I have a “new to me” 99 Jayco Eagle, 28', with a UVW of 5996 lbs. This is my first travel trailer.  At this point, I have never towed it anywhere, only home after the purchase, a distance of maybe 20 miles at the most. I have pulled many a utility trailer, etc, but never anything as large as this.  Needless to say, I was a bit nervous, but I took my time and kept an eye out in the mirrors, and kept a very safe distance from vehicles in front of me, anticipating traffic lights changing and cars pulling out in front of me.

My tow vehicle is an 03 Chevy Silverado Ext. Cab with Vortec 4800 V-8 engine and a 4 speed auto transmission. It also has the factory off road pkg Z-71 with 4-wd, and I am guessing, factory or dealer installed electric trailer brake controller. The window sticker indicates it has a rating of 6400 lbs GVW with a rear axle ratio of 3.73.  Looking at the charts in the owners manual for that engine and rear axle ratio, there is a maximum trailer weight of 6800 lbs. I am using a Reese hitch with the bars on both sides to help out the leveling.  I am amazed how that works.

I will be pulling the above mentioned Jayco almost entirely in non-mountainous areas, from the middle of NC to the NC coast, pretty flat travelling.  I have differing opinions on installing a seperate transmission oil coller.  Anyone have any thoughts? 

 Hi, my opinion is different. My tow vehicle was rated with the factory coolers, or vehicle as built. Unless you are over loading your vehicle, you don't need to add any additional coolers. I have been all over the western states in weather from zero degrees to well over 100 degrees and have had no problems. I have pulled my trailer up some killer grades in Arizona and Colorado. My tow vehicle is rated to tow 8,900 lbs and my trailer is rated GVWR at 6,300 lbs. This gives me a great safety margin and I personally would not tow a heavier trailer with this tow vehicle.

Bob Vaughn said:

My experience tells me to always add an auxiliary transmission oil cooler….My truck came from the factory with the tow package and a auxiliary transmission cooler in front of the radiator.  I was getting some strange noises from the transmission and was advised to add additional cooling…Even though the transmission temp never went above normal (I have a temp guage)…I added the additional cooler and have driven the Smokies from Tn to Nc a couple of times in the summer heat and it runs cool…..My TT is 10,000 lbs

When I was having strange noises, I was a commercial parts delivery person so I asked all the transmission shops that we delivered to, aamco, and all the other national companies recommended additional cooling even though my truck came with the heavy duty towing package including external transmission oil cooler….they felt it was well worth the 50 or so dollars to add cooling….