Sway control for a 16ft travel trailer 2012 LR4

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nhskibm

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I towed a 25’ Airstream behind my LR4. I chose to add the curt hitch to the frame and use weight distribution after hours of research due to airstream’s tongue weight(s).

Never an issue with the suspension. The ford plug with brake controller works great, and gas mileage wasnt so terrible either.

I’m now towing the AS with the RRSS (v8) and in some ways find it better (power) but some worse (seems to sway a little more than with a ladder frame lr4). That all said with the new weight ratings and trailer assist in the D5 that’s what we’re moving to next - when it arrives.

But i can confirm towing an AS with the LR4 works just fine - i just suggest the curt with wd v the stock receiver for anything other than the two AS sport models.
 

cperez

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I towed a 25’ Airstream behind my LR4.

I did a deep dive into researching Airstreams to tow behind a 5.0L LR4. It seemed like a 25-footer was right at the upper limit of what the LR could handle safely, all things considered. I would love to see some photos of your setup. An Airstream behind a Land Rover is such a great combination and must attract a lot of appreciative looks and beeps when you're on the road.
 

Viper51499

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Do not use a load distribution hitch (is this what you are referring too?) it will **** the compressor. I believe all LR4s have the sway control built into them. Check youtube and search LR4/Discovery 4 sway control.

Anything to back this up?

Asking because: I've read many times that weight distribution hitch setups would "wreak havoc" on the LR4 air suspension, however, I've towed ~6500 pounds of travel trailer for about two years (probably 3k miles of towing) equipped with a weight distribution / anti sway hitch, with no issues whatsoever. I'm also an engineer and can't think of a reason why distributing weight across the suspension would be any different than actual additional weight at those points (keeping GVWR requirements in line). In addition to the compressor overload you reference, I constantly cycle to access height to make the hitch connection easier, which I imagine places increased load on the system. 2011 LR4 HSE with 130K Miles on it.

Based on the forums I read thoroughly prior to towing this rig, I was concerned based on the posts, but couldn't find any actual evidence to support the towing hitch/rig fears. Two years later my personal experience is evidence enough for me. Looking forward to the responses. :)

20170825_111622.jpg
 

nhskibm

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I did a deep dive into researching Airstreams to tow behind a 5.0L LR4. It seemed like a 25-footer was right at the upper limit of what the LR could handle safely, all things considered. I would love to see some photos of your setup. An Airstream behind a Land Rover is such a great combination and must attract a lot of appreciative looks and beeps when you're on the road.

Sadly I don't have any pictures of my actual tow set-up.

Used a 1200lb sway kit mated to the curt class III with LR rear wiring, ford plug, and tekonsha brake controller. Towing a 25fb International Serenity.

Few pics I have with both rigs
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:
 

mpinco

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Not wanting to open a can of worms but going to anyway ...... WDH and air suspension LR's always opens that can.

WDH/anti-sway technology was developed for coil sprung vehicles with no suspension ECU's

LR3/LR4's have active/air suspension with Dynamic Stability Control (DSC). Apples and oranges between older suspensions and new active suspensions with ECU's.

Land Rover specifically says do not use a WDH with their air suspension equipped vehicles. From AULRO:

Thread: Weight Distribtution Bars on Disco 3

Mentioned several times in the above discussion.

In addition when attaching a trailer/caravan the vehicle will ask you what type of trailer you are connecting and apparently tunes the air suspension and DSC to accommodate the trailer and increased hitch weight. A WDH would counter that tuning.

An area that I can't seem to figure out is the factory LR hitch system (wedge) as there seems to be some grey areas on loading. Also some reports of failures with early designs and the use of a WDH. From the linked discussion:

".....When I spoke to head of LR technical he said that the D3 had not been tested with the WDH for compatibility with the DSC and other electronics. The D3 detects you have a trailer and changes a lot of the parameters and these settings are for towing without a WDH. There also concerns for long term stress causing failure of the hitch and frame......"

I addressed that with a Rhino hitch which works better off road than "the plow".

Edit add: I do not use a WDH, anti-sway or factory hitch.

 

nhskibm

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I’d never use WD with the “wedge” - only the bolt to frame.

