Towing with an H2?

[Timster]

This weekend I went to get my boat out of storage to prep it for winter.
I haven't used it in about three months.
I pulled up to find that the tongue was too high on the Hummer.
Luckily the storage had a loaner.
I hadn't towed anything with the Hummer before. I was a little disappointed in it's handling during towing. (No I wasn't going through a slalom course or driving to fast).
It just seamed to be ruff, jerk and the boat felt as if it swayed. The boat and trailer are new and the tires where at recommend pressures. Anybody have any suggestions or experiences with towing 5000lbs plus trailers with a H2. I would like to try and stabilize the hummer during towing. I was thinking that the tongue wasn’t low enough, the boat wasn’t exactly level maybe 1” or 2” too high.
When I towed with my Denali it was pretty smooth and under control. The Denali was lowered 3” from stock.
Any suggestions?

Thanks,

[Timster]

This weekend I went to get my boat out of storage to prep it for winter.
I haven't used it in about three months.
I pulled up to find that the tongue was too high on the Hummer.
Luckily the storage had a loaner.
I hadn't towed anything with the Hummer before. I was a little disappointed in it's handling during towing. (No I wasn't going through a slalom course or driving to fast).
It just seamed to be ruff, jerk and the boat felt as if it swayed. The boat and trailer are new and the tires where at recommend pressures. Anybody have any suggestions or experiences with towing 5000lbs plus trailers with a H2. I would like to try and stabilize the hummer during towing. I was thinking that the tongue wasn’t low enough, the boat wasn’t exactly level maybe 1” or 2” too high.
When I towed with my Denali it was pretty smooth and under control. The Denali was lowered 3” from stock.
Any suggestions?

Thanks,

i pull a 5k lb camper, and had to get a new hitch when i bought the hummer, to maintain some kind of level tow. camping world has a good variety of the heavy duty hitches to lower the ball mount to keep the trailer level, and your boat dealer probably does too. i don't know enough about towing to know if the angle caused your problem or not. i've also got the load leveling bars for the trailer that helps stabilize the back end of the bus. do you have air rear suspension or springs? i went from towing with a supercahrged 4runner to the H2, so i don't have an apple-to-apple comparison like you do with your denali. the H2 does a far better job, but hills are still a bit disappointing.

[PARAGON]

Well, on many boat trailers the inch or two should have that large of an effect. Since most of a boat's weight is at the rear, boat trailers have the axles pushed rearward compared to the average trailer. With this the adjustment, up or down, at the tongue doesn't have as large an effect on transfering weight on the trailer axles. BUT, that is not to say that if the trailer was swaying some, you more than likely had too little tongue weight on the H2 and your hitch probably WAS too high.

IMO, the H2 is not a tow vehicle, but it will tow 5000lbs without any problems if set up correctly. Also, you probably have surge brakes on the trailer and upon braking the slap of the tongue can be felt more in the H2 for some reason. Same thing when you accelerate from a stop, the jerking of the surge brakes sliding apart. Just a few possibilities.

[strongrhino]

Get a drop down reciever so it is properly aligned and you will not have the problem. I tow a 7000lb boat and cannot even tell it's in back of me unless I look out the mirror. I think my ball is a 6" drop. When it is too high it lifts your back end up and screws with the traction and alignment.

[RiverRacerX]

Short wheelbase!

I tow 6000+ boat trailer for a 28' boat with my Escalade (which is even shorter wheelbase than the H2). At speed it will sway a bit no matter what. Just need to concentrate when you drive and keep it straight and don't make sudden steering changes. There is no comparrison when towing with something like an F350 or anything with a longer wheelbase. They are made for that.

Yes, the H2 is not designed to be a full time tow vehicle, but it will do the chore when needed.

[TXSUT]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by strongrhino:
I tow a 7000lb boat and cannot even tell it's in back of me unless I look out the mirror. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Unless you have a supercharger and have re-geared...wait, even then you'd still be full of crap.

[strongrhino]

O.K. then I am full of crap then. I tow my boat to the lake like every weekend so I guess I don't know ****. What have you towed, your big mouth?

[rvs9]

I carry 2 hitches in my H2. One is a fixed drop down hitch (9") and the other is an adjustable Rapid Hitch (do a search and you'll find them) that is all aluminum. Both work.

I put a supercharger in my H2 a couple of years ago and it made a world of difference. Towig is not a problem now.

[Timster]

Thanks for everyones reply's.
I think the angle is the culpret. I plan on buying a new tongue that is at least 6" lower than the one I have.
The trailer has a built in surge brake. I would of rather had electric brakes (Gives you more control over braking) but it wasn't available.

After reading most of the responces I would have agree that the H2 is not the best vehicle to use as a tow vehicle but it will do the job.
Thanks again,
Tim

[TXSUT]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by strongrhino:
O.K. then I am full of crap then. I tow my boat to the lake like every weekend so I guess I don't know ****. What have you towed, your big mouth? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm not saying you don't know $hit, but I do know anything more than 3,000lbs behind an H2 and you are going to feel it. I only had to tow that much to know it.

[JohnnyRPM]

I tow a Bobcat S185 on a 20' trailer (a combined weight of about 8,000 lbs) behind mine from time to time and getting it positioned just so versus the trailer axles is crittical. Too far forward on the trailer and too much weight is on the truck. Too far back and it sways and bounces terribly. The bulk of the mass should be centered as close as possible over the trailer axles. I prefer an ever so slight bias towards a little more tongue weight just to keep the rattle and bounce at the hitch to a minimum.

The trailer should also be as level as possible. For my Pequea bobcat trailer that means a 6" drop on the hitch. When using this same 6" drop with my Jetski trailer it's a little too high and the skis are canted ass-down (which actually works out great getting them on and off at the ramp). But get a drop that puts you as level as possible and when loading it try to center it's mass as close over the axle(s) as possible. I don't know what adjustment if any your trailer allows but on my jetski trailers I can move the winch/bow stop to adjust where the weight is carried on the trailer.

FWIW...

-John