Coolieman1220

Hey guys,

I'm a bit new to towing and this Saturday I plan on towing a trailer 180 miles one way to a race track for a motorcycle track day. I am renting a uhual 6x12 dual axle trailer like this one http://www.uhaul.com/Reservations/Eq....aspx?model=HO.

I will be towing three bikes with it, two in the front and one in the middle rear. the bikes are all supersport class bikes so they each weigh roughly 450lbs wet. The trailer weighs 2,200lbs and the three bikes will be 1,500lbs. I know our Q5's are rated to tow 4,200lbs and I'm guesing our max tongue weight is 10% of the tow weight? So max tongue weight needs to be 400lbs? If I load the trailer that way, will I have enough tongue weight? I don't want to overload the tongue nor do I want trailer sway. I shouldn't be carrying any passengers either.

The trailer also is hydraulic braked equipped. Is that just plug and play since we don't have a brake controller?

I will be using my TDI to tow, what kind of mileage should I expect. I'm hoping for somewhere in the mid 20's?

I see this picture from another forum poster and feel relieved though but still. Don't want to damage anything.

rdA4WtQ5

Those trailers are pretty good about not swaying with normal driving.
The trailer brakes are usually pretty good but not instantaneously.
If your hitch is too high it may rattle on the ball over bumps, won't hurt anything but pretty dam annoying.
Mid 20's would be good, those trailers are bricks.
I often get low 20's with my 2000# race boat rig with a 2.0T

ELEVENS

I thought tongue weight was a maximum, never heard of a minimum requirement.

Don't get your hopes up too high on fuel mileage. My 3.2L really sux when pulling a trainer. I have a 5x8 trailer that's dedicated for a single motorcycle. The mileage is acceptable when pulling lower speeds (55mph and less), but man does it ever get crappy on the freeway.

MP4.2+6.0

See reply above on minimum tongue weight--an important concept in safe trailering.

MP4.2+6.0

From the guidelines I'm familiar with, you want 6-11% of the total trailer weight on the tongue, and you need to be careful with whether the as-loaded configuration changes the balance point relative to its baseline set up. Sometimes it is simplified to 10%. But, if you have a vehicle that only permits tongue loads in the 250 pound range or if you have a heavy trailer set up, sometimes you have to move down closer to 6%. The Q5 with the 440 pounds/200kg tongue load (not 400 BTW as the OP was speculating/asking) gives you more flexibility here than many, and it is beyond the typical 3,500 pound Class II cut offs.

You definitely want the tongue weight dialed in at a decent level per another reply's question--both on the high side, but also avoiding too little weight on the other side of the spectrum. Too little tongue weight is a classic bad set up leading to the lumbering trailer sway where things can get out of hand and really bad stuff happens once in a while--lost loads, tipped over trailers and even tow vehicles, accidents, etc. People sometimes make the mistake just in loading a trailer too, like if all the heavy stuff gets piled in either the front or the back and then changes the baseline tongue load/% meaningfully. Anytime I see a swaying trailer on the road, I figure its a likely tongue weight mistake/lack of experience.

I just towed my boat with the Q5 (Hybrid) yesterday for the 200+ mile ride back from Tahoe/the Sierra's. It weighs about 2800 pounds with fuel, battery, gear and trailer. Tongue is currently dialed in at 250 pounds since that was the prior max tongue load with the AWD minivans and standard Class II hitches that I used before. It towed very smoothly. Zero sway at any rational towing speed, just as it has always been on my other tow vehicles. Will be round tripping it to the annual lake destination for another 500 miles soon. No unusual behavior on braking either.

In general, I found the Q5 was well set up for it. I had the equivalent weight of four adults in the Q5--three actual, plus a bunch of heavy stuff I was moving. The rear didn't appear to sag at all and had plenty of spring travel. It rode a lot better than the prior Toyota Sienna AWD minivan (too softly sprung even with helper adjustable air bladders in the rear springs) or the yet earlier Chrysler AWD minivan.

You don't have enough info in the post for me to judge or guess about your weight distribution. On my boat trailer, the weight is always fixed and distributed similarly on the trailer so I could move the axle forward or back where it bolts to the frame to tune the tongue weight once; only the boat fuel load changes it a bit, but the (45 gallon) underfloor tank is near the trailer axle centerline anyway. With motorcycles, depending on where you load them front to back and how heavy each bike is, you can alter the weight distribution percentage around the axle centerline a fair amount. Or, if you throw a couple of jerry cans/jug type fuel either in a rack toward the tongue or just in the trailer further back, you could have another 50-100 pounds in play with not unusual amounts of fuel for cycling activities.

