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Was it loaded properly? I've never had any sway issues towing with a standard hitch on my 3/4 ton Chevy, it's always been super stable.
--Ian
The first half of the trip was with the trailer unloaded and that was by far the worst. Semis were blowing me everywhere and I even had a few instances where the Ford sway control kicked in and started activating the brakes on certain corners. Couldn't go much over 70mph. When I picked up the car I loaded it in the normal location with the car centered close to or a little ahead of the front axle, and it still wasn’t great. After about an hour of that I stopped at a truck stop, rearranged the trailer, and moved the car as far forward as my straps would allow. After that it was acceptable and I could finally relax, but it still wasn't as good as I’m used to with the Equalizer on a 1/2 ton truck. I know I sound like an Equalizer salesman but I seriously hate towing an enclosed without it.
Even a good bumper pull setup with load distribution hitch and the whole 9 yards is mediocre compared to the stability of a gooseneck. I'll never go back.
Our 8.5x24 is rock steady behind our dually... 800lbs of tongue weight just makes it ride nicer. When I have the camper loaded, I use a WD setup, mostly because of the 28" hitch extension, but there's also an additional 4500lbs in the bed. Tow ratings are tow ratings, but the weight and wheelbase of the tow vehicle have a significant impact on stability.
So the 1/2 ton did just fine with our old 20', bare bones enclosed. Over the winter we upgraded to this new beauty below. Had no issues with pulling the car to the local track for testing, but loaded down for a 16 hour enduro last weekend, she just couldn't cope.
You wont regret the purchase. I used to be a "Gaser" hold out. I thought "Hey, my gas truck does just fine pulling this trailer' Then I had to borrow a diesel for a weekend and I have never towed with a gaser again.
My 28' trailer with the car, all the spares and the tools for a National event come in at a little over 10,000lbs, The full rig with all 3 of us in the truck, our luggage and a full take of fuel tipped the scales at 17,325lbs.
We usually tow at 75 or 80mph, (last year we towed right at 24,000 miles to races), and I'm not lying when I say you can't even feel the trailer behind the new GMC Denali 2500.
And it is soooooo much more comfortable.
Where you will notice it the most in on Sunday evening when you are on the 9 or 10 hour drive home after racing all weekend.....when you are more comfortable in the truck and the truck is more stable, you are safer.
The most dangerous part of ANY armature race weekend is the tow home.
My 28' trailer with the car, all the spares and the tools for a National event come in at a little over 10,000lbs, The full rig with all 3 of us in the truck, our luggage and a full take of fuel tipped the scales at 17,325lbs.
So we also ended up renting a 3/4 ton Ford to make it to San Marcos, it certainly changed my perspective.
For grins, weighed up on the way home. Had 8,000 lbs on the axles and roughly 3,500 on the tongue. Way too much for the baby truck. We should be good to go now.
I finally got fed up with the requisite load/unload routine that happens when you don't have any permanent storage in a trailer, so I started searching for big 2-car enclosed trailers late last year. The search was casual, I didn't really know what I was looking for, aside from the general idea of an enclosed version of my 32ft. In researching those trailers, I realized that to have a hope of staying under a 10k GVWR, the trailer was going to need to be aluminum, and that was likely out of my budget.
That got me thinking about the whole two-car trailer thing. As convenient as that is, I have put two cars on my 32ft triple-axle exactly one time in the last 18mos, and it is an awful trailer for short trips to/from the alignment shop or dyno. About 6 weeks ago, I officially gave up on the idea of a 2-car trailer and started looking at bread-and-butter tandem-axle enclosed trailers. I wanted as big a trailer as I could comfortably tow, and while 28ft tandems exist, I've towed them, and they aren't terribly stable. I'd also be tempted to configure it for 2-car use, which would mean no workbench and no storage, which would suck.
So the search for a 24ft enclosed began, and that search escalated very rapidly last week. Found this on CL Tuesday morning and owned it about 6hrs later.
