Pictures of tow vehicles and trailers

Nice set up!  

Originally posted by Massucci1 This past Saturday picking up or 2018 179

Congratulations and welcome!

Forest River has made a number of changes on the 179 since we purchased ours in December, 2015, but I think you have something other than a 179 since the door is in the wrong place. Did you mean 178?

I hope you have a lot of fun adventures with your R-Pod and make many great memories in the process.

So do you thing  the 177 r-pod will be ok. There are just my wife and me. No pet no child no bick. Am i wrong if i gues that the total Max pound will be around 3000/3200.

Postimage.org is the site used by some. I host my own images, but not everyone has the equipment or knowledge or time to do that so Postimage.org works.

As for the 180 with a Caravan, if you tow on relatively flat terrain, it may be okay. Don't try it in the mountains though as you will be very much disappointed. We were towing our RP179 which is roughly the same size and weight as the 180 with a 2016 Ford Escape SE with 2L Ecoboost engine. That also had a 3500 lb tow rating. It worked well but I knew the limitations. After we encountered ice with a very strong crosswind, we had an accident and had to change tow vehicles. I now tow with  a 2010 Frontier 4x4. While the V6 is twice the size, the power of the Ecoboost showed in mountains as it does not lose power like the non-turbo or supercharged engines do.

One thing is whether your Caravan is FWD or AWD. If it is FWD, you will absolutely need a Weight Distribution Hitch, preferably with sway control such as the Equal-i-zer or the Fastway E2 or the Andersen No-Sway. This will be needed to make sure you have enough weight on the front axle for traction and steering. Even with the WDH, traction with the Escape could be marginal if the road were slick and probably nearly impossible if we needed to start from a stop uphill on a dirt road. The Frontier is manual 4x4 but the primary drive axle is the rear axle so it does not have the same issue as the Escape and possibly your Caravan. I'm not saying it won't work, but be aware of the issues.

I wish you well in your search for the R-Pod that is right for you and your family. We have enjoyed ours and I have done a number of modifications to it to make it even better and more suited to our use.