Towing a 16-Foot Enclosed Trailer With a 2019 Vista 27PE

[Bryon Carpender]

wanted to transport two electric trikes and maybe a motorcycle
purchased a 16' enclsoed trailer with tandam axles rear 3500 each axle

Asking the Internet AI bot it says not a good idea as the tongue weight is 500lbs
AI Says
The 2019 Winnebago Vista 27PE cannot safely tow a 16-foot enclosed utility trailer, as these trailers typically weigh 5,000 to 7,000 pounds, exceeding the vehicle's towing capacity.

• Towing Capacity: The Vista 27PE has a maximum trailer hitch capacity of 5,000 lbs and a Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) of 23,000 lbs.
• Weight Limitations: The coach itself has a dry weight of approximately 15,141 lbs and a GVWR of 18,000 lbs. This leaves only 2,859 lbs of payload capacity for fluids, cargo, and passengers.

so devils advocate
1 . has anyone else done something similar
2. Have a weight distributing hitch i could install with stabilizer, wish had saved the connection points, would this make any differnece in this perticular case?
3. is this JUST AI bs, see above quote
4. what if i change the Hitch out, Have not been umderneath but that 500lsb limit seems a little light
5. this trailer has electric brakes and tows behind my silverado 1500 without difficulty so why should the 2019 vista be any differnt ?
6 did i just buy a new yard storage unit :>(

 

[Morich]

Not able to answer many of those points but I might point to some obvious disagreement witht eh AI answers you have. One is the weight of the trailer. since trailers can be made inlots of ways with lots of different materieals, I would want to know what MY trailer actually weighs! Tongue weight? Isn't that going to change with how the trailer is built and loaded? If loaded wrong, you can get a ver serious problem with negative tongue weight!
But number five is skipping over the truck not having a house built on top!
In my view the combo would not feel right as that is a somewhat less than beefy RV, making adding a trailer more of a question. But to get closer, we woul have to know lots more about details like how much weight is already in/on the RV and what is expected to be added with the trailer and load. One of the factors we may not think aboutif that we also have to be able to stop it when we want, not just move it down the road!
Where, when , how often and what roads?
IT IS a complicated thought to figure it all out to make the best use of what we have.
The AI answers are obviouly going to be pretty generic but the details could push it either way!

 

[Bryon Carpender]

All valid points it’s a 1999 wells cargo enclosed trailer 16 feet long really with five foot mount in front 21 feet over all

I’m waiting on the spec from wells but two tamdam Axles rated at 3500 lbs each and about 2300 lbs empty appx not certain until wells gets back to me

so Ai may not be off by much however the other bot says tongue weight max is 340 lbs so going to have to do the bathroom scale weigh test when I have it back in the dry and loaded

16 foot is overkill with 8 feet wide
Plan is to load 2 Electric trikes about 90 lbs each too big too fit In Winnie unfortunately and some other stuff guessing maybe another 300 lb

maybe later if I can tow a motorcycle 1200 lbs is a lot more weight math is not working for that so if AI is wright that won’t work

Plan b is too weigh the Winnie then hitch up the trailer and reweigh

But currently waiting on the tires inspection as they are 6 and 4 year old
Likely pull the 6 year off and save for spares

but not sure what the years are on the other two facing in so I could not be certain as to how old the other two are

 

[Bryon Carpender]

Plan c two drivers one in the truck and one in the Winnie kind of defeats the solution but then we can park and drive the truck was hoping some day to have a toad on the Winnie

 

[Campering]

wanted to transport two electric trikes and maybe a motorcycle
purchased a 16' enclsoed trailer with tandam axles rear 3500 each axle

Asking the Internet AI bot it says not a good idea as the tongue weight is 500lbs
AI Says
The 2019 Winnebago Vista 27PE cannot safely tow a 16-foot enclosed utility trailer, as these trailers typically weigh 5,000 to 7,000 pounds, exceeding the vehicle's towing capacity.

