Show what you tow!

nayr said:

PB_NB, I stepped up my trailer tires from 4 ply to 8 ply radials after getting a bunch of sidewall damage from potholes; that made it ride alot more smoothly and stable.. [/url]

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That's the direction we went with, we went to our local tire guy who has outfitted many of our cars. We wound up ordering some BF Goodrich XL tires with a super stiff sidewall and some new rims. We are getting them balanced too! We are lucky that the wheel wells on our trailer are big enough and will allow this tire to fit in there as it is about 1/2" larger radius.

The Carlisle radials that we picked up (and are now replacing) are maxed out with pressure and look low on the trailer! We actually lost 1 1/2" of height when we put these on due to the excessive flattening of the contact area. The new ones should get our height back up as well. I really don't think these Carlisle tires are quality tires as we are no where near the noted load as stamped on these tires.

Now that we are into trailer camping season, this is going to become more talked about. I expect that we will all be able to work out some solution(s) that work to eliminate the swaying or at least minimize it. I have compiled a short list of items but this is not complete.

1) Tires - Under-inflated (or crappy)
2) Adequate tongue weight
3) Moderate towing speed
4) Tongue extensions
5) Sway control devices
6) Avoid cross wind areas (Trip planning)
7) Functioning trailer suspension.
8) ...

Please feel free to add more tips and ideas!

Shock kits and sway bars are becoming popular now days for RV trailers.

Jason

Tow Bags helped alot on my Golf, sagging ass on a FWD car cant be good for stability.. though be warned, if you drop the trailer off at camp and drive back into town for Ice/Beer/Coffee dont forget to let the air out, handling gets a lil squirley with fully inflated bags and no load when you try to enjoy the mountain twisties.

Now I have factory air suspension, all done automagically..

This weekend I'm installing a Redarc Elite brake controller on the Q7, Renting a Cricket Camper for our Oregon Eclipse trip.. was like the most expensive controller out there but I didnt want a big knee basher on the Audi, I think it'd be perfect for those towing w/cars as you have even less space to put one.. You can even install the main unit in the back where wiring it up will be easier and run an ethernet cable for the controll knob up front.

I'm looking to buy a camper soon now that we have a larger tow vehicle.. There's a pop-up A-Frame w/a toy hauler on the front that can be had for ~$12k that is very tempting.. but with online rental I'm wondering if I should even bother.. I can rent alot of campers for that much money and never have to worry about storing it or maintaining it.

I'll look into the Redarc vs the Tekonsha.

And just to clarify travel trailer is towed (trailer), truck camper is mounted on the vehicle bed (camper).

Can't wait to see more trip pictures!

Oh Deere! (Golf tows tractor)



'13 Golf TDI manual with Curt hitch, Jetta rear springs, and Teske 2000# capacity trailer. Trailer weights around 400 pounds and tractor around 1400. Kinda slow, but stable, no creaking noises. Tractor was located to put 10% of weight on hitch and jack stands placed under corners of trailers while loading/unloading.

https://www.redarc.com.au/elite-electric-brake-controller

Daddy likes!! $195 ain't too bad, $150 and I'd get two.

wish it could be swapped out of the Touareg to JSW easy enough. Depending on which one we want to tow with.

Thanks for the tip

you can buy an extra knob, and if you can find a nice sturdy mounting point thats easy to access on each vehicle you could in theory swap it between vehicles as needed, just go on a dry drive before hooking up the trailer so it re-calibrates.

Q7 didnt have any blank switch spots so I bought the switch insert too: https://www.redarc.com.au/tow-pro-universal-switch-insert-panel

Not finished with it yet,eventually it will be a covered camp trailer.
It has independent suspension with coil springs,works great through
rough terrain.

gearheadgrrrl said:

'13 Golf TDI manual with Curt hitch, Jetta rear springs, and Teske 2000# capacity trailer. Trailer weights around 400 pounds and tractor around 1400. Kinda slow, but stable, no creaking noises. Tractor was located to put 10% of weight on hitch an

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Nice tractor!


Usually my Excursion does all the heavy lifting but my 06 TDI DSG did surprising well towing my Mule today. ~800lb trailer + 1200 lbs Mule. That's probably the most I feel comfortable towing with my Jetta.

