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Newbie: Max Length Travel Trailer

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mshonhall

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Hey gang! We're brand new here. And, of course, have more than a few questions.

We bought our '16 Touareg, V6 Exec, with the main purpose of pulling a travel trailer, given its large 7,716 lbs. of towing capability!

We've just purchased a TT that is under the Touareg's max tow limit, but, is pretty long at 32'.

After searching the forums here, it looks like most people are torn 50/50 about whether to get a WD/Sway hitch. It becomes even more confusing/frustrating when people chime in that haven't actually towed with the Touareg. Those that have actually towed with their VW make it sound like the extra hitch isn't necessary, due to the advanced nature of the VW's dynamics.

After reading until my eyes are watering, I think we've decided to go ahead and go with a WD/Sway hitch, due to our length. It sounds like it would be the safest bet.

We've had several friends tell us our Touareg will need to be replaced with a full sized truck. Yet, almost every entry in here talks about the Touareg being one of the best tow vehicles they've ever owned.

So, our beginner questions:

1.) Has anyone (specifically, not hypothetically), towed a 32' travel trailer with their Touareg, and/if so, what are your thoughts on your experience?

2.) Any other relevant thoughts on our future experiences?

Thanks in advance!

Shon & Carol
 
#2 ·
W/D hitch has generally NOT been deemed necessary for any Treg with air suspension based on the automatic leveling system along with the automatic electronic stability features.
Since your 2016 does NOT have air suspension the need for the W/D hitch is more of an open question.
Try it without first and see how you think it handles/drives.
 
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#3 ·
I know many of the RV dealerships will only sell you a travel travel trailer that is calculated this way...

Total wheelbase divided by 5 plus 2. That will give the maximum length in feet.

We are pulling a 24 ft travel trailer at 4600lbs.

We had one very scary moment traveling across Utah in high winds. At the time I did not know our weight distribution hitch was not installed properly. The parts were installed up-side-down. Effectively we had no distribution hitch.

We just passed through a rock cut in the highway to an open valley. We went from no wind to a full crosswind on one side. We started swerving back and forth out of control. To my total amazement the Touareg's ESP took-over and pulled us out of the spin! We can thank our safe travels to some very smart German engineering.

I strongly suggest a WDH.

Also, you might check out the airstream forums.

Best of luck in your search for an RV.
 
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Discussion starter · #4 ·
Thank you!!

We've thought of doing just that... But, it's that one time, out on the road, where you might really need it, that it might be too late... Hence, why I think we're strongly leaning towards the WD/Sway Hitch.
 
Discussion starter · #5 ·
MtnPass said:
Total wheelbase divided by 5 plus 2. That will give the maximum length in feet.

-- So, the Touareg's Wheelbase?

We had one very scary moment traveling across Utah in high winds.
We just passed through a rock cut in the highway to an open valley. We went from no wind to a full crosswind on one side. We started swerving back and forth out of control. To my total amazement the Touareg's ESP took-over and pulled us out of the spin! We can thank our safe travels to some very smart German engineering.

-- This is exactly the kind of real-world experience I was hoping to learn from! Thank you!! And, I'm glad it has a happy ending!!

I strongly suggest a WDH.

-- Again, thank you!
Click to expand...
I entered my comments within the quoted text...
 
#6 ·
As an example, our 2009 TDI is 112.4" / 5 +2=24'

Each model is a bit different. You might check your manual or online.
 
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#7 ·
I tow 32' hitch to bumper and have had no issues and no fuss. I have been in wind and windy roads, mountain ranges, passed big rigs, been passed by big rigs, brake checked, and hit many dips, holes, and what not. I could go longer, really does well!

My advice is to use WD and sway.

Despite what people say, length is not an issue I have ever experienced; in high wind I don't get blown around but see full size trucks and semis swerving during these events. The Treg really is a pretty good tow vehicle thanks to short distance from hitch to rear axel. My trailer (all aluminum and fiberglass) being only 7,500 fully loaded helps (versus some of the old iron and wood out there) help too I am sure.

My dealer didn't think length would be an issue either that they have sold to multiple Treg and Jeep owners. Minimal rear overhang cited by them too...

