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SailorDude View Drop Down

Groupie

Joined: 06 Dec 2020
Location: Washington
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 48

Topic: New owner
Posted: 06 Dec 2020 at 8:45pm

I'm purchasing a used 2018 RP179. It is version with the two twin bunks on one end, and the dinette on the other end, with the slide out on one side that contains the sink, stove, refrigerators and the micro. The I hope to be picking it up a couple of days.

I do have a question about the hitch system. I'm now to using a travel trailer. There are all the hitch things, like leveler and any sway bars, etc.

I have a F-250 4X4 to pull it. Way overkill for a tow vehicle, but it is what I have. My question what kind of hitch system should I be using, besides the actual frame/hitch attached to the RP179. What to be safe going down the road. Any advice on hitch stuff and driving will be greatly appreciated.

Sailor Dude

RP-179

F-250 4x4

offgrid

Senior Member

Joined: 23 Jul 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5290

Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 6:49am

From your description I think you're getting a 176 not a 179. A 179 has a queen bed in the front, kitchen in the rear, and the slide contains the dinette and the fridge.

Nothing wrong with towing with your F-250, that is a nice safe rig with plenty of extra capacity for gear in the truck bed.

The hitch options you are referring to are (1) a weight distribution hitch (wdh) which re-balances weight from the rear of the tow vehicle to the front axle improving handing and braking and (2) trailer sway control which minimizes the likelihood of the trailer sway.

You shouldn't really need a wdh with a F-250, it can handle a lot more weight than an rPod, unless maybe if you also put a full ton of stuff in the truck bed. Up to you but I'd skip it and see how you like towing without one.

The most important thing to do to prevent trailer sway is to be sure you have enough weight on the trailer tongue. For an rPod that should be 10% of total trailer weight at the very minimum, preferably more like 12%. You have to weigh the trailer and tongue (fully loaded including water if you plan to boon dock) in order to know that, which you can do at a public scale. Here's why:

https://www.google.com/search?q=trailer+sway+video&oq=trailer+sway+video&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l3j0i10i22i30j0i22i30l2.4407j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Even with a well balanced trailer, sway is still possible, so I would suggest still getting sway control even without a weight distribution hitch. The lowest cost option would probably be something like this.

https://www.amazon.com/Pro-83660-Value-Friction-Control/dp/B0016KJ5MC/ref=pd_lpo_263_img_2/140-2048306-1226438?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0016KJ5MC&pd_rd_r=76cf10f8-282d-4f8d-a47f-6e28a4b3f41e&pd_rd_w=6B9YR&pd_rd_wg=OzOSQ&pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&pf_rd_r=44Y4SBXDHMRXQ9VDY068&psc=1&refRID=44Y4SBXDHMRXQ9VDY068

https://www.amazon.com/Reese-26003-Sway-Control-Adapter/dp/B0008F68MG

Or you could get one of the electronic sway control systems that senses sway and activates the trailer brakes, but those are quite a bit more expensive.

1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold

podwerkz

Senior Member

Joined: 11 Mar 2019
Location: Texas
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 966

Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 9:25am

With that size and weight tow vehicle, you will probably not need a wdh or sway control....assuming you load the pickup bed and the trailer correctly.

Congrats on having a tow vehicle that will have 'towing authority' over the trailer. As you learn to pack for a long trip, try to load heavy items like jugs of water, generator, cases of canned food, gas cans, propane tanks, tool boxes, etc etc toward the front of the pickup bed. This will add stability and shift weight from the trailer to the tow vehicle.

You will need to add a brake controller, if your pickup is not equipped with one.

r･pod 171 gone but not forgotten!

Pod_Geek

Senior Member

Joined: 04 Dec 2019
Location: Colorado
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 261

Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 9:34am

I tow an R-Pod 195 with a RAM half-ton (1500) with the towing package. We've gone about 12,000 miles with it in the year that we've had it. When it was weighred early in the year loaded it weighed about 4200 lbs and the tongue weight was almost exactly 10% of that. Truck weighed in at 6700 lbs loaded (after getting that 6700-lb weight and 10% tongue weight I've started putting more items in the R-Pod and fewer in the truck). No accessories (WDH, sway bars, etc.).