To your brake question, it sounds like what you have are surge brakes--the type with the slave brake cylinder built into the tongue assembly. Basically, if you have a brake line leaving the tongue area and heading to the wheels, you have surge brakes and it is all automatic/(no) plug and play. The force of the trailer tongue pushing against the vehicle when the vehicle is braking or otherwise decelerating compresses a part of the tongue slightly and activates a built in separate slave brake cylinder. Some lighter trailers have no brakes at all--basically if the tongue is quite flat and has no bulky looking box assembly (where the slave cylinder is), it is either no brakes, or an electric set up. If you don't have a reverse cut out solenoid with surge brakes--typically missing on the bare bones common 4 pin flat electrical connector wiring found with many utility and boat trailers--you need to get out and insert a metal pin or do something similar manually to defeat the brakes when you back up (other than when moving downhill). I have the 4 pin electrical set up on the trailer side, so went to West Marine last week to buy the typical < $10 7 to 4 pin adapter. It fit right into the Q5 trailer hitch plug, and interlocked to the cover very smoothly.

Trailer rental places often have a wall/rack full of that adapter stuff, or you can just buy separately and stash in the back or glove box. The Q5 hitch of course doesn't have the 2" square ball mount that fits into the receiver, the ball itself, or the 5/8" ball mount retaining pin/rod/lock; I assume you have those, plan to buy them, or the rental place supplies them.

jim0607

As for fuel mileage, I pull a trailer about that size/weight with my TDI frequently. I typically get around 23-24mpg at freeway speed.

Coolieman1220

So I just got back from my trip. It went really well. I originally got the double axle 6x12 trailer but the toungue wait on it seemed too much empty. I just didn't feel comfortable. The trailer was very heavy and the Q pulled it but it didn't feel right. I ended up getting a single axle 5x9 trailer which was way more manageable. I put two bikes in which was enough weight to have the suspension work. The only reason I knew I had a trailer was when I looked up in the mirror and saw two bikes behind me.

The TDI made it so effortless. On the highway doing 65-70 the engine was so happy in its powerband. Going up hills it just made some noise, grunted down and kept on pushing like a diesel should. When you hit hills a bit slower, some downshifting would happen. The paddle shifters make downshifting for braking so easy.

I haven't filled up yet but my computer is telling mw 23mpg. I'm hoping it's a bit more but I'm anticipating like 24mpg for my 400 mile trip while towing 2,000lbs. I wish I had trailer brakes though.

All in all, more appreciative of the Q5 TDI. What an amazing vehicle.

sdiver68

Sweet! Thanks for reporting back. The reason I bought my TDI was to pull my race bikes around the country. My goal is at least 20 mpg at 75 mph with 2 bikes in a 5x8 enclosed trailer about 6 ft tall. Total weight including other equipment in trailer will be a little less than 2000 lbs. Open trailers like the 1 you rented are so much easier to pull so I think it will be close.

Good call not doing the double axle 6x12. That second axle adds a lot of weight. A single axle 6x12 enclosed with 2 bikes is about the max I'll do with my V6 Frontier and that's based on the half-ton Titan truck chassis. I get about 11 mpg in that configuration...but gas engines always suck fuel while towing.

How did your track day go? Where was it?

Coolieman1220

So I actually ended up getting 21.5mpg after calculations. the OBC indicated 23.2. This was over almost 450 miles and 20 gallons of fuel. My average speed for the trip was 46mph. I never really went more than 70mph. Lots of hills and state/county roads as well.

The 6x12 just felt like it was pulling the Q5 instead of me pulling it. The surge brakes were nice though. It also adds up for toll. The diesel has so much torque it never has to downshift. So powerful even when it has 2,000lbs holding it back.

Track day was awesome, rode at New York Safety Track. First time taking the S1000rr on the track and it performed really well. I had a blast.

sdiver68

Oh the controversial Safety Track. Glad to hear it's still operating, supposed to be a lot of fun! I appreciate the photos. I'm off to Road Atlanta this weekend in our team RV for WERA Cycle Jam...I've never been there so it should be interesting....as in I expect to get my butt handed to me. That's OK, we'll see if we can turn the tables when they come up to Road America.