Winnebago Winnie Drop Thread

[drop170k]

Just purchased a 170k and will get it next week & wanted to make sure I get correct hitch. I have a Toyota Tundra with a 4" lift and 35" tires.
Also do you recommend sway bars? Thanks!!

[Canarado]

Originally Posted by drop170k

Just purchased a 170k and will get it next week & wanted to make sure I get correct hitch. I have a Toyota Tundra with a 4" lift and 35" tires.
Also do you recommend sway bars? Thanks!!

Congrats on your new Drop!
I have a 1780 that I haul behind a Ram 1500 and honestly don't use anything for sway as it's pretty light for a full size truck. The Drop with it's canned ham design has very little side wall exposure to wind and what it does have is right over the axle. I was in a pretty gusty area last summer and only once did I feel a kick from the trailer and never was it close to swaying. Your biggest thing might be finding a dropped receiver to keep your trailer relatively level when towing unless it's coming lifted?

[Jim98166]

Originally Posted by drop170k

Just purchased a 170k and will get it next week & wanted to make sure I get correct hitch. I have a Toyota Tundra with a 4" lift and 35" tires.
Also do you recommend sway bars? Thanks!!

I have a WD170S and I pull it with a F150. I have towed with and without anti-sway/weight distro bars on the F150. I will continue to use the sway/WD. The towing is so solid with the sway bars. But, it is not necessary.

[BlackDog21]

Originally Posted by drop170k

Just purchased a 170k and will get it next week & wanted to make sure I get correct hitch. I have a Toyota Tundra with a 4" lift and 35" tires.
Also do you recommend sway bars? Thanks!!

Since we have similarly lifted vehicles I'm curious what you went with?

[BlackDog21]

I still don't have it yet but it's been lifted and now has 16" wheels with larger rubber. Due to sourcing tires in a farming community, I ended up getting Hercules H-901's in 235/80R16. They are 14 ply so probably a bit more than what I need, but it will be offroad and needs to resist some rocks!

New clearance from ground to axle is 14". I don't have a pre-lift measurement so if anyone with a 1780 or similar cares to measure and post their stock clearance, I'd appreciate it.

[spo-vegas]

Hi All,

I dealt with a problem this week and thought I would share my experience, in case it saves someone some time and frustration in the future.

The problem was that I lost 12V power to my trailer. What I mean by this is that when I was plugged into 120V shore power, all of my 12V lights and devices would work just fine. But the minute I unplugged from shore power, my 12V system was totally dead. Or in other words, power was not getting from the trailer battery to the trailer's 12V lights and devices.

I suspected that maybe the battery had crapped out, so I pulled it and took it to Les Schwab to have it tested. Turns out the battery was fine and had a full charge. Next, I checked the 12V disconnect switch that's in the front cargo hold on my 170S, in case it had been accidentally bumped to the off position. It turned out to be in the on position, so that wasn't it either.

The generic manual that comes with our trailers says that there is a 12V 30A circuit breaker in all Winnebago towables, and that it is located in a junction box on the underside of the hitch A-frame. I located the junction box and pulled the cover (first picture below).

There was nothing in there that looked like a circuit breaker. There was something that looked like a terminal block (second photo, circled in blue).

I then checked for a breaker at the formal fuse panel that sits just inside the door of our trailer, but came up empty. So I was stumped for the moment, and decided to get out a multimeter and chase the live circuit to find out where it went dead. It turns out that it went dead at that "terminal block" in the metal enclosure, and that upon further digging, the terminal block was actually a circuit breaker. The reset switch is the tiny black button that the red arrow is pointing at in the second photo.

Sure wouldn't want to have to reset this breaker at night during a rainstorm! Not sure what tripped it, so I hope I don't have a bigger problem that results in a recurrence. Time will tell, I guess.

[BlackDog21]

Any idea what that red switch is to the left of that junction box? I was poking around there last weekend and noticed it.

Thanks for sharing the tip!

[spo-vegas]

Originally Posted by BlackDog21

I still don't have it yet but it's been lifted and now has 16" wheels with larger rubber. Due to sourcing tires in a farming community, I ended up getting Hercules H-901's in 235/80R16. They are 14 ply so probably a bit more than what I need, but it will be offroad and needs to resist some rocks!

New clearance from ground to axle is 14". I don't have a pre-lift measurement so if anyone with a 1780 or similar cares to measure and post their stock clearance, I'd appreciate it.

