Sequoia towing at max for over 5,000 miles - comfortably

[RinconVTR]

I posted the same write up in the Tundra forum but felt it belonged here as well as so many people ask about towing with their SUV.

2010 Toyota Sequoia Limited with 155,000 miles
ATF changed out every year, all other fluids kept fresh as well.
LT tires, Bilstien shocks all around, rear spring spacer.

2017 Grand Design 2800BH with shock kit and Hensley hitch. Gross weight fully loaded is 7100lbs with a tongue weight of 960lbs. Again that's fully loaded, with some amount of fresh water, and the Hensley hitch with 1400lbs bars.

Wisconsin to many parts of Cali and many stops in between.
6934 miles total
5,000++ miles towing, including towing to/from/thru Yosemeti, Rocky Mountain NP, Death Valley.
We were towing and pulling thru mountain hills at temps well over 100 multiple days, many days were around 115. Death Valley day was 121.

I'll be very frank, I could not tow this trailer without the Hensley (or Propride) design hitch. I used to tow a 24' trailer with the Sequoia (Honda Pilot too!) and did very well. But one day out of the blue I opted to try the Hensley and never went back. There is simply no comparison.

IMO, anyone feeling they need a bigger truck to tow their in weight spec travel trailer, try one of these hitches before you throw down on a bigger truck or dump your trailer! They have a 60 day trail period, you would only loose about $150 to ship the unit back if you found its not for you. Make no mistake, there will be things you hate about it, but you will absolutely love towing with it. Best of all...you get to keep your favorite 1/2 ton or SUV...and/or avoid buying a dedicated tow vehicle.

EDIT: Additional info;

- Rear camera on trailer is now a requirement for me.

- Brake controller is a Prodigy P2 with "boost option" set on B3.

- Tireminder TPMS (Caught a low tire one early morning, of which eventually required installing the spare and installing the loose spare I bought along. Booster installed, but still lost signal at random, only at speed)

- Levelmate Pro (Wasn't sold on this at first, now I love it)

- LT tire PSI. 65psi Front, 70psi Rear








Vegas baby...


Near the 12,000ft peak of Rocky Mtn NP...




EDITED to fix image sizing from IMGUR.

[firestorm79]

RinconVTR wrote:



I think its fair to say, practically every vehicle and towing rig type in the world has been involved in some unfortunate incident.

But it takes a special type of weak human being to paste such images into a forum and add their own pure speculation simply to create fear in people.

Why is it the people who overload their vehicles are the one's who feel the need to post about how they've successfully done it without any problems? Then there's the people who laud them for their "accomplishment". I don't often see people that have 1,000 lbs of extra payload after they're fully loaded posting about how they've done it without problems. There's no need to. The point of me posting the pictures was because it is a similar setup to what the OP posted and a caution to those who think it can't happen to them.

[rbpru]

It is impossible to say how any rig combination will handle in all situations and even if you could, no one can say how the driver will react.

Photos of TT accidents may serve to keep us on our toes but they do little to provide the cause. Accidents are just that, the root cause; such a sleeping at the wheel, frame or hitch failure, high winds, road hazard etc. rarely show up in a crash photo. Speculations however seem in great supply.

[daka320]

Good God! This guy has put a lot of time, effort, and money making sure his combination of tow vehicle and travel trailer works! He showed the weights and everything else for everyone to see. I would be more than happy to ride along with him.

[RinconVTR]

I think its fair to say, practically every vehicle and towing rig type in the world has been involved in some unfortunate incident.

But it takes a special type of weak human being to paste such images into a forum and add their own pure speculation simply to create fear in people.

[fireman41]

Gdetrailer wrote:

RinconVTR wrote:
I posted the same write up in the Tundra forum but felt it belonged here as well as so many people ask about towing with their SUV.

2010 Toyota Sequoia Limited with 155,000 miles
ATF changed out every year, all other fluids kept fresh as well.
LT tires, Bilstien shocks all around, rear spring spacer.

2017 Grand Design 2800BH with shock kit and Hensley hitch. Gross weight fully loaded is 7100lbs with a tongue weight of 960lbs. Again that's fully loaded, with some amount of fresh water, and the Hensley hitch with 1400lbs bars.

Wisconsin to many parts of Cali and many stops in between.
6934 miles total
5,000++ miles towing, including towing to/from/thru Yosemeti, Rocky Mountain NP, Death Valley.
We were towing and pulling thru mountain hills at temps well over 100 multiple days, many days were around 115. Death Valley day was 121.

I'll be very frank, I could not tow this trailer without the Hensley (or Propride) design hitch. I used to tow a 24' trailer with the Sequoia (Honda Pilot too!) and did very well. But one day out of the blue I opted to try the Hensley and never went back. There is simply no comparison.

