Towing with a Nissan Pathfinder? Help, please!

[Apriltunes]

Hi guys! My hubby and I have decided to purchase a 2011 Fun Finder 215WSK, 24 ft. beauty with a dry weight of 3840 lbs. Our Nissan Pathfinder has a towing capacity of 5,000 lbs. Noting a gross weight stat that exceeds the 5,000, would it still be okay to haul this sweet trailer with the Pathfinder? Not sure what the gross weight includes and we aren't quite ready to trade the SUV in for a truck at this point. All advice would be very much appreciated!!!
Thanks! Can't wait to get our hands on our new baby!!!

[LJAZ]

Unless you pack really carefully, I think you'll likely be over your towing limit by a fair amount. Dry weight includes the trailer only, and it is quite often understated. It does not include the weight of any add ons like the battery, propane, awning, etc. At 3840 lbs that only leaves you with 1160 lbs until you reach your limit. Your tongue weight will be around 450 lbs or so which only leaves you 710 lbs for everything else. Then figure in the weight of the hitch, battery & propane tanks at another 250 lbs and now your down to 460 lbs. That has to cover all of the gear, food, etc. in the trailer plus weight of any passengers and gear in the tow vehicle and you're really pushing the 5000 lb limit.

[profdant139]

We towed for several years with a 2005 Pathfinder -- it did just fine till the transmission went at 90,000 miles. Which was covered by the extended warranty. It turns out that the trans on that model was problematic.

When I replaced it, we did not get a new Pathfinder because Nissan had abandoned the truck chassis and they used a "unibody" chassis instead. Not beefy enough, I thought. So we got a Tacoma.

I think part of your decision depends on where you will tow -- we go into steep mountains -- you need a tough transmission and beefy brakes for that. If you tow pretty much on the flat, you will probably be ok, especially if you are careful about weight, as LJAZ notes. The big issue is not towing -- it's stopping while towing.

[runner421]

I towed a 210UDS with a Nissan Titan (5.6 liter). The truck easily pulled the camper on level and flat roads. But I wore the truck out. Going from TN to the west coast - the headwinds and mountains took its toll. Glad I had the extended warranty. Over the 3 cross country trips I had to replace the rear axle seals (both sides) as well as the exhaust manifolds (both sides). Couldn't run the AC going uphill without fear of overheating and gas mileage sucked-with such a small fuel tank was looking for a gas station every couple of hours. BUT-if only towing to/from the local campground/forest/lake etc. It should handle short/easy trips. Cross-country, every day 300+ miles for a week, asking too much.

[Labsailor52]

Bought my 2013 Funfinder 210UDS a year and a half ago without truly having the right vehicle. Did tow it for a 15 mile local campground shakedown trip with my son's 2001 Pathfinder 3.5 V6. Towed fine power wise but I could feel the trailer even with good equlizer hitch. Got the opportunity to grab a 1 owner 2001 Dodge ram 2500 diesel which is probably overkill but I think we may move up to something larger at some time. Even if we stay with the 210, which we absolutely love, I feel we can do mountains if we need to.