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Old 03-11-2018, 02:17 PM   #41
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I comfortably tow a 23BHM with an Audi Q7 (supercharged gasoline 3.0) which also carries my family of 4 and golden retriever comfortably. I find it to be a very well-balanced and nicely paired TT and TV and so far I have ~3200 miles with the combo. Plenty of power going up mountain ranges and full control going down. About half the towing was with the EazeLift WD hitch and half using just the OEM shank and an extended-height ball. Either way is comfortable and controlled. I have a friction anti-sway device but have not yet used it beyond the test fit. The Audi is also a pleasure to drive when not towing.
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Old 07-20-2018, 08:17 PM   #42
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I comfortably tow a 23BHM with an Audi Q7 (supercharged gasoline 3.0) which also carries my family of 4 and golden retriever comfortably. I find it to be a very well-balanced and nicely paired TT and TV and so far I have ~3200 miles with the combo. Plenty of power going up mountain ranges and full control going down. About half the towing was with the EazeLift WD hitch and half using just the OEM shank and an extended-height ball. Either way is comfortable and controlled. I have a friction anti-sway device but have not yet used it beyond the test fit. The Audi is also a pleasure to drive when not towing.
Hi Lateott

I just purchased a new Jay Feather Light 24RL to go with my 2018 Audi Q7 3.0 with Air suspension, factory installed hitch and prodigy P3 brake controller. As you probably know the owners manual strongly says not to use a WDH. I am plan to test it out with the Audi receiver no sway bar to see how it tows. My dealer strongly suggests to a WDH. What is your experience?

Thanks

Lou Cetrangelo
Saint James, NY
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Old 07-22-2018, 03:00 PM   #43
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Hi Lateott

I just purchased a new Jay Feather Light 24RL to go with my 2018 Audi Q7 3.0 with Air suspension, factory installed hitch and prodigy P3 brake controller. As you probably know the owners manual strongly says not to use a WDH. I am plan to test it out with the Audi receiver no sway bar to see how it tows. My dealer strongly suggests to a WDH. What is your experience?
Congrats on your 24RL and Q7. Your Q7 has 1100 lbs more tow capacity and 110 lbs more tongue capacity than my 2014 model. Also, the more recent models have shed a lot of weight, so you should have a more forgiving carrying capacity on the Q7 without exceeding its GVWR. I am seeing inconsistent specs for the 24 RL, but it seems like a good partner from what I read. You are well within all your towing capacities and you have a very competent two vehicle.

You should be fine without a WDH. But, even though it says not to use a WDH, you could probably do that without problems as long as it wasn't excessive for the job (get the 600# or 800#, not a 1000# or 1200# and don't tension it excessively.) If you think about it, your trailer is imparting a 600-700lb downward rotational torque to the hitch. If you counteract that partially with a WDH, you are just bringing it closer to a neutral torque state. However, if the WDH tension bars were too firm, some elevation changes (in/out of driveways or campsite) I suppose you could risk over stressing the hitch.

With your air suspension and if your trailer is properly loaded you should not need a WDH. Before I give up on mine altogether, I just need to tow in more situations without my WDH to be sure that comfort is maintained sufficiently by my air suspension. I am thinking bounce and bumps from some roadways, and whether some highways with repetitive expansion joints will drive me nuts without the WDH which in my imagination might smooth things out. So far, so good without it.

The other problem with most WDH is the hitch shanks are very long (usually 10-12") so your tow ball will be even further from the rear axle.

However, you may want to eventually add sway control to yours in case you encounter windy conditions that are otherwise uncomfortable. Otherwise, your 3 best friends against sway are proper trailer load balancing (tongue heavy, nothing heavy or high behind the trailer wheels), reasonable speeds, and the manual lever on your brake controller.

If you haven't figured it out already, you have to violate one or two of Audi's towing laws anyway, so you will have to just use good judgement along the way. I don't think the OEM shank and ball will be high enough for your Jayco trailer, and it may not be long enough to allow your rear hatch to clear the trailer jack. It is not worth the price it costs, so if you haven't bought it, i recommend you don't, especially if it is not high enough for your trailer. I was able to get the OEM close to the right height by removing the 2" ball (I had to use a blow torch and long pipe wrenches to break the red loctite.) I flipped the OEM stinger, and used a 2 5/16" ball with a 2" rise and long threaded portion BALL. I also have a sway plate and ball sandwiched in there (SEE BRACKET HERE) so I can use a friction sway device (I had to drill the hole larger to accomodate the 1.25" ball shank threaded diameter.) I carry an EazLift friction antisway device that came with my hitch. Honestly I have not used it yet, I carry it in case it gets really windy and I need to limp to a stopping point.

However, in my case, the OEM hitch shank was too short to allow the tailgate to open in all geometries without hitting the trailer jack. This would not work since I travel with a dog that we need to let in an out while hitched.

