Aviator Towing Feedback

[Vikingstaff]

Hello Aviator owners!

My first towing with our “new to us” 2022 Black Label Aviator was last week. I wanted to have a thread going that talked explicitly about towing experiences that other can add onto with their experiences. I’ll go first so grab your and read on.

My Vehicle: 2022 BL Aviator. Factory Tow Package. No brake controller. No trailer brakes on either trailer below.

1st Tow: Single place Yacht Club PWC trailer with ‘21 Sea Doo GTI. Approx total weight 1500lbs. Conditions: Stormy w/ 40-50 mph winds. Even in deplorable conditions, you would have never known it was back there. No sway. No anything. Drove like normal. I’d have expected as such in calm conditions because it’s such a light small package. But in the conditions I was in, impressive!!!

* Special Note: I had a passenger side rear trailer light out. Didn’t realize it. Vehicle notified me of it once hooked up on the dash screen. Super cool! No idea it did this, but how handy!?!

2nd Tow: Two place enclosed hybrid Triton Snowmobile trailer, with two 2-up large Grand Touring Ski Doo snowmobiles. Approx total weight: 3000lbs. Conditions Calm and Sunny. Little to no wind. Although a boxy style hybrid trailer (not a slim v-noise), it again towed flawlessly. Again, really didn’t notice it back there at all in regards to handling and driving. Towed like a dream. Much better than towing with my former Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk, which is a much smaller SUV.

Future 3rd Tow: 24’ Bennington Tritoon on a bunked tritoon trailer. Approx total weight: Will be around 5500lbs. Getting up near capacity. I need to borrow someone else’s trailer for this, as we don’t have one ourselves for our tritoon. If I am able to borrow one and do a test tow later this summer, i will add my experience in this thread. This is a “maybe” since I don’t have a break controller, and would want that and trailer brakes. We’ll see…

Overall Impressions: Love what I am seeing from it so far. Very capable towing for its class SUV. I feel extremely confident and safe with it.

If anyone else is willing to share towing experiences in this thread, please do so. For those of us that tow, this can be helpful when considering a new vehicle. I didn’t find much first hand experience when looking prior to buying this Aviator, but assumed it would be solid within its spec’d limits.

If you share, it might be helpful to include some of the details I did above: Year Aviator, Factory Tow Package or 3rd party hitch/harness, what was towed, approximate weight, brake controller and trailer brakes or no additional brake aids.

Safe towing fellow Aviators!

 

[inmanlanier]

I have a 23' Parker that when fully loaded approaches 6500# boat and trailer weight combined (the trailer has a single axle of disk brakes). We tow locally on occasion with this car (usually I use my 2012 Expedition) and you certainly know that weight is back there, but it's fine. I have on occasion also towed about 45 miles North on the Interstate with this one - also did well. I limit my speed in those instances to ~65 mph.

Towing our SeaDoo - like you - we don't even know it's back there.

 

[inmanlanier]

The following is not so much about the Aviator and towing, but about trailer setup to minimize any issues in transit requiring a tire replacement. It's a little lengthy - don't bother reading unless you trailer heavy loads.

I've been towing boats for right at 50 years now. Our first heavy one was a tandem axle trailer circa 1984 with a ~5500 lb. boat. Our tow vehicle was a late 70s Olds '98. Back then the trailer tires were OK - I had limited failures, but on our first trip of any distance from West Palm to the Fl. Keys we had an axle failure (Float-on torsion axle- snapped at the 90 degree joint where it rotates). Later when towing our race car we learned how crappy trailer tires were (we used "E' rated then just to give us weight margin). We had two spares and had more than one trip of distance (like to Daytona) where we had replaced two tires.