The 3.6 V6 FSI you have will do the job, but don't expect to win any races. That motor is well built and has been used since 2005 (originally in Passat) and is now going into the new Atlas. It is a proven motor (mechanically speaking), but it revs high, especially on hills and will take getting used to. If you can live with that (I eventually got a V Eight) it will last a long time (still drive mine daily and if needed would tow our trailer again with it). .

Pictures:
 

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#8 ·
Our number one reason for owning a Touareg is, how it's a very capable tow-rig. People are surprised to see us towing our camper. I am sure you are getting a number of comments.
 
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#9 ·
Hi there,

I am in a similar situation but with a 23' 8" trailer that has a GVWR of 5,700 lb. My concerns, which I have yet to resolve, focus on the hitch weight. But what you may wish to consider is: Will your warranty (4 years) become invalid if you use a WD hitch and what are the legal issues if you are involved in an accident? My VW dealer advised not to use the WD hitch for those reasons. The owner's hand book tell you not to use a WD hitch and not to exceed a hitch weight of 616 lb.

Good luck.
 
#10 ·
Senecio said:
Hi there,

I am in a similar situation but with a 23' 8" trailer that has a GVWR of 5,700 lb. My concerns, which I have yet to resolve, focus on the hitch weight. But what you may wish to consider is: Will your warranty (4 years) become invalid if you use a WD hitch and what are the legal issues if you are involved in an accident? My VW dealer advised not to use the WD hitch for those reasons. The owner's hand book tell you not to use a WD hitch and not to exceed a hitch weight of 616 lb.

Good luck.
Click to expand...
My advice is simple. WD all the way and forget it. 1) Many Touaregs have WD weights printed on the hitch (mine does), 2) provided you are below the tow weight specs (and I do mean all of them) than you are not trying to use WD to carry more weight than specification (example is a trailer with a hitch weight of say 770 lbs (weighed by a scale not manufacture "specs" ), but hitched you are able to weigh the truck and determine a hitch transfer weight of 500 lbs..don't shove 200 lbs more crap in the front of the trailer and rely on WD to keep this off the hitch); and 3) if you did get involved in a crash the fact that you had WD is likely not ever going to be a bad thing because it is a respected and common used design that IMPROVES safety, they would have to prove the accident was caused by or made worse by the WD, which would not happen on the Touareg as it is a proper tow vehicle. Now if you used WD on a Jetta and ripped off the rear part of the car an towing more than its capable (no idea if a Jetta can even tow just an example) because it is is more classic unibody and not a true tow capable purpose built unitary body / chassis construction like modern crossovers are...and pickups soon will be...
 
#11 ·
Hi Spiegelglatt. I think you are missing the points I was trying to make. I have read most, if not all, of the threads on hitches and weight distribution for the Treg and I have seen your responses many times, so I accept that you are very knowledgeable about the Treg, I also accept that a Treg can function with a WD hitch and that it is more than capable of towing heavy loads. But my concern is not about the physical capability of the Treg, it is the following two issues that concern me: Both Mshonhall and myself have recent model Tregs and these are still under warranty. In the event of a warranty claim where a WD hitch has been used (probably with a Can-Am extension tube modification) VW would use that as a reason to deny the claim. Moreover you write: "provided you are below the tow weight specs (and I do mean all of them) and you are not trying to use WD to carry more weight than specification", which is the crux of my argument The 2016 and 2017 Treg have a hitch weight of 616 lb and not 770 lb, this as stated by the manufacturer, both in the owner's handbook and on the label attached to the hitch. Now I'm not disagreeing that on earlier models 770 lb was the max weight and that structurally VW have not changed anything, but a lawyer trying to make money after an accident would have a field day with this. The driver was operating a vehicle and trailer in an unsafe manner in flagrant disregard for the manufacturer's specification in that both a WD hitch was installed and the weight was in excess of 616 lbs. And by-the-way a WD hitch adds approximately another 80 lb to the hitch weight. So, I was just trying to make Mshonhall aware that VW are interested in saving money on warranty claims and a lawyer wants to make money. It is not about the capability of a Treg. However, if you can give me some direction on how we can use a WD hitches and exceed the hitch weight of 616 lb without running risk of the foregoing I would be as chuffed as a diesel driven doughnut.
 