1sloVR4 said:

Nice tractor!
Usually my Excursion does all the heavy lifting but my 06 TDI DSG did surprising well towing my Mule today. ~800lb trailer + 1200 lbs Mule. That's probably the most I feel comfortable towing with my Jetta.

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If you decide to move the mule more often with the MkV, put a set of AirLift bags in the rear springs. It helps point the headlights back at the ground, but won't replace that Excursion... My 1950 Ferguson TO-20 (tractor) isn't going to be going for rides behind my MkV, even with bags. However, the AirLift bags will help getting the New Holland 930B (60" finish mower) on my 700lbs trailer from Florida to Maine to visit the tractor.

So today I put my new wheels on the trailer.

Looking for much stronger sidewalls and less slop from the crappy ST tires that we just put on and took off the trailer.

We expect that this will greatly reduce the fishtailing potential.





Went from a 13" wheel to a 17" wheel. They sort of match the BBS wheels on the Beetle (sort of).

might have been pushing it here,
towed from the candian boarder back home (including traveling over the appelachian gap).
There is a 300lb mower deck in the rear of the wagon too.

That is awesome! How heavy do you think it was and how did it go? and stop

Millennium Falcon said:

That is awesome! How heavy do you think it was and how did it go? and stop

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It towed great, i went about 60-65 on the interstate, slowing down before accending hills. Then on the backroads it was happy tooling along at the speed limit. There was one hill with a stop light at the bottom, then a LONG 2 mile climb up a steep grade. I ran it really hard up that hill, and the temp needle actually started to climb above the middle, which I have never seen with this car. It cooled right back down on the flats. Never overheated.

The tractor weighs 1400 lbs, that cab is at least 400 lbs, and the mower is probably 300 lbs. The trailer is maybe 600-700? 2800 lbs of extra weight?

Probably not that wise, but I drove very carefully, and made sure I had the right amount of tongue weight. It went straight as an arrow.

Do they make a backhoe for that itsy tiny 3pt? And does that rig have a live pump? Or relies on pto if it has one?

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They make a true bolt on backhoe for that tractor with a frame mount from the factory. I have a 60hp tractor with a 3-point backhoe attachment, so this little guy is just my lawn mower.

It has a live hydraulic pump and a mid and rear pto that are essentially live since the tractor is hydrostatic. I took off the cab and put on a belly mower and use it to mow lawn. I might get a 4' bush hog for it at some point since my big tractor is a bit cumbersome in the rocky fields I mow.

I have towed 2 jet skis side by side. Man that trailer was a lot wider then my Jetta. You need to be careful not to hit something with the trailer.

I have purchased but not yet installed rear air shocks. Years of towing and camping tells me is a needed mod.

Congrats on the wee Ford tractor!

I searched for one of those 1100/1200 Fords for a couple years but they're rare, and especially rare at reasonable prices! Same with used Kubotas, Yanmars, Deeres, etc.... So I gave up and bought a new Deere 1023E.

proper brake light wiring

Hey trailer people, I replaced the corroded flat 4 connector on the car and trailer but the car side wires that the PO installed has a 5th red wire for trailer brake lights and the new connector has only 4 wires.
I spliced the red wire onto the DS brown wire that connects to the trailer running lights.
Trailer brake lights now function but when I step on the brake pedal, the cars DS running light illuminates. That can't be right.
Anybody know the correct hook up?

Fruitcakesa, check out this page:

https://www.etrailer.com/faq-wiring.aspx

From your description, you might have to replace the 4-way connectors with 5-way, 6-way, or 7-way connectors. There should not be a separate wire for trailer brake lights, as both turn signal wires & bulbs are used for trailer brake lights.

Make sure you are using a POWERED 5-way to 4-way convertor on the car side.

fruitcakesa said:

Hey trailer people, I replaced the corroded flat 4 connector on the car and trailer but the car side wires that the PO installed has a 5th red wire for trailer brake lights and the new connector has only 4 wires.
I spliced the red wire onto the DS brown wire that connects to the trailer running lights.
Trailer brake lights now function but when I step on the brake pedal, the cars DS running light illuminates. That can't be right.
Anybody know the correct hook up?

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Are you sure the 5th red wire wasn't intended to charge the battery on a trailer with electric brake actuators? I thought the 5th wire was typically for keeping the onboard (trailer) battery charged. The battery is on the trailer in the event you had a break away, so the actuators will actuate and stop the runaway trailer.

