball to TV axle distance is zero.

This might be clear to you. I only mention this because a casual reader might not notice the difference between TV axle and TM axle.

[Mr. Adventure]

Originally Posted by PopBeavers

Notice that I said tow ball to TV axle. The article you mentioned was using tow ball to trailer axle. Not at all the same thing.

For a 5th wheel trailer the tow ball to TV axle distance is zero.

This might be clear to you. I only mention this because a casual reader might not notice the difference between TV axle and TM axle.

Sorry, I blew right past that and completely missed your point.

The wheelbase is the lever arm the front wheels have for steering. It's why longer vehicles are more stable on the road. The rear axle to hitch ball distance is the lever arm the trailer uses to multiply bad things about towing like tongue weight and the side to side forces on the tow vehicle in turns and emergency maneuvers. For tow vehicles, the ratio between the wheelbase (good) and the rear axle to hitch ball distance (bad) is a better measure of tow vehicle stability than wheelbase alone.

I think a summary is in order, for those current and future readers that do not routinely talk about wheelbases, etc.

Tow vehicle

wheel base (distance from front axle to rear axle) longer is better

tow ball to rear axle shorter is better

trailer

hitch to axle longer is better.

I looked up the wheel base for each of my two trucks

1500HD short bed 153 inches

2500HD long bed 167 inches

14 inches is 9 percent. I an tell the difference between the two trucks. I much prefer the longer truck. It porpoises less. The topic of porpoising does not come up very often.

Originally Posted by bighogmama

I don't want a hybrid or any canvas, any recommendations?

How about 1 of the Trailmanor Sport Deck models ??