how come everyone is flashing Me

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by lpk49

i'm just gonna have fun. i'm not worrying anymore.

Kayak you have spent way more time and money on getting a tow vehicle that is more than adequate for towing the trailer you have and especially for the type of (very shot trip) towing you plan to do with it!

I know your not towing with much of anything in your trailer which may account for why its a bit heavier on the tongue - if you start to stow some things in the rear section of the trailer behind the axle that will lighten up the tongue a bit. But to be honest for how much towing you are doing the slight down on the tongue you have is not going to hurt a thing!

[gmw photos]

And see, there you go Carol......now that Kayak has this great new tow vehicle, that's all the more excuse to venture out further from home ! Maybe run down to the Blue Ridge Parkway this fall....or way up into Maine this summer....the roads are endless.

Originally Posted by Carol H

Kayak you have spent way more time and money on getting a tow vehicle that is more than adequate for towing the trailer you have and especially for the type of (very shot trip) towing you plan to do with it!

I know your not towing with much of anything in your trailer which may account for why its a bit heavier on the tongue - if you start to stow some things in the rear section of the trailer behind the axle that will lighten up the tongue a bit. But to be honest for how much towing you are doing the slight down on the tongue you have is not going to hurt a thing!

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by gmw photos

Andrew wrote:
...
From a handling safety perspective I prefer the Tachoma to a full size pick up. The center of gravity is lower the width of the stance is the same on both.

Andrew Thompson is smart and well-intentioned, but be careful how blindly you accept his statements. If you think this means the Tacoma and a full-size such as the Toyota Tundra have the same track, you would be mistaken : the Tundra's track is over 4" wider than the Tacoma's. He may be referring to the distance between the leaf spring mounts on the axle, which is irrelevant to stability by itself.

Regardless of this bit of sloppy fact handling, I personally have no problem accepting that the Tacoma is a very capable tug for Kayak's trailer.

[lpk49]

i'd love to see anyone who wants to come to the nh coast or southern maine. it is beautiful here. and i have a big drive with outside elec if anyone wants a cheap place to sleep.

carol-i've been listening to everything you have said for a few days and the drl thing might have something to do with the flashing.

i was surprised that the back of the truck goes down 4 inches when i hitch up. its true these 17' casitas have heavy tongues i guess. BUT the front only went up 1 inch when hitched.

all i know is they have stopped flashing me and it feels better towing than not. and i absolutely love spending time at the beach like i used to. i really missed that...having the camper at shops for weeks...

[ihwild]

Just FYI BFG Rugged Trails are a basic all season/mild all terrain tire. Not a tire designed mainly for off-road. By the way most off-road tires are designed for off-road use with compromise for on road travel varying depending on how agressive an off-road tire you are looking at. Its the person who chooses to put one on for looks versus use. That being said my dad has towed, plowed snow and driven for years all year on BFG Rugged Trails, Long trails and just BFG all seasons without a problem on 1970s Scouts. Also if someone's trailer lowers the rear end enough to actually cause the front end to pick up. Not only does this affect the headlight aim it can also affect handling depending on how much it lightens the front end. You are loosing contact pressure on your front tires contact patch (the area of tread touching the roadway) This can make for a lightened feel on the steering and easier to loose control especially in rain. Granted this might have to be more then 300 lbs of tongue weight. I'm just mentioning it fyi. Also on the weight distributing hitch. There are varying capacity ones so if someone has less strength they could buy the one that meets there towing requirements or even the next one up thus they should be lighter then one with too high a capacity. My dad and I have a 10,000 lb+ WD hitch because we have a car trailer that gets towed around and that dang hitch is freaking heavy. Even the bars weren't very lightweight. Also in some states it is illegal to drive around with a hitch in the receiver (some call it a stinger). The other thing is make sure your trailer ball and hitch are at the level height. I've seen so many trailers going down the road where they were obviously not match and the trailer typically is tilted up or down. Hth and hopefully I didn't make any mistakes in my information.

Rich

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by lpk49

carol-i've been listening to everything you have said for a few days and the drl thing might have something to do with the flashing. .

I hope for your sake thats all it was. Its not uncommon for someone who has never had a vehicle with DRL before to get tricked into thinking their headlights are already on when they first start driving it as some of your dash items will have lights on them even though your headlights are not on. Try turning your head lights off at night to see the difference. You should in a short time be able to tell by just looking at the dash if your headlights are on fully or not by what is or isnt lite up or how dim it is.

[lpk49]

yeah-there are many bells and whistles in this truck...3 buttons i'll probably never use unless i do decide to go up mt washington without the road like the sales man said...

but i like the truck..i really do. its smaller than the full size truck and easier to drive in town but has what i need. it will take me awhile to get everything straight. i still dont use everything in the camper...

i'm starting to get some "looks" during the day...i guess it isnt a typical grandma's truck...

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by ihwild

Also in some states it is illegal to drive around with a hitch in the receiver (some call it a stinger).

Rich

Rich do you have link to what states it is illegal and what the law actually reads? A while ago someone told me this and I tried at the time to find such a law in any state/province and couldn't find one using google - lots of folks on forums suggesting there is one but nothing to support it. I did find though that it is illegal to block a license plate with a hitch ball ( or anything else for that matter) in most places though. Still curious though if there is actually a law in some state.

[ihwild]

Originally Posted by Carol H

Rich do you have link to what states it is illegal and what the law actually reads? A while ago someone told me this and I tried at the time to find such a law in any state/province and couldn't find one using google - lots of folks on forums suggesting there is one but nothing to support it. I did find though that it is illegal to block a license plate with a hitch ball ( or anything else for that matter) in most places though. Still curious though if there is actually a law in some state.

