# Trailblazer / 21rs Hitch And Brake Controller



## Ragging Wombat (Jun 28, 2007)

Ok , so we now own a new 2007 21RS what Hitch should I get ?

A used hensley or a new equal-i-zer

What brake controller would work best and which model?

thanks all wanna make this safe as possible for mostly coastal trips with some mountains. $1600 -$2000 or $400. would there be that much a dramatic improvement on my short wheelbase.

below is my rig specs

Vehicle:
short wheelbase trailblazer 113
V8 5.3 vortex
4x4
rear axle 3.73
Max Trailer tow weight 6600
Max GCWR 11500
gas 22 Gal
Shipped weight 4530
GVWR 5750
GAWP FNT 2950
GAWP RR 3200

Outback 21RS:
Shipping Weight 4585
Carrying Capacity 1935

TV Total Weight:
Shipped 4530
gas 143
Driver + passengers 500
Hitch 100
--------------------------------------
total w/o extras 5263

Outback dry 4585
Fresh water 410
Prop 60
Batteries 70
--------------------------------------
total w/o waste water 5125

vehicle 5263
trailer 5245


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## 3LEES (Feb 18, 2006)

Get the Prodigy brake controller.

As for your hitch, Henlsey is the best, but pricey. I have an Equalizer and have had great success with it.

Those that own a Hensley swear by it.

The choice is yours.


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## Justman (Jul 22, 2006)

Hi! We own a Hensley. I don't swear by it like others do, but I almost swore at the price they were asking for it!









We found a used Hensley from a nice gentlemen down in Florida who was moving up to a 5th wheel. It works very well for reducing sway and for giving me greater peace of mind.

For brake controllers, get the Prodigy. You won't regret spending the extra $$ for a good brake controller, but you may regret going cheap on one!

Another thing to consider is changing out the OEM hitch to something a little more substantial. For less than $150 bucks, you can get a good class IV, or V hitch that does a MUCH better job of weight distribution. My brother and I installed my new one the other day in less than 20 minutes. Got it from Amazon.com for $138 shipped.


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## Collinsfam_WY (Nov 9, 2006)

X3 on the Prodigy. We use the Equal-I-zer hitch and like it. If you get it, make sure you follow the install instructions closely and call them (or post here) if you have any questions. Our dealer "eyeball" installed it and I have ended up having to adjust it which I will find out how the adjustments turn out this weekend.

-CC


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## Mgonzo2u (Aug 3, 2004)

I have a big concern about your TV's short wheel base and the actual TT real world weight.

The TT may say it weighs in at 4530 but I believe it weighs in above 4900+ pounds in reality. Throw in all the gear and some traveling fresh water and you are going to exceed all weight restrictions.

Just my .02 concern for you


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## Ragging Wombat (Jun 28, 2007)

Mgonzo2u said:


> I have a big concern about your TV's short wheel base and the actual TT real world weight.
> 
> The TT may say it weighs in at 4530 but I believe it weighs in above 4900+ pounds in reality. Throw in all the gear and some traveling fresh water and you are going to exceed all weight restrictions.
> 
> Just my .02 concern for you


Thanks for all the advice, The dealer weighs his rigs then puts it on a sticker on the door. He stated that was the shipping weight when shipped by train. If he puts anything on after wards he changes the sticker before selling.


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

> TV Total Weight:
> Shipped 4530
> gas 143
> Driver + passengers 500
> ...


In your vehicle weights you have your hitch weight as 100, I'm assuming that you are figuring that as the weight of the hitch itself and not tongue weight of the trailer? The tongue weight of the 21rs is about 700 which you will have to add to the gross vehicle weight of your vehicle. Adding the tongue weight to the trailblazer is going to put it over the gvwr by several hundred pounds. I'm afraid you are going to be pushing the limits of your trailblazer so be careful out there.

Mike


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## Mgonzo2u (Aug 3, 2004)

The tongue weight of the 21rs is about 700 which you will have to add to the gross vehicle weight of your vehicle. Adding the tongue weight to the trailblazer is going to put it over the gvwr by several hundred pounds. I'm afraid you are going to be pushing the limits of your trailblazer so be careful out there.--Mike

The published tongue weight of a 2005 21RS is 360 LB's.


