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Wagons Subaru Crew Subaru Forester Towing with a Forester
97 messages, Last post on Apr 21, 2008 at 6:24 AM
You are in the Subaru Forester Forum. Your Host is kcram
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Hello all.... Does anyone know if there is any upgrading required to use a Subaru Forester to tow an RV trailer? The owner's manual says 2000 lb max, but the trailer is around 2500 lbs.... Has anyone towed over the max before? Would I need a transmission cooler, upgraded suspension, etc.? Does having all-wheel drive make a difference?
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Replying to: postymcgee (Dec 04, 2007 11:25 am) Current-generation Foresters are rated to tow 2400 pounds (w/trailer brakes). You must have a first-generation Forester if it's rated to tow 2K. Bob
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Replying to: rsholland (Dec 04, 2007 11:34 am) -mike |
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Replying to: postymcgee (Dec 04, 2007 11:25 am) a. You should have trailer brakes since it's over 1000 lbs b. If towing beyond short distances, a transmission cooler would be extremely helpful. c. When towing something almost as heavy as your Forester, be aware that the emergency handling will be severely compromised. -Frank |
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Replying to: p0926 (Dec 10, 2007 11:36 am) Be constantly aware on this point. 
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Replying to: p0926 (Dec 10, 2007 11:36 am) c. When towing something almost as heavy as your Forester, be aware that the emergency handling will be severely compromised." The purpose of the trailer brakes is not only to help the car's brakes, but also to help emergency handling. For instance, without trailer brakes, applying the car's brakes causes the trailer to push on the ball, if the car is not going in a straight line, this push will force the rear end to the outside and begin a jacknife. I noticed this only once and it scared me so I never let it happen again. One rainy day I was pulling our 2,000 boat with our Mazda pickup, and braked gently to round a tight turn on a little 2-lane road. Suddenly the braking made the trailer begin pushing the back of the truck around to the outside of the turn. To stop this I had to release the brakes and coast, so the trailer would follow the truck instead of pushing it to the side. That meant taking the turn a lot faster than was safe, out of control. If the trailer had had brakes, the trailer brakes would have made the trailer pull on the hitch, instead of push on it. So the trailer would not have tried to keep going straight and push the back of the truck around.
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Replying to: p0926 (Dec 10, 2007 11:36 am) What does extremely helpful mean? The Forester is rated at 2400 lbs and the manual does not say a transmission cooler is part of that rating, like it says about trailer brakes.
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Replying to: aatherton (Dec 13, 2007 6:44 am) With electric brakes you can control the amount of braking needed with an interior-mounted electronic brake control, not so with surge brakes. Surge brakes are really not very good. Bob
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Replying to: aatherton (Dec 13, 2007 6:48 am) And they do indeed "help" but you still have to be aware that you're towing a trailer and modify your driving accordingly. What does extremely helpful mean? He has a previous generation Forester that is only rated to tow 2000 lbs so if he's gonig to be towing a significant distance then I think a transmission cooler would be a good idea. -Frank |
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Replying to: rsholland (Dec 13, 2007 6:58 am) On surge brakes, it depends on the application. I tow a 10,500lb triple axle boat trailer with my Armada and it has surge brakes w/discs on it and it does pretty well with the surge brakes. There are 2 reasons to get surge brakes on a trailer, mostly if it's a boat trailer you would have surge brakes due to the electric brake components getting wrecked in the water, the other reason would be if you lend your trailer out to various friends who probably don't have controllers. I would say though Electric over Hydrolic > Electric > Surge > No Brakes. -mike
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