Attachment 202712

BD21, your ground clearance setup looks awesome! Not sure if this answers your question, but I measured the distance from the ground to the bottom, midpoint and top of the axle housing on my stock winnie drop, and came up with 9-1/2", 11" and 12-1/2", respectively.

[spo-vegas]

Originally Posted by BlackDog21

Any idea what that red switch is to the left of that junction box? I was poking around there last weekend and noticed it.

Thanks for sharing the tip!

Yes, I pulled the cover off and I am fairly sure that it's a ground connection.

[BlackDog21]

As (bad) luck would have it, that recent tip from spo-vegas about the hidden breaker came in handy. After picking up my trailer from the service center I discovered the battery had been left on for a few weeks and had completely drained. Not sure if the breaker was tripped while it was there, or during the drive home when the converter was trying to charge the battery back up from the TV. Regardless, I had the same symptoms and tracked the power loss to that same switch.

Vacation saved! (This was the morning we were heading out.) Thanks!

[Drewloker]

Hello. Glad to find this forum and discussion. We recently purchased a 2017 170S. We have driven it on three trips, using a Toyota Highlander Platinum 2018 with tow package including improved transmission and radiator with husky weight distribution hitch. The Highlander is rated for 5000 pounds. Although we have been on a few hills (East Texas lake areas), the three trips have been on relatively flat land and I can already see that my plan to be able to take this on the trip to Colorado or Canada seems unrealistic with the Highlander. I had done a good bit of research before buying the Hylander as to what it could pull as well as before buying the Winnebago Drop 170 S. The original plan was to get a 1710 that was a little bit lighter. But we ended up finding a fair deal on a used 170s, and with the 170 S actually in our possession I am wondering what other peoples experience is for pulling this with a SUV like the Highlander into mountain terrains. It has been trailering well thanks to the WD Hinch however I have not gone faster than about 55 to 60 mph tops. This last trip I used the snow mode of the Highlander and averaged about 15 mpg which was much better than the two previous trips without the snow mode engaged. The snowmode helped with acceleration and gas mileage and overall jerkiness of the trailer in. However I still can’t imagine pulling it up a steep incline, but could just be my lack of experience. Anybody with experience with taking the 170s to the mountains with a similar car?

I also am curious about the discussion regarding the lift of 3 inches. I will look into a local shop to do the job as well as getting the better tires. Part of the reason is because it also brings into question when we got the trailer we ended up getting a different set of wheels than what the trailer had upon our arrival to pick up the used trailer. When we arrived on the dealers lot, the trailer had the original stock rims, and tires, but with tires that needed to be replaced. The dealer would not agree to brand new tires but did give me a different set from a pull from a different unit with different Winnebago set of rims. I had asked for the original rims but did not get them. And I’m really not happy with the condition of the “better” but older tires as they are already needed to be replaced based on age and tread wear. On this Forum I’ve noticed a mention of an off road version of rims and tires. I am just wondering if I should push the dealer to give me the original rims as opposed to what rims we ended up with, if it makes any difference.

Thanks for any input on either one of these issues. Here is a picture from our last trip of our Daisy Drop and Highlander.

[newtune3]

We bought a new 2018 Winnie Drop 170S three weeks ago. We finally have our 2017 Toyota Highlander set up with a P3 controller and the E2 hitch. We live on the Texas coast, south of Houston, and are looking forward to travels with the Drop. This is now our 4th bumper pull and so far my favorite. I know that the Highlander is not optimum but the Winnie is 3800 lbs. wet and the Highlander has a 5000 lbs. towing capacity so slow and steady is the best plan of action. Pulling it at 55 mph home from the dealer was no issue. We pulled a 18" ECO with a Hyundai Santa Fe, both of which flooded in Harvey, and the Yota is already better than that. With the ECO, we ended up above the 5000 lbs. limit on the vehicle/trailer mix and it was not acceptable. We are retired now and look forward to our travels with the Drop. I am glad I found this forum and page for sure. It helped us so much before we even bought this trailer. Thanks!

[newtune3]

Here is our new Winnie Drop 170S and 2017 Highlander XLE,

[Drewloker]

Originally Posted by newtune3

Here is our new Winnie Drop 170S and 2017 Highlander XLE,

Nice white with white match up!

I will be very interested to hear from you after some trips, especially with what terrain you cover. Are you planning on trying to take the 170s to any moutains with the Highlander?

I have the same car, but so far have only taken a couple of trips on flat roads and I have not really gone over 60...mostly 55. But I can’t imagine what it be like to drive say to Glacier NP or even steeper to Colorado.

Keep in touch here on the forum if you can! I am just east of you above Beaumont.

Cheers!