S
Snapster
Guest
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
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