hitch ground clearance 2004 Sienna

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NS Canuck

Member
Joined
May 30, 2007
Posts
16
Hello folks, I had a real experience last year with blowing the motor out of my '98 Sienna in Vermont.  Now have a 2004 Sienna with less than optimal ground clearnce due to stow away seats in rear of van.  There must be a solution to this out there.  ANy suggestions?  Someone suggested air shocks (someting I know nothing about).  I'm all ears
 
Most likely the solution lies in the hitch itself. 

1.  If you are using a weight bearing hitch, you might want to switch to a weight distributing system to lessen the squatting of the van rear under the tongue weight.  Reese among other mfrs, puts out a line of light weight WD hitches.

2.  Use an adjustable height shank to raise the ball and ball mount.

3.  Both of the above.

I would be leery of messing with the suspension of a minivan.  Raising its clearance will raise its center of gravity and may compromise roll stability.  But then I tend towards caution in such matters.
 
Is the back end squatting because of the trailer weight or is it just low clearance overall?    If it is level fore & aft but low, the best solution is larger diameter tires, if there is room in the wheel wells for them. Merely trying to raise the suspension, e.g. with air lifts, probably will not be satisfactory. And the lifts are generally only for the back end - the front is usually McPherson struts or something similar and with the front drive transaxle, the front suspension really is amenable to adjusting the height.

As Carl says, anything you do to raise the chassis will affect the center of gravity and may impair handling or stability. You won't notice it in every day driving, but if an emergency arises and you need to maneuver sharply you may well wish you had left it alone.
 
When I bought the van (in the middle of our big family vacation) in Vermont when our old one died, the dealer installed a Draw Tite hitch.  I was very nervous about ground clearance when I looked at the van before the trailer went on.  When I put the trailer on the rear was very close to the ground (despite WDH).  I tried torquing up the WDH (not knowing that my RV dealer had installed the brackets incorrectly on my camper.  I drove about 30 miles and fortunatley, the hitch let go in a small town in northern Vermont (instead of on the highway).  Lucky for me, I was just a mile from TC's RV's in St. Alban's.  They were just closing for the day, but provided some much needed advise and fixed me up with a great set up the next day.  I now have an Equalizer sway control and WDH.  The set up is much better, but I still don't have much clearance.  The Sienna Owners Forum has some posts about this and I spoke to a pal whose brother has the same van and was told about the air shock option.
 
NS Canuck said:
  I now have an Equalizer sway control and WDH.  The set up is much better, but I still don't have much clearance.  The Sienna Owners Forum has some posts about this and I spoke to a pal whose brother has the same van and was told about the air shock option.

When the van is hitched to the trailer, is it level or does the rear end squat under the weight of the trailer tongue?  If it does squat, by how many inches compared to the front?   Use the measuring procedure listed HERE

The ideal is to restore the balance of your van when towing to the attitude it had when unladen.  This will also minimize the clearence reduction by distributing it as equally as possible.  Yo may be able to reduce it further with some sort of pneumatic adjustable springing (air bags or air shocks) but there is real question of how much is their to cure.  If it will cure a 4" squat, it may be worthwhile.  If it will only cure 1/2", it isn't going to be worth much.  Minivans tend to low clearance from what I have seen.  That is how they avoid roll over instability -- the curse of small SUVs.
 
Thanks Carl.  As the trailer is in storage for winter (I live in Nova Scotia), I can't do the measruement.  However, from recollection, it does not drop much when I hitch up.  I'm guessing that I'm stuck with this issue.  The hitch sometimes bottoms out without my trailer on so I'm guessing there is not much I can do. 
 

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