I have had no incidences of significant sway, even on I-70 in western Kansas where we encountered 30-50 mph cross winds for hours and semis passing us at 85. I keep it at 65mph or slightly less.

I bet your 3/4-ton will handle the 176 just fine as long as you don't start chasing the speeders...

2020.5 R-Pod 195 Hood River
2018 RAM 2500 6.4L

SailorDude View Drop Down

Groupie

Joined: 06 Dec 2020
Location: Washington
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 48

Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 11:54pm

Thank you for your advise. Yes it is a 176 my mistake. I've looked at so many rpod.

I plan to pick it up on Thursday, and then head off straight for week trailering. Since I'm picking it up 200 mile from our home all our camping stuff will be in the truck bed in tubs. Based on what you say as long as I make sure I have tongue weight is at least 10 % of GVW of trailer we shouldn't have a problem.

Maybe long term a sway controller makes sense. But for this first outing should not be a problem without sway bars.

Keep on RV

offgrid

Senior Member

Joined: 23 Jul 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5290

Posted: 08 Dec 2020 at 7:01am

Every trailer configuration behaves a little differently. A couple of years ago I did a survey on this forum of actual incidences of reported rPod trailer sway and there were one or two that occurred right around 10% tongue weight. That's why I recommend keeping the tongue weight higher than that. Based on that I don't let mine drop below around 11-12%.

Bear in mind that in the 176 the water heater, fresh water tank, and pass through storage areas look like they are behind the trailer axle. There is nothing in any of those in Forest River's published weight data, so if you load those up you will be reducing your tongue weight. Not to sound like a broken record here, but do get actual loaded tongue and trailer weights to be sure.

1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold

SailorDude View Drop Down

Groupie

Joined: 06 Dec 2020
Location: Washington
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 48

Posted: 08 Dec 2020 at 7:33am

Thank you for the advice. How to you measure tongue weight? Also I think I will get a sway bar hitch set up. How does that work for a receiver hitch that drops down from the truck. the F250 are kind of high? any advice on which one I should get?

offgrid

Senior Member

Joined: 23 Jul 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5290

Posted: 08 Dec 2020 at 8:08am

There are several ways to measure tongue weight.

One is to get a a tongue weight scale like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Sherline-LM-1000-Trailer-Tongue/dp/B007REJTGI/ref=pd_lpo_469_t_0/140-2048306-1226438?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B007REJTGI&pd_rd_r=10ce6a35-d86f-4ab1-afd4-58e414d936c9&pd_rd_w=26cfN&pd_rd_wg=Vu1W6&pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&pf_rd_r=A6WKAXMA31J64QRPY6GQ&psc=1&refRID=A6WKAXMA31J64QRPY6GQ

Another is to use the "bathroom scale method":

https://www.curtmfg.com/trailer-parts/couplers/learn-more#:~:text=Position%20a%20pipe%20vertically%20under,This%20is%20the%20tongue%20weight.

But since you still also have to weigh the trailer itself, what I do is make two runs through a public scale. On the first run I hitch up and weigh the two tow vehicle axles with the trailer axle off the scale, the roll the trailer onto the scale and weigh the combined rig.

Then I disconnect the trailer and go back through the scale to get the weight the tow vehicle by itself. The difference between the combined rig from the first weighing and the second weighing is the trailer weight. The difference between the weight of the two tow vehicle axles from the first weighing and the second weighing is the tongue weight.

Often you can do this for free at your county waste transfer station. Go at a quiet time of day and ask nice.

If you want to proceed you can get a bracket to mount the anti-sway friction bar offset from the ball, like this.

https://www.etrailer.com/p-RP26003.html

There is a photo on that web page showing how the bracket gets mounted on a drop down hitch.