IMO, anyone feeling they need a bigger truck to tow their in weight spec travel trailer, try one of these hitches before you throw down on a bigger truck or dump your trailer! They have a 60 day trail period, you would only loose about $150 to ship the unit back if you found its not for you. Make no mistake, there will be things you hate about it, but you will absolutely love towing with it. Best of all...you get to keep your favorite 1/2 ton or SUV...and/or avoid buying a dedicated tow vehicle.

EDIT: Additional info;
- Rear camera on trailer is now a requirement for me.
- Brake controller is a Prodigy P2 with "boost option" set on B3.








Vegas baby...


Near the 12,000ft peak of Rocky Mtn NP...

Your "gleefulness" of your "demonstration" of just how "good" your borderline over specifications rig is really saddening if not a bit sickening to me.

It really SHOULD be more like "FOLKS, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME" type of demonstration.

You have been LUCKY, but keep in mind, one day, MR MURPHEY WILL come to visit you.. And on that day, YOU may not be so lucky.

I HAVE been visited by Mr Murphy not once but TWICE with DEER running right in front of me while towing a trailer loaded at about 6500 lbs while driving 68 MPH.

Fortunately for me and my family I INTENTIONALLY chose to go with a much more capable tow vehicle than what you have.. I have been towing TTs for 15 yrs now and my vehicle of choice at a minimum is a 3/4 ton truck..

My current truck has 3415 lbs of CARGO capacity and my 860 lb tongue weight is nothing for my vehicle to handle, in fact, I go bare foot without WD or sway control..

BOTH times I never lost control or even felt like I was going to lose control.. BOTH times I was able to maintain full and complete control of the vehicle and trailer. BOTH times I never left the lane, no sway, not even a slight hint..

IF I had YOUR setup (including your HA hitch), the outcome would have been pretty grim to fatal for not only the deer but myself or my family.

Marginal setups like yours can be "made" to work under NORMAL CONDITIONS (IE sunshine and no obstacles) but when presented with bad weather or emergency maneuvers like a deer darting in front of you or a car stopping in front of you all bets will be off.

I should know about marginal setups, used to tow a utility trailer with a small car before I had a TT, was not fun and fought me all the time..

It wasn't until a bought a pickup truck and discovered a whole different world of towing that was not a fight..

I simply did not know better until I had a much better suited tow vehicle.

My post comes from the voice of experience, I have been there, done that with an overloaded tow vehicle.. I will not go back to that.

I'm sorry but if you feel that you would have lost control of a fully loaded vehicle, and killed someone because of a deer. Please stay off the road. We don't need more people out here who can't drive.

Also the OP setup is no worse than someone pulling a 3 axle fifth wheel toy hauler With a 2500/250.

[Adam_H]

Gdetrailer wrote:

RinconVTR wrote:
I posted the same write up in the Tundra forum but felt it belonged here as well as so many people ask about towing with their SUV.

2010 Toyota Sequoia Limited with 155,000 miles
ATF changed out every year, all other fluids kept fresh as well.
LT tires, Bilstien shocks all around, rear spring spacer.

2017 Grand Design 2800BH with shock kit and Hensley hitch. Gross weight fully loaded is 7100lbs with a tongue weight of 960lbs. Again that's fully loaded, with some amount of fresh water, and the Hensley hitch with 1400lbs bars.

Wisconsin to many parts of Cali and many stops in between.
6934 miles total
5,000++ miles towing, including towing to/from/thru Yosemeti, Rocky Mountain NP, Death Valley.
We were towing and pulling thru mountain hills at temps well over 100 multiple days, many days were around 115. Death Valley day was 121.

I'll be very frank, I could not tow this trailer without the Hensley (or Propride) design hitch. I used to tow a 24' trailer with the Sequoia (Honda Pilot too!) and did very well. But one day out of the blue I opted to try the Hensley and never went back. There is simply no comparison.

IMO, anyone feeling they need a bigger truck to tow their in weight spec travel trailer, try one of these hitches before you throw down on a bigger truck or dump your trailer! They have a 60 day trail period, you would only loose about $150 to ship the unit back if you found its not for you. Make no mistake, there will be things you hate about it, but you will absolutely love towing with it. Best of all...you get to keep your favorite 1/2 ton or SUV...and/or avoid buying a dedicated tow vehicle.

EDIT: Additional info;
- Rear camera on trailer is now a requirement for me.
- Brake controller is a Prodigy P2 with "boost option" set on B3.








Vegas baby...


Near the 12,000ft peak of Rocky Mtn NP...

Your "gleefulness" of your "demonstration" of just how "good" your borderline over specifications rig is really saddening if not a bit sickening to me.

It really SHOULD be more like "FOLKS, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME" type of demonstration.

You have been LUCKY, but keep in mind, one day, MR MURPHEY WILL come to visit you.. And on that day, YOU may not be so lucky.

