What is the heaviest thing you towed with your Sorento?

[ErikHeiker]

I have of those fold-up trailers that weighs about 200 pounds. I put a 200 pound freezer on that and towed it home from Sears. Couldn't even tell it was there. I'll use the Sorento for small loads like that, but for anything heavier, I'll use the GMC Sierra.

[Rseydler]

We have the 2009xm model diesel. That's the first year the xm was released in Australia.

We tow a 1400kg sail boat with ours. The trailer puts 80kgs on the ball and we have 2 adults and 3 kids in the car. Luckily we have the diesel and it pulls up short hills in top gear doing 1600rpm at 80kms. Only time you really notice it is on long hill climbs or some slight wallowing when there are some undulations close together. The 2009 model didn't get the Australian suspension setup AFAIK. I believe that came with our 2010 models and fixes the wallowing issue.

I'll try and get some pics of the rig on the weekend.

Fuel consumption goes up to around 12l/100km when towing the sail boat. Typically doing the same course with no sailboat in tow we get around 7.8l/100km.

The trailer has override brakes so during the initial slowing you can notice the difference until the trailer brakes bite.

We also tow a tinnie weighing less than 600kgs and you really wouldn't believe anything was there.

Compare this to the patrol we had previously and it's fantastic!!

[Fort_Sorento]

I'm pulling pop up camper. With all my gear in it, i'm a little over 3000lbs. Trailer has brakes and I have no problems pulling it. The only complaint, the back end of the Sorento sags. I'll either get a tow bar with a 4 inch lift or a WDH but can't get a 100% confirmation you can use WDH with a 2011 Sorento.

[Cheekie B]

Wife?.....

[Fort_Sorento]

HAHA! No, I mean weight distribution hitch.

[Doug0716]

Originally Posted by Fort_Sorento

HAHA! No, I mean weight distribution hitch.

I think he was making a fat wife joke...

[Fort_Sorento]

Wow. Just wow.

[KLS]

WDH but can't get a 100% confirmation you can use WDH with a 2011 Sorento.

I'd tend to trust Cequent (Reese, Hidden Hitch, Draw-tite brands), and they sell a weight distributing hitch receiver for our XM Sorentos. Be sure to buy the lightest weight WD hitch you can find, again from one of the Cequent brands, along with light duty spring bars that match the tongue weight including the WD hitch. A standard WD hitch and bars adds about 100# to the weight on the rear of the car, which we don't need. Too-stiff spring bars may jolt the car. You DO have brakes on that trailer, right?...essential on a tow vehicle as marginal as our Sorentos.

We tow a 1400kg sail boat with ours. The trailer puts 80kgs on the ball

Pretty risky. The usual rule of thumb is that we want at least 10% of the total weight of trailer and load carried by the hitch. The reason is that putting this much weight in front of the trailer wheels helps greatly with stability. Trailer sway where the trailer cracks-the-whip can be deadly. Your diesel engine is only part of the equation. You also need all other parts of the drive trail up to the job of pulling that load, as well as the structure of the car up to the job of carrying the load. I think your "override" brakes are what we in the U.S. call surge brakes--hydraulic brakes activated when the trailer pushes the tow vehicle (when the tow vehicle is slowing faster than the trailer).

[Rseydler]

KLS,

Thanks for you concern. 5-10% of the trailer weight on the tow ball is fine. I can attest that the trailer tows perfectly at 110 km/hr having done some rather lengthy trips with heaps of gear. I have never had trailer sway with this boat at all. A lot of this has to do with weight placement within the rig. The lead keel is in front of the axle and the remainder of the boat hanging out past the axle would be less than 500kgs. When we load gear we load it over or in front of the axle. We never tow with the outboard on the stern and fuel is moved as far forward as we can get it.

Surge breaks are what we have, only we are using cable and not hydraulics. The Sorrie is rated to tow 2000kgs. In Oz we can have single axle trailers up to 2000kgs or more, most usually once you go over 1400kgs GTM you run dual axles so you can still use 13in or 14in tyres.

Ron

[Rseydler]

Never did post that pic...