1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold

Dirt Sifter View Drop Down

Senior Member

Joined: 30 Dec 2018
Location: Right side OR
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 170

Posted: 08 Dec 2020 at 1:04pm

Welcome! When we bought our 179 we also picked up the friction hitch ball attachment similar to the one OffGrid mentioned. I get you've got an F250 and don't 'need' the sway control. It came in real handy on some windy WA and ID open country hwy.'s even with the Tundra. I came out of a cut on a curve into a gust that pushed me around a bit even with the sway control. But that was with a Tacoma tow vehicle. Bottom line, I'm a proponent of sway control 'most all the time; takes the white knuckle out of the trip.

Greg n Deb 2020 195 HRE
'07 Tundra 5.7L., '17 Tacoma 3.5L. Both with tow packages
1 Puggle, 1 Chihuahua support staff

offgrid

Senior Member

Joined: 23 Jul 2018
Online Status: Offline
Posts: 5290

Posted: 08 Dec 2020 at 3:43pm

I like to think about managing sway with a "belt and suspenders" approach. The "belt" is keeping the trailer tongue weight in range. That will dampen out sway, as the video link shows. The "suspenders" is some type of physical sway control, which could be a wdh with sway control, a friction bar system, a cam or Hensley type sway control, or electronic sway control. At least one member here (who has experienced a severe sway event) has decided that a belt and two sets of suspenders is the right choice.

Its really a personal choice about how much risk you want to take. To me getting the weights right and then adding either a wdh or a friction bar seems to be a good place, others could choose differently. With a heavy tow vehicle like your F250 you can still get trailer sway but it would take quite a lot to also get the TV to decide not to stay planted.

BTW, if you have the time and presence of mind, applying a bit of trailer braking using the manual control on your brake controller will bring the trailer back in line behind the tow vehicle. Probably it goes without saying but you never want to apply your TV brakes if you do get trailer sway, unless of course you'd like to get a good view of your trailer proceeding you down the highway. Star

1994 Chinook Concourse
1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft
2015 Rpod 179 - sold

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SailorDude Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 06 Dec 2020 Location: Washington Online Status: Offline Posts: 48	Topic: New owner Posted: 06 Dec 2020 at 8:45pm
	I'm purchasing a used 2018 RP179. It is version with the two twin bunks on one end, and the dinette on the other end, with the slide out on one side that contains the sink, stove, refrigerators and the micro. The I hope to be picking it up a couple of days. I do have a question about the hitch system. I'm now to using a travel trailer. There are all the hitch things, like leveler and any sway bars, etc. I have a F-250 4X4 to pull it. Way overkill for a tow vehicle, but it is what I have. My question what kind of hitch system should I be using, besides the actual frame/hitch attached to the RP179. What to be safe going down the road. Any advice on hitch stuff and driving will be greatly appreciated. Sailor Dude RP-179 F-250 4x4

offgrid Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290	Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 6:49am
	From your description I think you're getting a 176 not a 179. A 179 has a queen bed in the front, kitchen in the rear, and the slide contains the dinette and the fridge. Nothing wrong with towing with your F-250, that is a nice safe rig with plenty of extra capacity for gear in the truck bed. The hitch options you are referring to are (1) a weight distribution hitch (wdh) which re-balances weight from the rear of the tow vehicle to the front axle improving handing and braking and (2) trailer sway control which minimizes the likelihood of the trailer sway. You shouldn't really need a wdh with a F-250, it can handle a lot more weight than an rPod, unless maybe if you also put a full ton of stuff in the truck bed. Up to you but I'd skip it and see how you like towing without one. The most important thing to do to prevent trailer sway is to be sure you have enough weight on the trailer tongue. For an rPod that should be 10% of total trailer weight at the very minimum, preferably more like 12%. You have to weigh the trailer and tongue (fully loaded including water if you plan to boon dock) in order to know that, which you can do at a public scale. Here's why: https://www.google.com/search?q=trailer+sway+video&oq=trailer+sway+video&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i22i30l3j0i10i22i30j0i22i30l2.4407j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Even with a well balanced trailer, sway is still possible, so I would suggest still getting sway control even without a weight distribution hitch. The lowest cost option would probably be something like this. https://www.amazon.com/Pro-83660-Value-Friction-Control/dp/B0016KJ5MC/ref=pd_lpo_263_img_2/140-2048306-1226438?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0016KJ5MC&pd_rd_r=76cf10f8-282d-4f8d-a47f-6e28a4b3f41e&pd_rd_w=6B9YR&pd_rd_wg=OzOSQ&pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&pf_rd_r=44Y4SBXDHMRXQ9VDY068&psc=1&refRID=44Y4SBXDHMRXQ9VDY068 https://www.amazon.com/Reese-26003-Sway-Control-Adapter/dp/B0008F68MG Or you could get one of the electronic sway control systems that senses sway and activates the trailer brakes, but those are quite a bit more expensive.
	1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold

