Towing 25FB with Dodge Durango

[Eric.]

Hi everyone

My wife and I placed an order for an International 25FB, we are excited. The 2nd thing we did is purchased a Dodge Durango Hellcat. My question is does anyone else tow a 25fb with a Durango? The 25fb has a heavy pin weight and that’s my concern.


Thank you in advance

Eric

[wkerfoot]

Check with Andy at Can Am for hitch reinforcement.


Bill Kerfoot

Originally Posted by Eric.

Hi everyone

My wife and I placed an order an order for an International 25FB, we are excited. The 2nd thing we did is purchase a Dodge Durango Hellcat. My question is does anyone else tow a 25fb with a Durango? The 25fb has a heavy pin weight and that’s my concern.


Thank you in advance

Eric

[jondrew55]

We have a Durango RT and towed a trailer about 1000 pounds lighter than our new GT 25’. You’ll obviously have enough power but you’re right, at around 900# hitch weight you’ll be pushing it.

[Fungus]

Your Durango may be able to pull the trailer. The 25FB GVWR is 7300# while your Durango can pull up to 8700#.

But payload is limited. Everything in the vehicle uses up payload…humans, dogs, cellphones, ice chests, etc. Take the payload capacity of your Durango (1390#, I think). Subtracting two humans at 300# total leaves you with 1090#. Subtract the real world tongue weight of 1050# and you’re left with 40#. So basically, nothing else can go in the truck. I think you will find that the trailer drives the truck.

[Dennis C]

Congrats on the Airstream. I think the Durango will be a struggle, but I wish you the best.

[vizz]

Originally Posted by Eric.

Hi everyone

My wife and I placed an order for an International 25FB, we are excited. The 2nd thing we did is purchased a Dodge Durango Hellcat. My question is does anyone else tow a 25fb with a Durango? The 25fb has a heavy pin weight and that’s my concern.


Thank you in advance

Eric

We have a Durango R/t 5.7 hemi with factory tow and a 25ft Safari wide body and have absolutely no problems towing. Have travelled all across Canada and into the states with it.
Wayne

[Luke Grisott]

Durango hellcat Wow . Congratulations on purchasing your Airstream. We love our 2018 25FTFBT International serenity. Welcome to the club of adventures. Recommend checking out your local Airstream clubs . We have met the most amazing People. Do you join the international club WBCCI. A wealth of practical information. Great support for us as newbies. Let the adventure begin !!!!!
Safe travels
#22624 The Silver Buffalo

[uncle_bob]

Hi

It is unlikely that the hitch on the Dodge will be rated high enough for the trailer. That's a fixable item. It might require some welding.

The bigger issue is the same with just about all SUV's. Once you toss in a 1,000 pound tongue weight and a hundred to a couple hundred pounds of shank + hitch, there's not much left over. If you have four passengers with luggage .... probably not going to even be close to "in spec". It's quite possible to be over the limit with two folks and some pretty normal gear.

Bob

[fran&frank]

Don't go by what the dealer or marketing brochures say. Look at the yellow door sticker for the payload capacity and the sticker on the hitch for the tounge weight on a Durango equipped they way you want one and you will almost certainly find you will be over those ratings when loaded up. What you choose to do about that is up to you.--Frank

[Nomad518]

A Durango was our original TV. Its transmission was toast in less than two years and was replaced under warranty. Then it began overheating badly when towing and left us stranded on the side of the road. I couldn’t get rid of it fast enough. We now tow with an F150. We tow a 25’ Safari.

[gypsydad]

As many are pointing out, the actual max "payload" numbers are found on the doorjamb sticker. Andy at CANAM would be a good source if your married to this TV. Believe he likes the Dodge Durango in a post awhile back. Concerns are payload and hitch for that size AS...can be rienforced, and perhaps the brakes can handle...good luck. (I would suggest at least a TV like a 1/2T with max tow package, for reasons already mentioned.)

[PatLee]

Find out what your payload number is and how it's defined for your vehicle. I think my number assumed a 150-pound human and a full gas tank as a starting point. Everything else after that counted against the payload. And FYI - the tongue weight on my 2019 25' FBT Int'l is 1175 pounds. Not surprising if you think about all of the things that are built into the front end: Two twin bed frames, two mattresses w/bedding, nightstand and drawer, under bed storage compartments, overhead storage compartment, batteries, propane tanks, exterior front end storage compartment, the hitch, the spare tire. Did I leave out anything? Oh yeah, the stuff we put inside all those compartments. Still feel like I've left something off the list . . .

