We are about to buy a travel trailer and I have some questions about the load capacity of the AHC system. The manual seems to contradict itself in a few places. Our 2010 has a max trailer capacity of 8500 lbs and max hitch capacity of 850 lbs. Total weight capacity seems to be around 1300lbs. The manual states that AHC may not work properly if there are 600 lbs of people plus 400 lbs of hitch weight. That's only 1000 lbs total and 300 lbs lower than maximum capacity. Also in the manual where they describe the AHC system, it states that AHC works fine until you reach the full load capacity of 1300 lbs.

Does anyone have real world trailer towing experience with the LX?

Our typical load will be my wife, my son and me which adds up to around 400 lbs. Add 150 lbs of luggage and "stuff" should leave us with 750 lbs of hitch weight capacity. Am I doing the math correctly? Is it reasonable to take the LX close to maximum load? Would it be better to store the luggage in the trailer and leave the weight in the LX as low as possible?

Thanks for any tips and advice.

 

I would stay +/- 20% below all stated max weights if possible .....

BTW - I trailer a boat with my 2008 Land cruiser (wife won't let me tow with her LX LOL )

 

Just made two towing trips with my LX. I didn't weight the tongue weight, but was apprehensive about the AHC but there were no problems. Trailer was a medium sized utility trailer carrying furniture for the first trip and the second trip was a ATV on the trailer. Total trip each way 250 miles. I didn't have a problem at all and AHC worked fine. It is very hot in Louisiana this time of year and I expected some overheating problems but didn't see that either. Of course Louisiana is relatively flat.

 

I regularly pull a 7200 26 foot boat rig. Tongue weight is right around 300 to 450 (depending on fuel load--161 gallon tank).

It pulls just fine and will "pump up" the suspension to MID. I do follow the manual and lower the suspension before engaging the trailer, then allowing the car to raise itself to mid. It will two fine without the "PWR" setting on the transmission. I also use the "S" mode on the transmission for engine braking on hills.

 

I recently towed a VW van on a tandem-axle uhaul trailer (very heavy trailer) with no issues. LX was also loaded with 3 kids, 2 adults, and 2 weeks worth of luggage. The LX is a beast and we passed people right and left going up the grapevine. Brakes were great as well. I hardly felt the trailer. AHC handled the load with no drama.

 

Just my two cents..........

I have had my 2013 LX570 for about a little over a year now. So far I only used the LX570 to tow our open utility trailer (single axle 12 ft x 12 ft.) for back yard landscaping projects such as the landscaping red bricks for the edge of the sidewalk. One time we loaded up with the trailer 200 of these and did not feel a thing........ of course these are "light" in comparison to the others above.

Before the LX570 we had a 2000 LX470 (when we traded in it had like 280K miles and still running strong on original engine and transmission). A few years before we traded in, I used it to tow a flatbed Uhaul trailer with a MB SLK55 AMG on it. We went cross country from middle of USA to SoCal home. Went through some small mountains and yes, I can feel the trailer. I also knew we were at its maximum, if not already exceeded it by a good margin. I had towed a lot of stuff with that old LX470 since we bought it new, so I knew how to do it and what to expect.......longer merging time on the on ramp and takes longer to stop and all that......... PLUS the need to anticipate other vehicles move in front of me just in case if someone decides to cut in front of me and etc.... One thing I noticed on the old LX470 is that the gas mileage decreased dramatically to like 5 miles per gallon on mountain passes!!!!

I usually change the engine oil BEFORE and AFTER a cross country towing like that and the transmission fluid when it is due.

With LX570, I don't think there will be any problems.......

 

I tow a 20-foot enclosed race trailer loaded with a race car and spare parts. Probably 6000lbs or more. I use a load distributing hitch, without the distribution the AHC can't raise the trailer up, but with it the weight is just fine. You'll know if it works or not.

I tow this 6000lb trailer every weekend it tows like a champ.