900 mile towing trip

[Luxus]

I just got back from a 900 mile round trip where I towed another car with my 2026 R1T tri motor. Towed trailer and car was about 7000 lbs (per the truck). Drove from Chicago to Bowling Green, KY and back. Just used a ball hitch, did not use a WDH like Rivian recommends for trailers over 5000 lbs.

Overall the Rivian performed well, pulled the trailer fine. My consumption was 1.3 mi/kWh while pulling trailer. I didn't try to push the limits of how far I could go, but I could do an hour and a half or so before having to stop for recharging. Sometimes I stopped sooner due to what the route planner told me. I used the Rivian route planner for the trip and it worked well IMHO.

Charging could be interesting due to towing a trailer. On my trip there were no trailer friendly chargers. So I had to do a lot of creative parking so I could charge and not block the area around me with the trailer. Only once I had to unhook to charge. Most of the chargers I used were Tesla. As much as I am not a fan of Tesla, I have to admit that their charging stations were fast, reliable and had a lot of chargers. The stations were surprisingly busy during the day although I never found myself in a situation where there were no open chargers. My only complaint was the charging cables are way too short. They really need to be a bit longer.

I had one real issue with the truck. On the day we were to head back home, the truck would not recognize the trailer was connected. So no trailer brakes or lights. I called Rivian and I was able to talk to someone on a Sunday morning which I very much appreciated. They had me do a hard and soft reset but nothing worked. In the end, I just went on with my trip as is as I needed to be back home that day. We stopped for a longish brunch and when we got back, the truck had fixed itself. Go figure.

One final comment, while towing on the highway I would feel a 'jerky' sensation when the truck and trailer went over bumps in the road. I believe that was coming from the interaction of the truck and trailer at the hitch while going over the bumps. I'm going to guess that is why Rivian wants you to use a WDH for trailers over 5000 lbs. It probably mitigates that sensation.

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[robd]

I towed our ~7000 lb Airstream about 2300 miles in March and April. I used a Shocker 14K MaxAir hitch to soften the ride and help reduce shock to the trailer. I was really pleased with the smoothness of the ride.

I haven't done A-B comparisions with my rigid hitch, but I may do that this summer. The Big Truck Big RV youtube channel has several videos testing different shock absorbing hitches for anyone looking for more info. Note, if you do get a Shocker hitch, you also need the spacer block to get optimal alignment.

I looked into the AirSafe hitch, but it wouldn't fit based on my measurements and correspondence with the company (who were great BTW).

I hope to post a trip report on my towing and charging experience soon.

 

[Dark-Fx]

One final comment, while towing on the highway I would feel a 'jerky' sensation when the truck and trailer went over bumps in the road. I believe that was coming from the interaction of the truck and trailer at the hitch while going over the bumps. I'm going to guess that is why Rivian wants you to use a WDH for trailers over 5000 lbs. It probably mitigates that sensation.

Anti-rattle clamps usually help quite a bit with that, I also run one of the Curt rocker-balls to absorb more of the banging around since regen changes the braking equation a lot.

 

[antimatter]

Yeah, I think adding an anti-rattle device might help with the jerky feeling you were getting. There's a little slack between the receiver the hitch stinger that can move around when you're accelerating or going over a bump. It used to make an audible 'thunk' in my Ridgeline, so I added the anti-rattle device when I bought my R1T and it eliminated the noise and jerkiness.

 

[2kwik4u]

It's the truck that's doing the jerkiness. I complained about it the first time I towed with the Rivian and was essentially told I was wrong and that Rivian was the best towing vehicle ever. I run a hitch with an anti-rattle feature, and I've had vehicles where that was the problem, this isn't it.

