What kind of camper do you have?

You’ll love your new rPod! We sure love ours.

Have you joined the rPod owners forum online? There’s a Wealth of info there.

 

That's pretty close to all the same stuff I did to ours. I cut/ grinded off the single propane tank added a 2 propane tank holder and moved it forward. Then got a longer propane line made. Later added a tongue box with key lock and relocated the battery in it to help reduce thievery lol. There's a lot more I've done lol. That surge protector is a good one too.

 

I took the R-Pod to storage yesterday, left the battery they gave me with it on the tongue, but I did open up the box and disconnect the negative wire. Eventually I want to find a tongue box that I can fit there, then I'll wire up a battery cutoff. I'll probably also rig up some connections (I like the Anderson PowerPole connectors) for my solar panel (until and unless I decide to permanently mount some on the roof), and mount a charge controller. I'll probably also stow things like the wheel chocks and stabilizer plates in there, too.

I ordered them from ch751.com. Measure the length of the barrels of the locks you have installed, and you can order them to the correct length. It's pretty easy to do. If you order multiples, they'll all be keyed to the same keys, and they give you a few keys with 'em. A nice little deterrent, in case some other campers decide to get cheeky and see if I've got anything interesting in the storage bay!

 

Awesome!!! Thanks for the tip!

 

I’m probably going to drill into the battery box and install some small eye bolts so I can run my smaller locking cable through them to lock down the battery box while on the road. Didn’t want to add any extra tongue weight with a larger locking box so this should work out well.

I just ordered an Equalizer 600/6000 WDH with four-point sway control from etrailer that should be here next week.

 

I kinda think a WDH is a bit overkill for a <3000lb trailer. I did install airbags in the truck to help level, and they really do help prevent porpoising when you hit some bumpies. With the air bags, weight distribution is even less of an issue. I will more than likely add sway control to the trailer, as I kinda think the relatively light, but taller camper may get blown around a bit more.

Taco owner's manual says "sway control for trailers > 2000lb, WDH for trailers > 5000lb"

 

Once the rPod is loaded with gear, and full propane tank, and full water tank, plus adding in the weight of the options (AC, etc), it brings the weight up to almost 4,000 lbs. Everyone I've talked with on the rPod Forums says that the WDH is a good idea, especially with sway control. The Equalizer is supposed to be one of the best. I talked to one person who just had a ball mount and towed an rPod across country and it wore out the back tires prematurely.

I considered Hellwig overloads (Airbags was too expensive at almost $600 installed), but the WDH is supposed to level the truck as well as transfer weight to the front axel to help with handling, steering. With the overloads the truck would ride rough once the trailer was unhitched unless the clamps were removed. I didn't want to deal with that every time we unhitched.

 

Looking at a Starcraft Autumn Ridge 20BH. Dry weight of 3862. I initially wanted something in the 2900-3000 range, but this deal came available. I like the dual axle over single for sure.

How would my Taco handle this? Planning on using a Husky Center Line 6000lb WDH.

 

Airbags are not that hard to install, the hardest part is taking the wheels off and cutting the bump stop.
Before you go with the WDH WEIGH your camper loaded and KNOW how much weight is on the axle/ tires and that you have the capacity to allow the WDH to it’s job. If your axle/tire weight is close (as It generally is on OEM tires) you’ll over load the tires with a weight distribution hitch.

 

Awesome trailer. How does the Tacoma do pulling this? It looks like it weights 4500lbs dry.

 

Does anyone have any experience with the Coleman LX 1605FB?

The wife and I love the floor plan and are looking very hard to downgrade in size from our current Puma 19FS. Looks like dry weight on the Coleman is around 600lbs lighter than the Puma, according to the manufacturers website.

https://rv.campingworld.com/rvdetai...man-light-lx-1605fb-rear-living-10k-GR1419687

 

To be clear just so there isn't any confusion, airbags does not shift tongue weight to the trucks front axle or back to the trailer axle. Airbags can assist with a WDH with rear droop but does little to help with proper weight distribution.

I just finished a trip in Western Kansas yesterday. I'm running a 2016 OR LB, tow package stock rear springs with a Anderson WDH with built-in sway. My camper is a dual axle 23ft and around 4800# loaded. I fought a 25 mpg headwind that would occasionally become a cross wind. When semi's would pass me the entire truck would shake pretty good. But that camper followed me true. I know for sure without my truck properly setup I'd be the next guy in the tacoma, camper wrecked thread taking jabs from everyone about how stupid I am. If you are anywhere close to 4000# wet I would never tow very far without a WDH.

 

Using a WDH on a dual axle trailer is a no brainer, I’d do that myself. The point I am trying to convey is on a single axle trailer. YES you can use a WDH but you need to very aware of tire loading and how much more weight you’re transferring to the trailer tires. Most single axle campers have barely enough tire to cover the weight of the camper and some add ons let alone extra camping gear, using a WDH just adds to the load.
My 3500lb camper had tire capacity of 3220 when we bought it,yes some of that load (430lbs) is carried by the tongue and hitch,but then add camping gear and supplies.
To many folks blindly follow the stickers on the frame not fully understanding what the info is actually telling them (if they read it at all)
Knowing the actual weight on the tires before adding the WDH will potentially save a lot of head ache down the road.

 

Thank you really loving it so far! It pulls it great, I was pleasantly surprised by how well he truck did. I pulled it home with a full fresh water tank. I took it last weekend to local campground to try everything out we had a great time.

 

I agree with this. I wasn’t necessarily pointing a finger at any of your posts at all. I was just reading a lot in this thread about air bags and it seemed there could be a misconception about what air bags actually do. Fwiw, Id rather own a dual axle camper that weighs more than a single axle all day long. Others mileage may vary on that subject. If I owned a single axle camper it better have some sort of sway control in the system. Ive seen to many single axle trailers move around way to much by swaying easily or bouncing. Ive experienced that myself with a 3500# single axle box trailer.

 

Etrailer recommended the 600/6000 Equalizer WDH for the Tacoma PreRunner and rPod 180. It will be professionally installed and truck and trailer will be weighed first at the hitch shop.
Trailer is loaded and water tank is full. I will also fill the gas tank on the truck and install the marine battery in the trailer tongue.

 

I didn't have to chop my bump stops... the airbags I got mount in front of the axle, so they just bolt on. The PITA was jacking the truck up, getting it up on the jack stands and then lowering the axle back down. Then the mounting plate that mounts to the frame rail had one of the bolt holes made just a little too small - the paint on the bracket prevented the bolt from fitting. That delayed me a bit until I figured out what was going on.

I know the difference between airbags and a WDH. Toyota says "yo, you don't need WDH for trailers < 5000lb", so I'd suspect they calculated everything and found that below that weight, there shouldn't be significant enough lifting of the front end by weight on the hitch. I figure them Toyota guys is probably pretty smrt.

I do like and would recommend air bags if your trailer is < 5000lb and you want to level your truck, and prevent porpoising. They work great for both of those things, but I don't expect they do anything more than those things.

The only thing I think I'll be adding will be a sway bar... I'm kinda suspecting the R-Pod being taller than my A-frame will probably get blown around more in wind or when passed by trucks and such. It's also relatively inexpensive for the setup, and installing it will be easy for me.

 

I think it will handle well with that setup, I have the same hitch system and I am confident with it on

 

The consensus on the rPod forums is that the WDH systems can be set up to transfer very little weight to the trailer axel; something like sixty pounds. My truck only dropped one inch when the trailer was hitched so the hitch shop said that they will adjust the system for minimal weight distribution and mostly use it for sway control.

 

The floor plan looks a lot like an rPod 179. It's a lot cheaper though.