WDH hitch and unibody frame concern and questions.

Originally posted by JET Originally posted by TheBum Originally posted by Tars Tarkas I don't know the answer to your question, but in my opinion and in my experience, a WDH on a vehicle with a 5000 lb tow capacity and a 3500 lb trailer is of very questionable necessity. It depends on how stiff the suspension is. Our Highlander has very car-like suspension, which means it sags quite a bit under load. We started out without a WDH, but after posting my first pics, I was advised by several people that we needed one. It certainly has made the ride better. Thanks so much for your reply. This whole question has had me rather apprehensive about whether to tow without the WHD, which I am convinced is a help and valid in that respect, or use the WHD and hope that the unibody frame issue is really a non-issue. I have talked to various people in the RV world and no one has ever experienced a problem with WHD's and unibody frames. Also, with all the talk of this issue on the Internet there is nowhere where I found a single person state that they actually had a problem with their unibody frame and a WHD, so I think it is all hypothetical worry that has no real basis for concern and the downside to towing without using a WHD when needed is outweighed by using the WHD and worrying about the frame.

I know of a couple unibody vehicles that had catastrophic issues with towing. BUT.. many people do it and WAY more have no issues, as the ones who have any issues. I have personally seen a Jetta, yes, VW Jetta, pulling a 23 foot Airstream. Confidently. Would I do it? NO. But the owners had nearly 10k miles on the rig with no complaints other then 20mph over the Rockies.

Originally posted by Tars Tarkas I don't know the answer to your question, but in my opinion and in my experience, a WDH on a vehicle with a 5000 lb tow capacity and a 3500 lb trailer is of very questionable necessity.

It depends on how stiff the suspension is. Our Highlander has very car-like suspension, which means it sags quite a bit under load. We started out without a WDH, but after posting my first pics, I was advised by several people that we needed one. It certainly has made the ride better.

Originally posted by Steve 911 I have a 2016 Highlander, and my owners manual speaks to using a WDH. It says to "measure the front fender height before the connection, and adjust the WDH so the front fender Returns to the same height as before the connection".  It goes on to say "if gross trailer weight is over 2000 lbs. a sway control device with sufficient capacity is required ". I gather from this info that the addition of a WDH should not harm the vehicle. I know it's not the same year Highlander as yours but perhaps this might help ... Steve

Thanks Steve.

As an alternative to a sway bar, you could consider the Hayes Sway-Master. (see my post here: http://www.rpod-owners.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=9283&PID=87535&title=hayes-swaymaster#87535 ). It is more expensive than a friction sway bar, but would likely also be more effective. I would not tow without some form of sway control. In my case, I am adding the Hayes Sway-Master to towing with the Equal-i-zer. 

Originally posted by JET I am wondering if there is any reason why I can't drive the Highlander towing the Rpod and see how it does without the WDH torsion bars/chains attached. Maybe someone can answer these 2 questions for me.  1) Is there any reason why using the setup without the WDH bars and chains attached would be a problem? That is use the WDH ball mount only (it is quite a bit larger and different, has angle adjustments etc)/ 2) I also have the Husky friction sway bar. Is there any reason why I couldn't use the friction sway bar only? (sway bar only,  but not the torsion bar/chain part of it). So in essence the two above questions are basically asking if I want to try towing the Rpod utilizing the Husky WDH ball mount, leaving the WDH bar/chains off, but attach the friction sway bar, would that cause any problems?

1. We had to do that when my son-in-law and I retrieved our 179 from the tow yard in Wyoming and towed it to South Jordan, Utah. We did this because I did not have the tools with me to adjust the WDH to suit the Frontier. The Escape has a 3500 lb tow rating and the Frontier has a 6100 lb tow rating. Even with the higher tow rating, I noticed the back end of the Frontier sagging and a couple of people flashed high beams at me even though I had ours on low beam. You might be better off with just using a plain hitch with just the ball in a case like this. You would save the weight of the WDH.

2. You could use a regular hitch with the sway bar. It would be better than towing with no sway control.

3. Hard to say whether using the WDH head without the bars would cause problems. I don't think it is a recommended way to tow and now that I have the hitch adjusted, I won't do it again.