Hi!
New Land Rover owner here..
2012 LR4 HSE and we would like to tow a travel trailer.
How important is it to stay under the 550 lb hitch weight? We found one trailer we like that is 556#!
Has anyone towed over the 550# limit long term? We've seen some conflicting info and my husband contacted Land Rover and they were no help at all..
Thank you!

 

Welcome, I dont post much. But, I had to reply here. I also have a 12' LR4, w/ HD package. I've been towing a travel trailer for 2 years now. Little over 20k miles, 31 states, Mexico, and Canada. My rig is weighs in at 6200# with a tongue weight of 600#. I use a Rhino Hitch, OX hitch. It's specifically designed for LR3/4. Class IV hitch with 8,000#, 800# tongue max. I use no weight distribution or sway bar. The LR4 does a great job in tow mode of correcting sway. My rig is near perfect level with my hitch, which has a significant impact on tongue weight, weight distribution and sway. I'm running 255/55R-20 FALKEN WILDPEAK A/T TRAIL XL's with Rhino Rods 2.5 inch lift, Front/Rear Antiroll Bar Clamp Orange POLY Bushings "1BQ". All my control arms, front rear, upper and lower were replaced before i started towing. I also did the transmission sump and filter swap and all diff fluids. Which was at 100K miles. I've helped out a fried when his tow vehicle (F150) had engine trouble and moved a 10k# trailer 120 miles, the LR4 did not squat, or overheat, just dialed up the bias on the trailer brakes and had no problems. Not recommended, obviously, he was blown away as much as i was proud..OH, yes Tekonsha P3 90195 is my favorite brake controller..Its so much easier to use and set up for multiple trailers.

 

Dry weight 6680#
Tongue weight 650#
We had just replaced the front control arms, new front tires and alignment.
Since we've hitched it to bring home and to weigh, the only thing the car has done differently on the dash has been the trailer icon when you have blinkers on. Is that correct or should it be showing something else activated? I think my husband just used a 7-way plug but had to go into the taillight to get it hooked up. Anything else we're missing?

 

HELP! We are new owners of an LR4 2015... We have a travel trailer we want to tow with it but cannot figure out the tow electrics! The LR4 has part VPLAT0135 for the towing electrics which is a female 7 pole piece... our travel trailer is also female 7 blade.... what do we need to get to be able to connect the electrics? We've done a ton of research and can't find any kind of converter? Are our LR4 tow electrics different then Female 7 Pole?

Thanks!

 

have you weighed your rear axle with this setup? My trailer is about the same weight. I’m using the stock plow hitch with no weight distribution and my rear axle weight was around 4,400 lbs which is way over the limit

 

Did you get this resolved? Seems odd. I purchased my 7 way LR4 trailer wiring kit from Atlantic British and my Grand Design Travel Trailer just came with what it came with and it hooks up just fine. Can you take some pics and let me know what type of travel trailer you have?

 

Hi there - thanks for all the detail - super helpful for the rest of us!
Question - did you have to have the dealer activate anything for towing? I installed the LR OEM hitch and wiring but did not have the dealer do anything to the vehicle. I am preparing to swap out the OEM hitch for the Rhino OX this weekend to increase capacity for trailer and tongue, but wondered if you had to have anything special done by the dealer. I only have the single rear camera, not the special 5 camera setup some guys have mentioned.

Thanks for anything more you can add regarding any special programming or enablement that might be needed from the dealer.

 

Yes, I had my local indy shop change some settings in the Body Control Module. I forget the exact setting but yes, they had to change some things.

 

What hitch are you using? The LR/OX/Bolt-up's like those from AB all have very different tow/tongue ratings.

 

Hi all - I just completed my first trip with new travel trailer and the Rhino OX hitch receiver. It did not go well...
Weight of my trailer is listed as 6,214 dry, so add for water, personal effects etc and call it about 7,200 lbs (I've done more precise math of course). Part way through our trip the Rhino OX hitch failed along the welds. The pictures show the welds broke cleanly, and that there was rust between parts and very little melding of the materials at the weld point. Welders who have looked at this since were shocked at the lack of metal being fused/welded by the manufacturing process. I just installed the unit about 3 weeks before, live in southern California and had never used it to tow. I assumed it was a decent unit given the $600 cost, and from limited feedback from others on the forums. At least for me that turned out not to be the case!

Beyond the welds that seem not to have fully penetrated the metal to actually meld the pieces together, the other issue I would call attention to was the unit I received had very short bolts and no lock washers. They had a variant of the nylock self locking nuts, but those appear not to have done the job either. The factory nuts & bolts were all very loose when I removed the unit to get it repaired (on a sunday, in las vegas, after driving 150 miles round trip through the desert and after leaving my new trailer at a gas station!). The loosening bolts may have contributed to the failure, but I can say that had the welds not broken the next failure point on this unit would have been the nuts/bolts coming undone. Yikes!

I went to Home Depot while the welder did his work repairing the unit to allow me to get home and I bought new, longer class 8 level bolts and lock washers/nuts and also added blue Locktite to each, but when I checked the unit again yesterday I see that there is play in the whole thing again. Not nearly as loose as the factory setup was after 3 days of use, but enough that I noticed movement when putting my heavy duty hitch in place. That does not inspire confidence...

I went with the Rhino Ox for the small incremental increase in tongue weight and primarily to get the hitch point up higher to better align with my trailer tongue and increase clearance offroad. Your experience might be better, but the Rhino Ox was a complete failure for me. Thankfully when it fell apart it was in a gas station in the middle of the desert - not on the side of the road, or when traveling at highway speeds. I heard a noise from the back when I went over some pot holes and transitioned from gravel onto the edge of the asphalt for the station. Then there was a loud BANG! and my wife thought I hit either a pump or the vehicle next to us with the trailer. I jumped out to confirm that was not the case (it wasn't) and the guy getting gas on the other side of the pump said he saw the hitch break and the tongue drop to the chains. Super scary situation. I would urge you to do your research before buying this unit. The whole thing relies on nuts/bolts to hold it together, and my experience with a heavy trailer was that it simply didn't hold up. The nuts/bolts provided with my unit lacked lock washers, and even if it had included lock washers the bolts provided were not long enough to accept lock washers and still have the nuts fully threaded onto the bolt. As a result, in my opinion, the whole thing seems poorly designed, or if not properly designed then poorly executed. Clever design for sure, using the recovery loop as part of the structure, but in our case not at all safe. I am going to a custom fabricator this week to get a unit made to provide a safer and more secure solution.

As a side note, I have my original Land Rover OEM hitch unit which is stamped as rated for 770# tongue weight and 7,700# trailer weight available for sale. It works great for many uses and is simple to put on/take off. I just needed a higher hitch point for my my new trailer and for offroading. If you don't need the hitch height, and won't be towing your trailer offroad a lot I think the OEM unit is a great option. I used it for a week earlier this summer with a 4,500# Airstream and never had any issues or concern about the quality. Can't say the same for the Rhino Ox, unfortunately.

Hope my experience helps others as they consider their options.