What does everyone tow?

**** PLEASE USE SUBTOPICS BELOW FOR NEW TOPICS ****

Moderator: volvite

User avatar
disallow
Site Admin
Posts: 2820
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:02 am
Location: Winnipeg, Canada

Postby disallow » Thu Jul 04, 2013 7:14 am

I don't have any experience towing boats.

Can you get a WDH system like I have on my travel trailer?


User avatar
volvite
Sponsored Member
Posts: 2180
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 5:06 pm
Location: Hill AFB, Utah West Point UT

Postby volvite » Sun Jul 07, 2013 8:18 pm

Just thought I'd post these. I posted them on the Facebook page but not everyone sees that.

Here's the Pathfinder towing my 06 Mazdaspeed6
Image

Here's the Pathfinder towing my buddies boat up to the lake for the 4th of July weekend.

Image

yeager51
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 7:58 am
Location: columbus, ga

Postby yeager51 » Thu Jul 18, 2013 6:41 am

volvite wrote:Just thought I'd post these. I posted them on the Facebook page but not everyone sees that.

Here's the Pathfinder towing my 06 Mazdaspeed6
I'm quite new to towing, never towed anything besides a tiny Uhaul trailer behind a truck so never had to put much thought into it.

We will be moving across country soon (GA to WA, 2700+ miles) and we had planned on towing our Hyundai Elantra with the Pathy, similar to your set up with your Mazda. We had hoped to load the Elantra with our suitcases/ Army gear and now that I'm reading about load limits and curb weights I'm getting really confused. Will we need the weight distribution hitch? Or will we be fine just hooking the trailer up and going? And is the extra weight we're planning on putting in the Elantra a no go? It will be my husband and I, our 2 year old, and our 150 lb dog in the car, with possibly a roof box in the Pathy. I'm getting so lost on what weights I need to calculate and subtract from what and all that...

User avatar
volvite
Sponsored Member
Posts: 2180
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 5:06 pm
Location: Hill AFB, Utah West Point UT

Postby volvite » Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:04 am

As for towing across country. You are going to cross a few mountain passes. 3 major things I would recommend.

1. Air bags for the rear springs. There is a forum post about the bags on here that tells you everything about them. The price is around $90 and very easy to install yourself.

2. You will want a brake controller. While haveing a 6K lbs tow capacity is nice, it's not the ability of moving the trailer, it's the problem of stopping. Electric brakes will help with that problem especially if you load luggage into the car.

3. A weight distribution hitch with sway bars will also help. You are going to cross the midwest which has tons of wind. This will help reduce the sway.

I assume you have the V6, and as long as you dont exceed the 6K pounds you should be good to go. I know there are a few members on here that tow huge campers with their V6 and don't have any problems.

I see you are in the Army, so thanks for your service. I'm from Washington and If you are going to Ft. Lewis, you will like how green it is, but make sure you have a rain coat as it rains a lot on the west side of the state.

yeager51
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Jul 15, 2013 7:58 am
Location: columbus, ga

Postby yeager51 » Thu Jul 18, 2013 10:58 am

Thank you so much. I've been looking into the airbags and now you've convinced me. I will definitely look into the other things also.

Yep, we are headed to Lewis. My husband is from there, so he is excited to be going back home... I'm from GA so I am not too thrilled about going from the sunshine to the rain!

User avatar
Oly 22
Posts: 446
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:38 pm
Location: Coquitlam, British Columbia Canada

Postby Oly 22 » Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:19 pm

volvite wrote:Just thought I'd post these. I posted them on the Facebook page but not everyone sees that.
Nice set up. Like the neighborhood and the view too.

User avatar
volvite
Sponsored Member
Posts: 2180
Joined: Wed Feb 16, 2011 5:06 pm
Location: Hill AFB, Utah West Point UT

Postby volvite » Fri Jul 19, 2013 6:47 am

Thanks Oly. The neighborhood is not bad. It's only about 10 minutes from my job, so that's the best part about it.

User avatar
AZ_Path
Posts: 420
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:03 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Postby AZ_Path » Mon Mar 10, 2014 11:40 am

Just picked it up this weekend. Drove 700+ miles from Lubbock, Tx to Phoenix. The Path towed like a champ! :D

Image

$racer1
Posts: 6
Joined: Sun Mar 23, 2014 7:25 pm
Location: Fontana

Postby $racer1 » Tue Apr 01, 2014 8:39 pm

Image
towed my new bbq grill from the central coast (Nipomo) to my home fontana this weekend. the path did good

dagall
Posts: 24
Joined: Mon Jan 10, 2011 7:07 pm
Location: Ocoee, FL

Postby dagall » Thu Apr 10, 2014 11:16 am

I tow a 19ft center console SeaPro boat. No issues at all, tows well. Have the air bags and brake controller. I have a 33 Ford Hotrod that wieghs in at about 2300, but haven't towed that yet. SHouldn't be a problem.

