Tongue Weight

[John David]

Originally Posted by chinaski

More great info - thanks! I can see that the WDH is going to be a must for our tow vehicle - a Nissan Xterra.

Hi Chinaski
We have a 2016 escape 19 and we tow with a 2010 Nissan Xterra off road version. We got the WD hitch as the xterra headlights are rather high on the vehicle and in the past with any significant load in the back oncoming drivers were flashing us as they thought we had our high beams on. So I wanted to ensure that that didn't happen plus attempt to keep some weight on the front to not affect steering.
When we picked up the trailer May 20th I had Dennis put it on the hitch ball with no wd bars. The back end lowered 3 inches. Awfully glad we got the WD.
My brother in Edmonton bought a 2012 x and tows a 3400 dry weight trailer. He added an extra leaf to the springs and also a WD.

So IMHO the WD is worthwhile when using an xterra.

John

[Rossue]

What is the mean average weight? I remember trying to parse all of this after snagging a 21 on Tammy's updated production list. Our 17B on the scales was 2800+ and it didn't have A/C or Thermal package. That was what we ordered for our 21 and planned to pack like astronauts as we had just bought a new Gen 2 Highlander.

From what we're hearing about 2017 17B's it would appear that another 150-200#dryweight is to be expected which means a fully optioned /fully loaded 2017 21 could be about 4400#. We'll have to wait & see.

[cpaharley2008]

My fully optioned 21 loaded for 3 weeks was 3800 axle plus 500 tongue weight, 4300# total.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by nrthwds

I'm getting the new 2017, 17B and had the same concerns about the weight. Talking to Escape about it they said my trailer would weight about 3035 with full fresh water and foam insulation. I don't know if that takes into account all my options which are solar, dual batteries, surge protector, inverter, front storage box, WDH, ac,4.0 frig, thermal windows and insulation, foam under, removable power cord.

When Escape provides a weight to a buyer for a specific configuration (as described on a build sheet) it should account for all options installed by Escape; however, since most of the WDH weight is not installed on the trailer that would probably not be included. 3035 pounds is 865 pounds over the pre-2017 base dry weight of a 17B; with 160 pounds of that being fresh water, that leaves 705 pounds over base wet weight. 705 pounds sounds like enough for everything listed (excluding WDH) and a reasonable allowance for a 2017 weight increase.

Originally Posted by nrthwds

I have a 2010 Rav4 6 cyl with 3500/350, With WDH my hitch says 400/4000. I'm also a little concerned but they seem to think I will be okay but have to pack light. Things in the front would be more weight on the hitch. The classic 17B has many Rav4 users on the forum that have no problem with weight. We will see how it goes when I pick up in Sept.

The ratings on the hitch are for the hitch, not the RAV4; your limits are the lesser of the two, so that means the RAV4 limits.

While I'm sure lots of people carry more than 465 pounds of stuff in their trailer, there's really no need to, so it seems to me that you'll likely be close to but within the 3500 pound limit. Tongue weight is more likely to exceed the 350 pound limit, although on a 17' the dual batteries decrease (rather than increase) the tongue weight. Unfortunately, when Escape staff calculate the total trailer weight with your chosen options, they don't calculate the tongue weight.

The limit you're more likely to exceed is the total weight of RAV4, loaded trailer, occupants, and cargo in the RAV4. Do you know the Gross Combined Weight Rating, or what the manual says about combining occupant/cargo weight and trailer weight?

With a high tongue weight relative to the capacity of the vehicle (which is the original subject of this thread, although specifically for a 19' rather than a 17') another concern is exceeding the Gross Axle Weight Rating of the rear axle. Reducing a high rear axle load is what a WDH is actually for, so that should be okay.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by John David

So I wanted to ensure that that didn't happen plus attempt to keep some weight on the front to not affect steering.

Even without a WDH and with a ridiculous weight on the hitch, there will still be far more than "some" weight on the front axle. You start with over a ton on the front axle, then reduce that by maybe 40% of the tongue weight (so 200 pounds with a hefty 500 pounds on the hitch); that's a worst-case 10% reduction in the load on the front axle and therefore the traction of the front tires.

A WDH probably does make good sense in this case, to reduce rear axle load and restore at least some of the load shifted off of the front axle, but this isn't a 'need to keep the front tires on the ground' sort of situation.