I HAVE been visited by Mr Murphy not once but TWICE with DEER running right in front of me while towing a trailer loaded at about 6500 lbs while driving 68 MPH.

Fortunately for me and my family I INTENTIONALLY chose to go with a much more capable tow vehicle than what you have.. I have been towing TTs for 15 yrs now and my vehicle of choice at a minimum is a 3/4 ton truck..

My current truck has 3415 lbs of CARGO capacity and my 860 lb tongue weight is nothing for my vehicle to handle, in fact, I go bare foot without WD or sway control..

BOTH times I never lost control or even felt like I was going to lose control.. BOTH times I was able to maintain full and complete control of the vehicle and trailer. BOTH times I never left the lane, no sway, not even a slight hint..

IF I had YOUR setup (including your HA hitch), the outcome would have been pretty grim to fatal for not only the deer but myself or my family.

Marginal setups like yours can be "made" to work under NORMAL CONDITIONS (IE sunshine and no obstacles) but when presented with bad weather or emergency maneuvers like a deer darting in front of you or a car stopping in front of you all bets will be off.

I should know about marginal setups, used to tow a utility trailer with a small car before I had a TT, was not fun and fought me all the time..

It wasn't until a bought a pickup truck and discovered a whole different world of towing that was not a fight..

I simply did not know better until I had a much better suited tow vehicle.

My post comes from the voice of experience, I have been there, done that with an overloaded tow vehicle.. I will not go back to that.

You gotta be kidding me. He stated he wasn't over loaded and towed over 6000 Miles in one shot. Nothing "marginal" about it and after this trip he has already proven you wrong.

I suppose he should've bought an F550 to tow with. Sheesh, get real...

[rbpru]

I would seem to me that if you cross the weight scales with all the axel, max cargo and total combo weight in spec. you should have little difficulty towing.

You are doing what the combination was intended to do.

My 25 ft. Dutchmen puts my F-150 near it's limit and I have towed over 30,000 miles. I even used the stock "P" tires.

I am sure there are advantages to bigger and stronger TVs and there is significant wear and tear on any TV when towing near its limit. However, as you have found out, it will do the job.

[Andy_F]

Very similar experience for us with a '08 Sequoia Limited and the 5.7 liter engine. We have the ProPride hitch and I also would never tow without it. The Sequoia is a great tow vehicle if you need an SUV.

[coolmom42]

Clearly with or without that WDH you are close to spec on all counts. Also clearly the Sequoia can handle it. Toyota is very conservative in calculating ALL the capabilities of the Sequoia. That engine will pull most anything, it's mainly the suspension and axles you have to consider.

Sounds like a nice setup.

I'm planning to get a Sequoia and much smaller trailer for my own use in a couple of years. I've towed with a Sequoia in the past, at about 5000 gross trailer weight, with an Equalizer hitch and the 4.6 L engine that was in the older Sequoias. Went up and down the Bighorns in 3rd at 45 mph, but was still a good tow and a very comfortable vehicle.

[Gdetrailer]

RinconVTR wrote:
I posted the same write up in the Tundra forum but felt it belonged here as well as so many people ask about towing with their SUV.

2010 Toyota Sequoia Limited with 155,000 miles
ATF changed out every year, all other fluids kept fresh as well.
LT tires, Bilstien shocks all around, rear spring spacer.

2017 Grand Design 2800BH with shock kit and Hensley hitch. Gross weight fully loaded is 7100lbs with a tongue weight of 960lbs. Again that's fully loaded, with some amount of fresh water, and the Hensley hitch with 1400lbs bars.

Wisconsin to many parts of Cali and many stops in between.
6934 miles total
5,000++ miles towing, including towing to/from/thru Yosemeti, Rocky Mountain NP, Death Valley.
We were towing and pulling thru mountain hills at temps well over 100 multiple days, many days were around 115. Death Valley day was 121.

I'll be very frank, I could not tow this trailer without the Hensley (or Propride) design hitch. I used to tow a 24' trailer with the Sequoia (Honda Pilot too!) and did very well. But one day out of the blue I opted to try the Hensley and never went back. There is simply no comparison.

IMO, anyone feeling they need a bigger truck to tow their in weight spec travel trailer, try one of these hitches before you throw down on a bigger truck or dump your trailer! They have a 60 day trail period, you would only loose about $150 to ship the unit back if you found its not for you. Make no mistake, there will be things you hate about it, but you will absolutely love towing with it. Best of all...you get to keep your favorite 1/2 ton or SUV...and/or avoid buying a dedicated tow vehicle.

EDIT: Additional info;
- Rear camera on trailer is now a requirement for me.
- Brake controller is a Prodigy P2 with "boost option" set on B3.








Vegas baby...


Near the 12,000ft peak of Rocky Mtn NP...

Your "gleefulness" of your "demonstration" of just how "good" your borderline over specifications rig is really saddening if not a bit sickening to me.

