The Religion of Defending Your Truck
Yes, I know this is a pretty comical image that popped out of ChatGPT, but I couldn’t help but post it up because it followed my image prompt rather nicely. Does this look familiar to you (at least metaphorically, anyways)? Well, for part of my work here on RV Tow Lantern, I spend a large amount of time on social media - YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Reddit, etc.… I’m interested in helping people with their RV and towing questions or nudging them in the right direction if they’re under an opposing perceived idea about the capabilities of their truck or other tow vehicle. But something I learned very early is that trying to move most people into a train of thought that objectively supports safety and legality is trumped by their… feelings.
This is entirely understandable - we are humans and vastly driven by emotions. Many of our decisions aren’t logical - they come from what we want to do rather than what we should do at that point in time. The justification is what we feel, not what is always factual. I don’t think we need to discuss all life examples here, but I do want to loop this back around to the decisions we’ve already made for our transportation and RV needs - especially when it comes to tow vehicles. Let’s start with a few examples.
Example #1 - Grand Design 5th Wheel Towed by an F150
While dropping off my travel trailer a few years back from warranty work at the dealer, I couldn’t help but notice a very strange sight. Sitting in the lot was a relatively large 150 Series Grand Design hitched to an extended cab, standard bed F150. The 5th wheel dominated the scene - utterly dwarfing the small pickup. Oddly enough, the maintenance attendant directed me to the vacant spot right next to the 5th wheel to drop my own travel trailer.
As I was unhitching, the owner of the 5th wheel emerged and struck up a conversation with me. This was her new RV and she was very excited to hit the road. We exchanged a few niceties, but I had to broach the subject and state that clearly there was potentially a safety issue afoot. Despite trying my hardest to approach the topic in a politically correct and kind way, I got the most extreme pushback from the new owner that “everything was fine”. “The salesman and techs said it would be alright”, and a few other stern comments. I politely offered to help her with the calculations, but she refused to tell me any of the numbers.
In the end, I was able to get her to agree to go to a certified CAT scale down the street once she got this thing all loaded up just to ensure that she wasn’t overloaded. Eventually during our parting comments, she was able to admit that she might have to consider getting a bigger truck as even the ride out through the parking lot seemed a bit “heavy”. I’ll consider this some progress and hopefully she was able to correct the situation before anything went wrong on her new journey.
Example #2 - Large Travel Trailer, ½ -ton Tow Vehicle, and Bragging About It
I was on a forum recently and there was a gentleman that posted a photo of his new RV setup. He had a moderate looking ½-ton pickup hitched up to a travel trailer that was about 8.5K GVWR. Throughout the thread that was unfolding so far, I could pick up that he had a family.
Running the numbers quickly on my spreadsheets I could see that he was clearly over his limits on his ½-ton - no matter what I did to manipulate the numbers to work in his favor. Commenting on the situation just made it worse as I quickly found out this was a boasting post that half-tons could easily do this work, not a post where he was seeking advice or safety recommendations. His response to me was that yes, a ¾-ton would be better, but so would a semi truck. No progress was made on this as it becomes frivolous to reply after a deflection like that. Houston, reasoning has left the table.
Example #3 - Oversized Travel Trailer and Proposed Gearing Upgrade
There was a gentleman asking how to get better performance from his ½-ton for pulling a nearly 8K lb GVWR RV. He was interested in changing his truck gearing to get better torque to improve the towing experience (I’m assuming acceleration and engine braking). As with example #2, I was running some of the numbers (some of them estimated because he wouldn’t give specifics), and this trailer was clearly overloaded for the truck. Not only was payload exceeded, but the max hitch weight was most likely exceeded as well.
Judging by his responses I was seeing in the thread so far from other user comments that were recommending he upgrade the truck and solve more than one issue with his RV setup, I could see this individual believed so much in his truck and the capabilities. He mentioned that because similar trucks with the “same frame” but different powertrain (and gearing, I’d assume) could tow more according to whatever he was reading, that he simply had to change the gearing in his truck to match the exact same output. Despite there being other differences that are harder to spot unless you’re an engineer at the automotive manufacturer, I determined that it would be useless to try to jump in and bring sanity to the conversation. Providing more objective reasoning will be a lost cause because their mind was already made up and he was only focused on changing the gearing of his truck.
Trucks - The New (well, old) Religion
Why do we do this? What is causing most of us to lose our objective reasoning and turn it into something that is highly biased and subjective - completely ignoring facts and logic? Again, we’re not going to dive into anything political or social here — we’re going to focus in just on tow vehicles.
Back in the early 1900’s, the automobile was a status symbol of those who had money. As cars started proliferating throughout America, there were new ways to distinguish yourself by buying vehicles that were more and more modern and radical in design. Now you no longer blend into the crowd because you have something different. Inherently, this became part of a person’s identity. Even now, there are many communities that highly value and judge you on what you drive. Now you’re a Ford guy, or a Cadillac girl, or a Chevy dude. People associate you with your vehicle and you may even tend to talk about this regularly – about how you can do this and that in your car that nobody else can. You are the one that most likely choose your vehicle and you choose it for specific personal reasons.
This is no different in at least two of the above examples. You have already invested your time and finances into something you genuinely like. Everyone knows what you drive. Everyone has heard how you are a great decision maker and how your specific truck or car was a result of that. And especially with the prices of vehicles these days – some trucks even touch or exceed the $100K range – you don’t want to admit that you might have made a mistake or perhaps that it may be time to upend your decision for another (what you see as a) financial boondoggle.
But here’s the truth: the hardcore vehicle tow limits and math don’t care about your feelings. Nor does the manufacturer’s safety limits. Nor the legal system. Nor physics.
There’s a strong reason why I always recommend picking out your RV first, then buying a tow vehicle that is capable of towing it. You will always want to go bigger and heavier on your RV than you originally thought. These decisions are driven by emotion. If you haven’t chosen your tow vehicle yet (or already planned on upgrading it), now you’re free to take your time and get something that exactly fits your situation as you continue to explore and evolve your plans.
But for those of us that already have the tow vehicle and don’t ever plan on upgrading it, this is where we get into trouble. RV salesmen are great at tapping into excitement and emotion. Just a couple days from now, you and your family can be by that roaring campfire in the woods and you’ll have even more luxuries and room than you ever thought possible - just pick the next model up because it will be absolutely perfect for your needs. “Never mind the tow vehicle, it’ll still work.”, you’re reassured by the salesman.
Sadly, some of us learn the hard way when they go forth with a decision either on tow weight ignorance or just plain vehicle-identity pridefulness. Sure, sometimes nothing bad will happen and you’ll be singing your truck anecdote to all that you meet in person and online. But some of us will pay the ultimate price - either legally or physically.
If you’ve already read the RV Buyer Blueprint, you’ll be familiar with the “Drop the Ego” section. If you’re tending towards a larger RV, always know you’re going to have the risk of upgrading your truck or tow vehicle to properly accommodate it. Or, if you just can’t financially afford to upgrade your tow vehicle, know its limits and when to say no to the salesman when they try to upsell you into something that is out of your weight range. You are in charge of your own safety and you are the best person to decide where the cut-off is - especially if you’re educated in RV towing know-how.
If you're not entirely sure what you can tow, you can check out our RV Buyer Blueprint for clear, objective tow math and other RV Lifestyle jumpstart tips. And if you still want personalized help on your custom setup you’re dreaming of pairing together, check out our Services to get a solid report on where exactly you stand.
