Towing with an old truck

[TotalyHucked]

Mine was a daily for 30 years and 200000 miles.

Light hauling, trailering, and back and forth to work.

It's what they were made for, and that's what we did with them back in the day.

K

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This one always gets me when you post it lol. Did it tow that trailer (with the Chevelle in it I assume?) well? I don't know that I would've tried that with my truck (certainly not now with the 6-speed Tremec), even with the helper bags I've got

 

[Keith Seymore]

The one with the Haulmark?: yah - that was ill advised. I wouldn't do it again.

Not so much for the handling aspect, but with the little V6 and manual trans it struggled a bit.

K

 

[TotalyHucked]

The one with the Haulmark?: yah - that was ill advised. I wouldn't do it again.

Not so much for the handling aspect, but with the little V6 and manual trans it struggled a bit.

K

I love seeing your pictures of all the towing though, so many guys don't think you can even tow a jetski with one of these, especially when they're lowered. I've had 1500+lbs in the bed of mine several times and it did just fine. I'd throw a light car trailer and a car behind mine, even now with the stick.

 

[YakkoWarner]

I think the biggest challenge with a travel trailer isn't the weight but the frontal surface area/wind resistance. Your engine and transmission will be much happier if you go slower. I've towed a 20 foot 2500 pound sailboat-on-trailer rig 400 miles with a 30 year old truck, also towed a rental car hauler with a 1970's MGB a couple hundred miles with the same 30 year old truck. Didn't have any problems. Would not hesitate to put any of them on the hitch of the 1989 Suburban and go, but so far the only trailer the Suburban has towed is my small 5x10 flatbed that even a V6 compact Ranger is able to handle just fine.

 

[Strick]

I've always been of the opinion that weight distribution is more suited for light duty trucks and station wagons, with no real benefit to heavier duty trucks.

I don't know how many times (it's been a lot) that I have bumper pulled 20-24k down the interstate for 400+ miles, but never once have I felt like weight distribution would have been helpful. This has always been with a 1-ton truck. Do they put wimpy springs under the back of those 2500's, despite being an "HD"?

10K lbs & 34' long. No dually truck & no trailer with dually axles. Pulled thru 20 states & 10K miles & very thankful to have weight distribution hitch for bumper pull. Did a bit of I-40, I-70 & I-80 on the western trip to GC. NE was 500 miles of worst driving ever due to wind sheer. I must have done something wrong with my wimpy truck tho because the wind toppled semi trucks due to their fifth wheel hitches I suppose...
Your my internet hero for the day sir. Show us your station wagon pulling the world behind it please.

HS

 

[Mr Clean]

 

[bucket]

10K lbs & 34' long. No dually truck & no trailer with dually axles. Pulled thru 20 states & 10K miles & very thankful to have weight distribution hitch for bumper pull. Did a bit of I-40, I-70 & I-80 on the western trip to GC. NE was 500 miles of worst driving ever due to wind sheer. I must have done something wrong with my wimpy truck tho because the wind toppled semi trucks due to their fifth wheel hitches I suppose...
Your my internet hero for the day sir. Show us your station wagon pulling the world behind it please.

HS

I didn't mean anything as an insult. Just stating my observations and then asking a serious question.

I've spent many miles pulling 31ft (plus ~5ft tongue) deckovers several states away with single wheel Furd 350's and a Chevy 3500 and never once have I thought to myself "man, a weight distribution hitch sure would be nice" when doing so. I just don't see how it would be beneficial.

Are the 2500 rear springs really that much softer?

 

[Strick]

Rides better with a load that's loaded or hauled right. Springs & truck do very good from the General. There's no way I'd attempt this with a pintle or 2-5/16 bumper.

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[bucket]

Rides better with a load that's loaded or hauled right. Springs & truck do very good from the General. There's no way I'd attempt this with a pintle or 2-5/16 bumper.

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I don't have any pictures of the normal type haul, just this light one. Trailer weighs 9800 empty. Pictured load is only around 7k I'd guess. Usually there's 12k worth of telehandler on there or something similar. It pulls perfectly fine without weight distribution.

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[WebMonkey]

I didn't mean anything as an insult. Just stating my observations and then asking a serious question.

I've spent many miles pulling 31ft (plus ~5ft tongue) deckovers several states away with single wheel Furd 350's and a Chevy 3500 and never once have I thought to myself "man, a weight distribution hitch sure would be nice" when doing so. I just don't see how it would be beneficial.

Are the 2500 rear springs really that much softer?

i know the 1/2 ton dodge ones are
27.5' bumper pull behind the 2005 dodge quad cab 4x4 hemi.
central missouri to disney in florida and back.

the distro hitch had an anti-sway device as well.

for a ton truck, the anti-sway might have done something but yeah, the squat difference has got to be huge.

my 85 k20 ultra HD, even with old springs, stands tall under pressure.

'monkey

 

[Strick]

Dually axle trailer without the profile of a camper travel trailer. I'm certain that's a tongue heavy trailer you have but the load is centered over the axles with twice the contact surface area. I'd drag that 70mph wherever.

 

[Turbo4whl]

Well the most I towed with my '85 K10 Suburban when I had it, was a 28' Grady White sail boat on a twin axle trailer. No idea how heavy that rig was for sure, but a Google search, 6000-7000 lbs. The 350 with an auto trans pulled it.

 

[Strick]

Unfortunately dad's old C20 Crew with almost 50 years of fighting gravity & 400K miles isn't gonna be hauling much until I can address some spring issues...

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[bucket]

Dually axle trailer without the profile of a camper travel trailer. I'm certain that's a tongue heavy trailer you have but the load is centered over the axles with twice the contact surface area. I'd drag that 70mph wherever.

Yeah, it's very tongue heavy. But what does the surface contact area of the trailer tires have to do with weight distribution? With all else being equal (tongue weight, axle spread, trailer length, etc) the truck itself doesn't know the difference if the trailer has duals or singles.

 

[Frankenchevy]

I think the WD hitch benefits are more pronounced with higher profile loads that act like a sail. I think I can feel my small bumper pull (~4500lbs) more than a dump or equipment trailer at a higher weight in every aspect except braking distance.

For the sake of the thread here are some pictures of my pickup towing very light loads around my property. The loads it hauls consist of branches that I’m taking to my chipper shredder on a crusty old car hauler during the dry season. No cats on it to start fires like my other trucks…

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