I think it's poor suspension tuning, but am not 100% certain. It definitely takes away from the experience.

here's my initial experience. https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...ian-generally-underwhelming-experience.47235/

I found the ride to be exceptionally "jerky" as well. Almost like the cruise and the trailer were fighting each other. In particular on downhill sections where there was no "dead band" for the system to absorb changes. I could feel, and watch on the display, how the truck was rapidly changing from adding to removing power from the driveline. It was bad enough that the open top drinks in the cupholder were sloshing around. Not sure if that's a function of how the hitch works, or if the truck is expecting the trailer to have brakes, or if there just needs to be more allowance for speed variance while towing.....but it was mildly frustrating at best. Wife was complaining because she couldn't read her book (I know, first world problems here) because of the "jerkyness" of the ride. Beyond that weird calibration issue, the suspension was overly harsh. We tried all 3 settings and none of them would dampen out the fore/aft up/down ride harshness. It reminded me of some times I've driven with a loose or "rattley" hitch assembly and the whole system develops a kind of resonance. Something like an expansion joint or similar disturbance would calm the system for a few moments, then it would come right back. If it was like this on the 4-days of towing to FL and back, the family would be considerably pissed at me. It's really pretty awful.

 

[antimatter]

It's the truck that's doing the jerkiness. I complained about it the first time I towed with the Rivian and was essentially told I was wrong and that Rivian was the best towing vehicle ever. I run a hitch with an anti-rattle feature, and I've had vehicles where that was the problem, this isn't it.

I think it's poor suspension tuning, but am not 100% certain. It definitely takes away from the experience.

here's my initial experience. https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...ian-generally-underwhelming-experience.47235/

Funny, when I hauled my camper back from Billings MT to Minnesota I didn't have any jerkiness or other issues. Maybe its just your particular vehicle? Any others who tow care to comment?

I'm going to be taking off on a short camping trip in a couple of weeks, and I'll make mental note to check on the 'feel' of the towing experience.

 

[VandalSibs]

Funny, when I hauled my camper back from Billings MT to Minnesota I didn't have any jerkiness or other issues. Maybe its just your particular vehicle? Any others who tow care to comment?

I'm going to be taking off on a short camping trip in a couple of weeks, and I'll make mental note to check on the 'feel' of the towing experience.

I get some jerkiness, but I think I don't have my brake gain 100% dialed in either. Haven't taken the time to get a nice, straight & empty road that I can do 25mph on for a while for testing.

I also have anti-rattle on my ball mount (in two places, thanks to it being adjustable!).

 

[robd]

here's my initial experience. https://www.rivianforums.com/forum/...ian-generally-underwhelming-experience.47235/

@2kwik4u I went back and read that thread. The jerkiness sounds frustrating and perplexing when others don't experience it. I forget, did you experience it consistently on all/most road surfaces and speeds?

I have experienced a fore-aft oscillation a few times towing the Airstream and I attributed it to the road surface. The reason I'm thinking that way is I experienced an oscillation before with a car (Acura TL, not towing) -- always on the same stretch of road. I suspect undulations in the road generate a resonant frequency with the suspension. Anyway, in the 20 miles of so of the fore-aft oscillation, I tried slightly different speeds (50 - 60 mph)and changing the ride firmness -- none of them helped. Eventually the oscillation stopped after the road surface changed.

 

[2kwik4u]

@2kwik4u I went back and read that thread. The jerkiness sounds frustrating and perplexing when others don't experience it. I forget, did you experience it consistently on all/most road surfaces and speeds?

I have experienced a fore-aft oscillation a few times towing the Airstream and I attributed it to the road surface. The reason I'm thinking that way is I experienced an oscillation before with a car (Acura TL, not towing) -- always on the same stretch of road. I suspect undulations in the road generate a resonant frequency with the suspension. Anyway, in the 20 miles of so of the fore-aft oscillation, I tried slightly different speeds (50 - 60 mph)and changing the ride firmness -- none of them helped. Eventually the oscillation stopped after the road surface changed.

It was felt most at highway speeds on concrete surfaces. The expansion joints that are regularly spaced are certainly part of it. Also downhills seemed to throw the cruise control into a fit. It can't decide if it wants to brake or to accelerate, and there is nearly no "coast" throttle position it seems. The truck just struggled really hard to find a good "steady state" on the interstate.

I've had this boat for 9yrs now and towed it with probably 10 different vehicles. The Rivian is the only one it's done this on. My Q7 (with a shorter wheelbase) was quite smooth on this same stretch of road, so it's something with the Rivian.

Between the oscillations and poor suspension tuning, no adaptive cruise while towing, and the just generally OK power (I have a dual motor, non-performance) it's just an OK towing experience. Honestly much prefer the Q7 I had before it, and the Sierra before that. I'm really trying not to hate on Rivian here, but the more I use it as a tool the more like a toy it feels. Anytime I ask it to do work things, it presents a ton of compromises or otherwise lackluster performance.

