DoctorPopcorn
New member
Before attempting this, I scoured T4R.org, the Googles & YouTube trying to see if I could find anyone that's done something similar. Plenty of 16' - 22' travel trailers, and utility trailers. I bought my Innsbruck Lite 269BHL in January '19, and subsequently bought a '97 K2500 Suburban with the 5.7 V8 to fix up and have as my tow rig. Long story short, the K2500 is gone, and I had only towed the Innsbruck twice with it. Both times were not great experiences. Had new rear HD shocks, brake controller and a HaulMaster weigh distributing hitch, but I still experienced a good amount of sway and they were white-knuckling experiences, but they shouldn't have been. Maybe I didn't have the WDH dialed in correctly... I don't know.
Flash forward to my '05 V8 4x4 Sport that I got August 2020. I bought this while my '98 was down and needed/wanted a 4th gen. I never planned for this rig to tow the Innsbruck, but it came with the 7K tow package (7-pin trailer harness, tranny cooler, trailer brake controller hookup). But, I still prepared for it. Did the IronMan lift 3" with 440-880 lb rear springs, put on some 10 ply WildPeaks (my dream tires), and put in a budget Tekonsha brake controller. Then, I lucked out and found the fancy, thicc Addco rear sway bar for $20 on FB Marketplace and put that sucker in. What a huge difference.
2012 Innsbruck Lite Specs
Anyway, flash forward to this past weekend and preparing to tow my 31' Innsbruck with the '05. The trailer is rated at 6,110 lbs dry and an 820 lb tongue weight. I figure we were sitting at 6,600 lbs max with what we had packed in the trailer. Now I had hauled just under 1000 lbs of cement and 4x4s in the back of the truck before and it barely squatted, but I was terrified to try this. Filled the Wildpeaks up to 56 psi front, 58 psi rear, but on the disgraceful-looking strap-on tow mirror extenders, and put the WDH on the truck. I was prepared to adjust the hitch from last being on the K2500, but after the setup math, the hitch ball was 1/2" below what the math said. Brought all my tools, but the nuts for the hitch are like 30mm hexes. I forgot those at home. Big deal, it'll be fine. Hooked up the trailer (all trailer tires perfect at 52 psi, spare filled-up), brought it up the hill in 4LO, no problems. Got it to level ground, trailer tongue back on the jack, hooked up the anti-sway arms and voila! Looked great. Tested the brake controller going back down the hill. Perfect. Got on the road, dumped the gray and black holding tanks, less than 1/4 of the 55 gal freshwater tank full, the trailer pulled great.
All hitched-up & adjusted (mostly)
Front:
Rear:
30' 8" Length of the Innsbruck (for effect):
Takeaways:
Towed in 4, OD off, the entire time. Takeoffs are obviously slow. Mileage, obviously abysmal. It took 5/8s of a tank to go 100 miles, at 7.8 mpgs. On hills, I preloaded my speed and kept a level throttle all the way through the hills. Braking with the controller was great, even for such a cheap unit, had to dial in the gain and boost a bit, but worked well. Through the entire experience, the most frustrating part was keeping a matched speed with traffic. Sedans ahead of us on rural WI highways dipping down to 50 mph and then back up to 65, it takes some time getting back up to speed and not increasing the revs to 4500.
Sway and control:
I could not believe how stable the truck felt. I guess the combination of the 440-880 lb springs and having the WDH mostly-properly adjusted did the trick. The truck hardly squatted, and sway was well controlled. I'll still consider installing the extra sway control arm for more peace of mind towing in windier conditions.
Our trip was just over 150 miles, mostly single-lane highways with WI hills and some 65 mpg split highways. I fully realize that the 4th gen isn't the safest tow rig for this application, and will never plan on cross-country trips with this setup, but for 150-200 mile jaunts through the Midwest, it seems doable, so far.
Flash forward to my '05 V8 4x4 Sport that I got August 2020. I bought this while my '98 was down and needed/wanted a 4th gen. I never planned for this rig to tow the Innsbruck, but it came with the 7K tow package (7-pin trailer harness, tranny cooler, trailer brake controller hookup). But, I still prepared for it. Did the IronMan lift 3" with 440-880 lb rear springs, put on some 10 ply WildPeaks (my dream tires), and put in a budget Tekonsha brake controller. Then, I lucked out and found the fancy, thicc Addco rear sway bar for $20 on FB Marketplace and put that sucker in. What a huge difference.
2012 Innsbruck Lite Specs
Anyway, flash forward to this past weekend and preparing to tow my 31' Innsbruck with the '05. The trailer is rated at 6,110 lbs dry and an 820 lb tongue weight. I figure we were sitting at 6,600 lbs max with what we had packed in the trailer. Now I had hauled just under 1000 lbs of cement and 4x4s in the back of the truck before and it barely squatted, but I was terrified to try this. Filled the Wildpeaks up to 56 psi front, 58 psi rear, but on the disgraceful-looking strap-on tow mirror extenders, and put the WDH on the truck. I was prepared to adjust the hitch from last being on the K2500, but after the setup math, the hitch ball was 1/2" below what the math said. Brought all my tools, but the nuts for the hitch are like 30mm hexes. I forgot those at home. Big deal, it'll be fine. Hooked up the trailer (all trailer tires perfect at 52 psi, spare filled-up), brought it up the hill in 4LO, no problems. Got it to level ground, trailer tongue back on the jack, hooked up the anti-sway arms and voila! Looked great. Tested the brake controller going back down the hill. Perfect. Got on the road, dumped the gray and black holding tanks, less than 1/4 of the 55 gal freshwater tank full, the trailer pulled great.
All hitched-up & adjusted (mostly)
Front:
Rear:
30' 8" Length of the Innsbruck (for effect):
Takeaways:
Towed in 4, OD off, the entire time. Takeoffs are obviously slow. Mileage, obviously abysmal. It took 5/8s of a tank to go 100 miles, at 7.8 mpgs. On hills, I preloaded my speed and kept a level throttle all the way through the hills. Braking with the controller was great, even for such a cheap unit, had to dial in the gain and boost a bit, but worked well. Through the entire experience, the most frustrating part was keeping a matched speed with traffic. Sedans ahead of us on rural WI highways dipping down to 50 mph and then back up to 65, it takes some time getting back up to speed and not increasing the revs to 4500.
Sway and control:
I could not believe how stable the truck felt. I guess the combination of the 440-880 lb springs and having the WDH mostly-properly adjusted did the trick. The truck hardly squatted, and sway was well controlled. I'll still consider installing the extra sway control arm for more peace of mind towing in windier conditions.
Our trip was just over 150 miles, mostly single-lane highways with WI hills and some 65 mpg split highways. I fully realize that the 4th gen isn't the safest tow rig for this application, and will never plan on cross-country trips with this setup, but for 150-200 mile jaunts through the Midwest, it seems doable, so far.