Discussion starter · #12 ·
I just typed out a long-assed response, for the last 30 minutes, and the stupid form complained about being logged in wrong (or something), and I lost all of it.

I’m beyond frustrated.

Long story short:

Buy the WD/AS Hitch. We’ve traveled 20k miles in the last 2 years. It’s definitely worth it.

The Touareg is an absolutely fantastic tow vehicle. We can not recommend it highly enough.

We went off grid with the trailer in Canada with friends. It towed better than the F150s we were camping with. Utterly amazed by how well it towed.

The end.
 

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#14 ·
Senecio,


Your question is quite interesting to me. The first question is whether you understand what a WD hitch does and how it works?


I did quite a bit of thinking and reading before using a WD on my 2013. The one thing that puzzles me about VW is just how much the hitch weighs and that they use 8 bolts rated to 60,000 or 70,000 lbs of compression force each.



There is a chance that the 2017 Touareg has a different hitch mount structure... but I doubt it. Based on how they build the hitch (it weighs nearly 80-100 lbs by itself) and the rating they put on it they would have had to over rate the hitch itself by quite a bit to cover all the off-design (ie weird stuff) that could happen that most people never think of. Also if you get a chance check out the Airstream video where a Cayenne (gen 1) tows an Airstream camper through a slalom course its pretty impressive.


Your question seems about legality rather than technical capability.



The question I have is how much do you need for tongue weight?


As I understand it the two rear tires of the Touareg are rated for around 2300 lbs each , and from my experience with a 400 lb tongue the backend squats more than I wanted to drive a long distance with. When I added the WD hitch the car sat almost level. I honestly have no idea why VW didn't include a WD hitch in their rating. In 2011 it was (was this an over sight in the manual?) But... officially the 2011 hitch also had a 770 lbs tongue rating while my 2013 (physically look identical except the sticker and part number) have a rating of 618 lbs. If I had to guess they simply changed the tongue weight to reduce their liability.
 
#15 ·
Senecio said:
Hi Spiegelglatt. I think you are missing the points I was trying to make. I have read most, if not all, of the threads on hitches and weight distribution for the Treg and I have seen your responses many times, so I accept that you are very knowledgeable about the Treg, I also accept that a Treg can function with a WD hitch and that it is more than capable of towing heavy loads. But my concern is not about the physical capability of the Treg, it is the following two issues that concern me: Both Mshonhall and myself have recent model Tregs and these are still under warranty. In the event of a warranty claim where a WD hitch has been used (probably with a Can-Am extension tube modification) VW would use that as a reason to deny the claim. Moreover you write: "provided you are below the tow weight specs (and I do mean all of them) and you are not trying to use WD to carry more weight than specification", which is the crux of my argument The 2016 and 2017 Treg have a hitch weight of 616 lb and not 770 lb, this as stated by the manufacturer, both in the owner's handbook and on the label attached to the hitch. Now I'm not disagreeing that on earlier models 770 lb was the max weight and that structurally VW have not changed anything, but a lawyer trying to make money after an accident would have a field day with this. The driver was operating a vehicle and trailer in an unsafe manner in flagrant disregard for the manufacturer's specification in that both a WD hitch was installed and the weight was in excess of 616 lbs. And by-the-way a WD hitch adds approximately another 80 lb to the hitch weight. So, I was just trying to make Mshonhall aware that VW are interested in saving money on warranty claims and a lawyer wants to make money. It is not about the capability of a Treg. However, if you can give me some direction on how we can use a WD hitches and exceed the hitch weight of 616 lb without running risk of the foregoing I would be as chuffed as a diesel driven doughnut.
Click to expand...
235906




Air suspension = no weight distribution needed. If I didnot have air,sus I would use WD. Just my 2 cents :)
 
