NM to Pa

The journey begins. The first problem we ran into was the headlights. They are so bright that every one kept flashing us. The picture is the rest stop in Las Cruces, nM.

 

probably your load is pushing down your rear and shifting your headlights up into the line of sight of other drivers, but not sure how you fix that on a short wheelbase trailer. post more pics and have fun.

 

Yeah, but the giant roadrunner standing on the hood should push the front back down again...

 

Toffees, not more than 200lbs. An eagle and a red tailed Hawk, so, weight is not a factor.

 

We just stopped for fuel in Sierra Blanco, Tx. Went 243 miles and 13.5 miles to the gallons pulling the trailer. Cruise control was set at 67 mph

 

Thats an interesting load

 

Hossler1788 I am a falconer and these are my hunting birds.

 

i'm sensitive to light and the new LEDs on most vehicles are terrible, but the worst lights IMO are from improperly loaded (or lifted) vehicles which have too much rear lean and when vehicles are coming up a slope. IMO, the 4runner doesn't have any native light issues, so unless you've changed your bulbs to one of those annoying aftermarket LEDs or your rake with spacers, etc., I would check your load. Even a slight lean can push the intense part of the light right into oncoming traffic, much more so when you are going uphill.

 

Toffees, completely stock with 5500 miles. 2wheel drive.

 

You got and videos of your hunting bird in action? Majestic creature by the way.

 

I have an all stock 2021 Pro and I am high beamed quite often by oncoming traffic. Too bright / too high - I don't know!

 

Yetimtnbkr, rare for me to use my head lights cuz we don’t drive at night. But, we left early this morning.

 

Smoking, got tons of still shots, but, not sure if I have any videos on my phone. Driving cross country for the next 4 days.

 

I prefer to drive at night because I hate burning daylight!

 

Yetimtnbkr, I’m old and don’t see well at night

 

Interesting, do you hunt with them in pa?

 

I just towed a uhaul enclosed 6'x12' with about 1000 lbs of cargo from TN to AZ and was able to get an avg of 14.3 over the span of 1600 miles

 

That’s an awesome still shot, thanks for sharing. Be safe on your drive and if you can, upload some more pics of your previous hunts with your eagle

 

Muddyix, all most all the driving I did today was uphill.

 

Thanks for the updates Raptrlvr. Post some pics along your drive looks like fun.

Any idea how much tongue weight you have on trailer? Sag does not look awful but noticeable.

Are you unhooking trailer at night just off the ball to give suspension a break overnight? If it were me I would consider just unhooking and taking weight off ball at night and put rocks or wood on trailer tires. Just crank down in morning

 

You need to adjust your headlights. I had to do the same with my 4Runner. People were constantly flashing me when I had my low beams on. You just need a screwdriver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whf4lsrlKdE

 

Hossler1788, I do not hunt with the birds while I am in Pa. A couple years ago I was hunting with one of my birds in Pa and a 16 year old kid shot and killed the bird. So, no hunting in Pa for me.

 

My gas mileage on our trip to Pa was 12.5 to 14.5mpg. Most of the trip from NM to Tennessee was 12.5, but from Tennessee to Pa was 14.5.

 

Glad it went well!

 

Hate to say it, but youre wrong. Ultimately, you want your auto frame and trailer frame running at the same horizontal line. Yours is shaped like a V. There are a few ways to fix it, but kinda moot at this point since youre on the road.

1. Re-load the trailer. With such a short wheelbase trailer, I'm sure it's hard to get most of the heavy stuff over the axle, but that will definitely help reduce tongue weight which is causing rear end squat and the front end to point up, causing you to blind everyone as they drive by.
2. Just guessing your rig is higher miles? Rear springs may just be worn.
3. Helper airbags in the rear. Cheap way to level the truck with a trailer for the future.

 

Overland WT, brand new 2022 4Runner with 5500 miles when we started this trip. Absolutely no weight in the trailer because I am hauling a Golden Eagle that weighs 8 pounds and a redtailed Hawk that weighs 4 pounds. I do have an ice chest that weighs about 50 lbs. Trailer weighs 896 pounds total.

 

The new LED lowbeam headlights that come equipped on 21 and up 4runners are fantastic compared to the the previous halogens.

However the cutline is so freakin sharp that I can understand how annoying it would be to others if the cutline swept up and down over their line of sight.

When I did the lift, I drove around for a few hours with a screwdriver to adjust down the lights little by little until other drivers stopped flashing me…lol.

It would be a pain to do that every time you tow. If you did tow a lot, ironically, it would probably be easier to put bags in the spring to put it at normal level.

 

Raptrivr, beautiful bird. This is funny this came up I just had a Bald Eagle flying overhead in Allentown. I know when I bought my 4Runner I was getting the same thing with my lights being high. I found this picture. And adjust to this height.

 

On the newer LED equipped 4runners, an adjustment level that low would basically leave you blind. The foreground would be very bright, without a single photon above that cutline lol.

i cant tell if you have only low beams on in that picture. If so, it looks like you have a diffuse bit of lighting above the cutline, which is what they should have engineered i to the LED light pattern.

 

That wasn’t my 4Runner. Just showing how the height of the beams should be adjusted to not blind other drivers. And it should be done in low beams when making adjustments.