Towing With 2009 Rx 350 Pebble Beach Edition

[sanjuanview]

Hi! We are trying to learn all we can about towing an RV before we take the plunge. We bought our Pebble Beach Edition with the towing package so we want to get a small RV now. I'm sure not too knowledgeable about all this. Does the towing package mean we are all wired ready to plug in an RV and go? Where do I look for the components?

The unit we are interested in buying is a little 16' Airstream and I'm concerned about the trailer hitch weight. The Airstream website says it's 430 pounds and my RX manual says the limit is 350 pounds. Does anyone have any experience with this? Also, does anyone know if you have to install towing mirrors with an 8 ft. wide camper? We are Canadians and are considering importing an Airstream from the US so we want to ensure our Lexus is all ready to go pick up an RV if we proceed with this?

If anyone is towing a similar weight RV (3200 pounds), can you tell me how beat up your gas mileage is?

Many thanks!

sanjuanview

[1990LS400]

People on this and other forums like to make fun of me (or worse) for using my previous and current LS400s for towing a small utility trailer. I've had trailer hitchs on most cars I've owned over the past 40+ tears and had a bit of commercial towing experience in my much younger days delivering mobile homes.

I have to question whether a 3200 lb. RV trailer is too much for a vehicle rated to tow a maximum of 3500 lbs. If the 3200 lbs. is an empty weight, that Airstream is likely to substantially exceed 3500 lbs. once you fill it with all your stuff, liquids, etc.

It's one thing to tow a maximum weight trailer on an occasional short distance basis but an entirely different matter to tow it every day and sometimes all day. I'd also be a little concerned that past RX models have had transmission failure issues -- not that the issues effect the current RX350.

Have you previously towed a trailer of this size with a vehicle similar to an RX350 and felt comfortable doing it? Since you are asking about mirrors, I assume that you haven't.

I suggest that you rent a 3200 lb. trailer before you buy one. Tow the rental on a vacation trip and see how well you and your RX does with it. Tow it up to Strathcona Lodge and over to Tofino to go whale watching -- if you are comfortable towing a 3200 pound trailer up there, then you could probably tow it anywhere. (Yikes, most people don't realize that there are mini-mountains on Vancouver Is.)

Wave at my hobby farmer cousin the next time you pass Lopez Island on the ferry!

[skywagon]

Hi! We are trying to learn all we can about towing an RV before we take the plunge. We bought our Pebble Beach Edition with the towing package so we want to get a small RV now. I'm sure not too knowledgeable about all this. Does the towing package mean we are all wired ready to plug in an RV and go? Where do I look for the components?

The unit we are interested in buying is a little 16' Airstream and I'm concerned about the trailer hitch weight. The Airstream website says it's 430 pounds and my RX manual says the limit is 350 pounds. Does anyone have any experience with this? Also, does anyone know if you have to install towing mirrors with an 8 ft. wide camper? We are Canadians and are considering importing an Airstream from the US so we want to ensure our Lexus is all ready to go pick up an RV if we proceed with this?

If anyone is towing a similar weight RV (3200 pounds), can you tell me how beat up your gas mileage is?

Many thanks!

sanjuanview

It will handle it for sure, pulled a 9K lb tractor 3k miles without a problem, I had equlizer hitch with the bars and would recommend that setup. rule of thumb is to keep 10% of total weight on the hitch. the towing package does not come ready to plug to camper like Ford and .GM. For camper you must run wire from battery to a relay to the back for the trailer brakes and a positive for the camper battery to charge. which is a lot of dicking around compared to Ford and GM. The only plugin that comes with the Lexus towing package is a small 4 pronger for boat trailer lites ect. Then you will also need a trailer brake controller which the other mfgs are aready wired for but lexus or Toyota is not. You can buy extentions for your mirriors that just slip over your factory mirriors.

[sanjuanview]

People on this and other forums like to make fun of me (or worse) for using my previous and current LS400s for towing a small utility trailer. I've had trailer hitchs on most cars I've owned over the past 40+ tears and had a bit of commercial towing experience in my much younger days delivering mobile homes.

I have to question whether a 3200 lb. RV trailer is too much for a vehicle rated to tow a maximum of 3500 lbs. If the 3200 lbs. is an empty weight, that Airstream is likely to substantially exceed 3500 lbs. once you fill it with all your stuff, liquids, etc.

It's one thing to tow a maximum weight trailer on an occasional short distance basis but an entirely different matter to tow it every day and sometimes all day. I'd also be a little concerned that past RX models have had transmission failure issues -- not that the issues effect the current RX350.

