Good luck and I hope you find everything your looking for.. im also in the market,, looked at some 5th wheel toy haulers a couple weekends ago.

I do wish to suggest you do some extra checking on weights and ratings with everything involved. I suggest because as a younger man buying my first trailor I got burrned. I was told by the dealerships from both the suv (a explorer) and the trailor dealership that it would all work. I towed the trailor home and bought a new truck.

All my weights were in limits.,, I was pushing the limit some but was under by about 500 lbs.. toyhaulers are often heavier than regular trailors and of course add the bike weight.
often not thought of is how the shape of the trailor, being big,, changes how the ride feels. towing something of a certain weight like a boat will feel different then your trailor... wind drag, tongue wieght. all adds up.. wheel base plays a role also to what kind of load and how the front end will feel
Id leave a big cushion in your trucks weight tow rating. if you do buy it and are close to limit run without water/waste in tanks that weight adds up fast.

Also check your axles gear ratio. I did a 2 sec search and saw your truck dropped from 8000 to 5500 in tow rating between years. \

sorry to dump on you with suggestion... im on my second trailor,. camping & over the road living 14 years,. and also tow a boat.. I am away from home for months at a time.. which is why I want to add a toyhauler also for the bike.. while living on the road I would rather have my own pillow over a motel.

 

Hi Biscuit. I have a 2003 Avalanche 2500. Sorry I didn't give the year. I don't think they make the 2500 anymore, it came with the big block engine. I just googled it, it is rated for 12000 lb towing capacity...

http://www.new-cars.com/2003/chevrol...che-specs.html


the trailier I'm looking at has a dry weight of 5800 lbs and a GVWR of 7900 lbs. So I think I'm well withing the limits.

 

I tried (unsuccessfully) for years to convince my wife that I (we) needed a toy hauler or a motorhome.
I can't justify spending a bunch of money on something that she will not participate in.

Congrats to you if you have a spouse who will camp but my wifes idea of roughing it is staying in any motel cheaper than a Comfort Inn!

I have been in locations a few times where a motel room was not available and a "bed" sure would have been greatly appreciated.

I sold my enclosed trailer earlier this year so I may be looking for another sometime in the near future so I'll keep my options open but I seriously doubt that I'll buy anything larger (or heavier) than my previous rig.

 

We've been toyhauling since '99: 28 ft Fleetwood no slide, generator w 20 gal tank
Went from truck camper w trailer to T H when family got too big for truck camper. I've been able to go and ride all over the US while keeping everyone happy including our dogs, Camped in some of the most beautiful places in the US. beaches,mountains ,all family together and happy, every year we did a 1 month trip [try motels for a month$$$$$$]Hell you'll save 20 a day not eating breakfast at a resturant w family [then add lunch and dinner $$$$$ saved too
Fast foward to today, when Superstorm Sandy hit us 18 days ago we lost power, went outside before storm and immediately put TH in service.
Filled w 100 gal clean fresh water +2 30 lb propane tanks w 1 spare 30 + 4 20 Lb grill tanks [they work on TH too].
Gen tank already filled w 20 + gal gas. STABIL treated already, It was big enough to power fridge and a few lites in main house. I thought the gen set option was expensive when we bought it but now post storm I would have paid double. [as many here did for a portable generator post storm.]
Checked antenna TV - as cable goes out when no power. We were info central in neighborhood, many came over for news coverage.
When the power went out I hit the magic botton and gen set came alive: heat,TV, HW,
and since we housed family here, 4 extra beds for us or homeless relatives[3 houses unliveable or gone]
Our TH has served us well during a couple storms over the years but this past couple weeks has me making the sign of the cross over her.
And to think I bought it mostly to take my 79 FX around the country. Who knew?

 

I had a KZ MXT 20 toyhauler for 3 years and liked it alot, it hauled 2 bikes easily and pulled great with an F150. We actually found that we were using it as a camper (15x per year) much more than we were using it as a hauler (maybe 2x per year), so we opted for a regular 5th wheel camper this time, a KZ Stoneridge. Love the extra room, this thing is nice! We couldn't find a 5th wheel toyhauler floorplan that we both loved or we'd have probably gone that route.

 

My GF has been pushing me this way or RV & trailer for the bikes. I can't justify it at all. So far, we have done two trips out west for a month plus each, both times starting with the Sturgis event, and one SW trip that was 51 days where we rode from Florida and shipped the bikes/flew home from CA. I can't find any part of RVing being more economical than what is perceived the most expensive way (fly/ride). We ship our bikes out and back and fly, hit a patch of bad weather days we call Enterprise. Ride our 5-6000 miles and stay in hotels every night (we go in on a house for sturgis, same price) at about $100 a night. While it sounds expensive, I know it's less than what it would cost to have all this stuff to take care of.. 2013 Starting with Sturgis, riding up to Vancouver, ship bikes back from there and take an Alaska cruise and fly home. Do the math..... I was into offshore fishing most of my life, had pretty big SF boats, so I know what it's like to have a big toy. For what those boats cost I could have chartered a bigger nicer one, had someone serving me lunch, and washing the boat at the end of the trip... So again, do the math, consider all that goes with owning this thing....
I do have a 6x10 trailer too I pull behind my Tahoe and I use it more than I thought I would. Sometimes it's just convienent and more comfortable to get where we're going to ride. I don't strive to impress anyone with my manhood riding thousands of miles of interstate in the rain or cold. I'm okay with me the way I am..

 

Yeah I did the math before purchace. With 4 people and 2 dogs we've saved the purchace price many times over. For us it was a no brainer. Even w $4 gal diesel to get us there.
And NO bed bugs or others jiz in my bed. Go to the motel /bed bug site, you'll be horrified at how many places are infected.
In my hedonistic days you'd be horrified to know what I did in that motel bed or on the tables the night before.
The no-no spot was always on the menu.

 

that you know of anyway-------------------on the bed bugs they are changing to the extent I expect them to stop needing hosts to travel and will crawl to a clean location

 

I have done a lot of RVing with my wife and family over the years and found if done right there is savings over hotels.

The most expensive part for travelling by RV is parking for the night. The most we paid was on the bay in San Diego for almost a $100 bucks a night. But we've also spent nights on the road at rest areas for free, even stayed in Walmart parking lots when passing through a city or town. I'd say the average nightly rate is about $30/night. Compared to hotels where you're hard pressed to find anything less than $100 these days, with tax in you average $125/night.

So lets calculate a 3 week, 2000 mile trip.
RV. 21 nights X $35/night = $735
Hotel 21 X $125 = $2625

Now gas...
RV 2000 mi / 10 mpg * $4 = $800
Bike 2000 mi / 40 * $4 = $200 (or $400 if your wife rides too)



So the RV trip would cost about $1500 and the Bike trip almost double that. We didn't compute the cost of food. Every meal on a bike trip is in a restaruant. For 2 people you're easily spending $100 per day which would add up to another 2 grand on our hypothetical trip. But groceries and the occasional meal out in the RV you could probably get away with half that.

The cost of the RV should be factored in...
A $30,000 unit financed at 4% would cost only $100/month in interest. The principle is equity, so that's not a cost.

Anyway, that's my reasoning. I guess I should get back to work now.

 

The big block was the way to go, too bad they quit producing them. My 6.0 2003 2500HD does fine but wish I would've opted for the BB.