ASD Dad

Nice work! Hope you have many miles of happy traveling in your van.

Got new shoes for my NV today. Took off the terrible Hankook AT-M and mounted up some Goodyear Wrangler SilentArmor Pro Grades in 265/70-17 on stock rims. Load E 10 ply, all terrain tires with two belts of kevlar. These are "commercial" duty tires and are labeled Pro Grade by Goodyear. Supposedly they have a tougher compound that resists chunking and excessive wear when towing. They also have the snowflake designation for extreme winter use but I wont need that here! My Hankooks were great for about 20,000 miles and then started downhill rapidly. By 30,000 miles they were very very worn (two were at the indicators already!) even with rotations and they were very noisy. Granted a lot of miles were towing our 7600 pound camper but they are LT Load E tires! Could not wait to get them off my van. My cousin is on the board of directors for Goodyear so she sent me a friends and family discount code to get the Wranglers. I had planned on getting BFG KO2's again (had them on my Tundra) but could not pass up the deal on the Goodyears and the SilentArmor tires are/were among the best they made. I say "were" because technically they do not sell them anymore in stores. They have a newer Wrangler AT Kevlar out that replaced them. The SilentArmor were better rated and still a favorite of many owners. Goodyear told me they still make them but only in very limited sizes and are mainly OEM tires for commercial 3/4 and 1T trucks as a special order. They said a lot of construction guys and buyers like that want them so they kept them for that usage. I ended up special ordering them online and having them shipped to my local Goodyear store. Employees were surprised to see them, they thought they were long gone! I was going to get Duratracs but my cousin and her fellow employees talked me into the SA's for my needs. Only have about 50 miles of driving around on them so they are still squirmy from being brand new. I have a 4 hour tow each way up into the mountains this weekend so that will break them in quickly! Will probably be driving down some dirt and gravel roads this trip as well so I am looking forward to seeing how they do. I'll update how these do as time goes on. I am not driving the NV daily anymore but we still use it for trips.

Welcome to the site! Please keep us updated on the conversion process to 4x4.

You cant exceed 16,000 lbs combined for both the van and camper. Period. That is you, all passengers, gear, etc. in the van plus all the stuff packed in the camper. If the camper is 7940 or 7756 DRY (the way it ships from factory) then there is nearly no way you will be under the weight limit. If those are the Gross Max weights with maxed cargo loaded - then yes, you could be close to the limit. You will need a very good weight distribution hitch. You will need a good electronic brake controller. Most trailers only show their dry weights in the brochures and in ads. That number is garbage. Sometimes those dont even include things like batteries and usually dont include propane tanks. Look at the max cargo weight it can haul plus the dry weight. That is the weight you want to shop. Most long time campers try and stay 10% under that max weight if not more. You also want to ask yourself if you are comfortable going maxed out for a first time camper. We camped for years in a pop-up camper before getting a travel trailer. Pulling a 30+ Foot long box behind you and backing it up can be eye opening the first few times.

Welcome to the site! Great choice of van and it should serve you well.

I hid your second duplicate post under this one. Normally that is warped rotors but if it is not happening on flats then that is ruled out. The brake pad material idea is possible. I have only heard of that happening when the vehicle is parked or stopped at a long red light after using the brakes hard (which can also cause warpage). Since it is only when going down a steep grade - what about suspension issues? Front end would load up faster going downhill and something could be worn or loose. Pretty much anything steering related could be suspect from bushings to ball joints to who knows what.

Congrats on the purchase and thanks for your service! I was briefly a 93B stationed at Fort Rucker but that is a long story. Welcome to the site as well and happy to hear you were able to find answers you were looking for. Please post photos when the NV arrives!

Rad, are you sure those PSI are not reversed? The normal NV wants those pressures but the other way - 80 rear and 50 front. I agree that it is odd to have such a wide range especially with almost no weight in the back (if you are talking an unloaded passenger or cargo). My guess is Nissan wanted to be safe if you maxed out the payload of your van. Most people will not set pressures based off the load they are carrying. They will set and forget. Lower pressures would yield a better contact patch and probably more even wear but you would need to air up if carrying heavy.

Do us all a favor and update this thread if they reply. Too many come to ask questions and then vanish. At least this will provide reference for future people who search.

Quigley on their site lists the ratio as 3.54. Asking the ratio is not the same as a secret sauce. The actual company used or their part number may be asking but it doesnt hurt to ask. I've actually gotten some secret recipes for favorite food dishes by asking! Got a fantastic gluten free batter recipe by asking at one of Disney's restaurants. Chef even came out with a hand written note with the recipe. My wife cant eat wheat or dairy due to allergies so it was a nice gesture on their part.

I bet it if you called Advanced or Quigley they would tell you what the ratio is... Advanced has been known to sell parts as well (like their front lift kits) so may even sell the diff.

Nice purchase! Dont worry about flipped photos. It happens a LOT here, even to me. Enjoy your new campervan. I like Westfalia vans too.

C5 - Rad is right. What you are requesting is not super simple to just go out and do. You would be far better off to just call a Commercial NV dealer and talk to the parts dept or a Nissan parts dealer that carries the spring. This forum is pretty small and we used to have a commercial tech or two and a manager. They are all long gone. Everybody flocks to the FB owners page and most there are moms with 10 kids (I am not kidding). There are some techs lurking in there though if you want to ask.