Flash forward to today - we just completed our annual FL Keys trip with out boat/tandem axle trailer (one axle disk brakes); total load likely at ~6000 lbs. No issues down and back, Most trips we see other folks changing tires. We solved the tire problem perhaps a decade ago when we stopped buying trailer tires - we switched to Light Duty truck tires (LT); it is a much more stringent NHTSA standard. Unfortunately, the LT spec has limited 15" and 16" tire sizes, but our first failure was after 9 years (I got so complacent I forgot to keep track of tire age!). The common recommendation for trailer tires is 5 years to replace, I'm going to go 7. In Europe a few years ago they took our LT spec and created what's call the euro commercial 'C' spec. The load ratings are very similar to LT (C spec slightly greater in some cases), but the good news is there are 14" tires and more sizes in 5" and 16" So, instead of a LT tire having nomenclature like LT225/70R15 tire, the C specs are labeled 225/70R15C. I recommend to everyone I know - NEVER buy a trailer tire - buy a C spec tire for towing. They are more costly but worth every penny. The ones I use are a 'D' load range, full pressure 65 psig. (I run 70 cold to give a little more load margin).

Our failures for the last 10 years, unfortunately however have been the MIC rubber valve stems. The unfortunate thing is that when you're towing a tandem axle, you have no warning of a leak or loss of pressure - until the tire is near flat then blows (arghh!).

Last year a buddy loaned me his TPMS system which provides wifi communication to the small solar powered display unit that you set on your dash. You replace the valve caps with small wifi transmitter caps. They transmit temperature and pressure to the small dash unit. What a Godsend! On the way back from the Keys last year, we got an alarm - one of our tires that started at 70 psi was at 50 psi and decreasing. This was (naturally) in the middle of the 7 mile bridge! I slowed down and made it to the end of the bridge with 27 psi remaining and switched the tire (it was undamaged). The culprit - another rubber tire valve stem leaking at the wheel joint. I saved $125 on a destroyed tire by having the TPMS monitor. My bud then sold his trailer so I inherited the TPMS system.

After last year's experience, I finally switched to metal valve stems with EPDM washers.

The TPMS system they have evolved is now for sale at $32. It enables custom setting of your alarm pressure and temperature. Amazon.com: Tymate TM8 Tire Pressure Monitoring System, Wireless Solar TPMS with 4 External Sensors & 6 Alarm Modes, Colorful Display, Easy to Intall on Windshield, Ideal for RV Sedan SUV MPV Truck (0-87 PSI) : Automotive

The valve stems we now use are a whopping $7 for 4 of them... Amazon.com: Vaincre 4 PCS TR416 Metal Valve Stems, High Pressure Tire Valve Stems Outer Mount Fits 0.453" and 0.625" Rim Hole, 1 1/2" Long (Silver) : Automotive They are nickel plated brass with EPDM gaskets.

For the last two years, I also use an infrared temp gun. Whenever we stop - I check each hub and tire at the tread area. If there is an issue of bearings, it will likely show up in elevated hub temperature. I believe if you start to see some belt separation, it would manifest itself in a higher tread temp. This trip - no issues whatsoever.

In summary:
... you can buy a quality tire for trailering any kinds of hefty loads (C-spec tires)
... for peanuts you can buy a system to monitor the temps and pressures as you drive
... you can put metal valve stems with a high quality material gasket (EPDM)
... you can buy a cheap infrared temp gun and 'shoot' (measure) all aspects of your hubs/tires when you stop

I used to dread this trip because likely 1 out of every 4 trips down or back I'd have to swap out to a spare tire (in July, on hot tarmac, with roads constantly under construction and numerous locations with limited runoff areas). One time, we were on our spare coming home and my wife made me stop and check pressure in the tires. One of the valve stems came apart in my hands when I went to remove the rubber cap!! I removed that wheel/tire and we limped slowly for about 10 miles with one tire on the left greatly overloaded just to get to a tire store. They then refused to change the valve for me (luckily found someone that would). I now have two spares on my trailer. One year a new MIC bearing (arghh!) failed, scoring my spindle; I had ran out of time before our trip to replace it myself. I paid a local 'professional' to replace the axle. When we got to the Keys, after launching the boat, one side of the axle came disconnected from the trailer; a shop there repaired it but he noted the new bearings were not properly greased!). In addition to spare bearings and seals that I've always carried, because of that event I also now take down a spare hub to facilitate a quicker repair on the side of the road.

I'm hoping now all my work will be preventive at home replacing tires and metal valve stems every 5 to 7 years, doing my typical greasing with my bearing buddies and monitoring as I drive.

I thought I'd share my decades of experience, since now we have hopefully a very reliable heavy load trailering system.