podwerkz Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 11 Mar 2019 Location: Texas Online Status: Offline Posts: 966	Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 9:25am
	With that size and weight tow vehicle, you will probably not need a wdh or sway control....assuming you load the pickup bed and the trailer correctly. Congrats on having a tow vehicle that will have 'towing authority' over the trailer. As you learn to pack for a long trip, try to load heavy items like jugs of water, generator, cases of canned food, gas cans, propane tanks, tool boxes, etc etc toward the front of the pickup bed. This will add stability and shift weight from the trailer to the tow vehicle. You will need to add a brake controller, if your pickup is not equipped with one.
	r･pod 171 gone but not forgotten!

Pod_Geek Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 04 Dec 2019 Location: Colorado Online Status: Offline Posts: 261	Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 9:34am
	I tow an R-Pod 195 with a RAM half-ton (1500) with the towing package. We've gone about 12,000 miles with it in the year that we've had it. When it was weighred early in the year loaded it weighed about 4200 lbs and the tongue weight was almost exactly 10% of that. Truck weighed in at 6700 lbs loaded (after getting that 6700-lb weight and 10% tongue weight I've started putting more items in the R-Pod and fewer in the truck). No accessories (WDH, sway bars, etc.). I have had no incidences of significant sway, even on I-70 in western Kansas where we encountered 30-50 mph cross winds for hours and semis passing us at 85. I keep it at 65mph or slightly less. I bet your 3/4-ton will handle the 176 just fine as long as you don't start chasing the speeders...
	2020.5 R-Pod 195 Hood River 2018 RAM 2500 6.4L

SailorDude Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 06 Dec 2020 Location: Washington Online Status: Offline Posts: 48	Posted: 07 Dec 2020 at 11:54pm
	Thank you for your advise. Yes it is a 176 my mistake. I've looked at so many rpod. I plan to pick it up on Thursday, and then head off straight for week trailering. Since I'm picking it up 200 mile from our home all our camping stuff will be in the truck bed in tubs. Based on what you say as long as I make sure I have tongue weight is at least 10 % of GVW of trailer we shouldn't have a problem. Maybe long term a sway controller makes sense. But for this first outing should not be a problem without sway bars. Keep on RV

offgrid Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290	Posted: 08 Dec 2020 at 7:01am
	Every trailer configuration behaves a little differently. A couple of years ago I did a survey on this forum of actual incidences of reported rPod trailer sway and there were one or two that occurred right around 10% tongue weight. That's why I recommend keeping the tongue weight higher than that. Based on that I don't let mine drop below around 11-12%. Bear in mind that in the 176 the water heater, fresh water tank, and pass through storage areas look like they are behind the trailer axle. There is nothing in any of those in Forest River's published weight data, so if you load those up you will be reducing your tongue weight. Not to sound like a broken record here, but do get actual loaded tongue and trailer weights to be sure.
	1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold

