It's a 25' Keystone Cougar. Tows great, water lines assembled with pinch that caused no water, electrical converter meant no camping without power, screws on stove flew off so only two burners, vent line on water not tight so leaked, valances falling off, flashing on slide fell off in spite of repeated tightening, handles on dump tanks fell off, mag wheels too thick to go on spare tire holder after flat, dust ingress even after duct taping was so bad we put everything we could fit under the bedspread,screws accumulating on counter after every leg of trip, various fasteners missing from undercarriage but those were the only problems. Except for the drawers that were stapled into the underneath of the counter and fell apart. And the brakes that were susceptible to the dust which resulted in coming most of the way home with intermittent "brake output shorted- no brakes" messages. Btw, the paddle shifters are the bomb. Other than that, no problem.
Towing with a 200-series Toyota Land Cruiser (1 Viewer)
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LOL! Adventure indeed. I know there is a bit of DIY involved in towing a trailer but this adventure appears to have taken that to the max.
Lol. At one point I had all of the 12 volt in the trailer shut off and the fridge on "gas" and an extension cord to the trailer from the LX inverter to power the fridge because the igniter needs power. Essentially a 360 hp 1 amp generator. Parked on the lawn and the 12 volt is working (?) but the last time I plugged it into the 120 volt only the 12 volt worked, no 120????
We are arguing over burning it in front of the dealer or on a roundy round by the freeway where the manufacturer might get some attention. It was quite disappointing because we had intended on taking a couple extra days on the Dempster highway where there is only 2 places with power over the 700+ Km's of road and the atmosphere there wasn't what we were looking for.
Both the LX and LC were great tow vehicles with the AHC giving the edge to the airbags in the LC. We had no problem keeping up with or ahead of the traffic and the cruise worked best around 100 kph but if set lower it searched a bit for gearing. The extra rpm at 100 seemed to provide just enough go that the searching was lessened. FYI, tranny in D, ECT in normal and suspension normal. And regular gas.
Great news on the LC/LX. Pretty sad on the trailer. I presume it was NOT new, right? I would be royally ticked if it were a new trailer.
The trip sounds like a great adventure, though!
The trip sounds like a great adventure, though!
- Thread starter
- #146
I can't speak to your specific fridge but mine is a Dometic and they should run on propane+12V or on 120V. You shouldn't need to run 120V to the fridge to get it to ignite. Just make sure you keep the fridge on "auto" or "propane" when you use the 12V+propane setting
I was surprised too. I read the instructions (!!!) and that was when I tried the 6l genny.
The trailer is a '13 that had less than 30 miles on it. The orig. owners moved it on their property and plugged it in, marital problems and I was told "they may have napped in it a couple of times" before we got it. We enjoyed it last summer in spite of the water issues and were looking forward to this trip. RV dealers are interesting too, I was told that they are taking appt's in Aug now.
The trip was amazing, spectacular vistas, friendly people from all over ( the ferry guy in Dawson said they have passengers from every state, province and Canadian territory) and unique flora. The history of the gold miners is humbling, the lost patrol brings a renewed sense of respect and google the Fort Macpherson tent and canvas factory and look where it is if you ever question First Nation enterprise. I got a nice gun case there.
So I sent back through the owners manual instructions on towing yesterday. (Imagine that. Reading the instructions.) When using a weight distribution hitch it talked about bringing the front wheel well height back to the the height prior to adding the trailer - in other words, no trailer. It mentioned nothing about trying to bring the rear end back to the unloaded height. I realize having the tow vehicle "level" is probably good. But maybe not something to be obsessed about if you can get the front end back to the unloaded height which possibly means that at that height (as an indication of weight on the springs) it is enough for stability and steering and whatever.
Ouch! Admitting that you read an Owner's Manual/Instructions is scary stuff.
With the added overall weight on the truck, there is no way to bring BOTH the front and rear back to unloaded height. It's interesting the alleged "Owner's Manual" (if that really exists), mentions bringing the front back down to unloaded height. Hmmm........I need a tape measure next time I hitch up.
Don't tell my wife I read the instructions!Here is what it says on page 181 of my 2016 Owner's Manual.
"If using a weight distributing hitch when towing, return the front axle to the same weight as before the trailer connection. If front axle weight cannot be measured directly, measure the front fender height above the front axle before connection. Adjust weight distributing hitch torque until front fender is returned to the same height as before connection."
BTW, the maker/owner of my ProPride hitch told me that same thing.
My family’s 200 is like a Swiss army knife; it does a bit of everything and all of it well. It’s a sharp tool. One of the many uses is towing, both a utility trailer with piles of miscellany to/from our cabin and a RV camping trailer. Overall, about 1/2 its life is spent dragging something around. I’ve got it dialed in just right for towing now. Here’s what works well for me towing a 3800 lb camper with 420 lb tongue weight, plus 2 people, a dog, and in the LC cargo area a load of camping/camera stuff:
P-metric 32” Defender LTX at 40 psi
Ride-Rite air bags in the rear at 20 psi
Andersen WDH (for sway control, not weight distribution) and with a drop hitch to level trailer
Transmission in S6, with ECT Power mode on
No cruise control use
My next step will be to figure out how to get transmission temp reported out on something, because my Scangauge II can’t do that.
When not towing, I drop the tire air pressure to 33 psi (except in deep sand where I sometimes go to 20 psi) and the air bags pressure to 6 psi. That combo gives a comfortable ride when not loaded. I now run ECT Power mode all the time.
P-metric 32” Defender LTX at 40 psi
Ride-Rite air bags in the rear at 20 psi
Andersen WDH (for sway control, not weight distribution) and with a drop hitch to level trailer
Transmission in S6, with ECT Power mode on
No cruise control use
My next step will be to figure out how to get transmission temp reported out on something, because my Scangauge II can’t do that.
When not towing, I drop the tire air pressure to 33 psi (except in deep sand where I sometimes go to 20 psi) and the air bags pressure to 6 psi. That combo gives a comfortable ride when not loaded. I now run ECT Power mode all the time.
- Thread starter
- #154
Oh yes apparently the 8 speed used different codes. I'm sure they are still accessible, but then PIDs are different.
For a few bucks you can get a Bluetooth OBD reader and download Torque to your android phone/tablet. I know Apple has an equivalent app, just not sure what it is.
Here's my setup, used for navigation, trail mapping, obd scanning/code clearing and music playing.
Here's mine after 30mins of 80mph
That's what I'll need to do, @TonyP. My iPhone is too busy all the time to hook it up to the OBDII port, but my iPad Mini is available for that, so I'll get a cable and app and see what I can do. That will be better and more info than the ScangaugeII anyway. But it is too bad Scangauge didn't keep up with new custom codes for all the new transmissions coming out.
BTW, if any of you are interested I picked up a useful (to me) book last week called Mountain Directory West. It is locations and descriptions of over 400 mountain passes and steep grades in 11 western states. Provides grades, length, location of truck escape ramps, etc. Since we plan to be doing a lot of towing around CO, UT, WY, MT, ID, OR and WA we are finding it useful for planning routes. Not a topic specific to LCs but thought some of you might be interested.
SoCal FZJ80
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Aussies tow with their 200 series quite extensively. Lovells released a package that allows 4 ton towing capacity. Lovells Suspension - For The Ride of Your Life - Company Profile - Products: GVM Upgrades - Toyota Landcruiser 200 Series
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