I don’t think there’s a right answer since we’ve had a Jeep with load levelling suspension and WD was recommended. Yes Jeeps and Rovers are different but the technology is not dissimilar.

To date we have not had an issue with WD on our Rovers with the suspension.
 
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Viper51499

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Not wanting to open a can of worms but going to anyway ......

I'll take the heat for the worm can. Appreciate the response, but that is exactly the sort of information I have seen many times in the past, which does not answer the question of what actual design aspects (and forces acting on them) would be overloaded, and where the failure point(s) would be (or have been observed). That information is also specific to the D3.

I respect this forum and community greatly. Not trying to ruffle feathers - just trying to dig deeper than the "oh, dude, you don't want to mess with that" response I have seen over and over in many threads and forums on this topic. I thought seeing "it will **** the compressor" in this thread meant someone had an actual answer this time, and I hoped for information on what exactly would cause compressor overload/failure, if that is the concern.

What I ask myself is: how is a WD setup that puts additional load on the vehicle front end any different than placing a higher traditional payload on the front end? The DSC computer has to accommodate both regardless of whether the load is present because of a WD setup putting a moment on the hitch, or two fatasses in the front seats (as opposed to the single 110lb. soccer mom I usually see driving the LR4).

Indicating that LR specifically states not to use a WD setup, because it has not been tested, does not mean it would necessarily cause issues. It means exactly what it says: They haven't tested it, don't want responsibility for its use, and so recommend not to use. I bet they would also strongly recommend I immediately remove the Johnson Rods I installed last year.

Still looking for details on exactly what issues a WD hitch is supposed to cause. All my research has only turned up an underlying fear from the LR community, based on theory and LR understandably not wanting liability.

Show me the data and I'll be very quick to reevaluate my tow setup, but for now I'll take two issue-free years (with many jarring bumps and steep approach/departure angles included) as experimental proof over the theories. For anyone who cares: 2011 LR4 HSE (I don't have any of the fancy tow assist features - just the green tow light blinks when I use turn signals). Recurve R3 (600lb) hitch system with the OEM hitch receiver (stubby version, not the plow).

As an aside: I can see how there would be concerns of a WD moment (or even just a big road bump) causing shear with the longer plow version. Most of my concern before using this setup was regarding failure of the OEM receiver (rather than DSC programming, air suspension hardware, etc.). I had a long, detailed discussion and ran some numbers with a materials science engineer buddy of mine before using the "stub wedge" OEM receiver. Either we were right, or I'm playing with fire and just haven't had a failure yet - which is why I still pursue this topic... :p

Thanks for the great discussion! Forums like this one, and the people supporting it, keep my beloved LR on the road.
 

ktm525

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I’d never use WD with the “wedge” - only the bolt to frame.

I don’t think there’s a right answer since we’ve had a Jeep with load levelling suspension and WD was recommended. Yes Jeeps and Rovers are different but the technology is not dissimilar.

To date we have bot had an issue with WD on our Rovers with the suspension.


Bingo. I was going to say that the key was the Curt hitch in your first statement.
 

mpinco

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...... That information is also specific to the D3.

.......Indicating that LR specifically states not to use a WD setup, because it has not been tested, does not mean it would necessarily cause issues. It means exactly what it says: They haven't tested it, don't want responsibility for its use, and so recommend not to use.

....... For anyone who cares: 2011 LR4 HSE (I don't have any of the fancy tow assist features - just the green tow light blinks when I use turn signals). Recurve R3 (600lb) hitch system with the OEM hitch receiver (stubby version, not the plow).

.....

- There really is no difference between a D3 and D4.

- Agreed that there is some liability considerations relative to LR and testing but they do have caravans in the UK.

- I consider both wedges to be plows. There was an earlier longer one and a later shorter one. Both plows

This is a good example of technology moving forward while old rules of thumb are still applied. There are coil suspensions, coils with air leveliing suspensions, the RRC air suspension and the D3/D4 active air suspension that is managed by algorithms that LR has developed. All different and in all cases you would draw a different conclusion on the need for a WDH/anti-sway.

I also have a 2011 LR4 and there are menu prompts for different trailer types when a trailer is detected. Those change the air suspension ECU behavior.

Edit add: Anti-sway is provided by LR "Trailer Stability Assist". TSA is disabled when DSC is turned off.
 
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