My experience towing a 4200lb camper 400 miles

[Harmoniums]

I have a 2020 Telluride S with dealer added official Kia towing hitch.
I added a seven way connector with 12V connected to the aux pin.

For a brake controller I used a Curt Echo wireless.

Trailer is a new Coachmen Catalina expedition at 3870lb dry, 480 tongue.

We loaded just over 300lb of cargo, a lot of which I put behind the axle as it was so close to max tongue weight dry.

Kia squatted so I could just get 2 fingers between rear wheel arch and top of tire, unloaded I can get a fist in there.

Driving to the scale I had way too much sway at conservative highway speed, so I pulled off and put more of the cargo weight in front of the axle, sway abated and we got to the scale.

My numbers,

Kia + passengers, 5100lbs

trailer by itself, 4200lbs

Kia + passengers + hitched trailer tongue weight was 5560, of which 2360 on front wheels, 3200 on rear.




So all told 460 on tongue and 4200 total tow.

I was in spec for max GVWR and like 3-4lb over for rear axle.

I shifted a cooler to the back of the trailer and called it good.

we towed up hill 6000 feet and covered 200 miles and then did the reverse home.

The Kia was too high in the front and a bit floatey, the trailer swayed time to time, enough to pucker but I never felt totally out of control.
We kept it to 65mph on the flat and down hill.
Sway was worse down hill.
Curt controller worked perfectly, I felt I had adequate braking power.

I feel I was really at the limit if not a bit over it here truth be told.
I have a 600lb Weight Distribution hitch coming in on Wednesday and I’ll install that, I think I’ll go easy on the amount of tension, this being unibody, maybe only 300lbs, but that will help with my rear axle weight plenty.

After that try again with a trip to the scales and a slight change in cargo distribution to account for the new tongue weight of the hitch, hopefully it’ll not sway any worse and if anything g improve.
If not I’ll get a different tow vehicle

 

[Harmoniums]

I have a 2020 Telluride S with dealer added official Kia towing hitch.
I added a seven way connector with 12V connected to the aux pin.

For a brake controller I used a Curt Echo wireless.

Trailer is a new Coachmen Catalina expedition at 3870lb dry, 480 tongue.

We loaded just over 300lb of cargo, a lot of which I put behind the axle as it was so close to max tongue weight dry.

Kia squatted so I could just get 2 fingers between rear wheel arch and top of tire, unloaded I can get a fist in there.

Driving to the scale I had way too much sway at conservative highway speed, so I pulled off and put more of the cargo weight in front of the axle, sway abated and we got to the scale.

My numbers,

Kia + passengers, 5100lbs

trailer by itself, 4200lbs

Kia + passengers + hitched trailer tongue weight was 5560, of which 2360 on front wheels, 3200 on rear.




So all told 460 on tongue and 4200 total tow.

I was in spec for max GVWR and like 3-4lb over for rear axle.

I shifted a cooler to the back of the trailer and called it good.

we towed up hill 6000 feet and covered 200 miles and then did the reverse home.

The Kia was too high in the front and a bit floatey, the trailer swayed time to time, enough to pucker but I never felt totally out of control.
We kept it to 65mph on the flat and down hill.
Sway was worse down hill.
Curt controller worked perfectly, I felt I had adequate braking power.

I feel I was really at the limit if not a bit over it here truth be told.
I have a 600lb Weight Distribution hitch coming in on Wednesday and I’ll install that, I think I’ll go easy on the amount of tension, this being unibody, maybe only 300lbs, but that will help with my rear axle weight plenty.

After that try again with a trip to the scales and a slight change in cargo distribution to account for the new tongue weight of the hitch, hopefully it’ll not sway any worse and if anything g improve.
If not I’ll get a different tow vehicle

 

[Chuck4084]

I have a 2020 Telluride S with dealer added official Kia towing hitch.
I added a seven way connector with 12V connected to the aux pin.

For a brake controller I used a Curt Echo wireless.

Trailer is a new Coachmen Catalina expedition at 3870lb dry, 480 tongue.

We loaded just over 300lb of cargo, a lot of which I put behind the axle as it was so close to max tongue weight dry.

Kia squatted so I could just get 2 fingers between rear wheel arch and top of tire, unloaded I can get a fist in there.

Driving to the scale I had way too much sway at conservative highway speed, so I pulled off and put more of the cargo weight in front of the axle, sway abated and we got to the scale.

