John212

I have a 28’ Airstream that is 7600 pounds and 1100 pounds tongue weight. As we all know the CTT has a tongue limit of only around 700 pounds. However other people with trailers my size report that they have reinforced the hitch receiver to allow the Cayenne to accept a higher hitch weight that suits this trailer. Has anyone done this? My immediate question would be: what happens to our air suspension / PASM? Can that tolerate 1100 pounds of tongue weight? I bought a pickup truck just for the Airstream and I would love to get rid of it if possible?

Quadcammer

I've seen people exceed their tow/tongue limits with a weight distribution hitch, but that seems like a heavy load for a 958. Not to mention the potential sway. I don't think you or your truck would be very happy with this arrangement.

AO

I regularly tow at the limit with my 958 CTT and previously with my 955CTT, I haver a 20' enclosed trailer for my dedicated 928 track car. The trailer is 3800 and the track car is 3000 and I probably have another 700-1,000 of crap and supplies. Tongue weight is probably slightly over recommended limits, at around 800 ponds or so. Not sure I'd push it to 1100.

Biggest issue is sway. The tail likes to wag the dog sometimes and I think the longer trailer might make this worse. I usually set speed at about 65 and relax - it seems pretty happy there. If i go up to 70, passing semi's gets a bit... "wiggly." Recently I was traveling down I-75 through Ohio heading to VIR. I was goin about 70 and hit some ice. I thought I was going to die. Trailer and car jack-knifed back and forth several times as the ESC was kicking in and I was pumping the brakes to get the trailer to straighten out. Finally re-gained control, pulled over and changed my shorts. No damage! Whew! SLOWED down to about 60 and all was good.

The key is if you are towing anything at/near capacity to realize you won't win any races, so just slow down and it'll be fine. On the 955's Porsche recommended to NOT use a weight-distribution hitch. Not sure about 958. If it's okay, I would try it and then put an anti-sway on it as well. The car has the power - even up mountains.

I got about 10.5 MPG which was better than the 9.5 I used to get with the old 955.

t walgamuth

Do you have to select a gear when towing or just let the car decide? I have an 013 cayenne with 82K miles.

GrandPaJohn

Besides TW. you need to watch your GVWR. Sticker is located in the driver door jamb. On my 2016 CD it says 6327lbs. The CD empty with me in it and about 1/2 tank of fuel weighs 5240lbs. You're going to need a WDH with that much weight so add at least another 100lbs for that. That leaves you with less than 1,000lbs for your TW and anything else you'll be carrying in the vehicle. With just one other person with you and you'll likely have less than 800lbs available for the trailer TW.

AO

You don't say what model Cayenne you have, but at least on the CTT's there's nothing to manually select. Seems Porsche did a pretty good job on the calibration. On my old 955 CTT I would always have to tell it to start in first, and sometime tell it to not go into 6th. On the 958, it always starts in first (so that's not an issue), and it seems very capable at selecting the most appropriate gear even going up long inclines and over mountains. Like I said before, the biggest issue is sway - most likely because of the relatively short wheel base of the Cayenne. I think this Spring I will probably add a weight distribution setup with anti-sway.

Mr. Merk

With our 957 turbo, we towed a 6000lb 24' camper (shaped like a brick) to Banff and back to Arkansas in one week (about 4600mi.) I did use the Andersen anti-sway/weight dist hitch. We ran 80mph at times and never had a bit of an issue with trailer sway. I usually ran it in sport mode so it would take off in first and I felt like it was more stable and pulled better. Sometimes drove 800 miles in a day so I used a lot of cruise control. All these things resulted in lots of gas stations stops and nearly running out of fuel at 8.5mpg total average.

The Cayenne and that hitch did great, but I feel like the Airstream 23FB would be a much better trailer to pull, 1500 lbs lighter and more aerodynamic while maintaining the same floor plan we have and love in our trailer. I think the 28' you have now is a little on the large side.

Unless you have a herd of kids I'd suggest downsizing your trailer and dumping your truck!

t walgamuth

Thanks very much for your reply! It is a 2013 turbo diesel. I have a 3/4 ton Dodge with the big diesel and am contemplating using the Cayenne instead. I'm going to try pulling my 20' enclosed trailer with my 39 studebaker in it. I estimate the total weight will be about 5500 to 6000. I have weight distributing and also the anti sway type hitches. I will try it with just the leveling bars first. I have a 32' camper also and probably will not try to tow that with the cayenne unless it really impresses pulling the 20' trailer.

Mr. Merk

It definitely will impress you with the 20', especially with a diesel.

t walgamuth

Thanks for your comment!

t walgamuth

Is there a braking device built into the Cayenne or is one need to add one to activate trailer brakes?

Kayaknfly

Mr. Merk

We use this
It allows me to use multiple vehicles to tow the same trailer while only purchasing one controller and NO WIRING!

*The first time you pair the handheld controller to the trailer box you'll have to use a domestic vehicle, I used my GMC.

AO

+958! Love the Tekonsha Prodigy! Works like a charm (except that initial pairing )

t walgamuth

Hello, thanks for the posting about the prodigy! In looking at the videos about it it states that if the remote controller comes loose from the 12 v power supply the brakes will be applied at the last force level adjustment (or similar words). This seems like a potential disaster if it were to happen while tooling along in the middle or left lane. Anybody experience this becoming disconnected while at highway speeds?

Tom