Can it be done safely?

PAThwacker wrote:
You can cook a gas SUV whether 5.3 or 6.0 on any of the roads, highways, secondary

Towing a full height with lambda shall fail equally well.

100K miles on my Sienna. 60K of that towing a full height trailer. No service has been needed aside from routine maintenance. I'm not an outlier here. The Sienna is a well made vehicle and a very capable tower if you stay within the manufacturer's recommendations. It's also not the only such vehicle. Newer Honda Odyssey and Pilots (year 2009 onwards) do well too.

I towed my Starcraft 18SB for a couple years with my 2012 AWD Traverse.

While my trailer is about a 800lbs lighter, it has more tongue weight than the 19H. If I had to guess, my tongue weight is well over 500lbs, but I believe my Traverse had around 1500lbs of payload.

After towing a couple times I made the determination that I didn't need a WDH. The trailer only dropped the rear of the Traverse about 1- 1 1/2 inches at most, even with the wife, two kids (small) and gear in the back. It towed bullet straight even when passing or being passed by other trailers on the highway. Never once did it feel unsafe.

The high final drive on the Traverse made it feel a tad light on power at 65mph on our hilly highways here in VT. It performed much better on secondary roads up to 55mph where I would hardly know the trailer was even there.

You can cook a gas SUV whether 5.3 or 6.0 on any of the roads, highways, secondary

Towing a full height with lambda shall fail equally well.

I think what your wanting to do will work if you set it up right,I also think if your going to do a lot of camping most every weekend,long trips your tv is going to get tired very fast

I have a 2015 Ford Flex and tow an AR-One 15RB. We picked it up while traveling up north and towed it about 300 miles before installing a WD hitch with sway control. The vehicle sagged to much in the rear and wandered a bit more than I liked. I purchased a Pro-Series WD with sway control for $256.00 , installed it and then drove 2000 miles back to the house. The PS hitch did a great job in leveling out the Flex and the manual sway control is more than sufficient. It does groan a bit a low speeds on tight corners but this is barely worth mentioning. The Flex's mileage at 62 mph dropped by 55% to around 9 mpg because of the frontal area of the trailer and the head winds. The last short trip it only dropped about 35% because there was no wind to speak of. With a smaller engine be prepared for a pretty big mileage hit.
Randy

Kibler wrote:
I am a conservative trailer hauler. Have you ever read the assumptions on vehicle trailer capacity. "trailer capacity assumes only driver. Any additional passengers or equipment reduces capacity. ...

Not true for all vehicles. e.g. Sienna, Odyssey, many others. Those two minivans in particular have quite high payload capacities and the only thing that subtracts from the payload for those vehicles is the tongue weight.

Op...please consider the EXPERIENCE of those who have had the pleasure of towing a large trailer with a good handling vehicle.

fwd doesn't make for a bad tow vehicle in and of itself. The Traverse is a great tow vehicle with a great handling suspension.

My Pentastar doesn't even blink at 3500 lbs. High RPM's...not even close...my V10 had to run more RPM's to maintain speed at GTW than my Pentastar.

Keep it in the ratings, dial in the Weight distribution hitch and sway control, use a good brake controller and enjoy a comfortable tow.

You do not need a truck to tow that little trailer.

Thanks!

Jeremiah

I am a conservative trailer hauler. Have you ever read the assumptions on vehicle trailer capacity. "trailer capacity assumes only driver. Any additional passengers or equipment reduces capacity. So 5000lb capacity, one extra passenger, 4850, gear and so on reducing your capacity. If your intent is to only travel flat land in Wisconsin, probably OK. Traveling west, need to factor 2% capability loss for every 1000FT. I have a traverse with 5000lb capacity and would never consider pulling my 19Ft Jayco with it. When traveling west with my suburban last year traveling 10% grade was getting high temps and slowing down considerably. Without a load leveling hitch I would expect the rear of the travers to be almost on the round. 400lb tonque weight on the rear of a traverse! Traverse 5000 lb capacity is intended for maybe snowmobile trailers, small popups, ... not big hybrid. Sorry not too positive but dealers do not always give the best advice just to sell a trailer.

You're in Wisconsin. Planning on staying ther or will you be visiting the Rockes? There's a BIG difference on many of these points if you will be towing in the mountains.

I live in an area where I climb a 6% grade to get 10 miles out of town. I can't tell you how many conked out SUVs and small trucks I see on the side of the highway any weekend I head up the mountain. I also CG host at Sequoia N.P. To get there with a trailer you need to pull an 18 mile long 6% grade. Try that in the summer when it's 110 on the valley floor with an under powered TV.

So my point is that you need to consider the terrain that you plan to use that combo in. Eastern grades are even worse than many we have in the West because roadways tend to be older.

Good luck with it.
Joe

AccidentalGenius wrote:
All,

Thank you again for all the replies, we've decided to get the trailer.

That being said, the dealership has said a few times that a WDH will not be needed and a sway bar is recommended if anything. There concern is the weight of the WDH vs the added value that it will bring in alleviating weight. They feel it will only result in maybe a 10% gain, and that they may not be enough given the weight of the trailer. They also recommended to try driving it without any sway or WDH and see if it feels like it may need it.

Any thoughts on this? I have found several good options for WDH hitches and some that have sway control also. Anyone have any opinions on using just a sway bar and no WDH?

I am thinking about getting something like this option - http://www.etrailer.com/Weight-Distribution/Pro-Series/PS49901.html

Again, my tongue weight is 400lbs.

thanks!

the dealer is not helping you. with a short wheelbase Traverse, you'll need a WDH with integrated sway control.

is that 400lbs. tongue weight from a brochure/website or did you actually weigh it?

my sister owns a Traverse and i would NEVER tow a full height HTT/TT without a WDH/sway control. a popup, sure.
your owners manual may have a weight recommendation for using a WDH, in the Towing section.
what does your hitch receiver say? should have a hitch weight with/without a WDH on it.