Impressed with Towing (6600lbs)

[Lgibson]

Your tongue weight is definitely too much for the fancy OEM hitch.

 

[danrhiggins]

Yep. I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I will need to either get a lighter, smaller trailer or put on a "real" hitch which may mean that I need to replace or move the full size spare which means ...

Anyone know a good hitch that doesn't force me to go to the donut spare?

 

[danrhiggins]

Yep. I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I will need to either get a lighter, smaller trailer or put on a "real" hitch which may mean that I need to replace or move the full size spare which means ...

Anyone know a good hitch that doesn't force me to go to the donut spare?

What about a trailer where the hitch weight (dry) is 458 lbs vs 558 lbs?

 

[danrhiggins]

Looks like I'll be going with the Curtis hitch. My full size spare will go on top on my Yakima rack along with my Hi Lift and Max Trax. In the off season I lift the rack off the roof and hang it in the garage. Then I may put a temp spare underneath for emergencies.

And, yes, I am going to use an Equalizer Hitch setup.

 

[danrhiggins]

And one more thing. There is evidently a woman in the area who pulls 4 Clydesdales in a trailer using the OEM hitch. (I wasn't impressed until I looked up the average weight of a Clydesdale.) So this is all about tolerances and probabilities and CYA. That's OK, though. With the stronger, permanent hitch and equalizer hitch system I won't need to worry as much about how I pack the trailer.

 

[jwest]

And one more thing. There is evidently a woman in the area who pulls 4 Clydesdales in a trailer using the OEM hitch. (I wasn't impressed until I looked up the average weight of a Clydesdale.) So this is all about tolerances and probabilities and CYA. That's OK, though. With the stronger, permanent hitch and equalizer hitch system I won't need to worry as much about how I pack the trailer.

I'll bet you her expensive horse trailer is balanced better than the stupid RV trailers in the US. For example, Airstream in Europe has the axles more toward center for much better balancing and thus much less tongue weight.

I found my lr3 towed an almost 8000 lb 2 axle short trailer just fine.

 

[ramajama]

When I was looking at LR4s I saw a few that had aftermarket frame hitches. I guess they decided that it wasn't worth it to trust that funky receiver set up.

10% of total weight would be high for a properly situated boat/trailer combo. My 21' boat weights in at around 4500lbs on a tandem trailer with right around 300 lbs tongue weight.

Good to hear these trucks tow so well. They pretty much rule the tow vehicle roost in the UK.. Of course they don't tow as big as we do here. But still it's nice to see.

 

[jwest]

That "funky" set up is fine for what the vehicle is rated to tow though. There are various reasons why people opt for a different structure that have nothing to do with concerns over trusting the oem.

For many people it is the clearance while towing as the oem hangs down a lot lower than a bar type tucked up to the bumper.

However, it's a trade-off because then the aftermarket version is always there while the oem can be removed for optimal clearance off road without trailer.

 

[ramajama]

That "funky" set up is fine for what the vehicle is rated to tow though. There are various reasons why people opt for a different structure that have nothing to do with concerns over trusting the oem.

For many people it is the clearance while towing as the oem hangs down a lot lower than a bar type tucked up to the bumper.

However, it's a trade-off because then the aftermarket version is always there while the oem can be removed for optimal clearance off road without trailer.

Duly noted but mark me down as someone who is in the dont trust the funky setup camp. I'm a somewhat prolific tower so I'd take the frame hitch, which I'd confidently use ALOT more than a little extra clearance off road on rare occasion.

 

[danrhiggins]

For me the biggest problem has become what to do with my full size spare (18" Compomotive with 265/60/18 tire on it) which will not fit underneath once I put the Curt hitch on. I don't want a swing away bumper mount as this has other issues such as visibility out the back window and mountain my trailer hitch bike rack. Do I put it on the roof rack? How do you guys do that? It is freaking heavy. Any secret to it or you just lug it up there?