What vehicle do you use to tow your T2?

[jeff432]

Ron, well spoken and appreciated. Thanks for taking the time. Your ideas have convinced to move up to a 4Runner or Sequoia for towing...

[Ron]

Jeff -

As I mentioned before, some very interesting vehicles have showed up in Annapolis to pick up their Telstars. The rumor is that Tony has turned only one of them away - a BMW SUV. But he let a diesel Jeep Liberty tow his back to Texas. It it not really a question of horsepower or torque. Anytime you tow something with a tag along hitch (behind the bumper) that is significantly heavier (or larger) than the tow vehicle you have got to be especially carefull when you're braking, turning, or moving at higher speeds, say 50 or above. You can do it safely, but realize that the trailer will definitely have a major effect on the stability of the tow vehicle. Ever see a 30 pound dog with a 40 pound tail?

[Dan]

Ron—

I believe it was a BMW X3...which is the smallest of their SUVs and really not appropriate for towing a Telstar, weight distributing hitch or not.

[Ron]

Dan -

The X3 is rated for 3500 pounds and the X5 6000. Since the load is around 6500, technically neither of them can or should do it. But the X3 is probably the one that Tony refused to hook up. I could imagine the expression on his face when he took a look at the tow vehicle. The X5 is close enough that it would probably be reasonably safe. I wouldn't want to take it on the Blue Ridge Parkway though (up, down and twisty). The Range Rover is rated at around 7500.

[simonhayes]

Ron,

I will certainly defer to your experience and knowledge about towing - something I am relatively new at.

I am not disagreeing that weight distribution and load leveling do two different things. What I meant was that, because the Range Rover system works to adjust the height of each wheel to level the vehicle and try to ensure each wheel has traction, it can counter some of the "squat" that ordinary suspensions might have and help minimize loss of traction on front wheels as long as the weight is within supported ranges . If the trailer and tongue weight is too heavy for the vehicle - it isn't going to help.

I guess the torsion bars on the weight distribution hitch effectively make the trailer and frame on the vehicle one beam with different moments acting on it vs two beams connected by a pin. This will clearly keep the weight better distributed across the whole "beam" of the trailer and vehicle frame meaning the vehicle front wheels and the trailer wheels will take more of the force. I think the reason that this confuses the rover suspension is that it is now effectively controlling only 2 of the 3 axles supporting the beam and hence it won't respond the way the computer predicts. I am guessing I can just turn it off if I wanted to use a distribution hitch - I will look into that.

As I said, up to now I have not had any issues as all towing the T2 with the Rover and I find the suspension system to be a real help in launch/recovery and hitching/unhitching

Thanks

Simon

[Ron]

Simon -

I'm pretty sure that the load leveling can be turned off. All the others I've seen have a switch somewhere or a parameter in an on-screen display to to it. It really should not be an issue for you though. It's a fairly heavy SUV which will tow on a level plane with that system, and the tongue weight is only in the 400 to 450 pound range anyway. The automatic load leveling should also do a decent job of stabilizing the hobby-horse effect caused by the light tongue weight relative to the trailers near 6500 pound towing weight. If the tongue weight was over 650 pounds then I'd be looking for the switch - and it would probably exceed the hitch rating as well. There should be a sticker or decal on the hitch with this information. By the way, the Range Rovers system is air adjustable.

A weight distributing hitch acts as a lever on the trucks frame. A portion of the weight of the trailers tongue is transmitted forward on the trucks frame by the trailers torsion / lever bars which are anchored firmly to the hitch (on the truck) with no vertical movement allowed, although they can swivel for turns. These bars or levers are available in various weight ratings - meaning the amount of force that they will exert as a twisting force on the truck frame, anywhere from 500 pounds to over 2,000. They usually have adjustments as well by moving pins or setting chain spacing. I pack the boat to get the tongue weight up to around 600 pounds and then adjust the bars to move nearly half of that to the front wheels. Without it I'd have around 900 pounds on the rear wheels and minus 300 in front.

I have an enclosed car hauler which has a tongue weight in the 900 pound range with a Corvette in the box, total weight of the trailer with that size car is in the 8,000 pound range. I wouldn't even drive around the block without the weight distributing hitch on. I'd have 1200 to 1300 pounds on the rear axle and minus 400 to 500 on the front. Note that the Avalanche has a 10,000 pound class IV hitch rated at 1200 pounds tongue weight with weight distribution and only 600 without it.

[simonhayes]

Ron,

Thanks for the additional info.

The air suspension on the rover does have an "inhibit" switch on the dashboard, but that does not completely disable it. It seems to limit the movement from one ride state to another (high to normal or low/highway) but adjustments are made to the current ride state. I have read in some of the forums that you may have to pull the fuse to completely disable it while driving (opening a door or tailgate will disable it it too) - I am not sure I want to do that. I will keep digging.

Simon

[Ron]

Simon -

As I said before, you should be OK as is. It's a good fairly heavy SUV with a bunch of handling, braking and and leveling options. It's just about the best production one on the market for going off road. But check the decal / sticker on the hitch. I'm curious what it says in terms of max tongue weight with and without a weight distributing setup. If the actual tongue weight, noting that you should probably load everything down below as far forward as possible, exceeds the number on the sticker I'd think about disabling the system and going with the better hitch, especially for anything like a cross-country tow.

[Ron]

There's a story (with pictures) in the current issue of "Boat US Trailering" magazine. One of the photo's shows a Pearson 27 sailboat sitting on top (and crushing the roof) of a Jeep Cherokee with the trailer jack-knifed behind the Jeep. The story is titled "Oops ! - Topic: Tongue Weight". The insurance adjusters surmised that the trailer / boat combination was too heavy for the Jeep and that the tongue weight was too low. The trailer evidently was swaying back and forth (and probably up and down) until it decided that it had enough and went it's own way. The owner incorrectly thought that the movement was the effect of the wind.

Boat US obviously and strongly recommends that the rating of the tow vehicle be high enough to safely pull the trailer AND that the tongue weight be in the range of 7% to 10% of the total trailer weight, especially if you are driving above 35 mph. For a Telstar, that would mean about 6300 to 6500 pounds and 460 to 650, respectively. Note that you may have to pack everything in the boat towards the bow to get the tongue weight over 460 pounds, especially with the heavier Honda 50 hanging on the transom.

They didn't mention it, but you also need a weight distributing hitch with sway control to safely tow anything this big at highway speed.

I'm going to ask Boat US for permission to reprint the article on the forum. You can join Boat US for half price if you're a member of this association, thereby getting your membership here totally free.

[Ron]

This is the link to the Boat US trailer club article on tongue weight -

http://www.boatus.com/trailerclub/Seaworthy_Files.asp

EVERY boater should join Boat US and those who trailer theirs should look at their trailering club as well. The half price group code is in our members only section, saving you more than what our dues cost.