Our Original Tow Vehicle – Nissan Titan

 

Before purchasing our 2401RG Chris’ everyday driving vehicle was a 2007 Honda Ridgeline. It was a fun vehicle, had taken it on several trips. He loved driving it and the gas mileage for everyday was great. When we initial decided we wanted a camper, we checked the tow rating for the Ridgeline. At 5,000lb towing capacity our options were limited. After researching we knew we wanted a camper from Winnebago in the Minnie line. We like the layout and look of the Micro Minnie 2106, the weight specs would would work with the Ridgeline. However they would not accommodate our then family of 3. Once we toured the 2401rg saw its specs and purchased it, we knew… the Ridgeline would have to go.

Yes .. you read that correctly. We purchased our 2401rg BEFORE we had a truck to tow it. OOPS!!  It is not as bad as it seems.. we had to wait nearly 3 1/2 weeks to take delivery of our Minnie. So we had time… but TONS of pressure.

Our 2401rg weights

Dry weight: 5,220lbs           Loaded:6,250           GVWR:7,000lbs

 

NISSAN TITAN

On AutoTrader.com we found a 2008 Nissan Titan that fit our towing needs. It was listed with affiliate of a local car dealer (From whom we will NEVER make a purchase with again). We purchased it on Monday, anti-sway hitch installed on Wednesday and picked up the camper on Thursday. We cut it close..  The 2008 Nissan Titan tow capacity was 7,400lbs. We had a transmission cooler installed just be on the safer side.

When we bought the Titan were thought we would camp once maybe twice a month and that we would just be camping locally. We did not take into account how much we would love camping. In the 3 months we had owned our Minnie, we had been out for  8 – 10 weekend trips with 45 minutes of home. We were hooked!

In the end of June we started planning our first Big Trip…  a week long stay on the Galveston Island Coast in Texas. For fourth of July we decided to camp at My Old Kentucky Home in Bardstown Ky. Which was about 3 hours away from us. I figured this would give us an idea on how our setup would do for a longer distance. We discovered… The Titan was not going to work for what we wanted to do. It did great towing locally. But on a long haul we were not comfortable with being at our max capacity. You could feel the stress of the truck. We felt it was better to be safe than sorry.

So went back to Autotrader.com and on July 29, 2017 we drove 3 hours out of state to Hamilton Ohio to pick up our 2006 Ford F-250 Diesel. See our post Current Tow Vehicle – Ford F-250 for details.