2006 Ram 1500
4x2
4.7L V8 Reg Cab Long Bed
Stock Everything
Auto

Looking to pull an old 20ft Travalaire Camper. I need to pull it from the owners to a seasonal camp site 4hrs away. This is in Saskatchewan so it is completely flat. He says it comes with an equalizer hitch? Not sure what that is. I'm sure my truck could move it but will I be damaging it?

 

What gears do you have? 3.55 or 3.92? Itll be much easier if you have the 3.92's. You can cgeck via the sticker in the glove box.

 

To help you fully, it would be nice to know the actual weight of the camper. But, at 20', I seriously doubt it's heavy enought to be of concern. Do you have the factory tow package? If not, you certainly do not want to tow anything with significant weight with overdrive turned on.

An equalizer hitch is a weight distribution/anti-sway hitch. That's all I've ever used to tow RV's and I've been towing them since my truck was new. It's important that they are installed on your truck and trailer correctly, though, to take advantage of their features. The hitch uses trunion bars to distribute weight back across the entire tow vehicle instead of putting everything on the rear end. You can google equalizer and find the model hitch you have and you'll find install instructions and even a how-to video on installing it. The hitch doesn't do anything to increase your tow capacity, but it certainly helps distribute the weight of what you are towing.

 

I couldn't find any information in the glove box and someone told me check the sticker on the rear diff but there isn't one there either. It doesn't have a tow package it is just a stock fleet vehicle.

 

I don't really know anything about towing...is the equalizer hitch the portion that fits into the reciever on the truck?

 

The dry weight of the camper should be posted on a plate/sticker somewhere on the RV. If you don't have a sticker in your glove box and no copy of the window sticker, you'll have to get a build sheet to find out what gear ratio you have. You don't have a tow package, so do you have a hitch installed? Is it rated to tow RV's? Do you have wiring there for towing an RV (round receptacle)? To do it properly, you need to figure your tow weight, hitch weight, and make sure it's more than that of the RV. You'll need the proper hitch on the truck with the right wiring. Assuming the RV has brakes, you'll need a brake controller wired in as well.

Otherwise, you are just crossing your fingers, praying, and taking a chance that you just hook up to what you have, trust the truck brakes to stop both vehicles, and make it to where you are going with no incidents.

 

The hitch fits into the receiver. The equalizer part is built into the hitch along with parts that attach to the trailer. Go to their website and read. But you need to make sure your truck is equipped properly as well. Even with a factory tow package, you have to add an electric brake controller to activate the trailers brakes when you stop.

http://www.equalizerhitch.com/

If you are just taking it to a permanent spot and dropping it, you'd be better off finding a friend that is equipped to tow and working out a deal with him to get the trailer from A to B and forget about it.

 

The sticker won't show the gear ratio. Are you sure there's no tag on the rear diff? You can jack up the rear end and turn the tires, counting how many times the drive shaft turns for each full tire rotation.

Depending on the ratio, you have a towing capacity of around 7,000#. As long as you have trailer brakes and you tow it empty, you may be OK. However, if you have no experience towing, this is not the best way to learn. That TT can become a handful in lots of ways.

 

Before jumping the gun on gear ratio - it's more important to know if your truck has the factory tow package (tranny cooler, frame mounted hitch, wire connector, etc.) before we even get into gearing, wheel size, etc.

Your tow capacity could be as low as 2000 lbs. and as high as 7150 lbs. depending on the equipment your truck has.

Then we really need to know the weight of the trailer.

 

There is nothing at the rear of my truck as of now for towing, except a connector. It isn't round either just a little box with a cap, with some grease covering the internals. Getting someone else to move it is really not an option at this point. I don't know about trailer brakes does every little camper have them? This is from 79' or 80'.