It really SHOULD be more like "FOLKS, DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME" type of demonstration.

You have been LUCKY, but keep in mind, one day, MR MURPHEY WILL come to visit you.. And on that day, YOU may not be so lucky.

I HAVE been visited by Mr Murphy not once but TWICE with DEER running right in front of me while towing a trailer loaded at about 6500 lbs while driving 68 MPH.

Fortunately for me and my family I INTENTIONALLY chose to go with a much more capable tow vehicle than what you have.. I have been towing TTs for 15 yrs now and my vehicle of choice at a minimum is a 3/4 ton truck..

My current truck has 3415 lbs of CARGO capacity and my 860 lb tongue weight is nothing for my vehicle to handle, in fact, I go bare foot without WD or sway control..

BOTH times I never lost control or even felt like I was going to lose control.. BOTH times I was able to maintain full and complete control of the vehicle and trailer. BOTH times I never left the lane, no sway, not even a slight hint..

IF I had YOUR setup (including your HA hitch), the outcome would have been pretty grim to fatal for not only the deer but myself or my family.

Marginal setups like yours can be "made" to work under NORMAL CONDITIONS (IE sunshine and no obstacles) but when presented with bad weather or emergency maneuvers like a deer darting in front of you or a car stopping in front of you all bets will be off.

I should know about marginal setups, used to tow a utility trailer with a small car before I had a TT, was not fun and fought me all the time..

It wasn't until a bought a pickup truck and discovered a whole different world of towing that was not a fight..

I simply did not know better until I had a much better suited tow vehicle.

My post comes from the voice of experience, I have been there, done that with an overloaded tow vehicle.. I will not go back to that.

[goducks10]

rjxj wrote:

goducks10 wrote:
Had a North Trail myself before the current 5er. Worst towing trailer I've owned. Always wanted to waggle around, even with the Hensley Arrow I finally used. Hard to say for sure if the NT in the pic has the axles more towards the center like mine did. Even with 12.5% for TW it still wiggled. Couple poor towing characteristics and a shorter WB of the SUV, I could easily see it being a sway issue. Pure speculation at this point but from my experience thats where I'd put my money.

Dont they have some models with the axles spaced farther apart or something? My friend has one and iirc he said some name or package they have for it. His spare tire bracket broke off the tongue and bent an axle blew 2 tires and put him in the ditch up in Alaska. Said he was lucky he didn't go off a mountain.

LOL, yes they do. Mine had the Wide Trax axle spacing. IMO it did nothing except allow a lighter tongue weight by spreading the axles further apart. That coupled with the more center position they were in did nothing for handling. My tongue weight from the factory brochure was under 10%. Around 9.? %.
I had Lippert axles as well. Had to have both re-aligned. One tire was wearing badly and two others were on their way to wearing badly.

Live and learn I guess.

[firestorm79]

goducks10 wrote:
Couple poor towing characteristics and a shorter WB of the SUV, I could easily see it being a sway issue. Pure speculation at this point but from my experience thats where I'd put my money.

I think it could have gone something like this:

They were going down a slight hill and the driver most likely applied the vehicle brakes. Either the trailer brakes weren't hooked up (no 7-pin connector or brake controller on the SUV) or didn't apply enough to slow down at the same rate as the SUV causing it to load up the rear suspension on the SUV and lift the front wheels off the ground. With the TT now traveling faster than the SUV and the SUV front wheels in the air, the SUV deflected off course and began a significant sway. The TT passed the SUV that acted as an anchor and the whole thing spun around 180 degrees, TT flipped on it's side and disconnected from the SUV and everything went into the ditch.

[jerem0621]

Great looking set up!

[azrving]

goducks10 wrote:
Had a North Trail myself before the current 5er. Worst towing trailer I've owned. Always wanted to waggle around, even with the Hensley Arrow I finally used. Hard to say for sure if the NT in the pic has the axles more towards the center like mine did. Even with 12.5% for TW it still wiggled. Couple poor towing characteristics and a shorter WB of the SUV, I could easily see it being a sway issue. Pure speculation at this point but from my experience thats where I'd put my money.

Dont they have some models with the axles spaced farther apart or something? My friend has one and iirc he said some name or package they have for it. His spare tire bracket broke off the tongue and bent an axle blew 2 tires and put him in the ditch up in Alaska. Said he was lucky he didn't go off a mountain.

[goducks10]

Had a North Trail myself before the current 5er. Worst towing trailer I've owned. Always wanted to waggle around, even with the Hensley Arrow I finally used. Hard to say for sure if the NT in the pic has the axles more towards the center like mine did. Even with 12.5% for TW it still wiggled. Couple poor towing characteristics and a shorter WB of the SUV, I could easily see it being a sway issue. Pure speculation at this point but from my experience thats where I'd put my money.