hitch question

[Unregistered]

Hi everyone,
We have a starcraft starflyer and a 2004 Toyota Siena to pull it with.  Plenty of power under the hood, but when the van is pulling the trailer (or not pulling anything and just loaded with passengers) the receiver bar on the hitch scrapes on bumps.  Any suggestions?  help!

[jawilson]

Probably not a lot you can do about it. The "receiver bar" (which is actually called a drawbar  ) might have too much of a drop, but replacing it would only raise the ball height an inch or two. That might be enough to partially mitigate your problem, but I somehow doubt it would eliminate it entirely. I suspect that the depth of the receiver, coupled with the low back end of the van, is combining to create the problem.

Raising the rear of the van with coil-overs, air shocks or helper springs might provide some relief, but that's a bit of a drastic measure to take. And virtually all of those choices will affect your ride quality as well.

[Gone-Camping]

Having plenty of power under the hood to tow it with is good, but you also gotta have enough suspension under the back end to hold things up too. Be that as it may, if you're within you're tow vehicles specified tow ratings, then you'd do well to consider a weight distributing hitch (WDH) to help shift the weight off the rear axle and distribute the tongue weight to the front of the tow vehicle.

Meanwhile, it sounds like the Sienna has a serious case of rear squat even without the trailer. You might do like suggest above and consider some suspension modifications, most of which will effect the ride quality. You might also consider either Air Lift Bags or Timbren Encased Springs to help prevent squating. Not sure what the Sienna has for rear suspension, but if you've got coils then go with the air bags by Air Lift, and if you have leaf springs I'd suggest using the Timbrens.
 
Please try and avoid using air shocks, these do not help your situation, all it does is change weight from the load bearing springs as their are designed, and put too much stress on the shock towers. This will in time have detrimental effect on your shock towers, and could lead to serious damages to your Sienna.
 
I'd highly recommend that you at least start considering the next tow vechile, something with a little more suspension in back!