To lift or not to lift?

[Colleen A.]

DH took the trailer out to inspection last week. It was the first time he had it on the road since we got the new van. It handled well but he has one concern. The back end of the van seems to sit low. The hitch didn't bottom out, but he wanted to see if anyone here has any suggestions on how to raise the back of the van. He was thinking air shocks....what do the experts here think?

 

[TRAPPED-PARENT]

Aren't there two different kinds of things you put on the back? One straight ____ (our old van had that and the camper rode low) and one that comes out then up and then out (on our new van and the camper rides higher).
___
\____

Do you think this would do the trick?

 

[Colleen A.]

We have that thing!! I don't know the proper name but DH calls it the "male" piece!

 

[Disney Campers]

need some details, type of van?, trailer?, are you using a weight distributing hitch?? may need to adjust the hitch bar for the new trailer.

 

[Colleen A.]

We have a Plymouth Voyager towing a 21' HiLo Funlite model. We have a weight distribution hitch, sway bar, and a transmission cooler. When DH towed to the inspection, he had no pulling problem, but would feel more comfortable if he could raise the tail end of the van.

 

[Disney Campers]

the purpose of the weight distributing hitch is so the trailer and van are level, try using a different link on the spring bars, this will distribute more weight evenly to the trailer and van, unfortunately the voyager is not an optimum tow vehicle because it is front wheel drive. the more weight on the rear makes the front of the van higher which can effect steering, breaking etc. probably not what you wanted to hear......

 

[theholloways]

I'll offer this, when he went for inspection, I'll bet he didn't have anything behind the rear seat. Would recommend that continue. Further, go get a bathroom scale and stick it under the jack on the front of the RV - see how much your tounge weight is. If higher than let's say about 10% of TOTAL RV weight. You may wish to consider redistributing stuff until you are more evenly weighted.

Finally, sorry to say, other posts are correct, your tow vehicle just isn't the best thing to use for the job.

Either way, be safe, have fun, see you there! Leaving in 8 DAYS!!!!!

 

[Colleen A.]

DH does maintenace for a warehouse. The back of the van has quite a few (understatement of the year! ) power tools and other tool related items back there. We do intend to take all that kind of thing out and maybe store the luggage in the back of the trailer (not on the couch which is located in the front. When I called the company that makes HiLo (I had heard so many conflicting stories of how this vehicle would tow), he said that he has seen the HiLo's towed with the Voyagers and had only 2 real suggestions - Build up your speed slowly and avoid mountains! I figured the stop and go traffic during rush hour he indured locally would be a harded tow that straight down 95. Think?

Would you think that air shocks would help raise the tail of the van? And how would you adjust the hitch bar? Does it raise as well?

Got 5 weeks to go....keep the ideas coming!!

 

[Disney Campers]

Reese Instructions
The hitch bar does not raise or lower, but the ball mount attached to the hitch bar is adjustable, the above is a link to the reese site.

 

[theholloways]

If the rear of the car is hangin' low, all the changes to the hitch bar in the world aren't gonna make a difference. That adjustment is so that a vehicle that is ABLE to carry the load on level can be at varying heights - like a 1/2 ton truck often sits a little lower to the ground than a one ton - but either could carry the load without bottoming out the rear end.

Your situation is different. The hitch bar should be set so that IF the van sat level AND the trailer sat level it would connect the two. Will the air shocks help force things level - probably. I would still do the bathroom scale stuff outlined above to get the trailer properly loaded. But NONE OF THIS MAKES IT SAFE. Safe is making sure that when all of your stuff is loaded the GVR of trailer is not exceeded, the GVR and GCVW of the van is not exceeded, and that the rear axel of the van's GAWR is not exceeded. That's what will make things right. Not on a soap box, just trying to be clear. You see, if that rear end is sagging, that means you've got alot of weight on it that the design did not call for. That means the bearings in the axel are carrying more weight than they may have been designed to bear. Shoving air into a shock to force that rear end up does nothing about changing the axel's ability to bear that weight.

Worsed of all, IF you were to wreck, no matter who would be at fault and if you are over any of the measurements outlined above, guess who the courts would be interested in. See what I mean? Again, not trying to be awnery. Just want you to have all the info...

 

[MontanaCowgirl]

I would look into renting a heavier tow vehicle & leave the van at home! You can rent extended cab pickups that are built for this kind of job & be totally safe! ORRRRRRRRRRRR maybe a friend or relative has one you can borrow!?

 

[Colleen A.]

Upon further checking into the van, we discovered the shocks that were on appeared to be the orginial shocks and needed replacing. We also installed leaf spring helpers and our sagging problem is gone! I've done a lot of searching on line and after posting this same question on a board especially for HiLo users, found a gentleman who had the EXACT same tow vehicle and trailer. He also towed from PA to Disney many times without a problem. He also recommended the leaf spring helpers. We took the van, with the trailer in tow, out for a test drive last weekend. We drove for about an hour, on the highway, through road construction and hilly roads. I'm happy to report we had no problems. The engine never overheated, the rpms never even reached 3 on the dial. While I understand that this is not the ideal tow vehicle, it is the one that we have. We have done everything to make it safe and have only installed the best rated items (shocks, transmission coolers, etc...) to help us out.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions!

Colleen

 

[old camper]

This forum might be able to help you.

http://irv2.infopop.net/2/OpenTopic?a=frm&s=089094322&f=705090124

It discusses everything about HiLo's.

 

[We4mickey]

1)Dodge Caravan 3.3L,3.8L V6 Tow Limit 3800lbs must have trailer preparation group. ( required. )

2)Dodge Caravan (all wheel drive) 3.8L 3.500lbs

3)Town & Country 3.3L,3.8L V6 3.800 same as #1

Town & Country 3.8L (all wheel drive)3.800lbs

Voyager 3.3L V6 2.000lbs

Just some info for you.