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Topic ClosedNew RP-171 Owners

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offgrid View Drop Down
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Joined: 23 Jul 2018
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Direct Link To This Post Topic: New RP-171 Owners
    Posted: 19 Aug 2020 at 5:14am
First of all, your issues are not going to be unibody construction or horsepower. If you stay within your tow vehicle manufacturer's ratings unibody is fine. 300 HP is more than fine, and you can just drive slower in the mountains and enjoy the view.

Your problem will be weight and weight distribution. You will be either at, near, or over your TV weight ratings with that rig depending on how you load. Understand that TV manufacturer's tow ratings generally assume that there is nothing in the TV itself other than the driver. So, even if you load the trailer lightly you can still be over your max combined gross vehicle weight rating (MCGVWR), TV rear axle load limit, and/or max tongue weight. The MCGVWR along with your TV axle ratings should be listed on the sticker on the driver's side door jamb.

As for weight distribution, the problem is that when you hang the trailer on the hitch it rotates the front of the TV up, reducing the load on the front axle and increasing the load on the rear axle by more than the tongue weight.  That is bad for steering, handling,braking,  traction, etc. The solution (within limits) to that is to use a weight distribution hitch, which basically adds tensioned spring bars between the trailer and the tow vehicle to rotate the front of the TV back down. Unfortunately, some TV manufacturers disallow the use of WDH's. Look in the towing section of your manual to find out. If they are allowed, I highly recommend you get one for your rig. Many come with antisway capability, get that too.

When you get your trailer, load it the way you plan to travel (batteries, water, supplies, etc etc).. Do the same with the TV (people, gear, gasoline, etc, etc). If you got a wdh put it in the receiver and hitch up but do not tension the bars.  Go the a public scale. Sometimes you can use the scale at your county transfer station for free, otherwise you will pay a nominal charge. You will need to go through the scales twice. First with the tralier, rolling each of the three axles onto the scales one at time (or using multiple scales if that is how things are set up). Get the total weight of the rig and subtract to get the load on each axle.


Go home or to a parking lot and disconnect the trailer. Leave the wdh in the receiver. Drive through the scale again to get the weight of the TV and each of its axles.The tongue weight is the combined weight of the TV's axles with the trailer less the weight of the TV without the trailer. The trailer weight is the total weight of the rig less the weight of the TV without the trailer. 

You now have all the weights you need to compare to the MCGVWR, trailer GVWR. and each of the 3 axles. You can compare all those manually, or if you like, here is a really nice online calculator that can do it for you. Up to you how close you are willing to get to your rating limits, personally I like to be at least 10-20% under all of them. Just know that if you go over them you are essentially a test pilot and will be exploring the limits of your rig's performance envelope on your own, not to mention the potential liability risk. 

One other thing to check. Be sure that your trailer's tongue weight is always at least 10% of total trailer weight to minimize sway sway risk. Don't depend on your antisway system to save you, get the trailer balance correct. Not that this percentage can change a lot if you are carrying water in any of your water tanks, which you might want to do if you are planning any boon docking. 


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StephenH View Drop Down
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Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Aug 2020 at 7:16am
Originally posted by garyg4210

Does the hayes also act as the brake controller or would I still need a separate unit?
No, the Hayes Sway-Master does not replace the brake controller. It has a GPS and a gyroscopic sensor. The GPS is so that it won't activate a very low speeds such as if you are maneuvering into a campsite or parking lot. Above 35 mph, it will allow the unit to activate the trailer brakes without automatically if the gyro detects a sway condition. That brings the trailer back into line. It would have been handy to have when I had my accident as I was too busy to remember to manually activate the trailer brakes when we started to slide on the ice. It was after that accident that I purchased the Sway-Master so I would not have the same outcome if I encountered a similar situation again.
StephenH
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