Impressed with Towing (6600lbs)

[danrhiggins]

For sure on the dealer not knowing. I used to own a independent performance motorsport company and dealers would tell my BMW customers the goofiest things.

Honestly it says 770 on the Gen 3 and thats enough for me to believe in it.

Awesome Trailer! What model?

Considering an Airstream but dang they price them proudly!

Rockwood Roo 23IKSS hybrid. ~5K lbs unloaded, GVW max at around 65K lbs but we will never have it over 6K. Unloaded tongue weight 558 lbs. It will certainly be more about probably not more than 650-700 lbs or so even with the Hensley hitch I am putting on it.

A hybrid isn't for everyone. But we like the "canvas" (soft) beds which flip down in front and back. This leaves all of the volume of the trailer while pulling available for living space. If we need to "turtle" (use it without the soft-sided beds) we can make the dinette or small-ish sleeper sofa into a bed - good if you are in bear country or particularly cold weather or just in a hurry. But for regular camping opening up the ends makes it more more light inside and much better airflow.

This one has a double slide out - one on each side.

The MSRP was about $31K and we got this new 2016 for around $26K.

It is not as aerodynamic as the Airstream nor as "cool" but it will be much more functional for us.

 

[jwest]

... GVW max at around 65K lbs .

I doubt that...

Unloaded tongue weight 558 lbs. It will certainly be more about probably not more than 650-700 lbs or so even with the Hensley hitch I am putting on it.

I would really like to hear and see how the LR4 air suspension system works with the Hensley considering the literature from LR seems to say we shouldn't use such a device but the folks at CanAm say otherwise. This is what I'd like to use as well when the time comes.

I'm also wondering how low to the ground the Hensley ends up being when used with the factory receiver considering how low it is on the vehicle?

 

[churious]

Rockwood Roo 23IKSS hybrid. ~5K lbs unloaded, GVW max at around 65K lbs but we will never have it over 6K. Unloaded tongue weight 558 lbs. It will certainly be more about probably not more than 650-700 lbs or so even with the Hensley hitch I am putting on it.

A hybrid isn't for everyone. But we like the "canvas" (soft) beds which flip down in front and back. This leaves all of the volume of the trailer while pulling available for living space. If we need to "turtle" (use it without the soft-sided beds) we can make the dinette or small-ish sleeper sofa into a bed - good if you are in bear country or particularly cold weather or just in a hurry. But for regular camping opening up the ends makes it more more light inside and much better airflow.

This one has a double slide out - one on each side.

The MSRP was about $31K and we got this new 2016 for around $26K.

It is not as aerodynamic as the Airstream nor as "cool" but it will be much more functional for us.

Cool. Love to hear how the Henley works out etc. Please report back.

I like the features on those Roo's. My only thought right now without looking at them is I wish they had a model in-between with a single soft side and a hard side. Would make it more flexible for me in colder weather etc.

 

[danrhiggins]

Ha! Looks like I was missing a decimal point or should have simply said 6,500. ;-)

As for the Hensley, I plan to put it on this weekend. DonfromCanada has been pulling an Airstream with one. He is the one who tipped me on to it. He loves it.

As for the trailer, I think Jayco and Outback make models that have a hard sided rear slide out that is a king size bed. But I don't know if they do side slide outs on those.

 

[Shifterkart]

I will be watching closely. I was looking to get a Rockwood Roo 23IKSS with a Hensley setup last year but wasn't able to find anyone with any experience on a LR4. I was about to admit defeat and pick up a Rockwood HW296 PUP and give up the ability to turtle to save tongue weight.

Please keep us informed on how things work out.

 

[danrhiggins]

Check out this thread titled "Towing Questions". It was originally from 2011. But when I posted a question to the OP last a few weeks ago he explained the "rest of the story". The bottom line is that he is pulling an 27' Airstream Eddie Bauer with a tongue weight of 885 lbs and total dry weight of 5,900 lbs with a Hensley Arrow. Heavier, longer trailer than the Rockwood Roo 23IKSS. Though he is not using the OEM receiver. He had a Curt receiver permanently mounted to the frame by CanAm in Canada. I am using the bolt on Curt but its tongue weight rating is only 600 lbs w/o a WDH hitch and 800 with a WDH hitch.

Here is what DonFromCanada said in his post:

"Long story short. Don't exceed 550lbs on the tongue. Unless you want to get creative...

We went to a towing specialist who had done a lot of work with Range Rovers, Land Rovers, etc.

They installed a permanent Curt hitch and did some reinforcing of the hitch and rear of the truck to support it.

I had to remove the full size spare and go with the donut type to make room for this mod.

We run a Hensley Arrow load balancing hitch and a completely different rig than we originally thought. Also a Hensley Tru Gold brake controller.
Trailer is an Airstream Eddie Bauer 27' rated at 885 lbs on the hitch and dry total weight of 5900lbs and carrying capacity of 1800 lbs

When we did a weigh in the total trailer weight loaded was ~7150 and we calculated the hitch weight to be around 1050-1100 lbs

Tows great. Never had any issues. We get the trailer axles serviced every year. Brakes are due next spring.

