phantomind
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I hooked up my big trailer to my R1T today. I’ve been moving. What I’ve had to move hasn’t needed my trailer so far, so today was its first use. I’ve had my truck for a month now and I love it! I’ve passed on my Chevy 2500 (v8 gas). My last gas vehicle. My trailer is rated 14000LB fully loaded. I know, more than Rivian‘s 1100LB rating. But I don’t have to carry that much weight. Even so I’ve been a little hesitant to tow it with R1T. With the Chevy it would complain a bit when I would hook up the trailer. So, with the Rivian being a ‘smaller‘ truck (size, not ability apparently) I was a bit shy to use it. I needed to move some stuff out of the garage and store in the trailer for a bit. The trailer stayed on my property and only moved a few hundred yards. The load was well within the Rivian’s capacity. My thoughts:
Pre-hookup:
Getting the plastic cover off is more work than I would like. I‘m old and getting on my hands an knees to get under the truck sucks. Minor issue of course. My hitch ’disappeared‘ in my move, so I had to ‘borrow’ my neighbors. Now I understand the other threads about the hitch pin lengths. Could be an issue if you are unprepared. I had plenty of extra pins and hooked up the hitch without problems.
Hooking up the trailer:
This is the first truck I’ve had with a backup camera. What a difference! Instead of backing up, getting out, checking, repeat… many times, I got out twice to check and that i wasn’t use to the camera and I had to verify camera angle and actual distance. I don’t expect to have to do this again. I did have some issues with the hold feature. When you are 3” from perfect, but 9” is a dent in the license plate, hold is scary. I would like a creep setting where I can just use the break pedal to move into position. Otherwise, best experience ever.
Moving the trailer:
Now for the first time I use the Rivian as the truck I want it to be. As I said before the Chevy would complain about this. I had to pull the trailer up a dirt road up to the gravel driveway and back it up to the garage. I put the R1T into gear and head up the road and I can barely tell I’m towing. What a smooth experience. No slipping on the dirt and no spitting gravel on the steeper part of the driveway. I feel a bit silly I have waited to tow. For anyone who likes Kessler, ‘smooth as silk’. And if you like Kessler, sorry about that. Really, there is better stuff out there.
Putting the trailer away:
I ‘fill’ the trailer and back it back into its spot. Not a lot of weight for what the trailer or truck can handle, but a full load. Not that I’m a good judge of what something weighs. I pull the truck up the drive and then back down the dirt road and then a 90 into where the trailer lives. Again, I can barely tell I’m towing. I’m pretty good at backing a trailer as long I don’t think about it. As soon as I think “oh, I need to go this way, so I should turn that way’ it’s all over and I’ve likely jackknifed. Still, I did ok. I had to straighten out twice backing down the road, but mostly because it’s a brand new truck (without PPF) and I wasn’t willing to rub into the oleander like I would with the old truck. The only issue I had here was some skidding of the tires on the dirt because the trailer breaking was a little aggressive. i think some adjustment and this would not be a problem, but it was a short distance so I didn’t bother. I backed the trailer into position and went to unhook it. The R1T is so easy to dive that I get the trailer within 4” of where it started. I‘m not used to air suspension. As I stand there admiring my placement of the trailer the suspension lowers. It gave me a bit of a start as the truck lowered out of the trailer hitch! Not a problem as I had the wheels chocked, jack lowered, etc. just unexpected. Now I realize it’s something I can use to my advantage.
Overall, wow! Not that I do a lot of towing, but what an easy experience. Any trepidation I had of towing is gone. Now just to not let that go to my head and I get myself into to some kind of trouble. But is I do, I’ll have pictures to share.
Enjoy your trucks. I sure enjoy mine.
Pre-hookup:
Getting the plastic cover off is more work than I would like. I‘m old and getting on my hands an knees to get under the truck sucks. Minor issue of course. My hitch ’disappeared‘ in my move, so I had to ‘borrow’ my neighbors. Now I understand the other threads about the hitch pin lengths. Could be an issue if you are unprepared. I had plenty of extra pins and hooked up the hitch without problems.
Hooking up the trailer:
This is the first truck I’ve had with a backup camera. What a difference! Instead of backing up, getting out, checking, repeat… many times, I got out twice to check and that i wasn’t use to the camera and I had to verify camera angle and actual distance. I don’t expect to have to do this again. I did have some issues with the hold feature. When you are 3” from perfect, but 9” is a dent in the license plate, hold is scary. I would like a creep setting where I can just use the break pedal to move into position. Otherwise, best experience ever.
Moving the trailer:
Now for the first time I use the Rivian as the truck I want it to be. As I said before the Chevy would complain about this. I had to pull the trailer up a dirt road up to the gravel driveway and back it up to the garage. I put the R1T into gear and head up the road and I can barely tell I’m towing. What a smooth experience. No slipping on the dirt and no spitting gravel on the steeper part of the driveway. I feel a bit silly I have waited to tow. For anyone who likes Kessler, ‘smooth as silk’. And if you like Kessler, sorry about that. Really, there is better stuff out there.
Putting the trailer away:
I ‘fill’ the trailer and back it back into its spot. Not a lot of weight for what the trailer or truck can handle, but a full load. Not that I’m a good judge of what something weighs. I pull the truck up the drive and then back down the dirt road and then a 90 into where the trailer lives. Again, I can barely tell I’m towing. I’m pretty good at backing a trailer as long I don’t think about it. As soon as I think “oh, I need to go this way, so I should turn that way’ it’s all over and I’ve likely jackknifed. Still, I did ok. I had to straighten out twice backing down the road, but mostly because it’s a brand new truck (without PPF) and I wasn’t willing to rub into the oleander like I would with the old truck. The only issue I had here was some skidding of the tires on the dirt because the trailer breaking was a little aggressive. i think some adjustment and this would not be a problem, but it was a short distance so I didn’t bother. I backed the trailer into position and went to unhook it. The R1T is so easy to dive that I get the trailer within 4” of where it started. I‘m not used to air suspension. As I stand there admiring my placement of the trailer the suspension lowers. It gave me a bit of a start as the truck lowered out of the trailer hitch! Not a problem as I had the wheels chocked, jack lowered, etc. just unexpected. Now I realize it’s something I can use to my advantage.
Overall, wow! Not that I do a lot of towing, but what an easy experience. Any trepidation I had of towing is gone. Now just to not let that go to my head and I get myself into to some kind of trouble. But is I do, I’ll have pictures to share.
Enjoy your trucks. I sure enjoy mine.
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