I've seen them on the road for a long time and always thought they were cool and unique. Just last weekend while visiting the antique travel trailer show at the Pismo Beach campground I noticed that there was an rPod dealer among the RV dealers across the street. I briefly looked at the RP 180 and took some photos with my phone. Later I showed them to my wife and she agreed to go see the trailer the following day. We ended up buying it last Sunday, and we settled on $750 for the trade for the '89 Coleman Sequoia. We pick up the new trailer this coming Saturday. They also agreed to throw in a set of towing mirrors and a new drop hitch and ball.

My wife Genéte liked the large dry bath on the 180. I liked the 179's big kitchen and dinette but neither of us liked the wet bath. Since it's just the two of us, and our four Dachshunds, I'm hoping the 180 will work well. I liked the openness of that floor plan with the windows on each side.

Today I cleaned out the old trailer and removed all of our gear. In 2003 we towed that trailer from CA to NC and did 13 states in six weeks. Genéte and I got married a month later because we figured that if we could live together in tight quarters for six weeks then anything was possible!

I towed the Coleman tent trailer with a 2002 4 cyl Tacoma extra cab (5-lug), and got 17-18 mpg on flat ground. The hills were difficult, sometimes had to drop to second gear.

This time I will be towing the new rPod with a 2011 Tacoma V6 PreRunner Access Cab with the factory tow package. I will probably add a set of Hellwig overload springs to the back of the Tacoma if the tongue weight pulls the truck down. My last Tacoma could have used overloads because the relatively light tent trailer (1,500 lbs) sank the rear.

I just this week found this forums website and it looks like there is wealth of information here!

Planning on some short weekend trips to try out the new trailer and later this year travel up the Oregon coast.

Welcome to the forum. I am sure you will love your Rpod.  Last year we spent 2 months traveling the Washington and Oregon coasts.  There are lots of great camping parks and and areas to explore.  

travel safe

Vann

Congratulations and welcome! We are in the midst of our third trip with our RP179 out west to see our daughters and grandchildren. We've had other extended trips. I've lost track of how many miles we have put on our R-Pod but it is probably in excess of 15,000 since we purchased it. I hope you have many adventures and make many great memories with your R-Pod.

Don't expect anywhere near the mileage you were getting when towing the Coleman. The frontal area of the R-Pod means that there is much more wind resistance to overcome. We tow with a 2010 Nissan Frontier 4L V6 4WD Crew Cab. The truck gets 19 or 20 mpg without the trailer. When towing we get between 10 and 14 with our 179. I installed an AeroPlus to help with wind resistance and limit my towing speed to 60 mph, even on the Interstate Highways. If I were to try towing faster, I would be getting more like 8 mpg. Mountains and strong headwinds cut the mileage. A good tailwind helps. Towing at no more than 60 mph is more relaxing also.

You mention adding overload springs. Consider instead a weight distribution hitch such as the Equal-i-zer 4-point sway control hitch, the Progress Industries E2 hitch (2-point sway control), the Andersen No-Sway hitch, or something equivalent. These will provide sway control as well as keeping the back of the truck from sagging too much. Sway control is something you don't need until you do. It is better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Crosswinds and passing trucks can exert much more force on the 180 than they could on the Coleman.

The gas mileage on the Tacoma is not the best unloaded. When I bought tis one I researched both engines; the V6 and the 2.7 4 cyl. The I4 only got three miles per gallon better than the V6 but had no power at all and couldn't even get out of its own way. (I asked the salesman on a test drive, 'This is so gutless. Is the parking brake on?' He said no, they're all like this.) If I get 12 mpg pulling the pod I'll be happy. From what I've heard the 4.0 V6 pulls much better than the new smaller Toyota Tacoma V6 introduced in 2016.

 I had a set of Hellwig progressive overload springs on my '91 F-150 and it made a world of difference carrying a '67 Alaskan camper. I'll probably add a set to the Tacoma. 

I think you would be better off with a WDH or at least anti-sway. The amount of weight transferred onto the trailer axle is miniscule. Less than 60 lbs based on the calculations I ran. The long moment arm between the hitch and the trailer axle is the key here. Most of the weight gets shifted to the front wheels of the tow vehicle (because the short moment arm is between the hitch and the rear axle of the tow vehicle.

We have a 2010 Tacoma, and it does well most of the time. It does get a bit low on go when we are at 10,000 feet in the higher Sierra, and this is without towing a trailer. I would be concerned if we planned on towing the R-pod in a place like that. We used to have a 2008 Tacoma with the 2.7L 4-banger. At 10,000 feet, it could barely get out of its own way. The 4L V6 is way better. No question.

