What kind of camper do you have?

Yeah our goal was small enough for a mid size suv to tow. We had our before our kid. It's become comfortable lol

 

I bought a very similar size camper this summer. I pull it with my 2016 dcsb V6, I’m at about 5000# camping ready and my truck pulled it beautifully. The motor will rev but that’s where it makes power.

 

Agreed, you know it is there and once i learned the power curve(?) i didn't have any issues with the transmission hunting or constantly shifting. Max weight on that starcraft is 4,750lbs so not a lot of room for cargo, especially if you fill the fresh water so keep that in mind. the slide seems to eat a bunch of the available payload.

 

Just got back from two weeks in Oregon, camping with our new 2018 rPod 180. It was a blast. This was from the Oregon coast, near Florence.
The Tacoma pulled the rPod like a champ! No problems whatsoever. Mileage ranged from 10.5 to 13 mpg. 2175.5 total miles.

 

Very Nice

 

Nice, what are you using for levelling of the ride, WDH, airbags? I have a 190 RPOD, using a E2 Fastway 600 WDH. Still trying to get the settings "just right". I agree, the Tacoma tows these rigs great!

 

I have an Equalizer 600 / 6000 WDH and it works beautifully!

 

Mind snapping a pic of how you have the L Brackets set to, and how many spacers in the hitch? Do you run any upgrades to the suspension?

I lifted by L brackets recently one notch, really helped the ride out. But not sure if I should go one more notch up or just remove a few spacers to reduced the angle of the ball.

Cheers

 

Sure. I can do it when I get home. I had a hitch shop set it up for me. It works much better than the standard ball hitch did. With that hitch it always felt like the trailer was bobbing from side to side, like a washing machine. Also, the Equalizer helps a lot to alleviate bouncing ‘porpoising’ going over bridges on the interstate.

 

It was too dark to shoot anything tonight but I have a pic of the hitch assembly from when we were on the road in July. This should give you a good overview of the hitch setup, but if it doesn’t show enough I can shoot a pic of just the brackets tomorrow.

 

My family drove all across the country with a pop up. 40 years later, and they are some of my happiest memories of growing up.

 

Thank You!! Mine is the Fastway E2, but similar design. The dealer set it up initially but with no weight, so basically worthless. I have since raised the L bracket one notch and basically wanted to see what yours was set at. Initially, before I adjusted, the bars had almost no weight. Now they have some, but I still usually lift the bars by hand. I was worried if I go up one more bolt it will be much harder to install the bars. I noticed an improvement in ride quality when I made the change though. Alternatively to lifting the bracket one slot, I thought perhaps I might remove a spacer or two (currently I have five) which would have the effect of levelling the hitch ball somewhat. It is easier to adjust the L bracket first though.

I've heard that the bars should be level to the trailer frame, but i'm not convinced that is true. I was worried the higher the L bracket goes, thus more tension on the bars, could cause them to bend if too much tension is applied.

 

^^^
Thanks. Good to know. A family friend said the same thing, "don't be afraid to load up the bars".

I noticed that on the L brackets there is wear from the bar but all on the back side, not evenly across the bracket. So raising should allow the bar to sit more evenly (level) on the bracket.
Cheers

 

From what I have heard, the best way to load the bars is to hitch up without them and then raise the trailer with the power jack until they slide on easily. Then lower the trailer tongue. Reverse when taking them off. (If they are loaded up with tension you would risk breaking an arm trying to get them off without raising the trailer to release the tension.)

Here are another set of pics from the recent Oregon trip. This was shot at the turnout just north of the Sea Lion Caves tourist trap on 101, at the overlook for the Heceta Head Lighthouse. Heceta Head Lighthouse shot with Nikon D4 and 600 mm lens.
rPod & truck, and sea lions shot with D4 and 70-200 AFS VRII.

 

2019 Grand Design Imagine,tows real well but wouldn't go through the mountains,id use my 05 GMC Duramax for that.

 

I may be selling my camper. It hasn't left from under my carport since i bought my cabin in the mountains.

 

That’s a pretty big trailer for a Tacoma.

 

What is the dry weight and tongue weight on that? Looks like it might be pushing the limits though not too much larger than what I'd like to get (Apex Nano 208BHS). Do you use WDH and sway control on it, I assume?