Newb to towing

Hey all,
Just
I do have experience towing but mostly for work. It was generally a boat or an enclosed with a two atv/snow mobiles in an f250. I’ve also towed horses with the tundra.

I have a tundra platinum hybrid with airbags. And getting a 26’ camper that is 5700 lbs dry. Tounge is 620 lbs.

We will have 4 bikes, 2 canoes, etc, with two adults and two young kids.

what do I need to tow safely? A weight distribution hitch? If so any recommendations. I guess certain ones can damage the trailer. Is the b&w one doable or will it damage the trailer.

thanks

 

Hey all,

I do have experience towing but mostly for work. It was generally a boat or an enclosed with a two atv/snow mobiles in an f250. I’ve also towed horses with the tundra.

I have a tundra platinum hybrid with factory airbags. And getting a 26’ camper that is 5700 lbs dry. Tounge is 620 lbs.

We will have 4 bikes, 2 canoes, etc, with two adults and two young kids.

what do I need to tow safely? A weight distribution hitch? If so any recommendations. I guess certain ones can damage the trailer. Is the b&w one doable or will it damage the trailer.

thanks

 

I prefer the Equalizer E2. Affordable but effective. Your planned trailer is towards the upper limits of towing comfort

 

I have heard good things about the B&W WDH. I have a Weighsafe WDH and our trailer is a bit lighter at 4500 lbs GVW. i have had this for about 4 years and 2 tow vehicles. I like it and have it dialled in. It is heavy but pretty simple to use.

I think the truck would have no trouble with just a bumper hitch, but the truck does squat a lot with the coils but the airbags should lift it up to level.

If you dial in the WD hitch, you should be okay without damaging the trailer.

The tricky part will be getting any WDH to work well with the AVS.

We noticed a night and day difference with ours when the WD moves weight to the front axle. Much better ride and control than without it.

Also sway control would be typically part of the WDH and that would be a necessity especially if you were cruising along through some of the flatter parts of the continent.

This pics shows our setup (a bit distorted with the wide angle), sans the bikes. 2 x 12' kayaks, rooftop tent, camping gear in the bed, 22' trailer. The bike racks are on each side to the tent, we just left them behind as this campsite is more marine and not much riding opportunities.

 

Thanks.

I didn’t even think about Avs. Why would a wdh cause issues with it? I do have AVS.

towing will be across prairie to get to the mountains.

 

Have you read your owners manual? It highly suggested reading. It should answer your questions.

 

It doesn’t say anything about Avs. It does say it recommends a WDH over 5k.

 

If you turn off the AVS (if possible) you can dial in the WDH. If you get a B&W WDH, it has a lever that you pump up the pressure on the dial. You can see the rear of the truck move up as you increase the pressure.

The AVS will attempt to lift the rear of the truck to level it effectively removing the WDH benefit by removing the tension from the load bars that transfer the forces away from the hitch (front axle and trailer axle(s)).

So as you apply WD force, or remove it, the AVS system will attempt to correct the level, sort of like a 3 stooges skit .

If the system can be turned off, then the WD setup could be done easily, but since I don't have AVS, it's all a mystery and magic to me.

 

I’m assuming you’re talking about the airbag system, not the Avs system.

 

Yes Airbags!

Clipped from the interwebs:

Adaptive Variable Suspension
Customers desiring the creamiest, best-controlled on-road ride will want to order a Platinum or 1794 model equipped with the optional Advance package. This includes the load-leveling rear air suspension, adaptive dampers, and a 10.0-inch color head-up display. The damping system is akin to those of the same name used on Lexus products and on the Toyota Avalon sedan. It features dampers developed by Hitachi and Aisin that feature solenoid-controlled valves that vary the damping by moving a piston in and out to change the size of orifices the shock absorber oil flows through. Damping can be revised as fast as every 20 milliseconds in response to myriad sensors, including several monitoring g forces at each corner.

 

Avs and the load leveling rear are two different systems, avs has nothing to do with the air bags for leveling

avs isn’t on when you turn on tow or tow+, you cannot dial other ride settings

so what your are really asking is how to install and adjust a wdh when you have the load leveling system

just wanted to clarify things

 

No wonder why so many of these are grocery getters and mall crawlers then…

 

What trailer are you getting? Specs seem to be the same as mine - 26 feet and 5700 lbs empty.

 

These trucks pull just fine. Don't be scared away by armchair number crunching guesstimating the weight of all the gold bars and bumper plates you'll certainly be transporting whenever you tow. Setup your rig correctly and you'll be just fine. Weigh it on a scale if you need to know; you may be surprised how well you can stay within the paper limits. With full propane tanks and two batteries on the tongue, and the bare essentials loaded in the passthrough under the front bed, my travel trailer tongue weight is only some 50 lbs different than the listed tongue weight on my sticker, per the CAT scale.

A good WD is advisable. Lots of options and lots of good ones. I use an Anderson for a similar size trailer and pull it with either my tundra or sequoia. Both work great. I prefer it over spring bar types but that's just me.

Even with the load leveling system, you can dial in the WDH without much issue. Start by measuring your front fender height before you hitch up, then measure again after making your first attempt at adjusting the WD hitch. You want the front fender to be the same height (or even a bit lower) than before hitching up. When you hang a big weight off the back of the truck in the form of a trailer tongue, that weight levers weight off the front axle and transfers it to the back axle. This causes the rear suspension to squat more than it would with just the weight of the trailer tongue itself, and the nose of the truck to lift up. The point of the WD hitch is to restore that weight back to the front axle. In doing so, it is also going to push some weight back to the trailer axle. If set up aggressively, it can redistribute part or even all of the tongue weight to the front truck axle and the trailer's axle leaving you will less weight on the truck's rear axle than the tongue weight itself. It's not always recommended to push too much tongue weight around, but you at least want to restore the weight to the front axle of the truck. Again, that's the point of the WD hitch.

Your factory air bags are going to raise the back of the truck up after getting hitched up, which can lessen the effectiveness of the WD hitch at redistributing the weight. Simply re-adjust the hitch until the front wheel well height is restored. It may take a few adjustments that may appear aggressive at first, but once you figure out how to adjust it properly, set it that way every time you hitch up.

You can do the same setup using a CAT or other certified scale. Weigh the truck without the trailer, then hitch up and weigh it with the trailer. Engaging the WD hitch is optional at first, but engage it for a re-weigh and compare weights. I don't engage the WD hitch for the first re-weigh; compare the weights of the empty truck to the weights of the truck and trailer. As long as you place the axles on separate weight pads, you will get front axle weight, rear axle weight, and travel trailer axle weight. Do a little math and you can figure out how much weight is transferred from the front axle as well as your tongue weight. Then re-weigh with the WD hitch engaged and see how much weight you were able to push around. If you observe the front wheel well height, you'll see it move as you adjust weights - the rough gauge we used earlier to setup the hitch.

I usually just go by front wheel well height but got curious and weighed my truck on the scale as described above. Using a less aggressive setup, I was easily able to push most of the weight back to the front axle. Making more adjustment but by no means being aggressive, I was able to restore all the weight back to the front.

 

Nice Bigfoot! I hope to have a photo soon of my new '02 Tundra pulling it.