Have you previously towed a trailer of this size with a vehicle similar to an RX350 and felt comfortable doing it? Since you are asking about mirrors, I assume that you haven't.

I suggest that you rent a 3200 lb. trailer before you buy one. Tow the rental on a vacation trip and see how well you and your RX does with it. Tow it up to Strathcona Lodge and over to Tofino to go whale watching -- if you are comfortable towing a 3200 pound trailer up there, then you could probably tow it anywhere. (Yikes, most people don't realize that there are mini-mountains on Vancouver Is.)

Wave at my hobby farmer cousin the next time you pass Lopez Island on the ferry!

[sanjuanview]

People on this and other forums like to make fun of me (or worse) for using my previous and current LS400s for towing a small utility trailer. I've had trailer hitchs on most cars I've owned over the past 40+ tears and had a bit of commercial towing experience in my much younger days delivering mobile homes.

I have to question whether a 3200 lb. RV trailer is too much for a vehicle rated to tow a maximum of 3500 lbs. If the 3200 lbs. is an empty weight, that Airstream is likely to substantially exceed 3500 lbs. once you fill it with all your stuff, liquids, etc.

It's one thing to tow a maximum weight trailer on an occasional short distance basis but an entirely different matter to tow it every day and sometimes all day. I'd also be a little concerned that past RX models have had transmission failure issues -- not that the issues effect the current RX350.

Have you previously towed a trailer of this size with a vehicle similar to an RX350 and felt comfortable doing it? Since you are asking about mirrors, I assume that you haven't.

I suggest that you rent a 3200 lb. trailer before you buy one. Tow the rental on a vacation trip and see how well you and your RX does with it. Tow it up to Strathcona Lodge and over to Tofino to go whale watching -- if you are comfortable towing a 3200 pound trailer up there, then you could probably tow it anywhere. (Yikes, most people don't realize that there are mini-mountains on Vancouver Is.)

Wave at my hobby farmer cousin the next time you pass Lopez Island on the ferry!

[1990LS400]

It will handle it for sure, pulled a 9K lb tractor 3k miles without a problem,

You pulled a 9,000 pound trailer 3,000 miles with an RX? Wow! What were you doing ... returning the space shuttle to it's launch pad? Did I interpret your post correctly or did you mean something else?

[sanjuanview]

People on this and other forums like to make fun of me (or worse) for using my previous and current LS400s for towing a small utility trailer. I've had trailer hitchs on most cars I've owned over the past 40+ tears and had a bit of commercial towing experience in my much younger days delivering mobile homes.

I have to question whether a 3200 lb. RV trailer is too much for a vehicle rated to tow a maximum of 3500 lbs. If the 3200 lbs. is an empty weight, that Airstream is likely to substantially exceed 3500 lbs. once you fill it with all your stuff, liquids, etc.

It's one thing to tow a maximum weight trailer on an occasional short distance basis but an entirely different matter to tow it every day and sometimes all day. I'd also be a little concerned that past RX models have had transmission failure issues -- not that the issues effect the current RX350.

Have you previously towed a trailer of this size with a vehicle similar to an RX350 and felt comfortable doing it? Since you are asking about mirrors, I assume that you haven't.

I suggest that you rent a 3200 lb. trailer before you buy one. Tow the rental on a vacation trip and see how well you and your RX does with it. Tow it up to Strathcona Lodge and over to Tofino to go whale watching -- if you are comfortable towing a 3200 pound trailer up there, then you could probably tow it anywhere. (Yikes, most people don't realize that there are mini-mountains on Vancouver Is.)

Wave at my hobby farmer cousin the next time you pass Lopez Island on the ferry!

[sanjuanview]

People on this and other forums like to make fun of me (or worse) for using my previous and current LS400s for towing a small utility trailer. I've had trailer hitchs on most cars I've owned over the past 40+ tears and had a bit of commercial towing experience in my much younger days delivering mobile homes.

I have to question whether a 3200 lb. RV trailer is too much for a vehicle rated to tow a maximum of 3500 lbs. If the 3200 lbs. is an empty weight, that Airstream is likely to substantially exceed 3500 lbs. once you fill it with all your stuff, liquids, etc.

It's one thing to tow a maximum weight trailer on an occasional short distance basis but an entirely different matter to tow it every day and sometimes all day. I'd also be a little concerned that past RX models have had transmission failure issues -- not that the issues effect the current RX350.

