almost new 179 podder

Welcome to the forum and to camping & trailering! Since you mentioned you haven't camped before, I'll just add that I strongly encourage you to carry drinking water in your tow vehicle, regardless of whether or not you've filled your fresh water tank in your RPod. It's just the thing of not putting all of one's eggs in one basket, with something so essential. Most of all, have a great time!

Your mods need to be done to tow vehicle not Pod, it is tow ready, also no one mentioned you need a brake controller unless I missed it. Next you need to consider sway and WDH, you're at tow capacity.

See also about getting a transmission cooler installed. It will really help, even if you will not be doing mountain driving.

Originally posted by darjay Thanks for the reply.   This is just the beginning of my new adventure.    Can you recommend the type of wiring package I need to add to my Sienna hitch to be able to tow the 179?

Look on etrailer.com. Enter your vehicle type and you will be able to look at what is available for your Sienna. If your Sienna is equipped with the factory tow package, you will need to purchase not only a brake controller, but also item ETBC7 Universal Installation Kit in order to install it. I had to do that with a Ford Escape. There is a video available for trailer brake controller installation for a 2005 Toyota Sienna that may or may not be of assistance depending on what is different between that model and yours.

For the brake controller, I chose the Hopkins InSIGHT Flex-Mount Trailer Brake Controller as it let me decide where I wanted the control box, the manual control, and the display to best suit my needs and preferences. Since then, the Redarc Brake Controller has come to the market. It also allows flexibility in mounting the control knob and the main unit, but lacks the display of the Hopkins unit and is about twice the price of the Hopkins controller.

does you sienna have trailer connections already installed?  also, i am not sure if you are intending to use the bike hitch you mentioned to tow your trailer or not?