The 5th wire on my VWs is for reverse gear solenoid actuation. My surge brake actuator has a solenoid lock out valve on the brake line feeding the discs. To back it up, (especially up a hill), you need to lock out the hydraulic pressure heading to the discs.

where2 said:

Are you sure the 5th red wire wasn't intended to charge the battery on a trailer with electric brake actuators? I thought the 5th wire was typically for keeping the onboard (trailer) battery charged. The battery is on the trailer in the event you had a break away, so the actuators will actuate and stop the runaway trailer.

The 5th wire on my VWs is for reverse gear solenoid actuation. My surge brake actuator has a solenoid lock out valve on the brake line feeding the discs. To back it up, (especially up a hill), you need to lock out the hydraulic pressure heading to the discs.

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I actually do not know what the red wire was for as I bought the car with the connector already installed but is a 4 wire flat connector with the red wire molded in with the other 4 wire and it has continuity with the green and yellow wires which connect to the trailer turn signals

You have right and left blinkers, brake, tail and ground which is 5 wire. Needs to convert to 4 wires to do the same function. It is advised to have a power wire to power the lights in addition to the 5 wires that input the signal. Confused me too at first but you need a 5 into 4.

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Not sure that's right. The "brake" is covered by the left AND right blinkers. So a 4-wire system is tail, L, R, and ground (white wire). A 5-wire system adds a reverse wire for back-up lights and/or disabling surge brakes (I think). Check this out:



Scott

I took a pic of the connector I took off the car.
It is a 4 flat but with the 5th red wire molded in
http://imgur.com/KFKqpNl

fruitcakesa said:

I took a pic of the connector I took off the car.
It is a 4 flat but with the 5th red wire molded in
http://imgur.com/KFKqpNl

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If you get a side view of that adapter it would help. My first guess with 5 wires and only 4 pins is that there is a brake light converter built into that piece you have in your hand.

I always suggest a powered brake light converter for VWs. It helps solve weird little issues, like when mine decided I didn't need right side brake lights.

Jason

That's definitely a non powered three wire to two wire converter. When I had the non programmable Erich Jaeger tow module kit on my JSW, I tried one of those between my car and trailer.

https://www.amazon.com/55178-Non-Powered-2-Wire-Taillight-Converter/dp/B001GN6XBA/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1500950233&sr=8-13&keywords=3+to+2+wire+tail+light+converter

Jedadiah said:

That's definitely a non powered three wire to two wire converter. When I had the non programmable Erich Jaeger tow module kit on my JSW, I tried one of those between my car and trailer.

https://www.amazon.com/55178-Non-Po...-13&keywords=3+to+2+wire+tail+light+converter

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That is a non-powered 5 wire to 4 wire convertor. I counted 5 wires one the vehicle side and four connections on the trailer side. I used a powered Hopkins convertor that had 6 wires on the vehicle side and the standard 4 on the trailer side.

This is sounding chaos! Go 7 blade standard and be done with it!

Lights, reverse, supplied ground and trailer, and a constant 12v live....

My heavy truck I had my 12v relayed with ignition so it'd disconnect when vehicle off
I kept running battery dead on vehicle using those stupid dump trailers. After burning up hundreds of dollars of electric motors I just hung a pto and pump on the side of old faithful nv4500, small tank under box and snap couplers at bumper. Oh yeah. It's slick.

Only downfall is I can't drink beer and load logs with the grapple, i can't drive afterwards!

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jason_ said:

This is sounding chaos! Go 7 blade standard and be done with it!

Lights, reverse, supplied ground and trailer, and a constant 12v live....

My heavy truck I had my 12v relayed with ignition so it'd disconnect when vehicle off
I kept running battery dead on vehicle using those stupid dump trailers. After burning up hundreds of dollars of electric motors I just hung a pto and pump on the side of old faithful nv4500, small tank under box and snap couplers at bumper. Oh yeah. It's slick.

Only downfall is I can't drink beer and load logs with the grapple, i can't drive afterwards!

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We're talking towing with passenger cars here. The four pole flat connector is the default U.S. standard for that use. Because TDIs use European wiring , a 5 wire to 4 wire converter is required, preferably a self-powered one.

However, if one is going to be towing large trailers that have a 7 wire connectors as well as small utility/camper trailers, then a Hopkins 47185 connector would be the way to go.