• Towing Capacity: The Vista 27PE has a maximum trailer hitch capacity of 5,000 lbs and a Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) of 23,000 lbs.
• Weight Limitations: The coach itself has a dry weight of approximately 15,141 lbs and a GVWR of 18,000 lbs. This leaves only 2,859 lbs of payload capacity for fluids, cargo, and passengers.

so devils advocate
1 . has anyone else done something similar
2. Have a weight distributing hitch i could install with stabilizer, wish had saved the connection points, would this make any differnece in this perticular case?
3. is this JUST AI bs, see above quote
4. what if i change the Hitch out, Have not been umderneath but that 500lsb limit seems a little light
5. this trailer has electric brakes and tows behind my silverado 1500 without difficulty so why should the 2019 vista be any differnt ?
6 did i just buy a new yard storage unit :>(

You might have purchased a wrong trailer. We have a 20 foot long, seven foot wide, all aluminum enclosed trailer with tandem axles that weighs well under 2000 pounds.

 

[Bryon Carpender]

Unfortunately no specific information avalible on this particular trailer and wells cargo never got me a specific sticker

Then again it’s 26!years old but in excellent condition even the plates was a
Pain after all the guessing got TB plates

Looks like any rear wheel dual axle landscape trailer

 

[Bryon Carpender]

Got some more information on the 27pe vista hitch it is class 3 and found the specs for 16’ enclosed trailer

Wondering about the drop height maybe that limit s the tongue weight ?


Class 3
including boat trailers, campers, utility trailers, and cargo carriers. It is designed for vehicles like midsize pickup trucks, vans, and SUVs, with a towing capacity of up to 5,000 pounds

Towing Capacity​

A Class 3 hitch typically has the following specifications:

Attribute	Specification
Gross Trailer Weight (GTW)	Up to 5,000 pounds
Tongue Weight (TW)	Up to 750 pounds

 

[Bryon Carpender]

In 1996 it a c type load tire now class d tire radial same size

 

[Bryon Carpender]

Their would be appx a 10” drop rv is appx 27” and the trailer ball is appx 17” ride height my Silverado has a 6” drop uses a 2-5/16 ball

 

[Campering]

Got some more information on the 27pe vista hitch it is class 3 and found the specs for 16’ enclosed trailer

Wondering about the drop height maybe that limit s the tongue weight ?


Class 3
including boat trailers, campers, utility trailers, and cargo carriers. It is designed for vehicles like midsize pickup trucks, vans, and SUVs, with a towing capacity of up to 5,000 pounds

Towing Capacity​

A Class 3 hitch typically has the following specifications:

Attribute	Specification
Gross Trailer Weight (GTW)	Up to 5,000 pounds
Tongue Weight (TW)	Up to 750 pounds

The hitch will support 500 pounds. The ball adapter and the ball will also have their own weight rating. Starting with the hitch being the first weight limiter, then the ball adapter, and finally the ball. The drop primarily affects the strength need by the ball adapter.

The trailer GVWR is 7700 pounds. With two 3500 pound axles that leaves 700 pounds for tongue weight. In your case with a hitch tongue weight limit of 500 pounds, that means 7500 pounds if weight distribution is perfect. This leaves you well over the tow limits of your RV. You will need to weigh the trailer when empty to see where you are at. It could be less than 1500 pounds, and it could easily be nearer 3000 pounds.

 

[klook]

My Winnie is downgraded to 350 lbs of tongue weight, with a 5000 lb hitch. I am in talks with a commercial welder to change the attachment point of the frame and advise about the hitch itself. I have plenty of capacity, but the added frame and hitch are poor at best.

 

[Bryon Carpender]

looking at the setup it appears to extend past the frame rails too bad the frame are short 18” or so
Thinking weld in new c channel and the attach a new hitch please let me know what happens as that sounds feasible

 

[klook]

The frames end where the bumper would be on a normal version of the truck. The extensions if done well would be fine. But they cheap out on it. But then, they are saving weight and not concerned with what you tow, just overloading ratings to cover their liability.

 

[Bryon Carpender]

Agree I was very surprised to it added after the frame rails