Towing with a 200-series Toyota Land Cruiser (18 Viewers)

[Artie]

for those wanting to know what the Hitch Ezy is

I did end up ordering this the other day. I’m going to have to make some mods to my camper to make it work and John at Hitch Ezy is probably going to ship me a ball mount to satisfy the clearance on the vehicle side.

Excited to upgrade from the max coupler.

 

[WCKD RBL]

Question for the thread.

I am about to tow a 7300lb GVWR trailer with about 1000# - 1100# tongue weight all loaded across the western US including a few mountain ranges. Right now I am running ICON progressives in the rear with airbagman high pressure airbags in them. I also plan to use an equalizer load distribution hitch with sway control, and have a Primus IQ brake controller. Note that I do have an LRA auxilary tank installed (12.5 gallon) so there is already some extra weight in back.

Should I consider moving to OME 2723 springs in the rear?? I can certainly add weight to the rear when not towing / to smooth out DD. Any thoughts / opinions / real world experiences are appreciated!!

 

[linuxgod]

I would. Actually I am considering them. No LRA tank but considering a swingout bumper impact. Replied to your PM as well

 

[WCKD RBL]

Thanks so much for the PM! I responded directly. I think I'll install them and compensate for DD by keeping tools, etc loaded in the rear and a full auxilary tank. I'd rather be safe and "Australian legal" driving as I'll be pushing the payload.

Stock my cruiser has a GVWR of 7385#. Stock with full fuel tank it weighs 5765#. I have removed the third row seats but added a LRA auxilary tank and sliders, so the net gain is about 250#. That leaves me with a stock payload of 1370#. Adding the 2723s that should get me another 440# giving me roughly 1810# payload. Between people, animals, minimal gear and the auxilary fuel tank I"ll be carrying 780# on board. I'll have as little as 840# on the hitch (putting me 250# over stock gvrw) and as much as 1030# (putting me 440# over GVWR but compensated by the 440# OME 2723s). That's my poor math anyway...

The next concern is rear axle weight. I can't violate that max... so I'll need to hit the cat scales. That said I'll be using an Equalizer LD / anti-sway hitch so I can transition some of that weight to front axle.

I welcome any additional thoughts from all! Much appreciated.

 

[linuxgod]

Might look at anything you can do to shift weight off the tongue of the trailer as well. For instance I moved my battery to the interior under my fridge. Or add weight behind the rear axle of the trailer (like a cooler or bikes) which will act as a lever and pull it off the tongue

 

[Sandroad]

Thanks so much for the PM! I responded directly. I think I'll install them and compensate for DD by keeping tools, etc loaded in the rear and a full auxilary tank. I'd rather be safe and "Australian legal" driving as I'll be pushing the payload.

Stock my cruiser has a GVWR of 7385#. Stock with full fuel tank it weighs 5765#. I have removed the third row seats but added a LRA auxilary tank and sliders, so the net gain is about 250#. That leaves me with a stock payload of 1370#. Adding the 2723s that should get me another 440# giving me roughly 1810# payload. Between people, animals, minimal gear and the auxilary fuel tank I"ll be carrying 780# on board. I'll have as little as 840# on the hitch (putting me 250# over stock gvrw) and as much as 1030# (putting me 440# over GVWR but compensated by the 440# OME 2723s). That's my poor math anyway...

The next concern is rear axle weight. I can't violate that max... so I'll need to hit the cat scales. That said I'll be using an Equalizer LD / anti-sway hitch so I can transition some of that weight to front axle.

I welcome any additional thoughts from all! Much appreciated.

I'm glad you're going to hit the CAT scales. Knowing the tongue weight when loaded for travel will help a lot to get things safely balanced out. And don't forget the weight of the Equilizer hitch.....that's not insignificant when you're towing right at the limit.

 

[dcs111]

Thanks so much for the PM! I responded directly. I think I'll install them and compensate for DD by keeping tools, etc loaded in the rear and a full auxilary tank. I'd rather be safe and "Australian legal" driving as I'll be pushing the payload.

Stock my cruiser has a GVWR of 7385#. Stock with full fuel tank it weighs 5765#. I have removed the third row seats but added a LRA auxilary tank and sliders, so the net gain is about 250#. That leaves me with a stock payload of 1370#. Adding the 2723s that should get me another 440# giving me roughly 1810# payload. Between people, animals, minimal gear and the auxilary fuel tank I"ll be carrying 780# on board. I'll have as little as 840# on the hitch (putting me 250# over stock gvrw) and as much as 1030# (putting me 440# over GVWR but compensated by the 440# OME 2723s). That's my poor math anyway...

