Towing a Lance 1685 travel trailer?

Is anyone out there towing a lance 1685 with their Taco? Wife and I are keenly interested in the lance trailer. I am just concerned it is on the top end of what the Taco is capable of hauling comfortably, and we intend to spend most of our time in the Rockies, so steep grades and elevation are a factor. Any advice is welcome, thank you

 

What kind of towing experience do you have?

A quick search showed that trailer around 5500 lbs. While the taco will be able to do it, it's going to be slow and just generally not fun- especially in the mountains of Colorado.

If you are dead set on this I don't want to steer you away, but to make it easier you're going to want to do some modifications. Airbags or a heavier duty leaf pack, brake controller and probably a load distribution hitch.

I would look into a trailer around 3000 lbs.

 

We admittedly have very little towing experience and are noobs to RVing. Thank you for the advice. I thought it would be a bit much for my tv, but wanted to hear from people with experience

 

We looked at the Lance 1475 due to size. We don’t want to be limited or concerned in where we want to go. Since it’s just two of us, plus dog, we ended up with a Nucamp T@b Boondock. We are very pleased. Smokey Mountains last year. Many miles on fire roads with knarly switchbacks. No problems. This summer, goin’ west.

 

If you want a trailer over 5000lbs get a different bigger truck, especially if you are towing in mountainous territory like the Rockys. You may be within manufacturers specs but it will be a difficult and unpleasant towing experience. Either get a lighter trailer or a bigger truck.

 

I absolutely love the Lance trailers and was set on having the 1685 be the next one we get. However, it's pretty much impossible for me to own a truck larger than the Tacoma living the city apartment life. No way would a Tundra even fit in our parking garage and I wouldn't want to park it on the small Seattle streets.

I've managed to convince myself I'd be as happy with the 1575. Still a pretty decent layout with a dinette and dry bath and you can still get the four season package with ducted heat, etc.

If I was more haphazard with money I'd jump on one right now. We've got a NoBo 16.5 that tows perfectly behind the Tacoma but we enjoy camping through the winter as well and that thing is not insulated at all.

Unfortunately like all inexpensive travel trailers, the value tanks immediately and it's the only loan I've ever been underwater on so I guess we won't be trading it anytime soon.

Apparently the Lance's hold their value well but they're a bigger up front cost. Now I've started looking into Escape fiberglass trailers which would be perfect for towing with the Tacoma, all-year PNW camping ability, and perfect construction for keeping out the PNW elements like rain, etc. One day...

 

1685 is out, too heavy. Wife doesn’t like the 1575. Build quality seemed sub-par to the bigger Lance’s. Floor felt spongy around toilet, and mounting brackets for awning were rusting (New 2020 model btw)We looked at the NoBo and really were turned off by fit and finish. Sloppy caulking everywhere. We also looked at the E-Pro 19fbs. That is looking like our front runner at this point. Doesn’t have the lance 4season package, we would have to add tank and hose heaters, enclose underbelly, and add a skirt aftermarket, but it seems to check more boxes than anything we’ve found so far. I’ve had the opportunity to chat with someone who owns one and has same TV as me, and says it tows extremely well. Not sure if anyone else is towing one of these w their Taco? Love to hear more feedback. Thx. Trailer specs are UVW 3075#, CCC 1337#, Hitch 413#

 

I'd look at the r-pod by Forest River.

 

We did, wife wasn’t a fan of the floor plans offered. The fit and finish was nice, very similar to the e-pro we looked at.

 

Yeah, unfortunately from what I've gathered, since the recession, almost all RV's have lots of problems. I've had only minor ones with the NoBo that the dealer fixed without question incredibly quickly. My coworker that I've gone camping with who has one of those $150,000+ coaches has had all sorts of issues.

Whether you spend $15,000 or $500,000, it seems that shit just breaks and the build quality is sub-par for 95% of the brands out there, most especially if they're part of a large corporation that's bought out all of these lower brands.

Lance was just bought out in the past couple years and it seems people have become less impressed with their quality ever since then.

Ultimately it seems that the biggest difference between being happy and miserable with RV's is whether the dealer you buy from is worth a shit or not.

 

I have been very happy with our lance, But, purchased it just as they were being bought out. Guess we lucked out.

 

What are the better brands of RV's? I'm totally good spending money as long as it's quality. On that note, I can't afford an Airstream.

 

Yeah Airstreams are crazy expensive and although super nice, some of their layouts seem more suited for parking the thing on a lot and never moving it and having it be your bougie party "camp" spot. Also, the more "affordable" ones like the Basecamp or Nest have just as many issues as others and you're still paying $30k+ used.

For the stick-built, Lance seems to be one of the best. I love their floorplans and perceived quality but unless you move up to a full-sized pickup, you're kind of limited in options where the 1685 would seem to be pushing it for most people's towing comfort with a Tacoma. I also would want to make sure my dealer was relatively nearby for any issues just in case. Leaking seams or A/C units aren't that out of the realm of possibilities even with the higher end stuff but most of the time those repairs aren't huge problems as long as you take care of them swiftly. Their interiors and materials seem way better built than the sub $20k mass produced trailers though plus most of them are well-insulated and have ducted heating systems which are awesome.

Although Lance is on my short list for next trailer, since I live in the PNW, I'm kind of obsessed with minimizing water intrusion leaks, so fiberglass trailers are at the top of my list. Casitas are well renowned but I don't like their floorplans or that they put carpeting on the walls. Going up one price level from that is Escape built in Canada. They're reasonably priced for what you get and people fucking love them. They've got top notch customer service and build their trailers based on customer feedback so their layouts are pretty well thought out and they seem to focus on the most important aspects. They're currently my #1 choice for my next purchase that the Tacoma can handle.

Next price point would be Bigfoot but you're back into Airstream pricing. But if you watch the video tours of those trailers, they're insanely nice and well thought-out. I believe they're true 4-seasons but you definitely pay for it. If I had an infinite budget, I'd probably go with them over Airstream.

Really, if you just go to an RV show, you can tell pretty quickly by quick glance and price-per-feature what the difference in quality is. 90% of trailers are pretty sub-par and you can tell just by looking at them. If you can buy a 25+ foot trailer that's got three slideouts and can sleep ten people for under $25,000, you can probably assume not a ton of effort was put into building them.

 

We have a Forest River 241OBXL, just over 26 ft and 4400 lbs empty. Proved to be ALL the Taco wanted. It would do it, but for how long...... My truck is reaching 200K and want her to stay around.

So I got something else to haul the RV.

 

I’m about to pull the trigger on a Lance 1475. 2600lbs dry, 4 season, $30,000 plus.

 

Go on Lance Owners of America and read what people think of them. It seams they don't like the frame and suspension because they are hard to lift. Just a thought before you drop $, lots of info on there. Another thing, they don't weight what they say.

 

Thank you for all the info, really appreciate it. It seems like I have done so much research my head starts to spin and I lose track of whats what. Would I able to be on the upper end of the towing weight (like the 1685) if my taco is supercharged. Or would I still just be putting to much strain on the truck/system?

 

Which model Lance do you have?

 

I honestly have no idea how all of that ends up affecting towing. I think realistically you'll be fine towing a 1685 even with a stock Tacoma, it just won't be the most confidence-inspiring situation with hills and wind.

And yeah the head spinning during research for trailers is normal lol

 

Sounds like the wife doesn't want to spend the money for a 1685, we saw a 2017 Lance 1575 but it sold already so we are back to looking at a Micro Minnie 1700BH.