Towing Imagine XLS with mid-size trucks

**jaxjohn** · 12-23-2018, 04:56 PM

Hello,

Is anyone towing any of the Imagine XLS trailers with a mid-size truck? I see a lot of caution about using a mid-size truck in general but I thought the purpose of the XLS line was for smaller TVs. These are all at or under 5,000 lbs dry with a GVWR of at or under 6,500 lbs.

I have a GMC Canyon Diesel (same as Chevy Colorado) with 7600 lb tow capacity, 1320 lb payload, and GCVWR of 12,700 lbs.

Assuming a 750lb tongue weight on a <500lb dry weight tongue weight, I can still get 570 lbs of passengers and cargo in the truck. Given that the truck cab is relatively small, this is pretty reasonable for me.

Assuming worst case of 1,500lbs of cargo in the trailer, this keeps me 1,000 lbs under the total GCVWR rating for the truck.

Curious if anyone has any experiences with the XLS or mid-size trucks in general as TVs.

Thanks

**howson** · 12-23-2018, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by jaxjohn

Hello,

Is anyone towing any of the Imagine XLS trailers with a mid-size truck? I see a lot of caution about using a mid-size truck in general but I thought the purpose of the XLS line was for smaller TVs. These are all at or under 5,000 lbs dry with a GVWR of at or under 6,500 lbs.

I have a GMC Canyon Diesel (same as Chevy Colorado) with 7600 lb tow capacity, 1320 lb payload, and GCVWR of 12,700 lbs.

Assuming a 750lb tongue weight on a <500lb dry weight tongue weight, I can still get 570 lbs of passengers and cargo in the truck. Given that the truck cab is relatively small, this is pretty reasonable for me.

Assuming worst case of 1,500lbs of cargo in the trailer, this keeps me 1,000 lbs under the total GCVWR rating for the truck.

Curious if anyone has any experiences with the XLS or mid-size trucks in general as TVs.

Thanks

First, I see this is your first post so welcome to the forum!

You seem to have a good grasp on the topic and my reply is not quite what you are asking for, but may I make a suggestion? There is a How To Determine Your Truck's Trailer Towing Capability post in the REFERENCE LIBRARY that has a lot of information on how to determine if you have enough truck for the trailer you're considering.

Here's link to the post:
https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...ity-Calculator

I hope you'll take the time to digest the information (and links to references) in that post. Once you master the process you can play "what if" scenarios with multiple combinations of trucks and trailers.

One more thing: for planning purposes on a bumper pull I suggest using 15% of the trailer's GVWR (the worst-case scenario) as a payload guestimate.

Again--welcome!

**jaxjohn** · 12-23-2018, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by howson

Here's link to the post:
https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...ity-Calculator

One more thing: for planning purposes on a bumper pull I suggest using 15% of the trailer's GVWR (the worst-case scenario) as a payload guestimate.

Again--welcome!

Thanks. I was actually using the spreadsheet from the Keep Your Daydream blog so I am ahead of the game. I will look at the Ford PDF as well.

How accurate are Grand Design's weights as advertised?

15% of a XLS GVWR is probably going to eliminate most mid-size trucks and probably some half tons as well. If you're using a 3/4 or 1 ton truck, you'd probably just get a regular Imagine trailer. This is why I was asking about the real world use case for this product line.

With almost 1000 lbs of tongue weight on an XLS, I can probably get away with it with only 2 passengers and moving all of my luggage to the trailer. Although with 400 lbs of water, I still don't think I could add 1,000 lbs of cargo to small trailer to cause a real world tongue weight that is 15% of the GVWR. Not that I would want to be right at the max rating for the trailer in the first place.

Appreciate the welcome and hopefully there are some XLS or mid-size truck owners out there with real world experiences to share.

**jw^2 family** · 12-23-2018, 07:38 PM

Originally Posted by jaxjohn

Curious if anyone has any experiences with the XLS or mid-size trucks in general as TVs

jaxjohn,

@Imagine That has reported good results towing an Imagine with a diesel Canyon, and may be able to give you more details:

https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...859#post171859

**jaxjohn** · 12-23-2018, 08:38 PM

Originally Posted by jw^2 family

jaxjohn,

@Imagine That has reported good results towing an Imagine with a diesel Canyon, and may be able to give you more details:

https://www.mygrandrv.com/fo...859#post171859

Thanks I did not find that searching earlier.

