# Nissan Frontier And 21rs



## dtbriz (Apr 4, 2007)

Hi! This is my first post on the Outbacker Forum. After much shopping, my wife and I have our hearts set on a Outback 21RS. We have a brand new Nissan Frontier SE Crewcab pickup with the 4.0 L v-6 engine. The towing capacity of the Frontier is 6000 pounds and a 21RS weighs about 4500 pounds. Using all of your knowledge, can you tell this new camping family if this is too much trailer for our truck. Thank you again for your help and opinions!


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## FraTra (Aug 21, 2006)

I would personally not do it. That TT is 4585 pounds dry wgt, the actual weight will be substantially higher. Look at the GCWR which is what your truck will pull which includes the the weight of the truck, trailer, people, gear and other misc stuff. I think you could easily exceed the capacity of your truck. and wth a small V6 it would really struggle at times. JMO.

Do NOT listen to a sales person! They are usually clueless and will tell you anything to make a sale.

Good Luck.


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## HootBob (Apr 26, 2004)

You might too close to the max for the Frontier
You also have to figure in all your Cargo fuel and passangers into the equation
TT=4585 + Carrying Capacity 1935 =6520 Total weight
You will want more power for any big hills
Just my opinion

Don


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## RV Pilot (May 15, 2006)

I would not try it. Better to have too much Truck instead of trailer. Not only think about towing uphill, but for safety sake you need to consider the stopping coming down the hill.....Could get messy with not enough truck


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## justinsnow0 (Feb 5, 2007)

We just bought our 21RS a few months ago. I had a 2005 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab 4x4. It pulled the trailer but it struggled to keep speed just on the flat surface. Going up hills was tough. My guess is that if you plan on doing any distance you will be in the garage having transmission repairs alot. I replace it a week later for the 2500HD GMC.

I really loved that truck too. It was the LE with all the bells and whistles......


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## Collinsfam_WY (Nov 9, 2006)

For comparison's sake - we have an '02 F150 Supercrew with the older 260hp, 300tq 5.4l V8 and 3.55 gears. After listening and learning from the folks here who have "been there done that" experience, we chose a 23RS. Even so, we also upgraded our truck with not one but two aftermarket trans coolers (one to replace the crummy factory one) and a trans temp gauge. I love my truck and don't want to hurt it. We will be limiting our towing to the flats and hills until we can afford a stronger tow vehicle.

What is your "GCWR" - gross combined weight rating on the Frontier? I would suspect that once you punch in your actual weights of your truck and a 21RS, packed, fueled and loaded to go, you will blow away the gcwr on that Frontier. My F150's was around 12.5k and we exceeded that when looking at some of the largers Outbacks and entering in some hypothetical "dry camp" weight numbers into the tow calculator. Remember the rule of thumb that these folks taught us is that the "safety margin" is to stay within 80% of the maximum gcwr and tow rating for your vehicle.

I could be very well be wrong though - I know very little about Nissan Frontiers. I would encourage you to learn as much as you can about the capabilities of your tow vehicle and punch in some numbers on the stickied tow calculator at the top of this forum prior to making a purchase. We did and I still recall the evening when after running the numbers several times on 28RSDS and 27RSDS's my wife said to me "wow honey, we can't pull anything we are looking at". It was a "perspective changing" moment. The trailer dealers had us convinced that we could tow any Outback - "the whole line is 1/2 ton towable" is such a common phrase we heard from any dealer, not just Outback. We are thrilled to now be owners of 23RS patiently waiting on us to pick it up.

-CC


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## skippershe (May 22, 2006)

Hi dtbriz
















to Outbackers!

Very smart to be doing your homework








Please keep us posted,


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

All Outback campers, excluding the new 18rs, are designed to be towed by full size rigs.. Not saying a mid size cant do it.. But a Nissan Frontier is smaller than a mid size.. Its just not enough truck to safely do the job in my opinion... Sorry, but I agree with everyone else..

Carey


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## dtbriz (Apr 4, 2007)

Thanks for all the responses! I am having quite a learning experience as this is my first ever posting in a forum of any kind and all the replies have come from very helpful owners. After reading some responses, I did a little homework. I've found that the GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) of the Frontier is 11,133 lbs and the GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) is 5815 lbs. From the Frontier sales brochure, I found that the vehicle itself weighs about 4300 lbs. By making a guesstimate for Gross Vehicle Weight (vehicle + passengers + fuel + gear), I come up with about 5200 lbs. From my owner's manual, the maximum tongue load is 610 lbs and max towing capacity is 6100 lbs. By subtracting the GVW from the GCWR, I get 5933 lbs available for towing. If the 21RS weighs in at about 4500 lbs empty and I don't overpack (I have no intention to carrry water!), it SEEMS to be that I could tow the trailer (biggest thing I've towed is my 17' jet boat approx 1700 lbs with a full tank of gas). However, I 've never towed anything that has the shape of a travel trailer, so I don't know the effect this has. Nissan does specify that the maximum trailer frontal area not exceed 60 square feet. The 21RS is 8 feet wide and (I'm guessing here) about 7 foot tall which gives 56 square feet frontal area. I don't doubt that the poster that did use a 05 Frontier had a tough time and I don't wish to be sitting beside the highway with smoke coming out from under the hood - or worse. When I told the salesperson about some of these postings, he insisted that I would have no problem providing I used his $800 anti sway hitch. Somewhere I read that you should only use about 80% of your max tow rating which in this case is 4880 lbs and that is just over the empty weight of the 21RS.

So, wrapping up this long post, I thank you all for your insight and benefit of your experiences. We intend to look for a smaller trailer at this time (I just bought the Frontier 2 weeks ago) and maybe the NEXT vehicle we buy, I'll do my own calculations rather than depending on knowledge of the salesperson. Thank you all again!


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## mswalt (Sep 14, 2004)

I hate to see you have to settle for something other than an Outback! I don't know how many are in your family, but have you considered the 18RS? I haven't looked at the numbers, but maybe they will be within your range.

Whatever you decide to do, don't be a stranger. We don't care if you're an SOB (Some Other Brand) owner.

Mark


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## campmg (Dec 24, 2005)

Glad to see you did your homework. The Frontier's a nice truck and should provide you with years of good use. Keep us posted on what you get.

Also, $800 is too much to pay for the hitch assuming it's an Equal-i-zer or Reese type. You can shop those too and don't have to buy it at the RV dealer.


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