[AShar]

We tow a 25FB with an SUV. To distribute the acting tongue weight, you can make adjustments to the trailer like one propane tank, how you load it, hitch setup, etc. I recently went through the whole exercise. After all the adjustments, my CAT scale numbers consistently show only 740-760#s weight increase on the SUV when I attach the trailer using CanAm Andy's suggested hitch. I make it a habit to weigh the setup before every major trip and have seen consistent results. It looks like you live pretty close to us; feel free to DM me if you need more info.

[Aprilrivet]

Your Hellcat has all the legs you need to tow your 25' anywhere, anytime. A large part of the package is the proper hitch set up. We tow our 25' Classic with a V6 Durango and have travelled all over North America in excess of 100,000 kms. Can Am set up our TV and trailer as they really are the most knowledgeable. Contact them.
We're not the first to the top of the hill but then we're not in any hurry. Welcome and good luck.

[Eric.]

Wow

Thank you everyone for all the information. We didn’t plan on buying this Durango but didn’t want to pass it up since the Durango Hellcat is discontinued.

Looking forward to getting the new trailer and we are thankful for all the wealth of information from this community.

Have a good night

Eric

[gypsydad]

Originally Posted by PatLee

Find out what your payload number is and how it's defined for your vehicle. I think my number assumed a 150-pound human and a full gas tank as a starting point. Everything else after that counted against the payload. And FYI - the tongue weight on my 2019 25' FBT Int'l is 1175 pounds. Not surprising if you think about all of the things that are built into the front end: Two twin bed frames, two mattresses w/bedding, nightstand and drawer, under bed storage compartments, overhead storage compartment, batteries, propane tanks, exterior front end storage compartment, the hitch, the spare tire. Did I leave out anything? Oh yeah, the stuff we put inside all those compartments. Still feel like I've left something off the list . . .

Payload- does not include a 150lb person driver...actual payload is on the doorjamb and it states a not to exceed number: "includes all passengers and cargo not to exceed xxxlbs" typically. One attached is from a Denali.

[dnsapp]

I have a 25' FC FB and to with a Max Tow F-150. U would not tow it with your Dodge Durango. That is basically a lighter weight SUV and is really not designed by Dodge for the purpose you are attempting to use it for. The 25'FB has all the storage in the front (batteries, propane tanks, storage compartment, under the beds storage, plus she of the weight of the tanks and what ever else you think of taking). I have weighed mine on a long trip and the TW was 1,100 pounds. I doubt your TV is over 850 pounds. Plus you may be overloading the rear axle. You need to try to check with Dodge to see if you can find out what the rear axle weight rating is. Good luck in finding a person that can help you with that. Don't depend on anyone at the dealer knowing. (Been down that road before) Then you will have the payload issue. Shifting some of the TW off the trailer on to the TV you won't be able to take very much gear in your truck, especially by the time you fill the fuel tank and load yourself, the wife, kids, and the dog. You would have no hope of thong a generator, and fuel for it. You also may have trouble going over the Rockies. One last consideration is if you can find out the towing ratio of the rear end. You need nothing less that a 3:73 of greater with that trailer. A 4:12 would be better. Most SUVs are geared for Highway travel and better gas mileage, not towing.

[Shiny16]

Originally Posted by gypsydad

Payload- does not include a 150lb person driver...actual payload is on the doorjamb and it states a not to exceed number: "includes all passengers and cargo not to exceed xxxlbs" typically. One attached is from a Denali.

Just to be clear those weights are not always based on the actual weight of an individual vehicle but can be generic. To know for sure you need to bring it to a cat scale.

[Gibson3798]

Not a great plan my friend. I'm yet to understand the attraction to pushing the limits of safety when other people are at risk other than the risk taker.

[Wayne&Sam]

I used to tow my 25' with a Durango and it did fine. When I was due for a new vehicle I went with an Expedition and it had more power and I like it better. But the Durango was adequate. Fully loaded and weighed on the scales it was all within limits. The FC weight 6600 fully loaded.