radin2son Posted October 29, 2020 Glad to hear everything is ok. Our NV has been sitting since our last trip in February. Too hot (Over a hundred days of + this summer) and too many fires everywhere. Then there is covid... Good to see people are still buying NVs and posting. Bigslick, thanks for taking the time to read old posts. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tatunka Posted January 26, 2021 On 10/28/2020 at 10:56 PM, BigSlick said: Hi, this has been a great post... I know it's old, but want this group to chime in. Family of 7 (5 kids) here shopping for both TT & TV. I'm sold on the NV vs. the expedition, but haven't bought it yet. Have a price on the 2020 NV 3500 SL and planning to buy, but waiting for them to get the '21 and color the wife will tolerate. (Yep, I said tolerate with lots of rolled eyes... I hear "It won't even fit in our garage" regularly.) I'm extremely close to buying the Keystone 3400QD, 7525 LB Dry Weight, 38ft 4 in. Can the NV 3500 SL safely pull this TT loaded with a family of 7 and all our stuff?!?!?!? Based on total weights (based on my understanding is GCVWR) the NV can handle everything combined is 16k. 16k - van eight 6978 - TT @ 7525 - e4 WDH @ 100 - batteries/tanks @ 200 - family @ about 750 = 447. That leaves VERY little for everything we need in our camper... (chairs, food, water, bike racks and bikes, etc). I called a dealer in a mountainous area that does a significant amount of 4x4 conversions and add ons and talked the top mechanic. I told them "I'm buying a 3500 SL, but buying TT first and want to make sure I'm not overbuying trailer weight for what my NV will handle. Am I pushing it too far?" Explained the situation, told them I'd be pulling probably 9k lbs + payload of family and some items inside. My guess is that I'd probably be at 17k lbs total, 1k over. The assured me that Nissan drastically under estimates the towing capabilities and with the 1 ton chassis and breaks, the trailer wouldn't be a problem at all. Said they tell people they can pull 10k lbs with the van fully loaded too. They said the break are awesome and can completely handle that. I asked, if I'd have a problem pulling up hill in the mountains with that much weight and they said no. I asked again, should I buy a lighter trailer to make sure my NV can handle it (i.e. I'm sold on buying the NV, just not sure about the camper) and the mechanic and a couple of others listening chimed in and said it would not be an issue. The heaviest Dry Weight I've seen posted on here (or anywhere) for an NV 3500 towed is 7k lbs. @Robert J Spanarelli Robert, now that it's been awhile, have you weighed your total setup? How's it handle? @ASD Dad, I've read a ton of post on multiple threads on this forum from you that were extremely helpful, so hoping you'll chime in here too. Actually, you've posted so much information I really want to speak to you! A few months late to the post, but I wanted to share my experiences with towing an RV with the NV. I bought my NV in 2013 with the Quigley 4x4 conversion and towed an Outback 301BQ (33.5ft 7200 dry/9000 GVWR (I weighed it at 8650 camping)) for seven years. We recently bought a GD Imagine 3250BH (36ft 8500 dry/10,195 GVRW) I have yet to put it on the scale, but I'm guessing it is right around the 92-9400 mark loaded for camping (we pared down a lot of stuff we thought we'd use, but never did in the old camper). Towing with the NV was night and day compared to my 2011 F150 (3.5 Ecoboost). The Ford was good for power, but the payload was only 1350lbs and it would get pushed around by the trailer. The NV has been sure footed and easy to travel in, we have 4 kids and they love the space afforded to them. No "she's touching me", which is nice. I use an 10,000lbs Equal-i-zer hitch and have been very happy with the product, we are in Minnesota and we travel through North and South Dakota frequently where the winds can be nasty and the speed limits are high (read semi truck passing you) and I haven't had any instances of trailer sway that the hitch couldn't take care of. So that's what I do. I do know what the spec weights are for the NV, but I agree with your mechanic. This thing is way under rated for a tow vehicle. I have personally towed 11,000 lbs with it and it didn't flinch, I had no worries. The brakes are great, properly set up trailer brakes are even better. The transmission will rev the piss out of the motor when in tow mode, just hang on for the ride. It is definitely not a diesel and you will get 8 MPG towing, just accept it. People at campgrounds will stare at you and maybe even ask you questions, just a heads up. The biggest problem that I have run into: Tires, I had a 4x4 conversion with a 3 inch lift, I wanted big tires so I went with a 34 inch tall tire (a 5 inch difference from stock). The NV pulled the weight but, it was hard keeping speed and I had to pull in 4th gear. I now run 265/65-18s that are 31.5 inches tall, they still look good and towing with them is way better and I usually tow in drive now. So if you want bigger, meatier tires, just be careful of the size if you want to tow up to the max. I have really enjoyed towing with the NV and will hopefully be buying another this spring before they are gone. 1 radin2son reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SebestaNV Posted March 14, 2021 I also haul a spirit 3379BH with 8 of us and two dogs, I have a 2015 with rims, tires, and I just got an aem intake, bully dog tuner and a good wdh and she pulls good enough for me, with us loaded were about 7800# just the nv, and the TT is another 8500-9000 so I mean we're over weight by a little give or take a few hundred to 1000# but honestly it does just fine, not a diesel by any means but good enough, one reason I haven't gone 4x4 is u lose towing capacity with the extra weight......... 1 andy_george reacted to this Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
