Tow Hitch question

[HardCharger]

Well, if you are close but not past the 5K limit I'm sure you would be fine with the stock hitch since to rate it at 5K, they must have a safety margin. (but better safe than sorry and it's always fun to work on cars)

My local dealer would not come close to the online pricing, but I didn't expect them to. Hopefully you have a nicer dealer.

I just found out that the weight of the trailer is 3050. The weight of the car when fully assembled is 2856. However, the car does not have the engine, tranny, driveshaft and some of the interior in it right now Still, I think I might be slightly over the 5k limit.

I'm upgrading just in case...never mind that it's yet another excuse to work on something :biggrin2:

 

[supercliff]

Man...I just found out that I can't install the Air Lift 1000 kit in my 4Runner. I have a 4x2 and according to the product selector on the Air Lift website, they do not make a kit for my truck.

Cliff, your truck must be a 4x4 right? I can barely see the badging in your photos, but I think I see a 4x4 after the Sport Edition badging.

I am going to call their tech support line tomorrow to confirm.

I'm not sure how else to level out the suspension in case they don't make a kit for a 4x2. Any ideas?

Yes I have a 4x4. I am not aware of a product that you can use for a 4x2 since I never looked into it. However, I'm SURE you can't be the only person to have a need to tow heavy items with a 4x2 so I'm sure that there must be a company which offers you a product. It just might be a little harder to find. You should search this board, maybe someone posted it already

 

[seh750]

Thanks for the compliments

Actually no, these pictures were taken at Thunderhill (Willow, CA).

Great track there. I've been there like 6 times. I'm currently trying to work out my schedule to I can do track days at Laguna Seca and Infineon.

I've been to Thunderhill a few times, great track! You have to check out Miller Motorsports Park in Toelle, UT. Was there last summer. 4 1/2 miles with 24 turns and endless grip. Surface is much better than Thunderhill (or PIR, my home track, or SIR).

 

[CNI]

Sorry it's been a while, but I finally got around to this:

1. I upgraded the stock v6 trailer hitch to the one used on the v8 hitch (228 bucks for the hitch + 33 bucks for the center bracket and installed myself)
2. Installed the air lift 1000 (78 bucks, installed myself)
3. Joe Hauler Moto Hitch (300 bucks)

Some pictures of me at the track:

Sorry we are all hijacking the thread!

Sweet! Thought you were an expert racer with the white plates! Nice Rig...Nice bike...and nice pics!

I run track days at Hallett, Oklahoma. Considered getting my CCS or CMRA license and running some endurance racing but don't seem to have the time.

 

[supercliff]

hehe. I'm no expert. I've done only about 10 track days now. So for for this year I've got 3 days at Infineon booked and 2 days at Laguna. I want to do more, but I'm expecting my first kid soon so it'll be a while before I'll be back at the track after that.

 

[CNI]

hehe. I'm no expert. I've done only about 10 track days now. So for for this year I've got 3 days at Infineon booked and 2 days at Laguna. I want to do more, but I'm expecting my first kid soon so it'll be a while before I'll be back at the track after that.

Ditto! We have twins on the way due in July. Going to try to fit as many track days in as I can also!

 

[HardCharger]

Yes I have a 4x4. I am not aware of a product that you can use for a 4x2 since I never looked into it. However, I'm SURE you can't be the only person to have a need to tow heavy items with a 4x2 so I'm sure that there must be a company which offers you a product. It just might be a little harder to find. You should search this board, maybe someone posted it already

Well, I found it after a bit of searching. Turns out that Firestone Industrial Products actually makes an air bag system that looks/installs/functions exactly like the Air Lift 1000 kit.

The best part is that the Firestone kit does not make a distinction between the 4x2 and 4x4 models like the Air Lift kit does. I'm not sure why Air Lift does that. I even called their tech support/cust service line and they had no idea why it was not available for the 4x2 version of the 4Runner.

Regardless, the Firestone kit almost costs the same. I haven't searched much for pricing as of yet, but I already found a place selling it for $99.95. I'll report back on the quality of the kit, etc. once I get some more info and hands on experience with it.

Here is the link to the Firestone site:

http://www.firestoneindustrial.com/index.shtml

The specs of the kit are identical to the Air Lift kit. They even look exactly the same; just a differnt color.

Thanks for all of your help thus far Supercliff. I really appreciate it!

 

[HardCharger]

Sorry we are all hijacking the thread!

No worries! I completely understand! Been there/done that.

 

[ovrrdrive]

Originally posted by cwest94

my dirtbike comes in at 217lbs...

2 Stroke eh?

That sounds an awful lot like a manufacturers claimed dry weight... Any idea what it weighs wet?

 

[HardCharger]

Hey Supercliff,

Well I finally upgraded to the hitch from the V8. I was able to get the hitch and the bracket for $230 from a local dealer. The install was super easy thanks to your tips. I went ahead and took the bumper completely off. After that, it was a breeze; even without instructions.

Unfortunately my digital camera broke so I couldn't take any pictures of the install. However, if anybody is going to do this upgrage, I would be more than happy to help out in any way that I can. I have a pretty good memory and I could definitely do a write up on the process.

I just wanted to say thanks for the part numbers and the tips on the install. Without either of those items, I would probably still be stuck in the research stage.

I never ended up installing the Firestone Air Bag kit. I decided that I would be fine without it. Sure enough...everything went very smoothly for the tow. I ended up towing a 8.5' X 20' enclosed Featherlite trailer that had a dry weight of 3050 lbs. Then throw in another 2000 lbs of car plus some cargo and your at about 5550 lbs. My T4R towed like a champ. The only complaint was the gas mileage which was horrible during the tow.

Here are some before and after pics:

EMPTY TRAILER:

EMPTY TRAILER:

MY CARGO:

LOADED TRAILER:

As you can see...my 4Runner held up great even without the airbag kit.

I did have one question about your set up though. How do you get your bike up on the carrier? do you use a ramp of some sorts?

Thanks again for your help Supercliff!!!! It was really appreciated!!!!!!!!!!

Aloy.

 

[supercliff]

Glad to see everything turned out well. I can see from the trailer that you won't need the lift kit. The nice thing about that trailer is that you can place the car inside in a location to balance the tongue weight to keep the 4runner from sagging.

As for gas mileage, yeah you'll be lucky to break 14 mpg. I usually get 12mpg when towing my boat.

 

[CJ3Flyr]

The following is strictly IMHO and from a lifetime of dealing with towing a variety of things. Again, IMHO and what I would do