Any help would be much appreciated....

 

It should tow it fine from what I've heard others say. With that much weight, definitely, 100% absolutely have trailer brakes installed.

I'm not terribly familiar with the setup, but there are some hitch options, maybe called a load distribution hitch, that can help as well. Might do some research on that.

You also need to consider your rear suspension setup. The stock springs on our 2nd Gens are not very stout, so you might need at minimum an add-a-leaf, or air bags, or something that will keep your rear leafs from flattening out and your rear end from sagging. (That really sounds bad doesn't it.) There are several options, but if you plan to tow something that heavy more than a few times, you probably will have to do something about the rear suspension to stiffen it up and keep it from bottoming out.

Maybe someone more familiar will chime in, for now maybe you can glean enough terms from this post to make some searches and get more targeted info.

 

Going down the freeway you'd be okay for short distances under 20 miles. any hills or long distance and you will smoke your tranny and the engine will suffer too. I myself wouldn't tow over 3,500 for any distance or up any hills transmissions are expensive.

 

As long as you don't exceed your gross combined weight rating you will be fine. The 5k towing figure is dependent on not exceeding that limit. You have to add the weight of the vehicle, passengers, cargo, and trailer. Check the owners manual for the nitty gritty details.

 

brake controller, WD hitch, and what how you load it. do forget the weight of you water tanks. watch your water weight. you can overload with your water tanks.

 

Brake controller is a must. I would also look into the air bags. I have them on my GMC HD and they are great to level out the tow rig to ensure that you have proper weight on the front of the vehicle (so you can steer and stop, kinda important). I have the weight distribution hitch that I use on a 26ft car hauler and it does great things to keep the load under control at highway speeds.

Additionally, I would possibly look at adding another trans cooler (possibly with aux fan) and a trans temp gauge so you can stop before smoking the tranny.

 

A few people have mentioned a trailer brake system. Nissan actually states that when towing loads above 3500 lbs a trailer brake system "MUST" be used. You also have to make sure you don't exceed the tongue load.


Running a few numbers here:

On my Xterra:
The curb weight is 4538 lbs
The Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) is 5400 lbs
The front Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR FR) is 2676 lbs
The rear axle (GAWR RR) is 2963 lbs.
Max tongue load = 500 lbs
Max frontal area of trailer = 60 sq ft.
Max GCWR = 9660 lbs (Gross Combined Weight Rating, or the total allowable curb weight of the vehicle and trailer)


There is also a sticker that states the "Cargo carrying capacity reduced modifications to this vehicle have reduced the original cargo carrying capacity by 106 lbs." I'm guessing that the Pro4x is slightly heavier, which ultimately reduces the amount of crap I can carry by increasing the curb weight.


SO..........

If I load up two mountainbikes and gear, camping equipment, and a friend, and my total cargo weight is 400 lbs:

4538 (Curb weight) + 400 (cargo weight) = 4938 lbs

With an increased curb weight of 4938 lbs, I cannot tow a 5000 lb trailer because..

4938 + 5000 = 9938 lbs

9938 lbs is ABOVE my GCWR, so I will have to reduce the weight of my trailer by 278 lbs. In other words: With a mere 400 lbs of gear in the Xterra, I have reduced my towing capacity to 4722 lbs.

ALL of this is also dependent on temperature, road conditions, weather, etc.