Wave-like motion when towing with my Pilot

[BCnomad]

OP is towing his 21 with a Pilot.




OP, glad you got the water and hitch adjusted better to your liking/tow rig. Personally I like a bit in the waste tanks too. still adjusting here for the new storage box and that affect on tongue weight.

[LJY]

Originally Posted by skyfree

Hmmm... not sure I like that solution. Having to travel with empty water tanks wouldn't work for me. What happens when you are camping with no water hookups? Have you tried will full fresh tanks and the revised hitch height?

Having towed our 17B with the Pilot for about 1,000 miles on all kinds of roads including 10% grades, I feel like it's mostly just the nature of the vehicle rather than setup. It gets the job done, but that's about all I can say that's nice about it as a tow vehicle. It works for us as a once-a-month tow vehicle and a full time daily driver, but I do miss the Touareg TDI!

Hi skyfree,
You are right. Most of the issue was due to wrong hitchball height.
I did end up unknowingly towing from Canada to Oregon with a full fresh tank.. and it was okay. what kinda of threw me off was while trying to balance front/back weight distribution without knowing there was 200+ lbs in the back.

[LJY]

Originally Posted by BCnomad

OP is towing his 21 with a Pilot.

OP, glad you got the water and hitch adjusted better to your liking/tow rig. Personally I like a bit in the waste tanks too. still adjusting here for the new storage box and that affect on tongue weight.

[LJY]

Originally Posted by thoer

The level of the fresh water tank can definitely make an impact on tongue weights. With our traveling load on our 21, and the fresh tank completely full, it tended to make our tongue weight lighter than I was comfortable with. Now we travel with it 1/3 full. The 21 holds 28 US gallons of fresh water which weighs about 234# when full - all sitting behind the rear axles.

With both our 17B and now our 21, I experimented with measuring tongue weights with different amounts of water in the fresh tank so that I could come up with tongue weights I was comfortable with. As Donna says; YMMV.

Hi Eric,
So with 1/3 fresh tank, what tongue weight do you measure and at what height?

Thanks

[thoer]

Originally Posted by LJY

Hi Eric,
So with 1/3 fresh tank, what tongue weight do you measure and at what height?

Thanks

Loaded and leaving for our trip the trailer weight with fresh water tank 1/3 full was 4212# and the tongue weight was about 430#. I didn't measure tongue height, rather I take my tongue weights with the trailer as level as I can get it on level ground.

[cpaharley2008]

Originally Posted by thoer

Loaded and leaving for our trip the trailer weight with fresh water tank 1/3 full was 4212# and the tongue weight was about 430#. I didn't measure tongue height, rather I take my tongue weights with the trailer as level as I can get it on level ground.

Are you saying the trailer weight, including the tongue weight was 4212 or does it exclude the tongue weight. If I recall my 21 came in at 3800 plus 500 tongue weight for a total of 4300.

[thoer]

Originally Posted by cpaharley2008

Are you saying the trailer weight, including the tongue weight was 4212 or does it exclude the tongue weight. If I recall my 21 came in at 3800 plus 500 tongue weight for a total of 4300.

Including tongue weight. Axle weight about 3780# for that trip. Not a long one so we were a bit lighter on food than normal, but fairly close. I'm lucky that I have a farm coop that only charges me $2 to do a weight reading and I have a Sherline tongue weight scale so I can do it often.

[LJY]

Originally Posted by thoer

Loaded and leaving for our trip the trailer weight with fresh water tank 1/3 full was 4212# and the tongue weight was about 430#. I didn't measure tongue height, rather I take my tongue weights with the trailer as level as I can get it on level ground.

Eric, do you mind sharing major build sheet options? AC, under foam ?

[thoer]

Originally Posted by LJY

Eric, do you mind sharing major build sheet options? AC, under foam ?

Major weight adding options on ours would be: AC, solar, dual 6v batteries, thermal windows, and underside spray foam. We have no reinforced walls.

[float5]

Originally Posted by thoer

Major weight adding options on ours would be: AC, solar, dual 6v batteries, thermal windows, and underside spray foam. We have no reinforced walls.

Eric, did you happen to get weights on what your WDH is doing?

[thoer]

Originally Posted by float5

Eric, did you happen to get weights on what your WDH is doing?

No, Cathy I didn't do that. I suppose I could pull the front axle of the Highlander on the scale, get a weight, then take off the WDH arms and weigh again.

I haven't changed anything yet on the setup Dennis did at pickup. But I am going to drill another hole so that I can slide the main assembly deeper into the Highlander's hitch. The Highlander's hitch sticks out the back and the lock pin hole is close to the end. I did that on our old Pro Series (and wrecked about 3 drill bits in the process-- that cast was hard )! The new E2 is just mild steel so it should be much easier to drill.

Anyway, after that I am going to see what readjustments are needed to get the WDH all correct.

[float5]

Originally Posted by thoer

No, Cathy I didn't do that.

I haven't changed anything yet on the setup Dennis did at pickup. But I am going to drill another hole so that I can slide the main assembly deeper into the Highlander's hitch. The Highlander's hitch sticks out the back and the lock pin hole is close to the end. I did that on our old Pro Series (and wrecked about 3 drill bits in the process-- that cast was hard )! The new E2 is just mild steel so it should be much easier to drill.

Anyway, after that I am going to see what readjustments are needed to get the WDH all correct.

Our hitch is way out there also. Don't think we would want to change it though because I am not sure that the lift gate would open.