Towing a 21 with a Mid Size Suv

[Iowa Dave]

Hi Clay
Congratulations on your trailer and tow combo I’m sure you will like it. There are some differences in the 19 and the 21 that are somewhat “mysterious” to me. On our 19, you just couldn’t seem to overload the tongue even with the propane and dual 6 volt batteries on the tongue. I think our loaded weight was 3680 on the 2010 19 ft Escape. We usually ran without water and dry tanks. We had 12% tongue weight.

On the 21, I kind of have to watch the tongue weight to keep it at or below 500 lbs. We store clothes under the bed, we have our camp chairs under the bed with an outside hatch, we have a Casper Mattress which is pretty heavy, I added an 11 lb. propane tank for my propane campfire to the front box also. Next thing you know you’re at 500 lbs. To mitigate the load in the front, I keep my tools in an outside accessible hatch in the rear (drivers side), we often tow with 10 gallons or so of fresh water, that weight helps “pop” the front end. Our compressor Engel cooler behind the tandems inside the trailer, camp stove, griddle and campfire under the table in the storage box all help even the load. We make sure the heavy canned goods are over the tandems. I’ve always traveled with the hot water tank full because I don’t want to mess with bleeding off an airlock in the hot water once I set up to camp or making the mistake of firing up the water heater with no water in the heater.
I do have a little weight in the front box I could haul in the tow vehicle but I can hold at or below 500 lbs tongue weight for now so that’s what I do.

I am very particular about even tension on both sides of the Anderson hitch. And of the overall tension on the weight distribution hitch. AZ Jack told me you can feel 1/2 thread on the nuts. I said I doubted I was that good. But he said you can. In 37,000 miles of towing I learned that you can in fact feel it.

In a very tight spot over in Ohio on the Interstate at road speed, I made an evasive maneuver where the trailer stayed absolutely straight behind me. I could not believe that I didn’t jack knife or roll the whole rig but it was not even close. Accurately adjusted brakes with the controller set for the conditions at hand including surface, weather, terrain, and speed is paramount.

Carefully adjusted WDH, good tires with proper inflation, even loading front to back and side to side are all factors in good towing and good stopping.

Never quit learning, never give up
in a tight spot, and keep focus on the task at hand. Here’s a picture of the student and professor AZ Jack in Colorado last year. He’s teaching me and I continue to learn and deeply appreciate his tutelage.
Iowa Dave

[peter]

How do you teach arm wrestling?

[Iowa Dave]

If you had arms like mine you’d know. You knock out grey iron castings in a foundry at 135 degrees in August in Iowa. Then you don’t have to spend money on a gym or weight set. If you start to feel weak a few years later you take a job on a packing house kill floor cutting pecker cords off of hams with a 12 inch butcher knife held head high for 8 hours as the hogs go by at 642 an hour. And you don’t miss one or the federal meat inspector is on your butt. Then you pack 50 steel traps in an ash pack basket up a November creek in hip boots to catch 75 cent muskrats and call it your favorite recreation. Many people honestly ask for a few tips, I try to help the sincere ones. The smart a....es, not so much.
Iowa “he’s easy to find” Dave

[a602pmcc]

Course they do it now with PTO augers and pound-in metal posts, but back in the day a couple of miles of 48" hog fence with 4" creosote posts every ten feet working with standard post hole diggers was pretty good training too.

[CamperDude]

Thank you Dave. Very good advice. I will plan to front load a bit on the Escape 19 to get the tongue weight up. I will also fill the second propane tank (currently empty) and pay special attention to loading front to back, side to side, and adjustments on the weight distribution hitch. I really appreciate you taking the time to give me details on your experience. Hope the best.
Clay

[cpaharley2008]

Back in the day out of college I could rip a metro phone book in half, now I have trouble opening my mail............

[John in Santa Cruz]

re: 21's and tongue weight... if I have our bicycles on the back of our 21, it is borderline too light in front, I have to be careful to load as much heavy stuff in front as I can, and keep stuff out of the back.

[cpaharley2008]

Remember your black tank is up front and your fresh tank is in the rear, both will impact your tongue weight.....