I am thinking to purchase a new Model 179. I have a new Toyota Sienna Minivan. It is rated at 3500 lbs. It has a heavy duty uhaul hitch rated at 4500lbs with 2 in receiver, but it does not have the factory trailer towing package. Lots of people tell me I should not use it to tow the RPod. The RPod has a dry weight of 2640. Has anyone had experience with a minivan pulling their RPod? I would appreciate any guidance on this issue. 

Thanks for the good advice. I knew about the weight distribution hitch. Do you think I also need an oil cooler and electronic brakes? Also would you recommend a larger radiator and fan installed?

Thanks

Chuck

I would agree that some sort of sway control is in order, but I went with one of the $35 curt sway control units.  The difference it made was absolutely night and day.  I've got a couple thousand miles on it with the sway control now, and it tracks like it's on rails under all conditions, high wind, big downhill grades, whatever.  Prior I was limited to 55 - 60 mph to control sway and would have to modulate the trailer brake down hills.  Not good.

As far as towing with an under powered vehicle, the biggest problem I have is poor gas mileage and a relatively small fuel tank, my rig had crappy mileage to start with though.  The only time I've been worried about engine power was Tioga pass going into Yosemite.  It's a brute of a hill, going up and coming down.  Turn the AC off for big long pulls.

Get a full size spare tire, I picked up a matching wheel from a junk yard, and it fit fine in the factory location.  You probably aren't wired for a 7 way connector, so when you pull wire, pull a 8-10 gauge power cable from the battery so you have enough capacity to run the fridge on 12v and keep the batteries topped off.  My wiring kit came with a 10 gauge power wire and it's enough for the fridge and battery charge, if I'd known a bigger power feed mattered at the time I would have bumped it up to an 8 when I pulled it to be safe.  The Tekonsha P3 brake controller has been great for me.

Minimum you need the factory oil cooler that comes with the tow package,you should be able to buy it separately from the other parts, ideally probably have an after market unit added in addition to that equipped with a thermostat on it so the oil still warms up from cold in a reasonable time.  That one is on my wish list...

I tow my pod with a Toyota Tacoma...no problems.  My son installed a hitch and brake control wiring on his newer Sienna and it seems to pull the pod even better than the Taco.  Installing the brake controller wiring with parts from etrailer on a Sienna is definitely doable. We did it in about two hours in the driveway.  Etrailer has excellent instructions and videos that help a lot.  If you call them they act like they are happy to talk to you and know what they are talking about.  Have a Prodigy controller we use in both vehicles.  We also bought and installed the hitch receiver on the Sienna with parts from etrailer.  Also about two hours and no problem.  I recall the receiver just bolts on but you need to remove a piece of plastic and cut it to get it to work.  Actually not that hard to do.  The receiver and hitch he got has an adjustable lift....I think it needs to be up six inches or so on the Sienna.  Also got an extra UBolt piece of hardware to prevent movement that occurs with an adjustable drop hitch.  Noticeable banging noise if you don't have this.  

I bought mirror extenders when I first got the pod.  They work fine, but I discovered that I don't really need them.  Without the extenders I can't see directly behind the pod....and with them on I still can't.  With the width of the Sienna and pod, you shouldn't need them....but the little circular blind spot mirrors (Sienna may already have this) are a good whether you are towing or not. 

Further things......Our pod is a little lighter than yours. 

Also We use a small EZ friction type sway control bar that came with the used pod I bought.  If you don't go with a full WDH type hitch, you should at least get one of these.  It helps with sway, which if you ever experience it is truly scary.  It does nothing about the "porpoise" effect when going up and down hills, which is very noticeable in the Tacoma.  That may be more of a comfort than safety thing.  Probably would have got a WDH, but the Tacoma already had came with a receiver and the pod came with the sway bar so I just went with it.  My son tells me the Sienna pulls without much porpoise effect (he has driven both vehicles with the pod).