#16 ·
I know this is an old thread but had a few comments. I previously owned a 12 Touareg TDI but since I was forced to turn it in I opted for a diesel Cayenne. I tow a 24ft RV trailer that weighs about 5800 lbs while towing. First think I noticed was that Porsche does NOT have any restrictions about using a weight distribution hitch.Same hitch and frame structure as the Touareg but NO restriction. I personally would not tow without one. My next comment is on tongue weight. Besides the 616 or 770 lb controversy, the real liability issue is GAWR and GVWR. Check the sticker inside the drivers door. In my experience, if you put 616 lbs on the tongue and then a few things in the rear hatch and carry 4 people, you are most likely way over your rear axle GAWR. I know, I've gone to the scales many times to get just the right weight combo. And if you're worried about liability in the event of an accident, I think it will be pretty hard to determine what the tongue weight was before the crash. Things will shift around and change the weight distribution. Just my $.02
 
#17 ·
Air suspension will level off the tow vehicle (squat) , but won't redistribute weight to front axle of the tow vehicle. How could it? The rear axle is a fulcrum point of a lever. Lifting the fulcrum (air suspension) doesn't change the lever lengths or weights. Unless my geometry/physics knowledge is all mangled. Air suspension affects levelness (is that a word?). If someone can explain it with math, how air suspension re-distributes weight, I'm all ears.

A weight distributing system does what it says (if correctly setup). Some of the trailer tongue weight is redistributed to the trailers axle(s) and the tow vehicle front axle. This also levels the tow vehicle. As a result there's more control because the front axles a better planted.
 
#18 ·
pajohn said:
I know this is an old thread but had a few comments. I previously owned a 12 Touareg TDI but since I was forced to turn it in I opted for a diesel Cayenne. I tow a 24ft RV trailer that weighs about 5800 lbs while towing. First think I noticed was that Porsche does NOT have any restrictions about using a weight distribution hitch.Same hitch and frame structure as the Touareg but NO restriction. I personally would not tow without one. My next comment is on tongue weight. Besides the 616 or 770 lb controversy, the real liability issue is GAWR and GVWR. Check the sticker inside the drivers door. In my experience, if you put 616 lbs on the tongue and then a few things in the rear hatch and carry 4 people, you are most likely way over your rear axle GAWR. I know, I've gone to the scales many times to get just the right weight combo. And if you're worried about liability in the event of an accident, I think it will be pretty hard to determine what the tongue weight was before the crash. Things will shift around and change the weight distribution. Just my $.02
Click to expand...
So the Cayenne has air suspension? If so just because the manual does not state WDH should not be used, does not mean you should use one. More likely they ommited this info because most people do not tow with a Porsche. The problem is the WDH screws up the towing system sensor that are built in ( anti sway ) . I have always towed with WDH hitch with previous Audis and other cars, I donot miss it one little bit on the Touareg, and I'm pleased I do not have to mess about with them for a simpler hookup. Also for the weight saving on the ball. :)
 
#19 ·
Greig800nm said:
So the Cayenne has air suspension? If so just because the manual does not state WDH should not be used, does not mean you should use one. More likely they ommited this info because most people do not tow with a Porsche. The problem is the WDH screws up the towing system sensor that are built in ( anti sway ) . I have always towed with WDH hitch with previous Audis and other cars, I donot miss it one little bit on the Touareg, and I'm pleased I do not have to mess about with them for a simpler hookup. Also for the weight saving on the ball. :)
[/QU
Click to expand...
ToolmanJohn said:
Air suspension will level off the tow vehicle (squat) , but won't redistribute weight to front axle of the tow vehicle. How could it? The rear axle is a fulcrum point of a lever. Lifting the fulcrum (air suspension) doesn't change the lever lengths or weights. Unless my geometry/physics knowledge is all mangled. Air suspension affects levelness (is that a word?). If someone can explain it with math, how air suspension re-distributes weight, I'm all ears.

A weight distributing system does what it says (if correctly setup). Some of the trailer tongue weight is redistributed to the trailers axle(s) and the tow vehicle front axle. This also levels the tow vehicle. As a result there's more control because the front axles a better planted.
Click to expand...
Quite correct Air sus does not distribute weight, in any way, so as parjohn pints out we are in trouble if we load the car to the max. The Touareg has disadvantages with airsus but for many like myself it is anadvantage.
 
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