User avatar
FLiPMaRC
Posts: 477
Joined: Mon Feb 27, 2012 1:15 pm
Location: NJ

Postby FLiPMaRC » Fri Apr 11, 2014 9:06 am

Quick question ... I'm new to "trailering" :lol:

As you can see from the previous page, I have a 5x8' utility trailer for my ATV. Two weeks ago the weather was nice enough for a ride. Before going out, I checked the trailer tires, and it was low (around 20s). So I put some air, up to 30psi. The trails was about 30miles one way. No problems.

But I wanted to make sure what the proper tire pressure is. After some searching on Google and reading some articles, 28-30psi should be good for me. My trailer is about 400lbs, ATV is 713lbs dry, plus the weight of 5 gallons of fuel in the tank, so I figure it's around 1200lbs. Each tire has a 1100lbs load rating at max 50psi.

At first I was confused because some articles say to always run the trailer tires at max psi. But I found some forum threads stating that the trailer will bounce all over the road and running that much pressure will cause the center of the tread to wear out quickly. Then recommends to run at a lower psi factoring the combined weight of the trailer and load.

User avatar
AZ_Path
Posts: 420
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:03 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Postby AZ_Path » Fri Apr 11, 2014 5:17 pm

FLiPMaRC wrote:Quick question ... I'm new to "trailering" :lol:

As you can see from the previous page, I have a 5x8' utility trailer for my ATV. Two weeks ago the weather was nice enough for a ride. Before going out, I checked the trailer tires, and it was low (around 20s). So I put some air, up to 30psi. The trails was about 30miles one way. No problems.

But I wanted to make sure what the proper tire pressure is. After some searching on Google and reading some articles, 28-30psi should be good for me. My trailer is about 400lbs, ATV is 713lbs dry, plus the weight of 5 gallons of fuel in the tank, so I figure it's around 1200lbs. Each tire has a 1100lbs load rating at max 50psi.

At first I was confused because some articles say to always run the trailer tires at max psi. But I found some forum threads stating that the trailer will bounce all over the road and running that much pressure will cause the center of the tread to wear out quickly. Then recommends to run at a lower psi factoring the combined weight of the trailer and load.
Have you looked at your trailer to see if it has any indication? My trailer has this sticker on the inside frame rail. Image

Obviously our trailers are different, but yours may have something. I would think running at Max PSI is a bad idea as you're probably to close to the limit of what the tire is rated for when you factor in increased pressure due to temperature.

User avatar
AZ_Path
Posts: 420
Joined: Fri Jun 06, 2008 12:03 pm
Location: Phoenix, AZ

Postby AZ_Path » Thu Apr 24, 2014 10:50 am

AZ_Path wrote:I would think running at Max PSI is a bad idea as you're probably to close to the limit of what the tire is rated for when you factor in increased pressure due to temperature.
I happened to look at the max rating on the trailer tires this weekend and it is 50 PSI which is that the trailer sticker says to inflate to. So the article you read stating max PSI looks like it's accurate.

User avatar
jhg120
Posts: 99
Joined: Wed Apr 16, 2014 1:28 pm
Location: Raleigh, NC

Postby jhg120 » Mon Apr 28, 2014 5:36 pm

Guys,
Just bought a Reese bar and ball to tow my boat. When I insert the bar into the Pathfinder hitch, the holes line up with about 5" of the bar sticking out. This does not seem right, as most of the bar is not even being used inside the hitch. I've looked at other Reese bar's as well, and the drilled holes all seem to be way up the bar, leaving a ton of space outside of the hitch.

I would think you would want the bar to insert into the hitch as far as possible. Can anyone confirm or advise on other bar's to use??

Thanks.

User avatar
disallow
Site Admin
Posts: 2820
Joined: Wed Aug 13, 2008 9:02 am
Location: Winnipeg, Canada

Postby disallow » Tue Apr 29, 2014 8:34 am

Note that this label is Max GVW. The curb weight is the info you are after. You don't want to exceed the max GVW of the trailer, but you also don't want to exceed the max weight allowed by the pathy (6000 lbs).
AZ_Path wrote:
FLiPMaRC wrote:Quick question ... I'm new to "trailering" :lol:

As you can see from the previous page, I have a 5x8' utility trailer for my ATV. Two weeks ago the weather was nice enough for a ride. Before going out, I checked the trailer tires, and it was low (around 20s). So I put some air, up to 30psi. The trails was about 30miles one way. No problems.

But I wanted to make sure what the proper tire pressure is. After some searching on Google and reading some articles, 28-30psi should be good for me. My trailer is about 400lbs, ATV is 713lbs dry, plus the weight of 5 gallons of fuel in the tank, so I figure it's around 1200lbs. Each tire has a 1100lbs load rating at max 50psi.

At first I was confused because some articles say to always run the trailer tires at max psi. But I found some forum threads stating that the trailer will bounce all over the road and running that much pressure will cause the center of the tread to wear out quickly. Then recommends to run at a lower psi factoring the combined weight of the trailer and load.
Have you looked at your trailer to see if it has any indication? My trailer has this sticker on the inside frame rail. Image

Obviously our trailers are different, but yours may have something. I would think running at Max PSI is a bad idea as you're probably to close to the limit of what the tire is rated for when you factor in increased pressure due to temperature.


Return to “2005-2012 Pathfinder (R51)”