Newbie Ques for hitch selection

[iamandy]

Hi All,

Newbie to the forum and newbie to RVing.

Following is my future rig. Have bought the tow vehicle and have zeroed-in on the trailer but not yet purchased.

Tow vehicle is 2012 Acura MDX with 110k miles with newly installed OEM tow package. Vehicle weight is almost 6000 lbs and towing capacity is 5000 lbs.

Identified trailer is 2018 Venture RV Sonic Lite SL169VDB which has about 3360 UVW and 4000 lbs GCWR.

The tow vehicle(Acura MDX) is equipped with Trailer Stability Assist feature.

My question is do you think I need a Weight Distribution Hitch for this situation? Also, any comments of this is a good rig or I’m making any rookie mistakes with this setup.

Thanks in advance for taking the time.

[Grit_dog]

Wonderful!

[iamandy]

So I bought the trailer mention in original post. Picked it 230 miles from home and immediately towed it back home.

MDX towed like a Champ !

I got an anti-sway bar installed which was very helpful since it was windy and there were open valleys with gusts. With that, felt comfortable towing. Just slowed down when there were strong gusts. Was comfortable driving at 65-70 when there no gusts and 50-55 when there were gusts.

Tekonsha P3 proportional brake controller too helped I guess since never felt the trailer pushing the SUV.

Also went to a scale and got all axles measured. Front of my car came in 568 lbs below limit. Rear came 355 lbs below limit. Trailer axle came in at 3200 lbs.

Didn’t individually measure tongue weight.

Gas mileage dropped from 19mpg to 12 mpg. Trailer stability assist never came on since anti sway bar handled it quite well. The rout has several pretty steep grades and MDX handled them with ease including the automatic transmission using the right gears.

[spoon059]

Y-Guy wrote:
Check your owners manual first, the online version I found said, "A weight distributing hitch is not recommended for use with your vehicle, as an improperly adjusted weight distributing hitch may reduce handling, stability, and braking performance." Which it totally not what I expected.

Unibody frames usually don't recommend a WDH. The frame isn't strong enough to handle the forces.

[Grit_dog]

And fwiw, the lack of knowledge no offense meant , is why many recommend more vehicle than you need. Because an overkill vehicle reduces the magnitude of risk of poor decisions becoming costly issues.

[Grit_dog]

Good analysis. And I agree the trailer appears to be in your vehicles published capabilities. But drive it easy and gently. It’s no truck or big suv, by a good margin.
But you’re backwards on the hitch thing.
You WANT weight distribution and you WANT plenty of tongue weight. And with both, you’ll lessen or eliminate the need for sway control. But RVer s use sway control more than other types of trailers so keep it.

[ktmrfs]

iamandy wrote:
Looks like I’m well within the limits. Tongue weight is 369 lbs “with” full propane and battery. Dealer measured. Total trailer weight is 3360 lbs and even if fully loaded upto it’s maximum capacity it’s 4000 lbs. If I load some cargo in the rear I can actually reduce some tongue weight. Although it’s very unlikely I’ll ever fully load it but for sure I won’t exceed tongue weight capacity of my SUV.

As a cautious measure I have added a friction based anti-sway bar using a double ball hitch mount. Along with Trailer stability assist feature it should be OK. At least initially I’m not getting a WDH but if initial experience is not good I might consider it later.

Since posting initially. I have come across several threads where people have posted detailed experiences towing travel trailers with MDX that were significantly heavier than mine.

I’ll post mine as well here after picking up mine this Monday. It’s a 200+ mile drive.

your current hitch weight is barely over 10% I'd advise not shifting stuff around to reduce the tongue weight. That can get you into a stability issue and sway with to low of tongue weight.

The addition of a friction sway control was a good idea.

[iamandy]

Looks like I’m well within the limits. Tongue weight is 369 lbs “with” full propane and battery. Dealer measured. Total trailer weight is 3360 lbs and even if fully loaded upto it’s maximum capacity it’s 4000 lbs. If I load some cargo in the rear I can actually reduce some tongue weight. Although it’s very unlikely I’ll ever fully load it but for sure I won’t exceed tongue weight capacity of my SUV.

As a cautious measure I have added a friction based anti-sway bar using a double ball hitch mount. Along with Trailer stability assist feature it should be OK. At least initially I’m not getting a WDH but if initial experience is not good I might consider it later.

Since posting initially. I have come across several threads where people have posted detailed experiences towing travel trailers with MDX that were significantly heavier than mine.

I’ll post mine as well here after picking up mine this Monday. It’s a 200+ mile drive.

[ktmrfs]

have you or someone actually weight the tongue? And if so was it with full propane tanks, battery(s) in place and fresh water filled? If not do so. If it is what the mfg claims that weight does not account for propane or batteries or any cargo.

If it is empty by the time you fill one propane 5 gallon tank and add one battery you likely will add close to 100lbs to the tongue weight. Add the rest of the stuff and you could end up over 500lbs. of net tongue weight.

sway control and weight distribtion are esencially two seperate functions.

sway control systems generally require a WD hitch setup in some form, either as a method to attach a friction sway control bar or integral to the wd function.

Many WD hitches by themselves provide no direct sway control directly but get axle weights back to where there is better balance, but doesn't directly stop sway if it starts.