The next concern is rear axle weight. I can't violate that max... so I'll need to hit the cat scales. That said I'll be using an Equalizer LD / anti-sway hitch so I can transition some of that weight to front axle.

I welcome any additional thoughts from all! Much appreciated.

Post a pic with that pig loaded, will ya

 

[Prime]

Recently did a few hundred miles pulling a Defender 90 one way and a FJ45 the other. 200 performed flawlessly.

 

[WCKD RBL]

Thanks all for the feedback. I am moving to lithium... reducing size of propane tanks and moving to aluminum, and moving the spare from front of trailer to rear. I'll also see what I can load in the rear to counter balance. I'll get a pic... but it may be a few months!

 

[TeCKis300]

Thanks all for the feedback. I am moving to lithium... reducing size of propane tanks and moving to aluminum, and moving the spare from front of trailer to rear. I'll also see what I can load in the rear to counter balance. I'll get a pic... but it may be a few months!

Be careful with shifting too much weight. There's actually liability in reducing tongue weight as it has a positive effect for stability. Conversely, ballasting too much weight at the rear of the travel trailer, or behind the axles of the trailer, can decrease stability pretty dramatically and invite the onset of sway at lower speeds.

That's why there's a rule of thumb to maintain 10-15% tongue weight.

It's counterintuitive, but tongue weight can be a positive thing.

I would avoid adding too much weight to your rig as you'll likely not remove it upon towing. WD bars should be relied upon more to level the tow vehicle and shift tongue weight to the tow vehicle front axle and trailer axles. While more spring rate can add support, it also has the potential to mask some setup issues that affect sway and stability.

One of the most critical things is to make sure the hitch ball is as close and tight to the rear bumper as possible, as any added length just give the trailer more leverage for porpoising and sway.

Here's a pretty thorough video that demonstrates some of the dynamics

 

[Leaky2014]

I’ve pulled this over every mountain pass in Colorado and pretty much the entire SW, NW and more. Fully loaded with water the tongue weight is right at 1k, I have air bags in the rear. Right at the max limit for payload. It has no problem.

 

[linuxgod]

Thanks all for the feedback. I am moving to lithium... reducing size of propane tanks and moving to aluminum, and moving the spare from front of trailer to rear. I'll also see what I can load in the rear to counter balance. I'll get a pic... but it may be a few months!

If you go to Lithium (LiFePO4) you'll want to get it inside your cabin if you ever plan to leave Texas. LFP batteries can't charge below freezing, and while they can discharge down to around 10F they become a lot less efficient as the temp drops.

I personally have 20# propane cylinders instead of 30# ones, but it's not for weight reasons - it's because it's sooo much easier to just swap one at any gas station when it's empty than to have to find a propane refill station.

Moving the spare to the rear is a good idea.

To @TeCKis300's point, you do need to keep weight on the tongue as moving a bunch of weight to the rear will affect sway. But if you've got 1000# or more on the tongue for a 7300# trailer I would definitely try to get it to somewhere in the 900-1000# range, or as best you can anyway. And most trailers axles are about twice as far from the hitch as from their own rear bumper, so moving a 50# tire/wheel off the tongue to the far rear bumper will likely move ~75# of weight off the tongue, for instance.

 

[WCKD RBL]

This is awesome! Thanks all!

Leaky - is that a ProPride hitch you are using? Are you running airbags? What rear springs? ...or are you stock? THANKS!

Linux - yes def going to install the lifepo inside under the bed.

I'll make sure I'm over 10% on hitch weight

 

[urinalcake]

Put 'er to work the day I bought it. In other words, drove my Volvo about six hours to buy the truck, bought it, rented a trailer to haul my car back home. 2200 lb trailer + 3800 lb car = 6000 lbs was a breeze. AHC doing its thing to keep the tail from squatting from the tongue weight. 13.8 mpg avg on three tanks of gas on the way home - all flat land interstate. If you ever need to haul a vehicle, the U-Haul trailer is such an awesome option! Easy loading / unloading of the vehicle. Very sturdy construction. Easy tow.

 

[urinalcake]

Cleaning up a couple of old oak trees in my yard...

...and hauling them to a friend's house.

 

[urinalcake]

 

[WCKD RBL]

Urinalcake... what hitch, if any, were you using for that heavy haul?

 

[urinalcake]

^ nothing fancy. Standard Curt hitch with 7500 lb capacity, 4" drop, and 2" ball.

 

[Missionary Kid]

Now that gas is headed for $10 /Gal, I am driving from Seattle to LA next week to pick up my 2022 Airstream Basecamp 20X. My LC is a 2017 and I have settled on an Andersen LD hitch setup and I am rolling on KO2s 285/75/17s. Any tips from the tribe?

 

[linuxgod]

Buy oil futures