Camping out of a 100 Series (Our How-To) (1 Viewer)

[xplore]

I would love to drive up on a scale and see! Our 8 passengers weighed approximately 875lbs, +210 on the hitch basket +gas can, water, 8 backpacks of clothes, cooler, drone …and my wife’s growing collection of rocks throughout the trip. On the plus side, I’ve lost almost 40 lbs this year, so that helps.

Congrats on losing the weight!

Do you have airbags in the back springs to help out with the extra load? My next step is to install bags and get a compressor hooked up where I can control the air pressure from the driver seat. When we get everything loaded, the AHC starts to struggle with the increased pressure.

 

[awesomeissquid]

I would love to drive up on a scale and see! Our 8 passengers weighed approximately 875lbs, +210 on the hitch basket + 52 on the roof w/ the tent +gas can, water, 8 backpacks of clothes, cooler, drone …and my wife’s growing collection of rocks throughout the trip. On the plus side, I’ve lost almost 40 lbs this year, so that helps.

Does your rear seat fit 3 people? I thought these only were 7 passenger (2 front, 3 mid, 2 rear).

 

[ClassyJalopy]

Does your rear seat fit 3 people? I thought these only were 7 passenger (2 front, 3 mid, 2 rear).

There are seat belts for 3 ppl but the ppl needs to really little!

 

[KliersLC]

Congrats on losing the weight!

Do you have airbags in the back springs to help out with the extra load? My next step is to install bags and get a compressor hooked up where I can control the air pressure from the driver seat. When we get everything loaded, the AHC starts to struggle with the increased pressure.

Little known technique, but my brother plumbed an air ride seat height valve to control his ride height--it works very well

 

[UTadventures]

I’ve considered air bladder helpers, and use them in my van; just a Schrader valve plumbed to both bladders, since payload on the Sienna is just 800lbs.

Little known technique, but my brother plumbed an air ride seat height valve to control his ride height--it works very well

 

[UTadventures]

And the middle seat has no headrest- not much of an issue with the back filled with backpacks.

There are seat belts for 3 ppl but the ppl needs to really little!

 

[awesomeissquid]

And the middle seat has no headrest- not much of an issue with the back filled with backpacks.

I had no idea about that. Great job with detailing everything. The process you have is really impressive!

 

[KliersLC]

I’ve considered air bladder helpers, and use them in my van; just a Schrader valve plumbed to both bladders, since payload on the Sienna is just 800lbs.

I've posted these before, but this was my setup in my 80.

and with the airbags inflated...

The only downside I ever found was that the LSPV was neutralized when correcting ride height with air bags, so I wasn't able to take advantage of the extra braking power from the rear axle with the extra weight on. There isn't really a viable solution to this other than A) trailer brakes, or B) in the absence of a trailer, adjusting the LSPV and staying loaded all the time. This is a bad idea if you drive around empty normally and load up for trips. The only other thing that I came up with is to take a Saturday and figure out exactly how the lspv should be adjusted, and then mark that spot--simply add "adjust LSPV" to the pre trip checklist.