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Whats pulling your RPod |
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 Topic: Whats pulling your RPodPosted: 13 Oct 2009 at 4:23pm |
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Saw in your next post that your questions were directed at me.
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1. Yes, I use the tow button religiously. 2. Most times I leave the transmission in drive. I downshift into low and control gears manually only when making steep declines.
3. My overall mileage when towing is about 11 to 13 mpg. This compares to 17 mpg city/highway and 22 mpg highway when not towing. By the way, I do not have AWD, I have FWD only. I'm pretty happy with my towing experiences so far. I have not found the need for a weight distributing hitch or an anti-sway bar. Thanks for a fast reply.
I get a terrible mileage with the Tow button on, about 8 mpg (but my TT is 800 lbs heavier and much wider) as the tranny never goes over the 4th gear, so I decided to "cheat" with manual control of the gears - 4th gear to accelerate and uphill, one up to the 5th on flat and when I pick up the speed, usually over 60 mph. I hope this kind of a trick would bring the mileage up with the rpod to probably 15 mpg.
BTW, congrats on your combo !
J233
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Posted: 13 Oct 2009 at 10:23pm |
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Anybody out there towing with a Honda Ridgeline ??
We have a 2006 and it is suppose to do towing pretty well. (5000lbs).
It comes standard with all the towing perks.
(tranny cooler, gear ratio, oversized disc brakes, pre-wired for harness and hitch)
I suspect that we may be the first Ridgeliners on the forum, all we need now is a Pod !!
 Will report back once towing commences....
HAPPY PODing !!!
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Posted: 16 Oct 2009 at 3:25pm |
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We just got our 172 three weeks ago and got to use it last week, we only went 110 miles but I was fighting wind and snow, I drive a 2002 Nissan X Terra with a 160 horse v-6, it was working really hard and didn't like to go over 60 mph. I checked the mpg when we got to camp and it was 7.9mpg, on the way back without the wind we got 9.5mpg. Needless to say were looking for somethng with a few more ponnies. |
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Posted: 16 Oct 2009 at 7:46pm |
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Well it will be decision time soon for me.
The wifes car died and she bought a 09 Rav4 with the towing package and it has the 269 hp 3.5 liter engine. It is rated for 3500lbs. Is this going to do it? The thing has tons of power and that doesn't concern me. It's more the size of the vehicle. The new Rav4's are bigger, but it still isn't very big. Anyone towing with something this size? It would be the wife and I and two toddlers and a big yellow dog, along with all the junk and lets say a 176? In two or three years I will get rid of my old sienna and get something new, but the Rav4 would have to work in the meantime. I just can't see putting the money into the Sienna considering I would have to add the tranny cooler and everything else. Otherwise it is only rated for 2000lbs. Really debating about going with a popup or a Chalet trailer, but the chalets are really expensive for what I would want. |
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gmandual
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Joined: 19 Jul 2009 Online Status: Offline Posts: 246 |
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Posted: 16 Oct 2009 at 9:41pm |
At 269hp @ 6200rpm and 246 @ 4700 it should work well for flat driving and normal mountain grades. With a curbweight of 3300lb's (unloaded) you vehicle will be about evenly matched weight with your trailer.
At a size 66.3 x 181.3 you are actually right around the same size as my Toyota highlander hybrid, which is 68 x 188. My hybrid has less hp at around 200hp and less available high rpm torque and I htink weights about 400pounds more, but sounds like with your family your loaded vehicle weight would be around mine loaded. My hybrid feels a bit underpowered but it still handled extremly well on snow and ice in the mountains a few weekends back. Trailer tracked well, no sway issues and trailer didn't feel like it was pulling my vehicle round when the trailer tires happened to get into a snow rut.
So I wouldn't think you would have any issues with control of your vehicle and trailer.
I borrowed a neighbors non-hybrid highlander (270hp) and it did much better at highway speeds then my hybrid, as it had 70more hp. So I would think that the V6 RAV4 should make an adequate tow vehicle for an RPOD as long as you remember you don't have a V8 under the hood.
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Posted: 16 Oct 2009 at 9:58pm |
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Thanks for your reply gmandual.
I read through this thread a little more and saw two other people using the Rav4 and they seemed to think it worked fine. I guess I am wondering if I will need to add anything to the rear suspension to keep it from hanging too much. I was looking at those air lift 1000 http://www.airliftcompany.com/al1000.html air bags for the rear suspension. I don't know if these will void the warranty though. I wouldn't think so, but I don't know. She looked at the Highlanders, but holy cow are they expensive. Her loaded RAV4 was still thousands less than a awd Highlander. I think that would have been a more capable vehicle for this though.
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gmandual
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Posted: 17 Oct 2009 at 2:20am |
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As my highlander is a hybrid, gets me one of the "green" spots up front in front my office at work, as that was worth the extra cost right there. :) Plus I needed the third row seating and didn't want a minivan. I guess you would have to see what other say about their RAV 4. I know on my highlander, I only saw a one inch drop of the fender wells with the trailer hooked up. And my tongue weight is higher then standard as I have dual tanks and batterise on mine. I have a light weight WDH setup on it right now, but that was more of a just because someone gave it to me, so I figured I would use it. |
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Posted: 17 Oct 2009 at 6:12am |
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Gomjabber I would not recommend the airbags for the suspension. We had them installed in our saturn vue and they were very noisy. We let all the air out of them and hope to remove them. The R-Pod has a low tongue weight, I think that your Rav4 will be fine as it is. David
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Posted: 17 Oct 2009 at 9:19am |
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Really? Noisy? I never would have thought that! Are they creaky?
Well, I will definitely try it without them first then. I was just going to put them on before we get the trailer but I will wait and see if I have a problem. Thanks so much for the info!
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Posted: 17 Oct 2009 at 10:27am |
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Yes they are some type of plastic and they would chafe against the coil springs. We tryed lubricants, tryed less air more air we were unable to stop the noise. My neighbor a retired mechanic said he had them a long time ago and they were rubber and that they were quiet. They were alot of work putting them in we had to drop the rear suspension, that is why we have left them in without any air preassure. Someday I hope to have the time and energy to remove them. It is my wifes car and she told me right away am I going to have listen to that noise all the time. That was end of the air shocks. David
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