LR3 Travel Trailer Towing Experience

I have a V6 LR3, and after much looking and reading and researching on here and RV forums and RV manufacturer sites, bought a travel trailer. There were a couple things to consider before buying, and I since I wish I had something like this rather than spending hours upon hours searching, decided to post this. There is plenty of opinion involved below, but when in doubt I tried to err on the safe side.
1. The max tongue/hitch weight for the LR is low, which means the floorplan will have to have some weight behind the axles, or be light enough so that the tongue/hitch weight of the trailer stays low. I'd say, try to stay under 450lbs dry.
2. Most trailers list tongue/hitch weights that are way lower than what they will be when they are loaded with propane, batttery and all the stuff that you will put in the trailer.
3. The trailer must be light itself, because the common thought is that you should stay around 80% of your towing capacity, which would leave you with 6160lbs of capacity, take out 1000-1500 lbs of gear and liquids and the trailer should be around 4500-5000lb dry.
4. You probably could use a weight distribution/sway control hitch, and I think some people do with the LR3, but you can work around the need for it if you follow the hitch weight limits and use a friction sway control (more on this next)
5. If you really want to follow the "guidelines" for towing, then with the LR3 wheelbase we should only pull something around 21ft long. This is the one thing that I didn't follow the "guidelines" on. This guideline relates to the ability of the tow vehicle to resist sway induced by the trailer. With the LR3 being as heavy as it is, I decided to use a friction sway control and my trailer is 24' 11" long. I haven't had any problems with sway.
6. You might need a big rise hitch bar to tow a good size trailer. The hitch on my trailer is 23" to the top of the hitch, this meant I needed an 8" rise bar to get the trailer level, but it does make it perfectly level and it looks good.
7. The overall towing experience is great. Even with the V6, I have plenty of power for the appalachian grades (max 8%) I've been on thus far. I don't have sway problems even in good winds with large tractor trailers passing.

I ended up with a Keystone Zeppelin 242, has a dry hitch weight of 405, a dry weight of 3855 and is 24'11" long. It works well. I'll try to answer questions if anyone has any.

Mike

I pick up my new travel trailer in two days. I just installed the Prodigy brake controller and got the stinger/ball thing figured out. I bought a 07 Starcraft Antigua XLT 215DBB It has a dry tongue of about 430 and overall weight of about 3300. It is 22'9" from tip of tongue to back of bumper. I am having them put a sway control on it, but no WDH.

I am very curious to see how it tows. I have not towed really anything, so this will be. . .fun.

By the way, I built a custom mount for the Prodigy brake controller that fits into the cup holder. I built a 3.5" round mount that fits into the cup holder. The Prodigy then fits on the round mount with its bracket. It works great and installs/removes in seconds.

I tow it home Wednesday morning. I'll report as well.

Can you post a pic or two?

Thanks!

LR3 tows great!! I picked up my new travel trailer today and the LR3 tows it fantastic. I couldn't believe how good it was. Solid as a rock even when passing or being past by large semi's on the expressway. I have the V8, and it did work much harder then normal, but it is awesome power-wise, and stable as a rock.

The trailer is 23" long and I had no sway or wind problems as all. No WDH, but I did put on a sway control device. It has a tongue weight of about 430 and once the trailer was on the truck, and I started the truck, it lifted the rear end to be level.

I could not be happier. I was really worried about this TV, but that was completely uneeded. The thing tows like a champ.

The sway control you used was a friction device?

When shopping for hitch I found it hard for people to understand that sway control was okay but WDH was not. They eventually convinced me that they were the same. I used the WDH about 30 mile and took if off. The Vehicle road much better without. I did get more sway. I think a friction device should help.

Whomever told you a WDH and a sway control device are the same, I would never take towing info from that person. They are 100% different devices. You cannot use a WDH. You can use a sway control device. The device I use is a friction type sway control mounted on the passenger side of the A-frame coupler.

It works great. Besides going up hills, the LR3 tows like a champ and I really have to remember I have a 4200lb 23' trailer behind me.

Schafari: What size rise did you need for your hitch bar? Glad to hear you are having good experiences towing too. Can you post a pic of the brake controller mount? I just mounted mine down the dash a little, under the ignition side. Out of the way for the most part. I was tempted to make/find a better mounting place, but I'm too impatient. I'll post some pics of the whole rig tonight sometime.

I have some thoughts on why we aren't supposed to use a WDH (I could be completely wrong, but this makes sense to me). Seeing how engineering the LR3 hitch reciever is, with the snap in/out deal etc, I think that it is designed for for loads/stresses to be applied in certain directions. A WDH, in an effort to take weight off the hitch, applies pressures in directions (I think upward?, maybe some inward?) that the receiver was not designed for (downward?) . It may very well work fine, but if it may not have been specifically tested/designed with those stresses in mind (I hear they don't much use WDHs in England). Just a guess though since I haven't seen any definitive answer one way or another. FloridaLR3 is the only one I know that has used both and now tows without one, so I wouldn't try it anyway.

I use a 7" rise on the ball mount for a near perfect level trailer

LR3 Hooked Up

Picture that I said I would post last night, tonight.

My setup for towing

I got the 06 HSE, pulling an Airstream 25 International... The weight of the trailer is around 5300lbs... I'm using a Reese weight distributing/anti sway hitch. So far it is working really well. I'll post a photo tomorrow, when I get the LR3 back from getting the winch and a bar installed...

Nick