I will double check that. Come to think of it I've heard it word of mouth myself. So I might have been better to say it MAY be illegal. Lol but I will look into it. I'm a bit of a whiz at finding the odd ball regulation or part or etc.. via the internet. I just seemed to pull results out of thin air at work on certain parts. Something about being able to word it right or pull multiple results together to string a path to the actual result that I was looking for.

Rich

[gmw photos]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Andrew Thompson is smart and well-intentioned, but be careful how blindly you accept his statements. If you think this means the Tacoma and a full-size such as the Toyota Tundra have the same track, you would be mistaken : the Tundra's track is over 4" wider than the Tacoma's. He may be referring to the distance between the leaf spring mounts on the axle, which is irrelevant to stability by itself.

Regardless of this bit of sloppy fact handling, I personally have no problem accepting that the Tacoma is a very capable tug for Kayak's trailer.

And to be more specific Brian, we would really need to know where the center of gravity is on both vehicles, and there are other factors involved as well. Honestly, it would be almost impossible to guess all of this, it really would take doing side by side testing, both solo and hitched.
And if we really want to confuse the issue some more, there are aftermarket sway bars ( hellwig ) available for all these trucks which noticibly help the handling. Going to a lower profile wider tire would help too.
All of which goes beyond the needs and desires of the original poster I would suspect ! I do believe kayak is happy with the setup as it is. Job done.

[Jon Vermilye]

I've seen many discussions on leaving the "stinger" in the hitch, and none have actually quoted a law. Since there are permanently attached ball hitches, I wonder how they would be covered.

I did find that my local automatic car wash requires them to be removed. Seems like the scanning device that measures the size of your vehicle can miss the hitch & result in the spray arm hitting it.

Since I use a large, heavy Weight Distribution Hitch, I remove mine when I'm not towing

[gmw photos]

Originally Posted by Jon Vermilye

I've seen many discussions on leaving the "stinger" in the hitch, and none have actually quoted a law. Since there are permanently attached ball hitches, I wonder how they would be covered.

I did find that my local automatic car wash requires them to be removed. Seems like the scanning device that measures the size of your vehicle can miss the hitch & result in the spray arm hitting it.

Since I use a large, heavy Weight Distribution Hitch, I remove mine when I'm not towing

I remove my WD hitch head because it's a real shin barker ! Ouch !!!

ps, I'm sitting next the camper, by the lake at one of the most peaceful CG's I've been to. Drinking morning coffee. Life is good, what the heck, even the CG wifi works ! Ha ! Ha !

[KevinPete]

Originally Posted by lpk49

another great day on the nh ocean front...this is rye harbor:

Did you eat at Ray's? (bike is mine)

[KevinPete]

Originally Posted by ihwild

Also in some states it is illegal to drive around with a hitch in the receiver (some call it a stinger).

There was a local police department writing tickets for this, until someone thought to ask to see the relevant law. I used to drive around with my ball mount in the hitch, just to see if anyone would stop me. They never did, and it's a good thing, because when I got rid of the wagon the stinger was frozen in the hitch, couldn't get it out with a sledge hammer and a 6' pry bar!

I did see that the cover that I want for my front hitch is supposedly a no-go in several areas. Don't know why.

[santacruzer]

I don't think it's illegal in California. Keeping the hitch in the receiver is a good incentive to others not to park too close. I was slow-motion rear-ended a few months ago by a college student in his mom's Volvo. I felt a slight jolt, no damage at all to my truck, but that Volvo grill was sure a mess.

[Brian B-P]

Originally Posted by gmw photos

And to be more specific Brian, we would really need to know where the center of gravity is on both vehicles, and there are other factors involved as well. Honestly, it would be almost impossible to guess all of this, it really would take doing side by side testing, both solo and hitched.
And if we really want to confuse the issue some more, there are aftermarket sway bars ( hellwig ) available for all these trucks which noticibly help the handling. Going to a lower profile wider tire would help too.

Right - that's the point. The Can-Am RV guys spout some pseudo-technical bull and we're supposed to swoon at their superiority? No, it's not as simple as they say, even speciffic details are not always as they say, and the Tacoma is just fine... but not because Andy says so.

[gmw photos]

Originally Posted by Brian B-P

Right - that's the point. The Can-Am RV guys spout some pseudo-technical bull and we're supposed to swoon at their superiority? No, it's not as simple as they say, even speciffic details are not always as they say, and the Tacoma is just fine... but not because Andy says so.

And I am neither trying to defend nor refute what Andy T says, but, it is probably, or at least possibly, safe to say that CanAm RV has done more actual testing of tow vehicles that any other RV dealer in North America. And they back it up with videos of various rigs in action. Also, they are not afraid to occasionally state publicly when they find a vehicle they think does not work well at all as a tug. So, all things considered, I am more inclined to believe what they say, than most places I have dealt with. There is still far too many dealers around that simply take the attitude of telling the customer, "aw sure, you'll be just fine and dandy with that....."

[lpk49]

oh no kevin!!! peteys and the ice house are my favs. but with the camper i dont get to stop often. its beautiful here...huh? rays was my mom's favorite place.

george-glad your relaxin...

[KevinPete]

I love New Hampshire. The point of that trip was to scout around, then bring the family to consider moving there. Don't think we'll do it, but we will be going through later in the summer. Probably across VT, through Keene, and somehow end up at Portsmouth to cross over to ME. Just have to find someone to cat-sit.

[lpk49]

is that a 13 footer? how big is your family? i'm near portsmouth and i know the 3 places you can park free at the beach! and i know of 2 in wells maine...