My numbers,

Kia + passengers, 5100lbs

trailer by itself, 4200lbs

Kia + passengers + hitched trailer tongue weight was 5560, of which 2360 on front wheels, 3200 on rear.




So all told 460 on tongue and 4200 total tow.

I was in spec for max GVWR and like 3-4lb over for rear axle.

I shifted a cooler to the back of the trailer and called it good.

we towed up hill 6000 feet and covered 200 miles and then did the reverse home.

The Kia was too high in the front and a bit floatey, the trailer swayed time to time, enough to pucker but I never felt totally out of control.
We kept it to 65mph on the flat and down hill.
Sway was worse down hill.
Curt controller worked perfectly, I felt I had adequate braking power.

I feel I was really at the limit if not a bit over it here truth be told.
I have a 600lb Weight Distribution hitch coming in on Wednesday and I’ll install that, I think I’ll go easy on the amount of tension, this being unibody, maybe only 300lbs, but that will help with my rear axle weight plenty.

After that try again with a trip to the scales and a slight change in cargo distribution to account for the new tongue weight of the hitch, hopefully it’ll not sway any worse and if anything g improve.
If not I’ll get a different tow vehicle

Just curious - where did you pick up Aux power? I'm having a hitch installed in a few days and I was going to have them run a wire directly from the battery through a fuse.

 

[MarcinTexas]

I have a 2020 Telluride S with dealer added official Kia towing hitch.
I added a seven way connector with 12V connected to the aux pin.

For a brake controller I used a Curt Echo wireless.

Trailer is a new Coachmen Catalina expedition at 3870lb dry, 480 tongue.

We loaded just over 300lb of cargo, a lot of which I put behind the axle as it was so close to max tongue weight dry.

Kia squatted so I could just get 2 fingers between rear wheel arch and top of tire, unloaded I can get a fist in there.

Driving to the scale I had way too much sway at conservative highway speed, so I pulled off and put more of the cargo weight in front of the axle, sway abated and we got to the scale.

My numbers,

Kia + passengers, 5100lbs

trailer by itself, 4200lbs

Kia + passengers + hitched trailer tongue weight was 5560, of which 2360 on front wheels, 3200 on rear.




So all told 460 on tongue and 4200 total tow.

I was in spec for max GVWR and like 3-4lb over for rear axle.

I shifted a cooler to the back of the trailer and called it good.

we towed up hill 6000 feet and covered 200 miles and then did the reverse home.

The Kia was too high in the front and a bit floatey, the trailer swayed time to time, enough to pucker but I never felt totally out of control.
We kept it to 65mph on the flat and down hill.
Sway was worse down hill.
Curt controller worked perfectly, I felt I had adequate braking power.

I feel I was really at the limit if not a bit over it here truth be told.
I have a 600lb Weight Distribution hitch coming in on Wednesday and I’ll install that, I think I’ll go easy on the amount of tension, this being unibody, maybe only 300lbs, but that will help with my rear axle weight plenty.

After that try again with a trip to the scales and a slight change in cargo distribution to account for the new tongue weight of the hitch, hopefully it’ll not sway any worse and if anything g improve.
If not I’ll get a different tow vehicle

I'm just curious. What was your mileage?

As far as trailer sway...you are brave....would have scared the crap out of me. One of the reasons I don't like single axle trailers. I know the Telluride is rated for 5,000 lbs...but I doubt I would ever tow with ours. I got the tow package just to get he rear leveling suspension. I hate the look of a fully loaded CUV or minivan squatting driving down the highway.

______________________________

 

[Sportshot2]

The problem without the factory installed tow package is you don’t have the self leveling shocks, I wonder if Tellys with the factory package would have the same issues. I’m not sure if the self leveling suspension helps to transfer weight to the front.

 

[Sportshot2]

There is a Company called Weigh Safe that makes a receiver hitch that has a built in tongue scale if you tow different weights often you may want to consider it.

i have one and it works well. I tow from 2300-4400 lbs and it makes it easy to get the tongue weight Correct before I leave my driveway

 

[Harmoniums]

I'm just curious. What was your mileage?

As far as trailer sway...you are brave....would have scared the crap out of me. One of the reasons I don't like single axle trailers. I know the Telluride is rated for 5,000 lbs...but I doubt I would ever tow with ours. I got the tow package just to get he rear leveling suspension. I hate the look of a fully loaded CUV or minivan squatting driving down the highway.

About 14mpg
I have installed the airbags and weight distribution hitch today, going to the scales after dinner, will update

 

[Harmoniums]

Just curious - where did you pick up Aux power? I'm having a hitch installed in a few days and I was going to have them run a wire directly from the battery through a fuse.

