Towing a rental hilo Trailer Rookie Towing q's

Thanks for all the great info the bible and other threads are great!.
Just have a couple questions and looking for some reassurance.

This is the unit I will be renting to take a trip from so.cal(Disneyland area) to Yosemite.
http://www.inlandrvrental.com/08 HI-LO.htm
http://www.hilotrailer.com/Trailers/2008/2008_17T.html
I have towed a 23ft. upright camper with a gmc envoy and a 25ft. camper with a Denali also to Yosemite, I just drove did not set up anything.

Weight should be ok?

I will be purchasing a trailer brake from what I have researched a prodigy or p3.

Do I need mirrors for this 17ft. trailer?

I will need a receiver, I have 265/75/16's the rear spring tsb done and have a coil spacer from toytec just the coil one not the top plate. Do I need drop down hitch if so how do I measure?

I will be driving about 40 minutes to pick up this rental then back home to load up ect...

Any opinions or advise on brake set/leveling or my set up in general would be appreciated. Like I said I am a rookie @ this and am depending on this rental place to set me up, but I would like to be aware of what I doing?

Thanks and sorry if any questions are repeats.

The rental will include a weight dist. Hitch do I need to bring anything else with me to pick up?

Sam

 

With a class 3 receiver and a trailer brake controller you should be good to go. You may want to consider load equalizing bars to keep things level and I'd be careful about loading up too much stuff in the trailer. Without the trailer towing package your vehicle is only rated to 3500 pounds.

As for mirrors, if you can see vehicles right behind you in the stock mirrors you'll be good without extension mirrors. If you can't, get the extension mirrors. There are models that clamp on your stock mirrors and others that clip on to the front fender and stick much farther out.

 

Thanks for the response, I didnt mention my truck also has the towing package.

 

You said you need a receiver...but you say you have the towing package?

 

Yes I have the tow package, I meant the ball portion. Unfortunately the trailer I reserved was involved in a accident and is not available. I now have reserved this one http://www.ocrv.com/RentalUnitDetail.aspx?vId=13

thanks for the response.
Sam

 

You need to measure the trailer at the coupler to determine drop. Rental Co. may have the info.

 

Just picked up my rental trailer heading to Yosemite valley from O.C in a couple hours. Trying to set up the p3 trailer brake now I have it set at 6.0.?

 

Setting the prodigy is just a matter of 'playing with it'. With the trailer loaded up and ready to go in front of your house (or parking lot), pick a setting and move slightly and hit the brakes softly. If the brakes lock up too soon (and the tires skid), then you'll know you have it set too hard. Back it off.

It's probably better off to set it high and test it to find out where & when it'll lock the brakes easily and then back off to find a 'happy medium'.

You also have 3 boost settings. The boost (from what I remember) is how hard & fast the brakes come on. Boost 3 would be for really heavy loads, as the boost will come on hard and pretty quick. Boost 1 would be for lighter loads as the brakes will come on slowly at first and but as you step on the brakes harder...the brakes will also come on harder.

Obviously, you don't want the trailer brakes to lock the tires up when you use the brakes softly.

 

The proper way to set it up is determine under max braking setting; what setting will be just shy of trailer wheel lockup under full brake application. That is your first setting, the second setting is how aggressivly the controller applies the brakes. Basically this second setting is a comfort thing, and should be set so that you cannot feel the trailer behind you under braking.

 

Let us know how the trips goes with your setup. Everyone loves a good story!