|
I'm a vehicle safety scientist, just wanted to make you aware of a few relevant issues. Many typical flatbed "car haulers" have a gross weight rating of 7000 pounds or less, including the weight of the trailer. That brings the absolute maximum net trailer load to 4500-5000 pounds or less, ASSUMING that there is a weight-equalizing hitch, perfect load centering, and no emergency maneuvers encountered. As just one example, an empty 4WD Suburban typically weighs in at about 5200-5500 lbs. Many bumper pull car hauler trailers simply cannot handle that big of a load. 1: Are tires on trailer and truck capable of carrying this weight? P-rated passenger car tires are not up to the job, especially if you hit a pothole or traverse even a short stretch of rough gravel or dirt road. This is one reason there is so much happiness going on with the Firestones on Explorers. In addition, trailer tires are often leftovers that are dry rotted and barely functional, so a maximum load is tempting tire failure. 2: Do not even think about this load with a 1/2-ton truck and a bumper pull trailer. The tongue load will be so far aft of the rear axle that you will be asking for trouble if you have to make any sort of emergency steering or braking maneuver. A heavy 3/4 ton pickup with a weight-equalizing hitch MAY be heavy-duty enough to pull this, but it would be borderline at best. A gooseneck trailer on a 1-ton dually or bigger would be a lot safer. A bare Farmall 560 on a gooseneck flatbed strained a V-8 powered 8600-lb GVWR pickup to its limits recently. To have attempted to tow a bumper pull trailer with that load would have most probably damaged the truck, even if we managed to not crash into anything. The 560 is not that much bigger than an M. This trailer had double mobile home axles with electric brakes and heavy duty tires at 80 psi. The tires were too hot to touch after only hauling that thing for about 25 miles on good pavement with no stops, on a cold day in November. Even a large travel trailer or a typical boat tends to be relatively large compared to their weight. Tractors on flatbeds are just the opposite, with tremendous weight concentrated in a relatively small package. Past experience with other trailers may not prepare you for these kinds of loads. 3: Does the trailer have adjustable electric or hydraulic brakes that are fully functional? If not, this is a disaster waiting to happen. Same goes for the rated load of the hitch ball. Some 2" hitch balls are only rated for 3000 pounds gross trailer load. The ball should have a heavy duty shank,rated for a minimum of 7500 lbs. A 2- 5/16" ball is a lot stronger. 4: Your truck owner's manual should have tow capacities listed. Do not exceed these rated loads! The manufacturers give the absolute highest possible tow rating for their vehicles, because it is a big selling point. This can vary widely with rear axle ratio, engine, etc. 5: Keep in mind that on many of today's 1/2-ton pickups, it violates the warranty to mount a slide-in overhead camper. So what do you think that suspension is capable of handling if it cannot handle a camper that barely exceeds 1000 pounds. Many 1/2 ton trucks have a max gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 6200-6800 lbs. The load capacity of 3/4 ton trucks varies widely also, ranging typically from about 7200 lb to 8600 lb. The towing capacity of an 8600 lb pickup compared to a light duty 1/2 ton pickup is like night and day. One last thing, it would be best to have D- or E- range tires on the tow vehicle. Keep in mind that the speed of the tow vehicle imparts lots of energy to that heavy trailer/tractor combination. Keep the speed down so that you hage a semblance of braking and handling capability.
| 