SailorDude Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Groupie Joined: 06 Dec 2020 Location: Washington Online Status: Offline Posts: 48	Posted: 08 Dec 2020 at 7:33am
	Thank you for the advice. How to you measure tongue weight? Also I think I will get a sway bar hitch set up. How does that work for a receiver hitch that drops down from the truck. the F250 are kind of high? any advice on which one I should get?

offgrid Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290	Posted: 08 Dec 2020 at 8:08am
	There are several ways to measure tongue weight. One is to get a a tongue weight scale like this: https://www.amazon.com/Sherline-LM-1000-Trailer-Tongue/dp/B007REJTGI/ref=pd_lpo_469_t_0/140-2048306-1226438?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B007REJTGI&pd_rd_r=10ce6a35-d86f-4ab1-afd4-58e414d936c9&pd_rd_w=26cfN&pd_rd_wg=Vu1W6&pf_rd_p=7b36d496-f366-4631-94d3-61b87b52511b&pf_rd_r=A6WKAXMA31J64QRPY6GQ&psc=1&refRID=A6WKAXMA31J64QRPY6GQ Another is to use the "bathroom scale method": https://www.curtmfg.com/trailer-parts/couplers/learn-more#:~:text=Position%20a%20pipe%20vertically%20under,This%20is%20the%20tongue%20weight. But since you still also have to weigh the trailer itself, what I do is make two runs through a public scale. On the first run I hitch up and weigh the two tow vehicle axles with the trailer axle off the scale, the roll the trailer onto the scale and weigh the combined rig. Then I disconnect the trailer and go back through the scale to get the weight the tow vehicle by itself. The difference between the combined rig from the first weighing and the second weighing is the trailer weight. The difference between the weight of the two tow vehicle axles from the first weighing and the second weighing is the tongue weight. Often you can do this for free at your county waste transfer station. Go at a quiet time of day and ask nice. If you want to proceed you can get a bracket to mount the anti-sway friction bar offset from the ball, like this. https://www.etrailer.com/p-RP26003.html There is a photo on that web page showing how the bracket gets mounted on a drop down hitch.
	1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold

Dirt Sifter Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 30 Dec 2018 Location: Right side OR Online Status: Offline Posts: 170	Posted: 08 Dec 2020 at 1:04pm
	Welcome! When we bought our 179 we also picked up the friction hitch ball attachment similar to the one OffGrid mentioned. I get you've got an F250 and don't 'need' the sway control. It came in real handy on some windy WA and ID open country hwy.'s even with the Tundra. I came out of a cut on a curve into a gust that pushed me around a bit even with the sway control. But that was with a Tacoma tow vehicle. Bottom line, I'm a proponent of sway control 'most all the time; takes the white knuckle out of the trip.
	Greg n Deb 2020 195 HRE '07 Tundra 5.7L., '17 Tacoma 3.5L. Both with tow packages 1 Puggle, 1 Chihuahua support staff

offgrid Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 23 Jul 2018 Online Status: Offline Posts: 5290	Posted: 08 Dec 2020 at 3:43pm
	I like to think about managing sway with a "belt and suspenders" approach. The "belt" is keeping the trailer tongue weight in range. That will dampen out sway, as the video link shows. The "suspenders" is some type of physical sway control, which could be a wdh with sway control, a friction bar system, a cam or Hensley type sway control, or electronic sway control. At least one member here (who has experienced a severe sway event) has decided that a belt and two sets of suspenders is the right choice. Its really a personal choice about how much risk you want to take. To me getting the weights right and then adding either a wdh or a friction bar seems to be a good place, others could choose differently. With a heavy tow vehicle like your F250 you can still get trailer sway but it would take quite a lot to also get the TV to decide not to stay planted. BTW, if you have the time and presence of mind, applying a bit of trailer braking using the manual control on your brake controller will bring the trailer back in line behind the tow vehicle. Probably it goes without saying but you never want to apply your TV brakes if you do get trailer sway, unless of course you'd like to get a good view of your trailer proceeding you down the highway.
	1994 Chinook Concourse 1995 RV6A Experimental Aircraft 2015 Rpod 179 - sold