Cargo Carrying Capacity on r-pod 176

It's a very handy calculator: WDH Calculator

If it doesn't help sell more trailers the industry will fight it, regardless of whether it improves safety or not. The argument they would probably use in this case is that everypone's loading requirements are different so you can't take a one size fits all approach. There is some truth to that especially if the customer hasn't towed or camped using a trailer before.

But in reality rigs like people tend to gain weight over time. So if you're new at this and want to make a choice that provides for some headroom for load growth and safety factor, just use the gross weight (empty wt + ccc) of the trailer.

For the TV, use the curb weight and add 1000 lbs which would allow you to carry 4 "FAA standard" 170 lb adults (soon expected to be raised to 190 lbs average due to the increase in obesity) and about 300 lbs of gear, which is not really a whole lot.

Typically the above will require at least a 5000 lb rated TV.

The other consideration is tongue weight. Most 5000 lb rated vehicles will have a Max tongue weight of 500 lbs, or 10% of max trailer weight. 10% is the bare minimum to mitigate sway. Add to that that it's not possible to keep your tongue weight to a fixed number as your trailer loading changes (especially water weight) and you can see that often the TV tongue weight rating will be your imiting factor.

A typical 3% variation in tongue weight would put a 3800 lb Rpod in the range of 380-500 llbs on the tongue. Another reason why a 500 tongue/5000 tow lb rated vehicle With careful loading) is generally your minimum choice.

Originally posted by bhiggins The trailer tows great, but we've found that the trailer does sway if the fresh water take is full as it is behind the axel.  Other than that, it's been great. Brian

Please do not ignore that sway tendency, it can get out of control in a heartbeat.


sway video

You can fix it just like they do in the video. Move some weight forward in the trailer when you have water in the tank and/or remove weight aft and put it in the tow vehicle.

Get actual trailer and tongue weights at a public scale, easy to do. Your objective is to get the tongue weight up to at least 10%, preferably 11%, of total trailer weight.

Once you get that done, then also add sway control to your weight distribution hitch. There are several choices for sway control, including sway control integrated into the hitch, add on friction bars, and electronic brake activation systems. Any of them can do a good job if properly set up but don't depend on them, get your rig balanced right to begin with.

Interesting that Kia has avoided listing a combined vehicle weight. Without that a reasonable person might interpret that there isn't one.

In that case the specs provided would allow a GCWR of 5900-500+5000 = 10400 and a payload of 1600-500=1100 while towing a 5000 lb trailer with a 500 lb tongue weight. I'm NOT suggesting that that is a reasonable thing to do, just a reasonable interpretation of the specs provided. Caveat emptor.

That is worth a try but it looks from a Telluride forum search that folks have tried asking Kia and a response has not been forthcoming. I expect that the customer facing folks at Kia have been instructed not to provide any information beyond what has been printed in the manual and in the door sticker.

I suggest loading all the available specs and actual weights into the handy dandy towing calculator, including tow vehicle axle weight ratings (hopefully those are on the door sticker?).

If everything else comes out within limits then the TV axles will be OK and the limiting factors for GCWR will be the ability of the drivetrain to handle climbs in hot weather and the ability of the brakes to handle long descents. The first one is a matter of monitoring engine and transmission temps, the second brake temps.

You can access engine and tranny temps with an odb2 scan gauge. Others have done so, see link. Looks like the trans temps are running pretty hot towing and an add on trans oil cooler might be in order. Get your trans fluid changed often and slow down on long climbs of course.


For brake temps you can use an IR thermometer. Set up the rpod brake controller for pretty agressive braking, and by all means use engine braking as much as possible on long grades.

Depending on the setup Kia uses for their ABS a WDH can really help here. My Highlander for example redirects braking action to the wheels with the highest loading so without a wdh the rear TV brakes get more of a workout. Rear brakes are much smaller than front brakes (which are engineered to do most of the work in a panic stop where weight is shifted to the front axle) so without a proper wdh setup the rear brakes get much hotter than the fronts on a long grade. By shifting weight from the rear to the front brakes the wdh really helps with that. My rear brake temps ran about 100 degrees cooler with the wdh tensioned than without it.


Telluride tranny temp