What kind of camper do you have?

After months of thinking about fixing the extensive dry rot in the roof of my '89 Coleman Sequoia tent trailer I just this week decided to trade it in and I bought a new (2018) rPod RP-180 that is fully loaded!!! I pick it up on June 2nd.

Will I need overload springs for my 2011 PreRunner? It has the factory tow pack.

 

As of yesterday:



Complete write up in my build (clicky)

 

A set of Firestone Riderite air bags are a good addition.
Keeps my 430lb tongue pop up level as well as the truck, rides decent when unloaded.

 

Looks nice!!!

I was thinking more of Hellwig overload springs. I had a set on an F150 in the early 90s when I was carrying an Alaskan camper. They made a world of difference and are cheaper than air bags.

 

I put the Hellwig 2 K helpers on my truck and I like them.

 

Looks like Hellwig #979 would be the ticket!
https://www.suspensionconnection.co...XcyBimP-Vh1B9j60NIF_a49uu5FfSH9hoCllMQAvD_BwE

 

I think that'd the one I have. I'm happy.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the tip. I pick my trailer up in a week. I'm going to see how much the rear of the truck drops with the trailer tongue. (Tongue weight I believe is 340lbs.) I would rather go with overload springs than a weight distributing hitch if I can help it. I remember with my 2002 5 lug Tacoma Extracab the rear would sag noticeably when I hitched up to the tent trailer. People would always flash high beams at me at night because my headlights were pointed up. Also have to have a brake controller installed. The RV dealer suggested a digital control unit for $100. I've never used trailer brakes before. Another learning experience I will go through.

 

2007 Puma 19FS

 

I say the Hellwig helper springs, add airbags. WDH is a pita offroad.

Your trailer is offroad capable, a WDH doesn't allow flex between the truck and trailer. Truck can be on one side of a ditch, trailer on the other side, WDH torques the trailer unnecessarily when it goes through the ditch. WDH won't allow the trailer to move independently from the truck, that's a major problem offroad.

If you'll be onroad primarily, yeah, WDH. If you go offroad, swap the WDH for a straight hitch.

 

Sometimes I wish I would have found a 4x4 Tacoma, but mine is a PreRunner. I’m going to play it by ear and wait until I hitch the truck to the trailer next weekend to see if I need the overloads or not. Time will tell. Thanks for the advice

 

regardless of how you handle the load, pay attention to the ACTUAL LOADED WEIGHT of the camper, don't just rely on the stickers on the frame.

"AS Shipped" weight will likely less than the "AS DELIVERED" weight, as you will now likely have battery, full LP tank, possibly AC on roof, an awning on the side. all this adds weight that is installed at dealer. The added weight can bring you right up to load capacity of the tires ( single axle this is a real problem)and you still haven't added your camping stuff yet, or water for toilet, water heater, and all the "other" stuff needed to keep things happy.

The camper you see in the above pic weighs 3480 as you see it. the stock tires (175/80R13 LR D) 1610lb capacity ea (3220 total) with the 12-15% weight carrying of the hitch, right on the ragged edge if TIRE capacity. Yes, i upsized the tires and wheels to 185R14 1874lbs per tire now (3748lb tire capacity now)

know your weights, mind the tire pressures and you'll have few problems on the road.

using a weight distribution hitch on a single axle trailer should be a caution as well, as the hitch levers the weight between trailer axle and front axle of tow vehicle. , easily over loading trailer tires. Mine is made to use a WDH but it will never see one.

 

All very good points. Yes, the trailer has a lot of dealer-added options including roof air, awning, etc, plus I am upsizing to a group 27 deep cycle battery rather than the standard group 24, which will add more weight.

Didn't realize that using a WDH on a single axle trailer would have that effect. Thanks. My main concern with the WDH is that (from what I understand) you can't back up with it.

 

Nice, we have a 2014 model 177. You just need take it to a scale weigh it with and another time without your truck. Then weigh it loaded. Several ways to obtain the tongue weight from there. My 13 Taco was fine in stock form.

 

Great to hear it. My wife doesn’t want me spending anymore money, so I’m hoping mine will be fine towing the trailer in stock form.

How do you like your 177? We bought the model 180 because of the large dry bath. I’ve seen the rPods on the road for a while and always thought they were cool.

 

We like it, not to big nor to small. About as small as we want to go. Ours only weighs 2700 when fully loaded. We wanted a lite trailer. I've done several upgrades to it, adding shelving, storage, and much much more. I would like my Tacoma better if it had more power and torque but the 4.0 does just fine lol.

 

We own a early 2018 of this same exact camper. We love it. My 2016 OR LB auto pulls pretty well. I do feel it at 65mph but nobody should be pulling anything faster than that anyways. I also went with the Anderson WDH which is pretty awesome. 5 quick turns of the leveling nuts and Im perfect. Loaded and wet I'm at 4500# give or take depending on what I'm bringing along. The P3 brake controller set to B1 is my preferred setting. I also went ahead and got the Dometic mirrors. I tried the varies strap on mirrors and hated them. And for shits and giggles, added a wireless rear camera. I only use it to see what is behind me. Also using Torque Pro to monitor tranny temps. Coachmen does an excellent job with this floorplan. Fit and finish is a little better than the others and resale value should be way better as well.

 

You can back up just fine with a wdh.

I grew up traveling the east coast every summer towing a camper. Only 1 time did the wdh cause a issue. We towed with a suburban, and pulled through the camp site. There was a depression/ditch running through the site. The hitch dis not allow the drive wheels to drop down so it sat there spinning the tires stuck till we either used 4x4 or unhooked the wdh.

 

You will need something - 1200 pounds with 220 tongue weight on our prerunner - ride rites for the win.

 

just to give you an idea what you're up against with singe axle and WDH.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVg8QgIFJoU

just cuz ya can, you really need to know if you should