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Old 08-28-2019, 06:57 AM   #3
Bill
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: The mountains of Scottsdale, AZ, and the beaches of Maine
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Not meaning to hijack the thread, but "getting rear airbags installed to help with the sag" is really not a good idea. You can find more on this topic in this tutorial in the TM Technical Library

https://www.trailmanorowners.com/for...ead.php?t=2616

or simply by using the Forum Search tool on the topic of air bags.

A condensed version of the reasoning is that adding a lot of hitch weight to the rear of a tow vehicle lifts a substantial amount of weight off the front end. (Think of a child's teeter-totter, with the vehicle's rear axle as the pivot point.) And since most of a vehicle's braking, and all of its steering, happen at the vehicle's front end, decreasing its grip on the pavement is a bad idea.

Rear end sag is simply a symptom, not the problem, and curing the symptom does not cure the problem. It is kind of like buying cough syrup when you have double pneumonia. You'll cough less, but you still have a very serious problem.

There are other issues worth some thought as well. If you simply drop some weight onto the rear end of the vehicle, add 3 kids and all their stuff, and load up the wayback (cargo area) of the vehicle, all of that extra weight is borne by the rear suspension - springs, bearings, shocks, tires, etc. And the rear suspension may not be designed to handle it. If you open the driver's door and look at the sticker glued to the door frame, you will find something called GAWR-R (gross axle weight rating - rear), which tells you the maximum total weight that the rear axle can carry. Even with a lighter model of a TM, the hitch weight will be around 350-400 pounds. If you add that, plus the weight of those 3 kids, all their stuff, and a lot of cargo in the way-back, it is almost certain that you will exceed the GAWR. When you have added the bags, as you plan to do, I urge you to go to a CAT scale, pay about $9, and get a printout of the individual weights on the 3 axles. You will be surprised.

The proper solution is a weight-distributing hitch (WDH), and there is a lot of discussion about them on this Forum.

It is worth pointing out that many of our members tow their TM with an Odyssey, and many report good results. You will hear their thoughts here.

Bill
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