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Can I tow a small tent trailer??


CrystalLeigh

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I have a 2009, 4 cylinder Dodge Journey. The manual says that I can tow 1000 lbs. Im not sure if I can tow a tent trailer or not. Just a small 6ft-8ft one. Not sure how much it weighs, but im assuming not much. My parents said it should be ok, but they dont know for sure.

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we tow a 12" popup but we have the V6 with towing prep package making our max capacity of 2500 LBS towing weight and are fine. Your 4 cylinder with a towing cpacity of 1000LBS will not be enough to tow a small 8" popup safely. In looking at most of the brands out there a unloaded 8" popup will weight approx 1200 LBS without anything packed into it. So in short it could do serious damage to your drive train not to mention your stopping power may not be there if you need to make a quick stop. I wouldnt recommend it. If you know exactly what brand/model of popup you are wanting to tow I could try and get an exact weight of it.

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  • Official Dodge Support
I have a 2009, 4 cylinder Dodge Journey. The manual says that I can tow 1000 lbs. Im not sure if I can tow a tent trailer or not. Just a small 6ft-8ft one. Not sure how much it weighs, but im assuming not much. My parents said it should be ok, but they dont know for sure.

Crystall,

You really need to find out how much the trailer weighs to know for sure if you can tow that trailer safely. Perhaps even searching the internet with the model number of the trailer will be able to get you that information.

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Agree on the finding of the actual weight. I'm a long time RV'er (I now tow a 35' 5th wheel at 11,400 lbs with my RAM 2500 HO CTD). Your trailer weight, while an important part is only part of the weight saga. Be aware that trailer weights are given "dry" and optomistically at that. The dry weight does not include "options" even if those "options" are mandatory. Things like batteries, the LP in the tanks for the stove and refrigerator, canopies, etc. are not included in the dry weight. Add to that the amount of "stuff" you'll need to go camping with and you may find that while the trailer is at the ragged edge of around if not slightly over the 1000 lb limit, the other "stuff" (gear, clothes, food, kids, pets, etc) plus the tongue weight and hitch weight may put you over the gross vehicle weight limit for that Journey (the gross combined weight should be on a sticker in the drivers door).

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  • 3 weeks later...

I own a 1998 Jayco 8SD pop-up camper. It is a small, single axle camper. Jayco lists the dry weight at 1200 lbs. I tow this camper currently with my Chrysler 300M which is rated to tow 2000 lbs. Between the weight of the camper, propane, the camper battery, cargo and my family, we are just under that 2000lb mark. The car handles the load well but I know it is there. There is no question that your camper plus your passengers and cargo will far exceed the tow rating of your Journey. Do not use it for towing this much weight. We have a new 2013 Journey Crew on order which is rated for 2500 lbs with the V6. I feel much more comfortable knowing that I have a little more reserve with the towing capacity of the new car.

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