TT selection for Highlander SUV
Hello All! I'm totally a newbie to Travel Trailers (except towing a small pop-trailer of 1500lb 15 years ago). Me and my wife are looking next year for a light weight travel trailers for 2, under 4...
Forum Discussion
I have a 2008 Highlander with 5000 lb tow capacity (500 lb hitch weight capacity) with 170K miles on the odometer. About 140K of those miles have been put on with a trailer in tow. The Highlander is a good tow vehicle. I tow a cargo trailer for work, about 16' overall length and 3500 lb. My TT until recently was 2700 lb loaded, 7' wide and 99" high (KZ Escape 14RB).
One thing you really need to watch is the hitch weight. My KZ dry tongue weight was spec'd at 260 lb IIRC, but it was over 350 when loaded for camping, and nearly 400 with a full tank of water. The TT's you are considering are lighter on the hitch, in fact the Kodiak is way too light for safe towing. Rule of thumb is, you need to have at least 10% of the trailer's weight on the tongue but preferably a little more. 10% to 15% is considered to be the proper range. By the time you are loaded for camping, you will be very close to the 5000 lb limit. And you will have to try to hit 10% hitch weight right on the nose... too little and the rig is unstable, too much and you exceed your hitch rating (you don't want to have that receiver tear off at 60 mph, right?). So you would need a special scale to use while you load up, to get it just right every time... and don't change anything at the campground! On top of that, being right at the limit and having such a large frontal area means your HL will perform sluggishly. Wind resistance is huge, and you are looking at about 35% more frontal area than what I was towing. You'll really hate it on long climbs, especially at elevation. Mine had the trans temp light come on several times during my trip from OK to Yosemite and back in 2013.
I would recommend a lighter trailer with a smaller profile (20' length should be fine). Or get a Durango or Grand Cherokee with the V8 or diesel. These can handle the greater hitch weight and you won't be close on the overall weight, either.
One thing you really need to watch is the hitch weight. My KZ dry tongue weight was spec'd at 260 lb IIRC, but it was over 350 when loaded for camping, and nearly 400 with a full tank of water. The TT's you are considering are lighter on the hitch, in fact the Kodiak is way too light for safe towing. Rule of thumb is, you need to have at least 10% of the trailer's weight on the tongue but preferably a little more. 10% to 15% is considered to be the proper range. By the time you are loaded for camping, you will be very close to the 5000 lb limit. And you will have to try to hit 10% hitch weight right on the nose... too little and the rig is unstable, too much and you exceed your hitch rating (you don't want to have that receiver tear off at 60 mph, right?). So you would need a special scale to use while you load up, to get it just right every time... and don't change anything at the campground! On top of that, being right at the limit and having such a large frontal area means your HL will perform sluggishly. Wind resistance is huge, and you are looking at about 35% more frontal area than what I was towing. You'll really hate it on long climbs, especially at elevation. Mine had the trans temp light come on several times during my trip from OK to Yosemite and back in 2013.
I would recommend a lighter trailer with a smaller profile (20' length should be fine). Or get a Durango or Grand Cherokee with the V8 or diesel. These can handle the greater hitch weight and you won't be close on the overall weight, either.