OTOH, our Ecoboost barely breaks a sweat at 10,000 feet. We have not (yet) pulled the R-pod over one of those high Sierra passes, but I have no doubt that it can do it without drama.

Congrats on your new 180 and for some the same reasons you like yours we love ours.

I don't see you have any problems towing your Pod with your Tacoma PreRunner V-6. I added SumoSprings to my 2016 Tacoma which helped out along with using a WDH. I have no problem pulling our 180 with this new generation of Tacoma with it's new Atkinson cycle engine. I think most people freak out because this engine was designed to run at higher rpm's and they equate it doing so as to not having the power to pull at highway speeds which it in fact does.

Greetings

I'm 78 so I built a small step for the bath in my 179.  It really helps and doesn't take up much room.  My 07 F-150 rear springs are getting a little saggy when towing, so I put heavy duty shocks with springs on the truck,  That leveled it up for about $200.  I have dual tanks plus an electric hitch jack installed which increases the hitch weight.  I removed the spare tire and put it in the front of my 8 foot box, which helped also.

Crankster78

Greetings from another Californian and congrats on your decision, you're going to love your RPod! We sure love ours. Your name caught my music-loving eye too (clever pairing :-) . Since you also mention Oregon, you might already know there is an RPod rally in Cannon Beach in late August. I'm not the organizer, and I don't know if it's full yet. But you might do a quick search of the forum if you're interested in the info. Have fun with your 180! 

Yeah, I'm going to have to give up taping concerts, at least for a while, after spending the $$$ on this new trailer. (It's Not that I use old Neumanns. I'M Old...and I use Neumanns!)

 Fortunately I have a lot to listen to! Road trips aren't complete without good music.

Congratulations and enjoy!!! We've had ours 2 years this July and aren't over the excitement of getting it. So much so that we often camp in it in between camping trips 

One thing I am very glad I did with my FJ Cruiser is add an auxiliary transmission cooler.  Around $50 to $60 and 30 minutes work.  Drops the transmission fluid temps about 30°.  If your Tacoma is like my FJ it doesn't have a transmission temperature gunge so I added a Scanguage (which has to be tweaked to get the TF temp).  Normal is around 180°.  The worst of the Smoky Mountains was 250°+ without the cooler.

Toyota won't tell what's too hot for TF but the longer it's hot the more it deteriorates.  Oh, yeah.  There is a TF light.  From what I can tell when it comes on it doesn't mean let things cool down, it means you TF is cooked and needs to be changed. 

Fourth gear is good.  Going up a long hill, if the tranny is dropping to 3rd you'd do well to shift manually to 3rd too so as to avoid having the auto transmission search for gears.  That's what really builds up the heat.

Check out a Tacoma forum and ask about pulling a 3500 lb trailer.  I'll bet the biggest response will be to add a transmission cooler.

All that said, if you have the factory tow package you may already have enough transmission cooling, but it's still something to look into and be sure.

TT

I found that 60-65mph was my sweet spot for highway speed.  I may be imagining, but I also thought driving in "4" instead of "D" resulted in less automatic tranny shifting.  

Congrats on your maiden voyage of your new 180! I too am a member of Tacomaworld forum you know its my truck by their sticker in my Tacoma back window. I have no problems towing my 180 but I do run it in manual shifting with the ECT in the ON position. On flat grades, interstate and such, I have no problem with it running highway speeds with up shifting into 5th gear. I did put in a set of Sumo Springs to help handle the 180 tongue weight and have the  rear shocks run cooler. I would also suggest, especially since you live out west maybe running in the windy plains of the west, to seriously think about looking into a WDH.

Highway 46 is wonderful! And we love Morro Bay. So glad you folks are already having such a fantastic time with your new Pod. 

Would a good WDH do a better job of leveling the back of the truck than just the overloads alone? I measured the air gap this weekend. Unloaded I have a six-inch gap between the top of the tire and the bottom of the bed fender. Once the trailer is on it drops one inch to a five-inch gap. This was our first overnight trip with the 180 and we didn't have a great deal of gear with us. (No bikes, kayak, and only 1/3 full of freshwater tank.) I imagine that with more weight the truck would drop further.

I'm wondering why the RV shop techs who installed the brake controller on the truck and did the walkthrough BOTH said that I was fine without the WDH. Wouldn't they have wanted to push something else to make a sale?

Would the WDH or overloads alone do a better job of controlling bounce, especially going over bridges on the highway? That's one thing I did notice this weekend that was mildly annoying.

Thanks for the advice.

