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Towing up to Thunderhill last week, I saw two other friends along the way. They were towing essentially identical trailers (24-ish foot ATC aluminum enclosed, I'd guess around 6500 lbs loaded), one with a truck like mine (GMT800 crew cab diesel), the other with a diesel Mercedes SUV (GL, I think). The Benz had a weight distributing, anti-sway hitch, but it was windy and driving behind him I watched his trailer as it hopped a foot to the left or right fairly frequently. The trailer behind the Chevy was rock solid stable, even with a basic hitch.
One of my track buddies owns a trucking company. He always touted the importance of weight and wheel base of the tow vehicle. Having 6500lbs pushing you around is no joke. Ask yourself what you want to be driving when that happens. All to often people think in terms of what said vehicle can pull.
One of my track buddies owns a trucking company. He always touted the importance of weight and wheel base of the tow vehicle. Having 6500lbs pushing you around is no joke. Ask yourself what you want to be driving when that happens. All to often people think in terms of what said vehicle can pull.
QFT
The other thing that's not often discussed is the fatigue from driving a rig that's at/over capacity. It's nice to get to the track relaxed and sharp.
One of my track buddies owns a trucking company. He always touted the importance of weight and wheel base of the tow vehicle. Having 6500lbs pushing you around is no joke. Ask yourself what you want to be driving when that happens. All to often people think in terms of what said vehicle can pull.
This is partly why I had no problem ended up with my F350 dually. I don't have a ton of experience towing, but I have.talked to many truck drivers. All of them say buy much bigger then you think you need. Especially once you get into the enclosed trailer territory.
I can certainly appreciate the want for a light car, light trailer, and light tow vehicle and I know there are some very well balanced and appropriate setups that have been posted on here. On the other hand, I also agree that once you step away from that idea of lighter is better and into the world of enclosed trailers (with some super light aluminum trailers possibly being an exception) that a bigger, longer wheel base tow vehicle makes the trip so much better, safer, and more enjoyable. There is so much more to towing than just the "tow rating." Proper brakes, suspension, weight, etc all need to be accounted for. I personally tow a 24' enclosed with an older 2500HD and use weight distribution bars every time I hook up. I barely feel the trailer back there with the exception of needing to consciously downshift for hills (my truck runs on gas...no torque!)
The past two events I followed some very questionable tow setups. One was a newer (2015-ish?) Ford Explorer towing a 20' steel/wood enclosed and no weight distribution. Not only was the rear end squatting like crazy, it was quite scary watching the trailer push the SUV around, sometimes jumping into my lane. Every time we came to a stop all I could smell was brakes, which I assume was coming from the Explorer. Then I was behind an older Chevy 1500 towing an enclosed longer than mine (28' probably) without weight distribution. It was so squatted in the rear it had to been riding on the rear bump stops. The front end was so lifted I can't imagine how floaty it felt, especially as we were going through the mountains. A simple weight distribution setup would've made that guy's experience so much better. According to my owner's manual it states that anything over 5000 lbs requires weight distribution, and he was well over that I'm sure.
I had been towing my 240sx and miata for a few years now on this setup.
240,000 mile 1994 fzj80 with an anemic straight 6 and questionably rusty hitch. I always feared the day I'd hit a big enough bump and see the trailer passing me on the highway.
So I finally decided I have too many cars and too risky of a tow rig and traded in my 92000 mile 2007 STi for this 2016 Tundra Limited.
What a massive improvement. I used to dread hills, having to prep for them by speeding up beforehand and hoping I didn't drop too far below the limit before the top. Or cursing slow drivers keeping me from getting my runup. The 4.5L 6 did not like upshifting and definitely didn't like the high revs.
The tundra is like easy mode for towing. Should have done this sooner. But anyways theres my tow rig. I took off every bit of chrome on it, changed the headlights to 2019 TRD pro versions, swapped the grille, etc etc.
I did buy Mac's straps during Xmas sale but still unsure whether to use their direct hook to stake pocket or use D rings that swivel as they are a bit pricey.
11-12-2018, 05:04 PM
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