Have you previously towed a trailer of this size with a vehicle similar to an RX350 and felt comfortable doing it? Since you are asking about mirrors, I assume that you haven't.

I suggest that you rent a 3200 lb. trailer before you buy one. Tow the rental on a vacation trip and see how well you and your RX does with it. Tow it up to Strathcona Lodge and over to Tofino to go whale watching -- if you are comfortable towing a 3200 pound trailer up there, then you could probably tow it anywhere. (Yikes, most people don't realize that there are mini-mountains on Vancouver Is.)

Wave at my hobby farmer cousin the next time you pass Lopez Island on the ferry!

Sounds like great advice, I'll have a look around and see if anyone rents Airstreams on the Rock here. Have gone back now and checked quite a few sites to be sure about the dry weight of the trailer we have in mind, and it appears that it is 2800 lbs., not 3200, (there is no Airstream dealer here, so am checking with them by email for exact figures)...so that leaves a bit more cargo/liquids capacity. It's an Airstream 16 International Signature Series that we have in mind. Now my concern is that the trailer hitch weight is listed at 430 pounds and our RX manual says that 350 is the max recommended. Knowing nothing about hitches, can we "buy" our way out of that problem? Seems like 80 pounds is not that much but again, I'm a total newbie at all this, and sure don't want to damage the vehicle by overdoing it.

My trailering experience is extensive with ski boats and tent trailers, but not an RV like this.

[skywagon]

It will handle it for sure, pulled a 9K lb tractor 3k miles without a problem,

You pulled a 9,000 pound trailer 3,000 miles with an RX? Wow! What were you doing ... returning the space shuttle to it's launch pad? Did I interpret your post correctly or did you mean something else?

No shuttle, just a farm tractor lol!!!

[skywagon]

People on this and other forums like to make fun of me (or worse) for using my previous and current LS400s for towing a small utility trailer. I've had trailer hitchs on most cars I've owned over the past 40+ tears and had a bit of commercial towing experience in my much younger days delivering mobile homes.

I have to question whether a 3200 lb. RV trailer is too much for a vehicle rated to tow a maximum of 3500 lbs. If the 3200 lbs. is an empty weight, that Airstream is likely to substantially exceed 3500 lbs. once you fill it with all your stuff, liquids, etc.

It's one thing to tow a maximum weight trailer on an occasional short distance basis but an entirely different matter to tow it every day and sometimes all day. I'd also be a little concerned that past RX models have had transmission failure issues -- not that the issues effect the current RX350.

Have you previously towed a trailer of this size with a vehicle similar to an RX350 and felt comfortable doing it? Since you are asking about mirrors, I assume that you haven't.

I suggest that you rent a 3200 lb. trailer before you buy one. Tow the rental on a vacation trip and see how well you and your RX does with it. Tow it up to Strathcona Lodge and over to Tofino to go whale watching -- if you are comfortable towing a 3200 pound trailer up there, then you could probably tow it anywhere. (Yikes, most people don't realize that there are mini-mountains on Vancouver Is.)

Wave at my hobby farmer cousin the next time you pass Lopez Island on the ferry!

Sounds like great advice, I'll have a look around and see if anyone rents Airstreams on the Rock here. Have gone back now and checked quite a few sites to be sure about the dry weight of the trailer we have in mind, and it appears that it is 2800 lbs., not 3200, (there is no Airstream dealer here, so am checking with them by email for exact figures)...so that leaves a bit more cargo/liquids capacity. It's an Airstream 16 International Signature Series that we have in mind. Now my concern is that the trailer hitch weight is listed at 430 pounds and our RX manual says that 350 is the max recommended. Knowing nothing about hitches, can we "buy" our way out of that problem? Seems like 80 pounds is not that much but again, I'm a total newbie at all this, and sure don't want to damage the vehicle by overdoing it.

My trailering experience is extensive with ski boats and tent trailers, but not an RV like this.

I use what is called an equilizer hitch, it has two torsion bars, you can buy 350 lb bars, 450 lb bars and 550 lb bars, they have chains on the end with a chain tightner and ittakes the load off the hitch and rear end of car works like !Removed!!!!! I am on my 10th lexus and have towed with them alll even the 99 RX with the supposedly bad transmissions. Just remember to unhook mthe friggan trailer if you need to tow the SOB in, ROTFFLMAO, They are going to sell a qulity car they better be able to stand up and of all 10 they have only been back to have the friggan licence plates installed lol