Unesimpson1

Appreciate anyone's opinion or help on towing with a Q7 4 cyl (2021 Q7 45 TFSI prem plus). I am looking at purchasing a travel trailer, to be towed with my Q7. The max towing weight on this car is 4,400 lbs. and the trailer would be around 3,500 lbs. I am running into two problems: (1) the trailer dealerships insist on the installment of a weight distributing hitch (WDH), however, Audi forbids it and says it will void the warranty; and (2) Audi limits how far the center of the ball is extended via the ball mount to 6" or less distance from the hitch pin centerline (sticker on the hitch receiver). I haven't found a hitch that will satisfy this 6" requirement and meet the coupler height required. Has anyone been able to meet the requirements of no WDH and the 6" limit? Many thanks in advance.

2kwik4u

I, personally, don't pay much attention to the 6in limit. It's not really feasible if you intend to keep the trailer from contacting the rear bumper. It's too tight with most couplers I've experienced. I run a standard "draw bar" in the factory hitch, and tow around that 4k mark on a regular basis with no ill effects that I can tell.

As for the WDH.....I have no experience on the Audi, and can't help much there. I would tell the trailer dealership they can back off, or you can buy the trailer elsewhere. It's pretty well documented here that many people run much larger trailers without the WDH on these vehicles. Follow the owners manual on the car for this one.

Unesimpson1

Thanks a bunch. What the RV dealer actually said was, "have us put the WDH on and then remove it each time you take the Audi to the dealer". No thanks. Not a risk I want to take.

icepickjazz

I don't own Q7 but have been considering purchase a Q7 and using for towing and searching these threads as well. There are several threads here that say do not install WDH on the Q7 as audi doesn't support WDH and pics where where the WDH destroyed the rear end. While WDH is not needed/supported by Audi, I would strongly suggest get anti sway hitch w/o WDH.

MoInEd

Have towed with WDH before but now don't use one on Q7 as it's a big no-no on Audi.
RV dealer salesman doesn't know anything most of the time.
Itime.t WDH can damage both the tow vehicle and the trailer substantially. A properly weighted trailer and tow vehicle combo doesn't need WDH.

Lorryist

Long thread, but tons of info.
https://www.airforums.com/forums/f46...rs-134917.html

Unesimpson1

Thanks, Icepick. I suspected Audi had a reason for that restriction, but had not seen any discussion of actual damage. At least it’s good to confirm that the restriction should not be ignored, like many supposedly knowledgeable people have advised me to do. My test run did include some kind of ‘sway chain’ set up that seemed to work well. THANKS AGAIN.

Unesimpson1

Thank you. Yeah, I would have bought from the guy if he didn’t insist on the WDH, and then encourage a form of fraud on my part.

Unesimpson1

Thanks Lorryist. Great info. I’m going through it now.

richsurf

If you can’t find an adapter that meets the 6” requirement you could always bring it to a local machine shop and have a new hole drilled to the correct dimension.