24ft Haulmark Edge. The original buyer must have checked every single box on the list when he ordered it new in '05. Screwless exterior, torsion axles, 5 aluminum wheels and a steel 2nd spare, fully finished interior with linoleum/diamond plate on the floors and cabinets at the front. It's wired for 110v with interior/exterior outlets, four 4ft interior fixtures, and two exterior floodlamps, as well as a shore power/generator hookup. There's even a winch in the cabinets. The only things it didn't come with were a generator and AC.
I shudder to think about what it cost new. It has aged extremely well, and while it's not perfect, anything I can point out as a flaw is pure nit-picking. I am updating a few things, swapping all the 110v lights for LEDs, adding a solar/inverter setup, and tidying up the few things that need to be tidied up. It should make a huge difference in quality of life and time savings before/after events.
24' has worked great for us. Lots of extra room with a Miata, so tires, spares and tools can all go in the trailer instead of the truck. And it's all out of sight and reasonably secure if you have to overnight somewhere....
I just ordered a 55 gallon Titan fuel tank to replace the 33 gallon stock tank on our dually. When we're loaded up, the stocker doesn't get us very far on 9-10mpg. An extra 22 gallons will give us a lot more flexibility in fuel stops.
My thoughts exactly. I wanted it to be downright roomy inside. Never wanted to think about whether or not I can fit that BBQ, or that cooler, or that 3rd set of wheels and tires, or whatever else.
I have thought about the Titan tank as well. Swaps the stock 36 for a 60gal. I had every intention of adding it to my current truck, but after the first couple of long trips, the 36gal tank ended up lasting longer than my bladder could. I'll have to see where the MPGs end up with the new trailer, though. If I can do 12mpg at 65mph I'll be pretty happy.
My real motivation with the tank is just flexibility. We do a lot of travel off the interstate, and in the past, I've stopped way early in order to bypass stretches where the fuel availability/quality is suspect, or prices are stupid. For example, a run to Grand Junction for us is only ~ 550 miles, but the distribution of reliable fuel and the way our fuel mileage over the splits worked I was making 3 fuel stops to make the trip with a comfortable reserve. And a reserve is important in areas where a detour or closed gas station might mean another 50-100 miles. With the big tank, I should be able to make that trip with one fuel stop.
We'll certainly be making 'comfort' stops more often than we get fuel, but can do those wherever. And on the interstate, I can be picky and look for best pricing.
Yeah, towing the TPD, the 26 gallon tank in my CCSB is getting to be annoyingly short ranged. It got something like 9.5 mpg the last trip, which meant that 193 mile trip from hotel -> Thunderhill -> home left me with something like 15 miles indicated remaining when I got home.
9.5 mpg seems lower than it ought to be, I should probably look into that.
I didn't mind the 26gal tank in my Ram that got 10-11mpg with the 8.5x20 enclosed, but a 26gal tank was terrible in my Titan that got 6mpg with the same trailer. Fuel stops every hour and a half max. **** that truck. Thankfully, after over 6 weeks at the dealer in less than 6 months, Nissan finally bought it back under lemon law. Replaced it with a 2018 3.5EB F150 and made sure to get the max tow package with the 36gal tank this time. Haven't done any towing yet but this thing is a beast unloaded.
Replaced it with a 2018 3.5EB F150 and made sure to get the max tow package with the 36gal tank this time. Haven't done any towing yet but this thing is a beast unloaded.
I looked very hard at the exact same truck. Was a few hundred dollars negotiating away from picking one up a couple weeks ago.
Those Titan fuel tanks look awesome. They have a 67 gallon one for my 2000 F350 crew cab long bed dually, but it's almost 1700 bucks... really want it but that's a decent amount of cash for a fuel tank. My stock one is 38 gal and usually I get 11MPG towing the 42' enclosed gooseneck, so range before fill ups is longer than I feel like driving anyways. Would be nice for Cali trips to try to reduce the amount of expensive diesel I have to buy there.
By my math, the tank will pay for itself over the life of the truck (150k) if you can save 10 cents a gallon by hunting for the cheapest diesel around and buying it 50+gal at a time when you find it.
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