I towed a Uhaul 10x6x16' twin axle box trailer cross country with mine from Tennessee to Las Vegas, 2,800 miles in 4 days. The trailer was full to roof with furniture and boxes maybe 5k to 6k pounds. Load balancing is critical. A little more weight in front (10% more) is needed. That weight will determine Tongue Load. Yea, she will squat a little in back but not bad enough where people were flashing their highbeams at me at night.
Because I packed the boxes after the furniture and they were the last thing into the trailer, I had too much weight at the back of the trailer. Because of limited time I didn't repack the trailer to put the boxes over the axles. This caused trailer sway beteeen 55 and 70 MPH. The Raptor's Sway Control worked flawlessly. It alternately applies each side of rear brakes to stop sway. If that doesn't work it will apply full brakes and slow you down to about 50 mph. I don't recommend trying this. Semi's were eyeballing me when the trailer was wagging.
Trailering Lessons Learned:
1. Load balance trailer correctly.
2. Install a Weight Distributing Hitch which, for the most part eliminates trailer sway and wagging.
3 . Use the Raptor's Trailer Towing features. They all work "as designed". The Uhaul had hydraulic brakes activated by forward pressure on the tongue so I didnt have a chance to test the Raptor's electronic brake control. The Backup Assist is pretty good too for trailering newbies. This was the first time I towed a trailer EVER.
I was a luttle worried about the trailer. Uhaul was of course out of all the biggest trailer around Johnson City, TN. because of Memorial Day Weekend except for the UHaul place in Unicoi, TN up I-26 in hill country. The trailer they gave me was literally parked in knee high grass on the side of their bldg. and looked 30plus years old. The North Carolina license plate had cracked badly faded paint. The Tag said 1978... But it had new tires, the guy lubed the axles and hydralic brakes and all the lights worked. No Racoons inside. OK, here we go!
We made it in 4 - 10 hour days without a single issue, Raptor or Trailer. I ran 60 lbs air in the 4 trailer tires and 45 lbs in the Raptor's rear tires. On multiple steep up and downhill grades on I-40 never a problem. Never ran out of throttle or passing power uphill. Ran truck in Tow Mode when I remembered to press the button again (it shuts off everytime you shut down the truck). No overheating, trans temp normal the whole trip in June with outdoor temps up to 100 degrees last 2 days. The climb into Albuquerque was like I didnt even have a trailer in back. Even Cross Winds were no problem. Just had to be aware of gusts on the trailer. Have to steer just slightly into the cross wind. Averaged 12 to 14 MPG. Entire trip = 13.9 MPG. Truck was brand new with 200 miles when we started trip.
RAPTORS ROCK!
Aloha, HT
