Noise level on Unibody vs Body-on-Frame

vijay

I just bought my first RV camper - the Tab400 and am a total newbie. During my research, I heard that unibody SUVs transmit the clanking from the hitch making for a noisy ride, while body-on-frame SUVs isolate those vibrations resulting in less clanking inside the cabin.

Do any of you have experience with both a unibody (most modern SUVs?) and a body-on-frame (some of the Toyotas and a few other SUVs) with your Tab400? Was the difference enough to push you one way or the other.

Considering we might spend many hours a day in the cabin, I'd like those long drive days to be as relaxed as possible, which is pushing me towards the Toyota 4Runner, but perhaps I am overthinking this?

Thanks!

Sharon_is_SAM

Get a hitch tightener and call it a day.  

pthomas745

Something like this.  Your "ball mount" goes into the vehicle's "receiver tube".  There is a tiny bit of space between the mount and the tube.  When you attach a trailer to it, that little space can cause a bit of noise.

This makes that noise go away.  Still the occasional noise, but 90 percent gone.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001CMUV4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

atlasb

due to the tongue weight of the 400, have never had hitch rattle.  Did with our 320 though.

Denny16

No, but you can still feel the slack being taken up between braking and acceleration of the TV.  You feel this even with a pickup truck.
cheers

Marceline

I have a unibody SUV. Yes, I had some clanking due to a loose-ish fit between the ball mount I'm using for the T@B (I have another ball mount that has less rattle) and the receiver. I solved it with a hitch tightener. Some people ignore it but I associate the sound with metal fatigue so I wanted to stop it. I've never heard of this being specific to unibody vehicles, and frankly that doesn't make much sense to me.