Tow TR2720 with Chrysler mini van

At the risk of offending anyone, I am pretty much in the "against" camp. You can pretty much tow any TM with any vehicle, as long as there are not hills or any emergency maneuvers required. But when you run into any of these situations, the extra capacity of a higher rated TV is critical. Not to mention the extreme wear on TV components like the transmission that just are not made to handle the load. For the safety of both you and the other people on the road, please consider a more appropriate TV.

My favorite quote, which applies to many situations in life..."Just because you can doesn't mean you should".

[Bill]

Originally Posted by Brittany Dogs

In my desire to avoid a WDH, I decided to go with Airlift 1000 bags and that really did the trick. When I hitch up now, the back of the SUV only sinks a bit.... No don't you all hammer me on how well your minivan does...

Glad it works. And no, I won't hammer you about tow capacity. I think you have plenty, and I agree with your reasons for wanting it. However, I would tweak you a bit for thinking that air bags are a substitute for a WDH. But no one seems to care, so I won't repeat myself.

Have you checked your tow vehicle's GAWR-rear rating against the actual weight on the rear axle, when the tow vehicle is fully loaded for a trip, and you drop the weight of the fully-loaded TM on the hitch ball?

Bill

Originally Posted by Brittany Dogs

No don't you all hammer me on how well your minivan does just fine, good for you and I'm glad it works for you. I have to deal with hills and mountains and going up hill, I am glad my TV has 6000 pounds pulling capacity. When I go down the hill, I am glad for the 600 pounds tongue weight capacity and my Airlift bags.

I am curious about why you chose air lift bags to level the sag instead of a WDH to distribute the weight to the front wheels?

As I understand it, the bags do not transfer any weight to the TM axle or to the RV front axle.

[ThePair]

Another voice of semi-agreement with the rest: I use a 3500# rated Sienna, works just fine with my 2720SL. I've hit the scales, I know my weights. I also exclusively tow in the flats of the Midwest. I am not at all convinced that I would fare well trying to tow up or down a mountain, or at altitude. It may work, it may not. I have zero experience with those situations.

I'm not answering for the OP......but when I have my ATV in the back of the truck and the TM connected, I am not able to get the setup level with just a WDH, so the air bags help me get level. Which I suspect is the case with the OP, but I think you first try a WDH and if the load is too big to get things right, the bags would be next in line to assist a bit. But not to replace the WDH.

I do use just the bags when towing the TM from storage to the driveway. They help a lot with control and visibility, that floating feeling is gone, but would not be the ticket in a panic situation I think.

[Bill]

Just to be clear. The goal is to get the truck back to something like its unloaded orientation. If it wasn't level before you loaded it, then the goal is to bring it back toward that unloaded aspect. Most sources agree that you don't have to get it all the way back. However, the real goal is to make sure that the front end is lower than it was, not higher.

If you get the tow vehicle into the proper configuration, and the TM is not level (it should be), then you need to move the hitch ball up or down.

Bill

[rvcycleguy]

Originally Posted by Redhawk

I'm not answering for the OP......but when I have my ATV in the back of the truck and the TM connected, I am not able to get the setup level with just a WDH, so the air bags help me get level. Which I suspect is the case with the OP, but I think you first try a WDH and if the load is too big to get things right, the bags would be next in line to assist a bit. But not to replace the WDH.

I do use just the bags when towing the TM from storage to the driveway. They help a lot with control and visibility, that floating feeling is gone, but would not be the ticket in a panic situation I think.

Same for me. When I load my motorcycle in the truck bed, it will sag. Airbags will pick it back up. Then when I hitch the TM, I use the WDH to level it all out, front to back. If I'm not loading the bike, then I can tow safely without the WDH.

[Brittany Dogs]

I have not taken any weight measurements to establish what exactly I need for my sag when I hitch up. I actually agree with Bill's concern about the bags not being an adequate replacement for a weight distribution hitch.

Here is a photo of my rig and it looks pretty good in my opinion.

http://i1287.photobucket.com/albums/...ps74ca2ddc.jpg

Probably 90% of the travel trailer owners out there would have not done anything in my situation. Sure my hitch ball went down when I put the TrailManor on it but it was not excessive and did not seem to affect the driving or handling. It's not like my rear wheels were scraping the wheel well.

So to add margin, to just return back to level, and for the cost of $100, I did the bags, installed them myself and been thrilled with the results.

Why didn't I get a WDH ? I have a belief that a WDH is not a good substitute for a TV that does not meet the minimum requirements for tongue weight. My TV allows 600 pounds and has the capacity.

I also felt my sag was not to the point where it needed the extra weight of that hitch assembly, I didn't want to add more stress to my swing hitch, the cost and the added work of the WDH. I have not done a weight test of my tongue but I predict it is between 430 and 470 pounds. That is well under the 600 pound capacity.

Again, agreeing with. Bill, I suspect his point is to say that tongue weight is only half the problem. What about all the cargo one can load in a SUV. Point well taken.

The bottom line is, I had sag but not a lot of sag. The bags took the little that I had and made it all better. Most people would have done nothing.

[Mr. Adventure]

Air bags stiffen the rear suspension. They might effectively increase the rear axle weight capacity in cases where the springs were a weak factor, but the edge of that envelope is awfully hard to figure out. Air bags are never a substitute for a WDH because they have no effect on axle weight numbers on the scale, and the front end will be unloaded by the trailer tongue weight the same with or without them.

Reducing front end unloading by 200-350# while towing is beneficial in all situations. Reduced front axle weights caused by trailer tongues result in proportionally reduced traction for steering and braking. Heavier trailer tongues and longer tow vehicle wheelbases require tighter WDH adjustments to zero out the front end effect. As Popbeavers has pointed out, there may be diminishing returns as wheelbases get longer, especially in situations where the trailer axle has very little extra capacity to accept it's share of the weight that needs to get distributed.

In a long wheelbase truck, you get less benefit from a WDH than in a shorter wheelbase tow vehicle because 1) you have less unloading in the first place and 2) the front end you're trying to re-load with the WDH is resisting with a longer lever arm. In shorter wheelbase vehicles, you need the WDH more for the same reasons.

Except perhaps in the longest and heaviest of our tow vehicles, I would always use a WDH to tow a TrailManor. I'm thinking it is probably not possible without a WDH to stay within the Gross Axle Weight Rating on the rear axle for the significant majority of us, but I'd appreciate seeing any real scale numbers which suggest otherwise.

Except perhaps in the longest and heaviest of our tow vehicles, I would always use a WDH to tow a TrailManor. I'm thinking it is probably not possible without a WDH to stay within the Gross Axle Weight Rating on the rear axle for the significant majority of us, but I'd appreciate seeing any real scale numbers which suggest otherwise.

I published some real weights several years ago.

I was surprised to find that all three axles were within about 100 pounds of each other, 3,300. This was when I was towing with my 1500HD. This was before we bought 2 ATVs and 3 motorcycles.

With 2 motorcycles on the 1500HD I was unable to remove the TM tongue wheel because of the increased sag. I solved the problem by buying a 2500HD long bed.

I was advised by the factory that with the 1500HD I would not need a WDH. I think that advice went out the window when I added 500 pounds of motorcycles.

Before the motorcycles the rear bumper of the 1500HD would sag 5/8 inch when connecting the TM. 5/8 inch did not seem to be enough to worry about.