WD may help with stability by getting weight back on the front axle

[Grit_dog]

^Yes it does, although not likely sway will be an issue (it’s a figment of most RV TT owners imaginations).
The greatest benefit will be weight distributing which you’ll likely want/need as passenger car rear suspensions are very soft and compliant compared to vehicles designed more for hauling and towing. It’ll keep your car from doing the Carolina squat!

[iamandy]

Thank You everyone for your responses.

I did make a mistake when I didn’t properly qualify a number. What I mentioned as vehicle weight is not the curb weight, it was GVWR, which is indeed 6000 lbs (5952 to be precise). The curb weight as rightly pointed out above is 4600 lbs.

Some clarifications regarding the trailer. In unloaded state, the hitch weight (or tongue weight is 11% 369/3318). Rated towing capacity is 5000 lbs with 500 lbs tongue weight. The SUV is rated for full 5000 lbs towing capacity with 2 adult occupants.

I will never have more than two adults including driver in the car while towing and except for propane, battery and some water I will have minimal cargo. Someone estimated 200 lbs of food. This trailer doesn’t even have space to store that much food. At most we’ll have 50 lbs food and 50 lbs of other interior cargo like bedsheets, pillows, clothes. Total cargo would never exceed 200 lbs. It’s not hard for me to calculate that and stick to it.

Now back to my original question. Given this setup, does WDH help with sway and stability?

I went through the manual and didn’t find anything.

[ktmrfs]

I'd consider looking at something like an A-liner or some of the pop ups. First they have lower frontal area, less drag, second they are considerably lighter. Third once set up they are pretty roomy. And finally you'll be able to have a hitch weight reasonable enough for some cargo and people. Yes, they do take a bit more time to set up once at a campsite, but that's one of the tradeoffs.

We have an MDX, it's a great SUV, great family car, great for vacations with a large "trunk". decent ride, good handling. But I'd say it's not a good choice for towing something other than a pop up trailer or A-liner type trailer.

[valhalla360]

Can you do it? Sure.
Will it be a good option? Probably not.

Trailer:
4000lb GVWR - 3360lb UVW = 640lb of cargo capacity.

40lb propane (1 BBQ size tank), 60lb battery, 100lb (1/4 full water tank), 200lb food and drink, 100lb clothes & misc personal items, 100lb misc trailer gear, 100lb bikes...That's pretty limited selection and you are at 700lb cargo.

So what, put more in the truck...

Looking online, I found the payload is 1150lb:
- Family of 4...say 600lb, 50lb cooler, 100lb firewood, 600lb hitch weight (15% of trailer)...oops that's 1350lb.

If you go very minimalist, you can probably make it work but you will have to police weight at every step to stay within the ratings.

Probably better suited to a 2500-3000lb GVWR popup camper. That will free up some of the weight ratings to give you more flexibility.

Also, check if the "frontal area" has a limitation. You are essentially pulling something with the aerodynamics of a brick. A popup falls into the slipstream behind the car but a full height trailer creates a lot of drag. This can stress and heat up the transmission.

I would contact the dealer to see about a WDH. In principal, it's a good idea but I'm not sure if the unibody construction can take the stresses a WDH applies (they basically just have sheet metal folded over itself to give you a place to bolt it on). I've seen hitches literally rip out of their unibody mounts on a rough road.

[Grit_dog]

iamandy wrote:
Also, any comments of this is a good rig or I’m making any rookie mistakes with this setup.

Thanks in advance for taking the time.

While not ideal, I'd still drag a little trailer like that with your rig, provided there are no fatal flaws in the towing ability, like @ktmfrs pointed out.

[ktmrfs]

Grit dog wrote:
Vehicle weight sounds a little porky, unless you're figuring it loaded with passengers and stuff. Which would figure into your available payload.

Idk about the exact recommendation for that vehicle (based on the info posted above), but in general, little mid size suvs will want/need a wdh for any significant tongue weight. Not as tolerant of weight as say a full size truck or something designed more with towing and tongue weight in mind.
You're tracking correctly.

I think the OP may have misposted the MDX weigh. We have a 2021 MDX advance hybrid, the heaviest of the bunch and it is around 4500 lbs. IMHO the MDX tow rating is misleading at best, dangerous at worst. Typical cargo capacity which include hitch weight is about 1000lbs on the MDX. Now a 5,000lb trailer typically will have 700+lbs on the tongue. That leaves 250lbs for TOTAL other cargo, basically 1 passenger and suitcase. Fill the car with people and you'll be way over Cargo capacity or no capacity for trailer towing. And IIRC Acura has a 500lb limit on the hitch, so it conflicts with the typical 5,000lb trailer hitch weight of over 500lbs.

In fact passenger alone can get you over Cargo capacity. The MDX is available in either 6 or 7 person seating. Not hard to imagine going over 1000lbs with 6 passengers.

But then at campgrounds I've seen MDX and Pilots loaded with mom, dad and kids and a trunk full of stuff pull in with some pretty good sized trailers. Doubt they are realizing how overloaded they were, even with the tail almost dragging on the ground. A big problem with todays cars and trucks is they have the power to get this overload moving and going up hills and give a false sense of security. Not like 20+ years ago when vehicles really didn't have the power to tow rated loads, let alone an overloaded situation.