I am now using an aftermarket shank from Home Depot: (TowSmart). This has a 3" rise when flipped, it is just long enough at ~8" to allow the tailgate to open, and it is not much longer than the OEM. I added the drilled-out Husky sway ball bracket linked above. This is working great.

If you haven't already, try to read all the towing threads at AudiForums. Even though you have the MarkII design there is a lot of good information in the threads for the previous version as well. Also, there is a great thread in the Airstream forums for towing with Q7s, Cayennes, and Touaregs. Andy from CanAm hitches and RV center in Canada has a lot of experinece outfitting these vehicles and participates there. (He is also very responsive by email.) (THREAD HERE). Yes, it is an Airstream forum, but they deal with many of the same questions for their tongue-heavy beasts.
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Old 07-23-2018, 02:07 PM   #44
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They made the detachable power cord standard on the 2017 our at least that is the way our 2017 RLSW is. Was it a Lazy Boy grand love recliner love seat you bought?
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Old 07-23-2018, 05:39 PM   #45
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They made the detachable power cord standard on the 2017 our at least that is the way our 2017 RLSW is. Was it a Lazy Boy grand love recliner love seat you bought?
Chet, if your referring to me, no it wasn't. I bought it at a local furniture store common to Southern Ca. called Jerome's.


Looked at numerous stores including Lazy Boy and this fit our needs best.
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Old 07-23-2018, 07:36 PM   #46
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Recliner love seat

Thanks for the info on the recliner love seat. I see one in our near future.
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Old 07-23-2018, 08:28 PM   #47
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We have had our 23RB for a couple years now. Our original TV was the 1999 3/4 ton Suburban. It had no problems handling the weight but the 350 gasser seems taxed if I needed to climb hills or maneuver quickly. Not that it wasn’t doable by any means but sometimes it was stressful and crosswinds and semis weren’t fun. Never liked the tail wagging the dog feeling. We were running an Equalizer WD hitch with sway control and I’m sure it was helping a lot. We even dropped a new crate motor with an RV cam in it but still a mediocre improvement at best. Fast forward to the new TV upgrade when we purchased the 5th wheel. The Suburban is now a grocery getter or backup TV and the F-350 dually with a 6.7 turbo diesel and 4x4 stepped up to the plate. I can’t even explain the difference in my towing experience. This truck couldn’t care less if the 23 RB was behind it at any time. I’ve driven through nasty thunderstorms, up steep gravel mountain roads and the washboard backcountry of the Badlands and not a hiccup. There are times I seriously forget the trailer is back there and I don’t miss the white knuckle moments. The engine brake made the steep roads of South Dakota a breeze, no brake pedal, just let the motor and computer do the work. I know this setup might seem like way overkill but I’ve seen both sides and I’m not going back.
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Old 07-24-2018, 10:03 AM   #48
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Hi lateott

Thank you so much for the detailed information. One of my previous cars was a 2014 TDI Touareg with the factory installed hitch. I loved the power of that car but it was just past its warranty. I made out on the sale to a private buyer for $36,500 and got half of the diesel settlement back from VW and Bosh which for me was about $4.500. VW was nice enough to include their super heavy duty receiver with a 2” ball that I discovered in my attic. It was the wrong height for my 12 foot cargo trailer so I never used it. According to my dealer the ball height which is at 27” it is also too low even with an extended ball for the new TT.

I have read a lot of the forum posts and thank you for the links to the Airstream Audi/VW/Porsche forum links. There is some good information there. The consensus is that that most with trailers in the 4,000 lb range and below are not using WD hitches. Most with larger trailers are using WDH though. The Jaco website has not been updated with the 2019 weights and measurements yet. Jaco emailed these to me.

Weights
Approx. total UVW (dry wt.): 5285
Approx. dry axle w/standard equipment: 4701
Approx. dry hitch: 584
GVWR: 6500
GAWR (front): 3500
GAWR (rear): 3500
Approx. Gross Cargo Carrying Capacity (GCCC): 1215
Tire load capacity: 2040


I am am going to take your advice and get a lighter 600 lb WDH with anti sway feature. It will probably tow fairly well with out it but next year we plan to do a lot of cross country traveling and it is important to me to have a nice setup. We plan to travel with an African Grey parrot witch should be interesting. The big cage will move from the car to the trailer to keep him safe.

Originally I was going to have my dealer install the brake controller but he could not find the cable under the dash and he asked if I could have Audi do it. After reading posts I ended up buying the better Tekonsha P3 brake controller and installing it myself. Following the Tekonsha instructions, I made my own cable with the necessary relay. The most difficult part was getting the lower panel back in place.

We pick up the trailer in two days are are going to take our fist trip this weekend. It will be only about 75 miles away to see how it goes.

Lou
Saint James, NY
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