Also run a tpms system on each trailer tire. Keeps your mileage good and if there's a blowout you'll have some warning hopefully before any expensive damage is done to your trailer."



When I PM'd DonFromCanada about the use of sway control and the receiver questions his answer was:

"I leave the sway control alone. Never have had any issues, but I usually drive slowly (never faster than 55).

The 550/700 thing is a weird Land Rover thing... The receiver can only handle 550. It's a limit of that stupid 500$ cast piece that fits into the bumper. The 700lb is what the draw bar can handle. So u have to listen to the lower number.

Air suspension has nothing to do with it. The Mercedes GL, and Porsche Cayenne all have the same rating. It has something to do with EU regulations on weights of towed trailers without a commercial licence. In Europe it's limited to 3500kg (or exactly 7716lbs)
If you do your research, you'll see all the biggest European SUVs have the exact same max tow load rating.. Meaning that they meet the max allowable in Europe. In NA, we can tow much heavier loads without a commercial licence, so our pickup trucks and SUVs are tested to their limit.

When I was at Can-Am, I tested a lot of trailers that they had set up there to demo their stability. I towed a trailer that weighed 11200 lbs with 1300 on the tongue no problem."

 

[churious]

Check out this thread titled "Towing Questions". It was originally from 2011. But when I posted a question to the OP last a few weeks ago he explained the "rest of the story". The bottom line is that he is pulling an 27' Airstream Eddie Bauer with a tongue weight of 885 lbs and total dry weight of 5,900 lbs with a Hensley Arrow. Heavier, longer trailer than the Rockwood Roo 23IKSS. Though he is not using the OEM receiver. He had a Curt receiver permanently mounted to the frame by CanAm in Canada. I am using the bolt on Curt but its tongue weight rating is only 600 lbs w/o a WDH hitch and 800 with a WDH hitch.

Here is what DonFromCanada said in his post:

"Long story short. Don't exceed 550lbs on the tongue. Unless you want to get creative...

We went to a towing specialist who had done a lot of work with Range Rovers, Land Rovers, etc.

They installed a permanent Curt hitch and did some reinforcing of the hitch and rear of the truck to support it.

I had to remove the full size spare and go with the donut type to make room for this mod.

We run a Hensley Arrow load balancing hitch and a completely different rig than we originally thought. Also a Hensley Tru Gold brake controller.
Trailer is an Airstream Eddie Bauer 27' rated at 885 lbs on the hitch and dry total weight of 5900lbs and carrying capacity of 1800 lbs

When we did a weigh in the total trailer weight loaded was ~7150 and we calculated the hitch weight to be around 1050-1100 lbs

Tows great. Never had any issues. We get the trailer axles serviced every year. Brakes are due next spring.

Also run a tpms system on each trailer tire. Keeps your mileage good and if there's a blowout you'll have some warning hopefully before any expensive damage is done to your trailer."



When I PM'd DonFromCanada about the use of sway control and the receiver questions his answer was:

"I leave the sway control alone. Never have had any issues, but I usually drive slowly (never faster than 55).

The 550/700 thing is a weird Land Rover thing... The receiver can only handle 550. It's a limit of that stupid 500$ cast piece that fits into the bumper. The 700lb is what the draw bar can handle. So u have to listen to the lower number.

Air suspension has nothing to do with it. The Mercedes GL, and Porsche Cayenne all have the same rating. It has something to do with EU regulations on weights of towed trailers without a commercial licence. In Europe it's limited to 3500kg (or exactly 7716lbs)
If you do your research, you'll see all the biggest European SUVs have the exact same max tow load rating.. Meaning that they meet the max allowable in Europe. In NA, we can tow much heavier loads without a commercial licence, so our pickup trucks and SUVs are tested to their limit.

When I was at Can-Am, I tested a lot of trailers that they had set up there to demo their stability. I towed a trailer that weighed 11200 lbs with 1300 on the tongue no problem."

Great feedback.

Im still a bit perplexed by his comments on the receiver though.

"The 550/700 thing is a weird Land Rover thing... The receiver can only handle 550. It's a limit of that stupid 500$ cast piece that fits into the bumper. The 700lb is what the draw bar can handle. So u have to listen to the lower number."

I don't have a LR draw bar so I can't speak to that. But I had a Gen 2 receiver on my LR3 and it said 550lbs but the Gen 3 that i have with my LR4 says max tongue weight with 770lbs stamped on it!

 

[danrhiggins]

When was the "Gen 3" version released? Did you purchase it from your dealership?

 

[Shifterkart]

Has anyone compared a Gen 2 and a Gen 3? Is there any difference in appearance besides for the markings?

 

[LR4USN]

I'll have to look at the one I have from my '11. Not sure what vers that is tho