**howson** · 12-24-2018, 04:44 AM

Originally Posted by jaxjohn

How accurate are Grand Design's weights as advertised?

They are usually lower than the actual weight, even right off the factory floor. Here's some real numbers from my trailer as an example.

The 315RLTS is listed on the Grand Design website (under specifications) with a UVW of 8,994. Mine came from the factory weighing 9,516. The last time I weighed (12 Dec) the camper was 10,200, very close to the camper's GVWR (10,995).

To put those numbers in context, there is a second a/c on the rig so I expected it to weigh more that what is listed on GD's website (but not 526 lbs heavier!). Note, too, that the weight does not include propane tanks or a battery (dealer adds those upon delivery). When I weighed the camper at 10,200 there was no water--not even in the water heater--no food, or anything in the pantry. There is also a washer and dryer installed in camper.

Tongue weight is listed at 1065. From the factory it was 1114. My actual is 1400. (15% of the trailer's GVWR is 1,650.)

**cowboy** · 03-05-2021, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by jaxjohn

Hello,

Is anyone towing any of the Imagine XLS trailers with a mid-size truck? I see a lot of caution about using a mid-size truck in general but I thought the purpose of the XLS line was for smaller TVs. These are all at or under 5,000 lbs dry with a GVWR of at or under 6,500 lbs.

I have a GMC Canyon Diesel (same as Chevy Colorado) with 7600 lb tow capacity, 1320 lb payload, and GCVWR of 12,700 lbs.

Assuming a 750 lb tongue weight on a <500 lb dry weight tongue weight, I can still get 570 lbs of passengers and cargo in the truck. Given that the truck cab is relatively small, this is pretty reasonable for me.

Assuming worst case of 1,500 lbs of cargo in the trailer, this keeps me 1,000 lbs under the total GCVWR rating for the truck.

Curious if anyone has any experiences with the XLS or mid-size trucks in general as TVs.

Thanks

Have you towed with the Canyon yet?
We live in Central,Fl and am picking up an XLS 22MLE Monday We will be towing with a 2017 Colorado Diesel crew cab short bed. I will have to tow about 40 miles from the dealer to home without the Reese Dual cam distribution hitch for that trip.
I will install and set up the hitch on the 22 MLE when I get home.
The 22 MLE is a thousand lbs more and 4 feet longer than what we currently tow.
Our current unit is 6" taller than the 22 MLE and is 8 feet wide. We do have full size tow mirrors on our truck, it's a must for that width.
The mirrors are the same type of extendable tow mirrors that are an option on a 2500 series GMC truck.
Our little diesel pulled our current trailer up steep grades on Interstate 81 thru VA. and West VA. with no problem never dropped below 70 mph on those mountains.
So I expect that it should do fine with MLE.
I will update what our experiences are after I get it set up and pull the 22 MLE.

**jaxjohn** · 03-05-2021, 03:48 PM

Originally Posted by cowboy

Have you towed with the Canyon yet?

Unfortunately my truck didn't make it. Between 50-60k miles, I had a series of failures in all three of the diesel emissions systems. I got it fixed under warranty but the dealer told me to expect these kinds of expensive failures in the future so I sold the truck. It ended with a cracked exhaust manifold when the EGR failed. I ultimately didn't want to get stranded with a 100 mile count down to a 5MPH max limit. That part wasn't GM's fault. I believe the EPA mandates they cripple the truck to force the owner to have operational emissions systems. Was a shame. I really liked that truck.

**cowboy** · 03-05-2021, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by jaxjohn

Unfortunately my truck didn't make it. Between 50-60k miles, I had a series of failures in all three of the diesel emissions systems. I got it fixed under warranty but the dealer told me to expect these kinds of expensive failures in the future so I sold the truck. It ended with a cracked exhaust manifold when the EGR failed. I ultimately didn't want to get stranded with a 100 mile count down to a 5MPH max limit. That part wasn't GM's fault. I believe the EPA mandates they cripple the truck to force the owner to have operational emissions systems. Was a shame. I really liked that truck.

Sorry to hear about your problems with the emissions.
It happens but only to a few owners and not just limited to the 2.8 Duramax. In Australia they have been running that 2.8 for years in Holden' a version of the GMC Colorado/Canyon. and hardly ever any issues.
They have more power and torque and better mpg also. But then they didn't have any emission system on those.
I have read of owners with well over 100,000 miles on the 2.8 and very few problems. We have right at 35,000 miles with no issues.
I'll let you know how we make out with it.