- Joined
- Dec 31, 2021
- Messages
- 119
- Gallery
- 7
- Reaction score
- 94
- Location
- Southwest Montana
- Current Ride
- 2022 OrangeRex
This is also the first time I or my wife have ever towed. We’ve both driven larger and heavier vehicles so we had some idea what to expect in terms of wind, bounce etc.
Stayed dry weight: 4,300lbs
Stated hitch weight: 452lbs
Trailer GVWR: 5,500lbs
Actual hitch weight (per weight safe WDH) came in slightly under 400lbs. I didn’t go to a weight scale so I don’t know for this drive what the axle breakdown was.
There was no issue accelerating, and while the brakes were soft they did okay, not dissimilar from our old camper van, you just need to go slow, and give yourself time.
The two issues we encountered were
1. The amount of bounce that bad roads or road seams caused. This was largely me being paranoid, my wife and the dog didn’t notice at all.
2. The amount of squat / nose up. During the day not noticeable at all, but once the night came and we needed lights literally everyone was flashing us because we were blinding them.
The route we took was from Jerome ID to Bozeman MT. First section was relatively flat and calm weather, after Idaho Falls we started hitting 25-30 mile per hour gusts, made little difference to overall handling.
Once we got back into Montana we took 87 -> 287 -> 84. We know this route well, it’s moderately hilly with slow turns, which the truck handled admirably. As we exited the rural parts into 4 corners we hit some side winds which did cause a little teetering but I’d say only a little worse than driving a camper van and better than a uhaul or rental RV. Again just take it slow.
I think with proper WDH config this will be a breeze. The RV dealer installed our WDH for us, but given the amount of nose-up I suspect it can be tweaked to perform better. The tow ball also was a bit stuck, I had to jump on it to get it to decouple, which seems wrong (any insights here?)
Stayed dry weight: 4,300lbs
Stated hitch weight: 452lbs
Trailer GVWR: 5,500lbs
Actual hitch weight (per weight safe WDH) came in slightly under 400lbs. I didn’t go to a weight scale so I don’t know for this drive what the axle breakdown was.
There was no issue accelerating, and while the brakes were soft they did okay, not dissimilar from our old camper van, you just need to go slow, and give yourself time.
The two issues we encountered were
1. The amount of bounce that bad roads or road seams caused. This was largely me being paranoid, my wife and the dog didn’t notice at all.
2. The amount of squat / nose up. During the day not noticeable at all, but once the night came and we needed lights literally everyone was flashing us because we were blinding them.
The route we took was from Jerome ID to Bozeman MT. First section was relatively flat and calm weather, after Idaho Falls we started hitting 25-30 mile per hour gusts, made little difference to overall handling.
Once we got back into Montana we took 87 -> 287 -> 84. We know this route well, it’s moderately hilly with slow turns, which the truck handled admirably. As we exited the rural parts into 4 corners we hit some side winds which did cause a little teetering but I’d say only a little worse than driving a camper van and better than a uhaul or rental RV. Again just take it slow.
I think with proper WDH config this will be a breeze. The RV dealer installed our WDH for us, but given the amount of nose-up I suspect it can be tweaked to perform better. The tow ball also was a bit stuck, I had to jump on it to get it to decouple, which seems wrong (any insights here?)
