I don't believe I actually posted this up. So I wanted to do a short write up. First... this was back over the summer in June. The only things I know are the trailer was scaled at 3200lbs empty, and it doesnt have W/D or antisway. I didn't take a picture of the sticker but my buddy who I borrowed it from had it scaled a few times empty and thats more or less what it is +/- 100lbs. Trailer is considered a 22 foot box.
We drove up through NYS on the Thruway to move her out of her apartment. So with stops and visiting friends nearly 700 miles round trip. On the way up empty, we pretty much maintained the flow of traffic in the right lane. So anywhere from 65-75 MPH. Honestly didn't know it was back there. For those who care, we averaged about 15 MPG up on that 300ish mile leg with the trailer.
The ride back I can only guesstimate how heavy we were. The trailer was packed fully floor to ceiling with boxes of mostly clothes, apartment items and a lot of books and furniture. If I had to guess... we sat around 6000lbs. I figure being conservative we'll call it 5500lbs. Now I left a small space accessible from the side door and rear so I could move "ballast". I figured I had no idea how much tongue weight I actually had so I could move roughly 200 lbs front to back or vice-versa. I ended up putting it all forward as the tongue seemed a little light in the parking lot.
Now the day we left we faced some 15-25 MPH cross winds with gusts to 40 at times. So I kept us at a reasonable 65-68 mph. A because without weight distribution the steering axle got a little light and B I was in no rush on the return trip. Not like scary slam on the brakes and lose control light or anything like that or snap between lanes and lose control... just light like towing a reasonably heavy load and not having WD to sure things up. In an ideal world I'd have had that on that trip but he nor I had one to use...
Anyway, truck did it fine even with the cross winds. You knew you had it back there but not anything like I was nervous about it or anything. Due to the high winds we knocked out about 11 MPG on the return trip for those who care (again better than I was expecting).
And overall I was pretty happy until a guy on I believe 287 at the base of a fairly steep incline basically came to a stop in front of me. That was the only time the truck complained as that grade is pretty steep. I was telling my buddy about it who ironically lives up there and is who I borrowed the trailer from and he was impressed it was able to make it back to speed before the top... I basically went foot to floor and held it as when you have traffic flying past you in all lanes at 75+ that's a dangerous situation to be in.
Overall I'd make a few modifications as others have to make it more pleasant but the chassis was very capable. Though I will say that trip is what finally killed my rear leaf springs. WD is a must at that weight with that size trailer and sway control while not necessary would've complimented it as well. The V6 is by far the weakest link but even at that... I was expecting it to be buzzing a lot more as people say it does but I was averaging 2800 rpms or so until inclines and it would drop to 3600 for those... so really not bad and with the radio on low I really didn't notice it at all. Which is surprising to me. I'll also add I got the oil pressure the lowest I'd ever seen it... around 18 psi at idle. I'd imagine it was warm like everything else... trans ran 165-175 the whole way and the hottest I ever saw ECT was 228 on that big grade (when I let off at the top and RPMS dropped which makes sense as flow dropped) and it was 75 degrees outside. It seems the cooling system as a whole is pretty well sized. 230s on hard hard pulls and then tanking back to 190 within seconds is not even scary to me. That is normal on pretty much any vehicle.
Final thoughts: if I were doing that all the time it'd be a diesel.
Photo before we started loading up:
