Confused about weight distribution

I would not tow anything with a grand caravan. I had one and I towed a 12 ft boat and the tranny went out. they are not the best thing onthe planet. it cost a ton of money to fix so I traded it in on a truck.

Sorry, wizards, but what’s hard to understand? 2,000 pound limit without WDH...i.e. you’ll be over 2k loaded and wet...seems clear to me. Haven’t seen a TT, 5er, hybird or pop up towed dry and empty in my life.

I found this on a Dodge dealer’s website

Best-in-Class Towing
When equipped with the proper equipment, the 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan is able to get a best-in-class towing capacity of 3,600 pounds. The available towing package is called the Trailer Tow Group, and includes a Class II receiver hitch, a load-leveling and height-control suspension, and the average four-pin connector wiring harness for the trailer.

If your Grand Caravan has the Trailer Tow Group as an option, then the towing capacity would be 3600 lbs. A GC without it would be limited to 2000 lbs.
FYI, any trailer with electric brakes will need a brake controller to activate the brakes. You will need to check into this.
FWIW, I towed a popup with a Grand Caravan about 15 years ago. The GC did okay in the flatlands, but strained in the mountains. I recall being concerned about wear and tear on the brakes and transmission.
Hope this helps. Keep asking questions!

You can try it without the weight distribution hitch and see how the Caravan rides. The problem is the Caravan has such a soft suspension that it will take very little weight to make the car's tail end almost drag the ground. The weight distribution hitch will transfer some of that weight to the front axle.

does your Caravan have the factory tow package?
that's more than just the hitch receiver.
does it have the pre-wiring for a brake controller and trans cooler?

wizards8507 wrote:
Sorry about the newbie threads lately, but this should be the last one. My tow vehicle is a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan. Capacity is ~3,000 lbs (3,600 minus 100 for stow-and-go seats and 500 for family and luggage). We're looking at a 10' box popup that's 1,600 lbs dry and 2,200 GVWR.

My concern is the hitch receiver. We have the OEM receiver, MoPar #82213168AC. The website says "3,800-lb tow rating with weight distributing equipment, otherwise 2,000-lb tow rating." Does that really mean I need a weight distribution hitch for a small popup? Everything I've read makes it sound like weight distribution is laughable for a trailer so light and that it could actually do serious damage to the trailer. Am I just screwed unless I only tow the pup dry and empty?

You can not use weight distribution with most pop ups. Generally if the structural members of the A frame where the spring bar brackets would attach are C channels forget about it. They'll typically state that in the original mfg manual.

If they are tube the weight distribution most likely can be used. The only pop ups I am aware of now days with tube A frames are some of the high walls made by Rockwood/Flagstaff, possibly larger Palominos, and maybe some of the Columbia NW Somersets. I know the 2010 Palomino Y4124 which was a 12' box with shoilet that we owned could not, as it had c channel A frame despite being one of the larger and heavier pop ups made at the time. It had a huge disclaimer In the manual to not use WD. In the past most Coleman/Fleetwood/FCTA pups also could use a WDH except the smallest models.


As far as towing a 10' box with a Caravan perhaps add some suspension enhancements and see how it tows. Search around popupportal. Plenty of people have towed pop ups with Caravans. I even see a lot of people towing smaller hybrids and TT's with them right, wrong, or indifferent, although I would never consider it. The RV forum weight police are going to tell you that you need a 1 ton diesel dually lol.

So the manual that was written by the Engineers that built the GC tell you what you need to use to tow with it; and you come here for what? Confirmation that you don't really need to follow the manual? Fine by me, don't use one, it's not my car.

P.S. I've never heard of properly sized and adjusted weight distribution bars damaging a trailer. Where did you come by that information?

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
I found this on a Dodge dealer’s website

Best-in-Class Towing
When equipped with the proper equipment, the 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan is able to get a best-in-class towing capacity of 3,600 pounds. The available towing package is called the Trailer Tow Group, and includes a Class II receiver hitch, a load-leveling and height-control suspension, and the average four-pin connector wiring harness for the trailer.

If your Grand Caravan has the Trailer Tow Group as an option, then the towing capacity would be 3600 lbs. A GC without it would be limited to 2000 lbs.
FYI, any trailer with electric brakes will need a brake controller to activate the brakes. You will need to check into this.
FWIW, I towed a popup with a Grand Caravan about 15 years ago. The GC did okay in the flatlands, but strained in the mountains. I recall being concerned about wear and tear on the brakes and transmission.
Hope this helps. Keep asking questions!

That information is incorrect (or misleading at least). I linked the dealer brochure for the 2016 GC below. The Trailer Tow Group is only an option on the R/T trim, but it doesn't actually do anything to increase towing capacity. It's essentially a sales gimmick. The AVP, SE, SE Plus, SXT, and SXT Plus trims are all rated at 3,600 lbs and the Trailer Tow Group is not even an option for them (see page 21 of the PDF below). The equipment I had installed at the dealer is "better" than the Trailer Tow Group anyways. It's a Class III hitch and a seven-pin connector.

https://cdn.dealereprocess.net/cdn/brochures/dodge/2016-grandcaravan.pdf

troubledwaters wrote:
So the manual that was written by the Engineers that built the GC tell you what you need to use to tow with it; and you come here for what? Confirmation that you don't really need to follow the manual? Fine by me, don't use one, it's not my car.

No, that's not what I'm saying. And frankly, people like you are what keep people like me from entering the world of RV camping in the first place. Know-it-alls, usually with giant rigs and F-350s, who piss on people trying to learn from those with more experience.

Everything I'm looking to do is 100% in compliance with the manual. The only place I've seen the weight distribution equipment mentioned is on the MoPar product description of the hitch I have installed. It has nothing to do with the vehicle itself.

troubledwaters wrote:
P.S. I've never heard of properly sized and adjusted weight distribution bars damaging a trailer. Where did you come by that information?

See Ralph Cramden's post above.

Earl E wrote:
You can try it without the weight distribution hitch and see how the Caravan rides. The problem is the Caravan has such a soft suspension that it will take very little weight to make the car's tail end almost drag the ground. The weight distribution hitch will transfer some of that weight to the front axle.

Is it possible that your information is outdated and things have changed with newer-model GCs? I weigh more than what the tongue weight of my trailer will be and when I jump up and down on the bumper, the suspension barely moves an inch.

Every once in awhile I read a post that makes me recall the view I had while bringing up the rear of a 12 horse trail ride.

My previous post described the factory tow package. Besides the receiver and 4 pin harness, it has a load leveling and height control suspension. This suspension is doing, or at least attempting to do the work that a WD hitch would normally do. In other words, a Grand Caravan with the tow package does not need a WD hitch.
The OP needs to check if his Grand Caravan has the factory tow package (check with a dealer if unsure) and if he will need a brake controller for the trailer that’s under consideration.

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
My previous post described the factory tow package. Besides the receiver and 4 pin harness, it has a load leveling and height control suspension. This suspension is doing, or at least attempting to do the work that a WD hitch would normally do. In other words, a Grand Caravan with the tow package does not need a WD hitch.

So when the MoPar hitch receiver says "3,800-lb tow rating with weight distributing equipment, otherwise 2,000-lb tow rating," you're saying the load leveling and height control suspension in the tow package fulfills the need for "weight distributing equipment"?

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
The OP needs to check if his Grand Caravan has the factory tow package (check with a dealer if unsure)

I do. If my understanding above is correct, I'm all set.

Mortimer Brewster wrote:
and if he will need a brake controller for the trailer that’s under consideration.

I do. I'm wired for it, I just need the controller itself. Recommended at 1,000 lbs and required at 2,000.