IMHO my answer is yes! As would also things like Sumo Shocks, helper springs, or even just better rear shocks then the original ones. Once my WDH was properly adjusted and with the addition of up graded tires both my wife and I immediately noticed an improvement on "bouncing" on our 180. Opinions very on whether or not to have a WDH, I wouldn't tow without it due to safety issues alone not to mention the improvement on towing.

Originally posted by OldNeumanntapr Would a good WDH do a better job of leveling the back of the truck than just the overloads alone?

In a word. Yes.

The overload springs do nothing, zilch, nada to transfer any load to the front axle (the steering axle). So while it may look OK from a level point of view, you still have effectively "unloaded" the front axle by whatever the moment arm is. If the tow vehicle is big/heavy enough, then no problem. However, if the vehicle is relatively light and/or front wheel drive, then you might be in for an unpleasant surprise. That's the main job of a WDH, it takes a portion of the tongue weight, and transfers it to the front of the tow vehicle. The exact dynamics vary with the size and weight of the TV and TT; no two situations will be exactly the same.

Good! We'll see you there. 

Is this all I need? Will this help with the bouncing over bridges and raise the rear of the truck to a more level position?

OldNeumanntapr, your choice of WDH anti sway seems more then adequate to me but hey what do I know?

My only other suggestion to you is to look at upgrading your tires because remember you only have two hitting the road compared to four on larger RV campers on the road.

 

OldNeumanntapr, I agree with DavMar, that WDH should work just fine. I don't really agree with the shop's opinion that the R-pod will sway more because it's single axle and has a high profile. I've compared the R-pod to other TTs, and it's not really any higher, and it is, in fact, usually a more narrow profile. At any rate, we have never experienced any sway issue with our 179. The WDH will tend to level both the TV and the TT if it is set up correctly.

When you're pulling with a WDH, you will notice that the TV and TT will move more like "one unit". So it kind of stretches your overall wheelbase. That's slightly hyperbole, but it kind of gives you an idea of what to expect.

I have used this hitch for a 173 and a 179  and been very happy with the performance.

Vann

Originally posted by TheBum You do want it close, but the rating should always exceed the actual load. You're right: if it's excessively hefty, it can actually cause issues, especially if you're pulling with a unibody TV like our Highlander. A 600/6000 is good for almost any R-Pod setup.

Almost exactly what our dealer explained to us. The 600/6000 is the smallest E2 makes, and so that is what a lot of dealers gravitate to. There are not a lot of WDH choices in the 450/4500 weight category, but those would generally be a good choice for a pod as well. Certainly going to 800/8000 would probably cause more problems than it solves.

I will say that our 600/6000 E2 seems to be a real good match to our RP-179.

Originally posted by OldNeumanntapr There was a review on the etrailer site from someone who said that the 600/6000 model was too heavy to take on and off and thought the smaller size was better. That's probably what I'm going to go with.

All of us here that use anti-sway wdh here use that model of the e2, me included. There is no problem taking it on and off, they even give a tool to help put the square bars on in a jiffy with ease. The only thing heavy about the hitch is what I guess is called the "ball assembly" that sides into your receiver. When I'm out on the road and camping I leave this part in (using a locking hitch pin which you should consider buying if you don't have one) the receiver and just remove the square bars when I unhitch which is no trouble.

The brochure lists the (I imagine dry) tongue weight of the 180 as 340 lbs. Adding the weight of the propane tank, group 27 marine battery, and power tongue jack I estimated the total tongue weight at 420 lbs but I don't know for certain unless I take the trailer to the local truck stop and use their scales to weigh it. I don't know why they just couldn't give me their recommendation between the Equalizer 400/4000 and 600/6000 but apparently they won't unless I supply an EXACT tongue weight.

If it is in fact over 400 lbs tongue weight I would imagine that the larger WDH would be in order but I have sent etrailer several emails back and forth and they won't come out with a straight answer.

My mechanic told me that if you get a WDH that is too much capacity it will in effect stretch the load too far apart between the wheel bases which can cause a really rough ride.

I want to make this a one-time purchase and get the right one on the first try.

Thanks to everyone for your advice.

Had a long talk with a lady from etrailer.com today. The 600/6000 is the ticket for the rPods. 

Tongue weight range is between 200 and 600 lbs, whereas the 400/4000's tongue weight range is from 100 lbs to 400 lbs. I see now why most everyone recommends the 600/6000 Equalizer. The smaller model is almost maxed out with the rPod tongue.

I liked the floor plan of the 190 but my dealer didn't have one in stock. That is a nice unit.