From the connector that the 4pin plugs into, it there is a fused aux 12V line right there, there red line, I splice into it

______________________________

 

[Somebody]

Did I understand you're thinking of setting up with 300lbs of transfer to the front? Do you have any sense or idea if Hyundai or Kia supports these twins using a WDH, and how much transfer they might allow?

 

[Somebody]

The problem without the factory installed tow package is you don’t have the self leveling shocks, I wonder if Tellys with the factory package would have the same issues. I’m not sure if the self leveling suspension helps to transfer weight to the front.

Self leveling helps:

I used to think it did help weigh transfer, but I no longer do. I now lean towards thinking that since the fulcrum point, arm, and tongue weight have not changed, the lofting force to the front is unchanged. All that's happened is the rear is now higher. But no transfer of leverage has occurred.

Mind you it will LOOK like it's got less weight transfer, but I doubt it. Easy enough to know for sure. Put 500lbs of tongue on, measure the front squat at the front wheel, level the rear, and measure again. If there is no movement over the front wheels, then no weight transfer happened.

I think....

 

[Harmoniums]

Did I understand you're thinking of setting up with 300lbs of transfer to the front? Do you have any sense or idea if Hyundai or Kia supports these twins using a WDH, and how much transfer they might allow?

All done, hitch in place, and weight is transferred.
Kia give no guidance on this, there’s always a concern that a unibody construction might not like it and that it may actually damage the frame.
I think 300lbs is not too much so I’m taking the chance.
I will be driving 2000 miles over the next two weeks with this rig, so I guess it will shake it out.

 

[Harmoniums]

Blurb

______________________________

 

[Somebody]

Well, the pic, while it was there, was very very nice. Anti sway on it too. Yea, that outa do it. Seems a lot of transfer to me, but I don't know shite, soo..

So how much static tongue weight are you planning, and how are you planning on calculating how much you transferred to the front?

 

[Harmoniums]

Well, the pic, while it was there, was very very nice. Anti sway on it too. Yea, that outa do it. Seems a lot of transfer to me, but I don't know shite, soo..

So how much static tongue weight are you planning, and how are you planning on calculating how much you transferred to the front?

What I did was weigh my Kia with the trailer hooked up, then with it decoupled, with the sway bar and tension bars taken off.
I see that it was 420lbs lighter without the trailer and other metalwork, so I figure that’s the tongue weight.
I am unsure of the definition of static tongue weight, is that it?

As to how to calculate the transferred weight, I am ignorant there too, I know my vehicle squatted about four inches with the old hitch, and with the new hitch it’s down about an inch, so from that can I deduce that the number is somewhere above 0lbs and less than 420lbs?

If I was to be super naive and say, squat without WDH was 4 inches, with WDH was 1 inch, I would simply say 3/4 of the weight is now transferred to the front, or 315lbs.
The squat is probably not linear like this, so the 315 number is fuzzy but I doubt it’s an order of magnitude out or anything.

Having said this, assume I have no clue wtf I’m talking about, I’d not feel comfortable advising this setup to anyone else!
I’m not a professional haulier and am just trying to make what I have work.

 

[Somebody]

see ya

 

[Somebody]

nope

______________________________

 

[Somebody]

goodbye

 

[rhouse]

What I did was weigh my Kia with the trailer hooked up, then with it decoupled, with the sway bar and tension bars taken off.
I see that it was 420lbs lighter without the trailer and other metalwork, so I figure that’s the tongue weight.
I am unsure of the definition of static tongue weight, is that it?

As to how to calculate the transferred weight, I am ignorant there too, I know my vehicle squatted about four inches with the old hitch, and with the new hitch it’s down about an inch, so from that can I deduce that the number is somewhere above 0lbs and less than 420lbs?

If I was to be super naive and say, squat without WDH was 4 inches, with WDH was 1 inch, I would simply say 3/4 of the weight is now transferred to the front, or 315lbs.
The squat is probably not linear like this, so the 315 number is fuzzy but I doubt it’s an order of magnitude out or anything.

Having said this, assume I have no clue wtf I’m talking about, I’d not feel comfortable advising this setup to anyone else!
I’m not a professional haulier and am just trying to make what I have work.

I could not find it in the post so I’m going to ask; do you mind telling me what brand and type of WDH you used? Is it still working well?

 

[PaulD]

Did you try putting the trailer brakes on to counter the sway?

 

[BasilFawlty]

goodbye