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## camping479 (Aug 27, 2003)

> The published tongue weight of a 2005 21RS is 360 LB's.


Mine was 780 on a certified scale; battery, propane, full water heater and a bit of gear under the front bunk so an estimate of 700 would be pretty accurate. The published tongue weight of 360 is unrealistic, it's not even 10% of the dry trailer weight and would be unstable if it was.

Mike


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## dougdogs (Jul 31, 2004)

Ragging Wombat said:


> Vehicle:
> short wheelbase trailblazer 113
> V8 5.3 vortex
> 4x4
> ...


Good that you have lots of numbers for your trailblazer. The other number you will need is the phone number of a good towing service, and the phone number of a transmission repair shop.

Do a search on this forum. . .I have posted many times about the transmission failures (2 tranny's) and transfer case failures I had with my trailblazer just trying to tow a 3000 pound boat, and I know my boat punched a much smaller aerodynamic "hole" than the front of a travel trailer.


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## Ragging Wombat (Jun 28, 2007)

camping479 said:


> > The published tongue weight of a 2005 21RS is 360 LB's.
> 
> 
> Mine was 780 on a certified scale; battery, propane, full water heater and a bit of gear under the front bunk so an estimate of 700 would be pretty accurate. The published tongue weight of 360 is unrealistic, it's not even 10% of the dry trailer weight and would be unstable if it was.
> ...


Thanks for the info, the Trailblazers hitch, tongue weight is rated at 912 w/ WD. The hitch is rated higher than any aftermarket ones I have found and may be GM but it has no name on it. According to Chevrolet the safe tongue weight for a trailblazer is 10 -15% of trailer weight. If I can keep this trailer at or under 5500 it would give me from 550 -825 safe tongue weight. If the Trailblazer weighed 5600 I still would be under my GCW of 11500 although it would be close.
I figure we will be using one propone tank only for our 3 day trips and will not carry water since it will be readly available were we go. Most of our trips are within thirty freeway miles on flat land and its 5 miles to the beach. Only the kids bikes will be in the trailer when we go and we usually buy groceries there If we need to load out I will just use the F250 7.3L I just dont want to due to gas costs 5mpg and its electrical problem and turning radius, but then again the trail blazer will get about 8 MPG. 
My wife wants me to sell the F250 because its unreliable, but I'll need it for a year while I work on the house. This new 21RS is to leave at the job site while our house is being built during summer and I work there. Some weeks the family will live in it on the street outside our relatives house for up to a couple weeks at a time and other days well stay at the beach. When school starts up after the summer the family will be living in it totaly for 1 1/2 to 2 months in our backyard, we will have a garage thats 20 x 30 with a fridge washer dryer sink our clothes etc. I am installing a perminant waste recepticle in the driveway (future use) since our sewer runs out the back yard I can do that. I already put a RV water line and electrical will be off the temp post installed by the contractor. I will also have a telephone and computer in the office of the garage. we also usually cook twice a week for dinner. I have a nice camp chef stove we will use outdoors for that and do barbeques. 
The wife is ok with this since she gets up for work at 4AM drives 50miles to work and does not return until 6pm. She goes to sleep by 9:30PM. She comes from a Peace Corps family that are save the world type and she has lived all over the world in smaller places than this trailer. Especially in Japan and India. I would be working at the build site all day and my kids would be at school from 8AM till 5PM except for my son. I pick him up at 2PM. He will play with the neighbors kids after I pick him up.
This is our plan for now. Any long trips right now we do in the Honda civic Hybrid. The savings makes hotel prices fair and we have more time to explore and spend with family. We usually drive to Wyoming twice a year and cruise back. On the way back we do research and explore the many defunct Narrow Guage trains of Colorado as well as ride the ones that are left. My son loves trains.
This is also my sons first year as a Tiger Cub. there is a camping trip almost every month, tent camping.