NV tows way better than my old Tundra did. Beefier frame, axle, springs, etc. Tundra had more power but NV pulls nicer once moving. I think it is an excellent tow vehicle for somebody that needs space. It is the only vehicle in the class that can do what it does which is why we bought one. The old vehicles that could do this (the 3/4T Burb and Excursion) are not made anymore. The Chevy Express is ancient. Towing is always a balancing act. I agree that a new dually Ram towing a triple axle fifth wheel that is 45' long is scary looking but it does "work". Look at a commercial big rig. That trailer outweighs the cab by a whole lot if you are talking about a non-sleeper semi pulling a trailer locally. You have non-sleepers pulling tandems or even triples depending on the state laws (UPS and FedEx do it all the time). Physics doesnt lie and those accidents are often horrible or fatal but it is what it is out there these days. I try and stay 10-15% under max guidelines to give some extra headroom for safety.

Facebook is full of those idiots and we correct them and they dont care. They say "I towed 12,000# over the Rockies and was fine!". You're fine until you are Not fine and then you are somebody else can be Dead! Last I looked the combined weight was and still is 16,000 lbs for trailer and NV (on the V8 3500). Doesnt matter how you get to those 16,000 lbs but that is the max you should be towing. Period. I dont care if you have the latest and greatest tires, air bags, helper springs or who knows what added. All you did is REDUCE your capacity adding a lot of that since it is all added weight!!

Old photo.

Fixed your photos :) What wheels are those? I like them...

Yes V8 SL. Heavy tires, AT tread and a 12' long rack all equal gas hog!

All toyhaulers have a very heavy tongue weight, much more than similar sized campers. The reason is they expect the garage out in the back to be full of heavy toys. If they make the tongue too light empty then the trailer will sway dangerously once the garage is full. My 27HFS weighed in at 7600 lbs on the CAT scales when loaded for a trip. My tongue weight was right at 900# so a little over. I ended up moving more stuff to the garage area to take weight off but did not go back to weigh again.

Well my NV got parked last night. Mileage was killing us! I work from home yet still drive 20K miles (or more) a year with 3 kids and their activities plus vacations. Two are special needs and have therapy, all have after school activities as well (mainly music). I am the lucky one who gets to do the car line since the stupid bus route takes TWO HOURS to get my kids home in the afternoon. Seriously... how do they think that is OK? They do ride the bus in the morning thankfully. With car line, traffic, and lots of local trips I am down to 10-11mpg average. It's way too hot to keep shutting the engine down for long periods of time so I sit their idling killing gallons of gas. Plus with all the around town trips I do it makes zero sense to drive my NV when it is me solo or maybe one or two kids with me. Bought my wife a 2019 Odyssey yesterday and I now get to drive our old 2011 Sienna for around town. I get 25 mpg in the Sienna so I am more than doubling mileage. I also take wear and tear off my NV which has 60K miles on it (2015). NV is never leaving the family. I have to use it when we take the in-laws out which we do often. I am using it next weekend to tow our camper. I use it to tow a small utility trailer a lot for mulch, stone, long lumber, etc. Cant say I am exactly thrilled to drive the Sienna. I actually like driving my NV most days other than some tight parking lots I deal with routinely. Kids like seeing me in the car line too, they all get a kick out of it walking by. Wife really wanted a new vehicle and even with cheap gas it was adding up rapidly. When I kept seeing 10 mpg average at fillups that was the last straw. I normally only get 12-13 mixed driving but 10 seemed way worse! I do get around 14-15 on highway for those wondering. The big killers were my large roof rack and AT tires.

The Titan was not touched forever and NV's are still selling very well. No motivation to change it unfortunately. I see tons of posts on the FB forum about more vanity stuff since 90% of them are family haulers with huge families. This is a commercial vehicle and they dont seem to get it. You start adding the other stuff it will drive the costs way up and then they may not/wont buy it. Ever look at what an Armada costs in SL trim? $50 grand! How about a nicely trimmed Burb? $60+ grand! No thanks. There are some small things I would like (turn the dome lights all on with one switch? yes please), maybe make the fit and finish a little nicer, but over all it suits needs well. It is still the only vehicle out that can do what it does - haul lots of people, gear or both and still be able to tow something bigger than a small utility trailer or pop-up.

Take a look at my sig line - one of the first things I did was disable my DRLs. HID kits dont play nice with DRL voltages and I ran HID's a long while before switching to LED. I personally also dont like the DRL's the way Nissan uses them in the NV (running low voltage through the bulb). LED/HID has no way of running as a DRL that way, they are either on or off. You cant dim HID and dimming LED would make even more heat absorbing the voltage. What is weird is NO NV that I see running around, none, have DRL's. Mine did when it was new. Not a single model I have seen have them on - FedEx carriers, contractors or the many new NV's I have seen lately.

I had not, mine is too old as well.

Recently found this rack. All aluminum, modular, bars have slots to add accessories and bolts, built in rear roller, several sizes. https://www.carid.com/vantech/h2-series-cargo-rack-system.html?relationshipId=1479766764 Comes in around $1100 for the 12' length which is full length with the roller hanging over the back so you cant dent your van. Only negative I have read about is the roller rattles and that would drive me crazy! Not sure how to stop the rattle but I would need to figure that out first before installing. I love the rollers though, makes getting boats, plywood, anything really, that much easier up on to the rack. My Topper rack was rattling quite a bit but that was just bolts working loose and my additional kayak mounts rattling. I used locktite and that helped short term but the rough roads got things rattling again. I ended up tack welding all the joints together! No more rattles... **EDIT** I have zero affiliation with CarID, they just had an easy link and pricing to the rack!

What tires did you have on your Trailer? I've seen way too many blow out and refuse to use ST tires unless they are the new Goodyears they just released that are made in the USA and getting good reviews. On our cross country trip we saw probably as trailer a day on the side of the road with blown tires. I swapped to LT tires years ago and have never looked back.