It adventures really well, but works just kind of OK.

 

[Luxus]

I have a gen 2 and the cruise control worked fine for me. No complaints outside of having adaptive cruse would have been nice. For the brief period of time when the truck did not recognize the trailer, the adaptive cruse did work and I don't understand why they don't allow it during towing.

 

[TractorJackie]

... I don't understand why they don't allow it during towing.

Safety.

I agree it feels like a setback to not have that feature while towing. But I recently dodged a near disaster towing a trailer, and if I hadn't been forced to be 100% mentally engaged, it could have been really, really bad.

Towing stuff can turn bad in the blink of an eye.

 

[antimatter]

I personally hate adaptive cruise control and would much rather have the option to turn it off. I absolutely treasure my time towing as it lets me be in control.

I had mentioned above that I was going on a towing trip, and that was this past weekend. It was a short one - about 80 miles each way - enough that I didn't have to worry about charging. I took a US highway (169) south from Minneapolis down to Shakopee, then turned straight south and took two-lane county roads to my destination (which included some gravel). The trip home involved two-lane roads going east until I met up with I-35, which I took north back into the Twin Cities. I didn't have any jerkiness or other issues, other than some bumps and rough patches on back roads where there should be some repairs done. I am pulling 4,500-ish lbs, so I don't need a weight distribution hitch, which may help things.

I was thinking about this, and the last time I felt something like you described was when I was helping my father in law bring his mahogany sailboat back from Duluth MN down to St. Cloud. It was way overweight for the trailer and truck we were using, and it tended to oscillate like you were describing. FWIW, we got caught by a blizzard and the whole shebang ended up in a ditch (in a very exciting way). Everyone was OK, but the boat was toast the trailer looked like a giant had twisted it along its length. The feeling was like the trailer was falling back and catching up, which was fine until we hit an icy bridge and then the trailer tried to pass the truck. So, my recommendation would be to check your RV's tires and brakes, and look into a weight distribution hitch.

 

[savethemanual]

I believe GM allows their Super Cruise to be enabled when towing.

 

[rodhx]

I believe GM allows their Super Cruise to be enabled when towing.

At least for silly handclapping commercials...

 

[TractorJackie]

... The feeling was like the trailer was falling back and catching up, which was fine until we hit an icy bridge and then the trailer tried to pass the truck. So, my recommendation would be to check your RV's tires and brakes, and look into a weight distribution hitch.

Thank you for this cautionary tale, and the prompt to check EVERYTHING before heading out.

You inspired me, as I recently had a trailer come off the hitch at 55-60 mph on the freeway. I credit my good outcome to the fact that—just ONE WEEK earlier—a neighbor saw my trailer setup and made this suggestion: Cross my safety chains.

She explained that if the hitch were to come off the ball on the highway, crossing the chains prevents the trailer from fishtailing out of control, and also creates a cradle to catch the trailer tongue, keeping it from digging into the pavement and launching the trailer into the air like a high jumper.

I noted her advice and honestly didn't think much more about it.

A week later, while hauling a utility trailer loaded with a new dishwasher, range, and range hood—chains criss-crossed this time—I hit an expansion joint on the freeway and felt a tug on the Rivian.

The video shows what happened next.

I looked in my mirror and saw the trailer had come off and was starting to sway. I immediately eased off the accelerator and made my way to the shoulder. Fortunately, the cars behind me saw what was happening and backed off (big whew).

I'm convinced that crossing those chains prevented the trailer from fishtailing and probably flipping. And that toolbox is now my hero, as it took the entire brunt of the trailer's momentum and kept it from smashing into the back of my Rivian.

Dreading what I'd find when I walked to the back of the car, I couldn't believe my eyes: Except for the toolbox dent, there was no damage.

The car was fine, the trailer, the cargo, the hitch, all fine. Unbelievable.

I didn't even need to get it towed! I used the SOS button and 911 sent out the DOT Incident Response truck. The man reconnected the trailer to the ball, checked it was on right and sent me on my way.

Oh, he did teach me to hook the chains to the vehicle mount from the bottom up, versus top down. Less likely to hit something on the road and knock the hook off.

I've been watching a lot of towing safety videos since then. I'm a lucky .

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