The only way I could buy this trailer was to have my wife buy into the Trailblazer being able to pull it around town. She does not trust the truck. A tent trailer or hybrid would not work for what we need, it has to be a TT. The 21RS meets all our minimum requirements for our local trips all on flat land, also our house build issues.
This also give her a reason now for me to keep the F250 a little longer in case we want to do a bigger trips. I feel safer having two tow vehicles due to the trucks electrical issues that will shut it down for unknown amounts of time. I think its a computer problem but I cant deal with it now. I just use it for Lowes and home depot runs.
Since her trailblazer is her company car she will be driving it to work, so I will be moving the trailer with the truck for most of the build.
Hopefully all will be ok


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## Ragging Wombat (Jun 28, 2007)

Hey Mgonzo2u

What do you think of the 6v interstate batteries you have installed. I was looking at them in camping world. Is there any modifications you had to make to a new trailer wiring to hook them up? or do they just connect directly. what all battery options are you using with your 6V's. 
Thanks


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## Ragging Wombat (Jun 28, 2007)

Mgonzo2u said:


> The tongue weight of the 21rs is about 700 which you will have to add to the gross vehicle weight of your vehicle. Adding the tongue weight to the trailblazer is going to put it over the gvwr by several hundred pounds. I'm afraid you are going to be pushing the limits of your trailblazer so be careful out there.--Mike
> 
> The published tongue weight of a 2005 21RS is 360 LB's.


Hi Mg, If that is true I would be at or just over in which case I might look at removing some tongue weight. I will measure it dry with just batteries, one Prop tank full and hitch. Oh I could also go on a diet and use half a tank of gas LOL. anyone have a quick release propane tank mod Haaa


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## Mgonzo2u (Aug 3, 2004)

Ragging Wombat said:


> Hey Mgonzo2u
> 
> What do you think of the 6v interstate batteries you have installed. I was looking at them in camping world. Is there any modifications you had to make to a new trailer wiring to hook them up? or do they just connect directly. what all battery options are you using with your 6V's.
> Thanks


They are much stronger than the dual 12V Interstates Group 24's I was using. Much stronger. The most we've dry camped with this new setup has been 3 days/2 nights and the monitor indicates they are still 3/4 full.

As far as the change over effort needed, all I had to do was buy 1 battery cable to connect the two 6V's while using the existing TT positive and negative wires. It was a very very easy mod and highly recommended to those that dry camp.


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## Ragging Wombat (Jun 28, 2007)

Mgonzo2u said:


> Hey Mgonzo2u
> 
> What do you think of the 6v interstate batteries you have installed. I was looking at them in camping world. Is there any modifications you had to make to a new trailer wiring to hook them up? or do they just connect directly. what all battery options are you using with your 6V's.
> Thanks


They are much stronger than the dual 12V Interstates Group 24's I was using. Much stronger. The most we've dry camped with this new setup has been 3 days/2 nights and the monitor indicates they are still 3/4 full.

As far as the change over effort needed, all I had to do was buy 1 battery cable to connect the two 6V's while using the existing TT positive and negative wires. It was a very very easy mod and highly recommended to those that dry camp.
[/quote]

Cool very cool, We mostly will be dry camping down at Doheny state park (No Hookups) at least 3 times this year after this weekend. This weekend we will be tenting it there with the family in a Beach RV spot I think 39 or 37 we like the three north corner ones they are big spots.. I wont pickup the trailer until I get my stuff by mail ( brake controller etc.). When I do I'll use the f250's hitch without WD its rated high enough at 8000 / 800 no WD just to get it home. I want to wait till I find a good used hensley before we use the trailblazer.
Does the converter / charger recognize it as One 12 V and charge the system good, does it take longer?
Oh the wife is letting me keep the truck for the next year but she wont go on any trip with it she don,t trust it.


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## Mgonzo2u (Aug 3, 2004)

Ragging Wombat,

How about showing your location in your profile?

Clearly you are from So Cal somewhere.

Doheny is our favorite local state beach/campround. We frequent it as often as we can get reservations while day camping quite often as well.


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