Towing with an old truck

[Strick]

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.

When you load the WD hitch you'll see the effect in the vehicle suspension. Works great for tall profile trailers as it puts more of the weight back on the trailer axles and helps reduce sway. The dual wheels goes without explanation.

 

[bucket]

When you load the WD hitch you'll see the effect in the vehicle suspension. Works great for tall profile trailers as it puts more of the weight back on the trailer axles and helps reduce sway. The dual wheels goes without explanation.

So you are saying that a weight distribution setup helps with sway? I thought the whole point in it was to get weight off the rear axle and onto the front axle? The only time I ever see any type of weight distribution setup, it's on a camper being towed by a lighter capacity rig.

 

[Turbo4whl]

I thought the whole point in it was to get weight off the rear axle and onto the front axle?

This is correct! The trailer tongue weight does not change.

 

[SirRobyn0]

Well most all of you already know i tow and haul. For the sake of the spirit of this thread I'll give an over view.

Up until last fall I had a farm plus a day job. It was not uncommon for me to drive the truck on my commute to the shop, but it also got used extensively for the farm. It was no uncommon to find me driving several hundred miles for feed. Wherever I could get the best deals. If I was bringing back ton or less it went in the bed, if it was more than a ton it went on my trailer and of course I towed it with my square.

The truck is an 84 305 beefed up 700r4 and it was a 3.41 semi float now it's a 3.73 full floater.

my heaviest feed loads were around 7K. How did it do towing that kind of weight. It did just fine and never left me on the side of the road, never got hot or gave me any trouble. But you have to have reasonable expectations of the trucks equipment as far as what it will tow and how it will tow. What I'm saying by that is basically it was stable and safe. Trailer brakes worked great and it always stopped good. However going over mountain passes and ridge crests were slow. And thats OK.

 

[Redfish]

@bucket no, the 2500HD springs are NOT weak. I have done things with the 3 different 2500HDs that would have sent the designing engineers into cardiac arrest.

I am old enough to remember that these trucks and the equivalent Fords and Dodges of the '70s and '80s moved whatever needed moving. There were no diesel pickups worth towing with in those days.

I have become spoiled to the Torque of my Duramax and the stability of a modern chassis. But I remember when my Dad had to pull things for folks that did not have enough truck. With a '77 GMC 1/2 ton SWB 4wd. Times have changed.

 

[bucket]

@bucket no, the 2500HD springs are NOT weak. I have done things with the 3 different 2500HDs that would have sent the designing engineers into cardiac arrest.

I am old enough to remember that these trucks and the equivalent Fords and Dodges of the '70s and '80s moved whatever needed moving. There were no diesel pickups worth towing with in those days.

I have become spoiled to the Torque of my Duramax and the stability of a modern chassis. But I remember when my Dad had to pull things for folks that did not have enough truck. With a '77 GMC 1/2 ton SWB 4wd. Times have changed.

I guess I just don't understand then. I've pulled the same loads I described earlier with dually trucks and also C4500's. It's not much different. I've pulled upwards of 14k on single tandems with single wheel squarebodies and have been perfectly comfortable. Some of those loads have had a fairly high center of gravity as well, and a bit of frontal area. Like so:

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[idahovette]

@bucket Andy, maybe your comfort level is a lot different than other peoples????

 

[Strick]

These are 3 different pulls on 3 different hitches. I'd much rather pull the 43' than the 34' in any situation still. The 43' rocks a bit but doesn't sway.

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[bucket]

@bucket Andy, maybe your comfort level is a lot different than other peoples????

Maybe so? If it goes well enough, stops safe enough and doesn't take much effort to keep it between the ditches, then I'm comfortable.

I can definitely be uncomfortable though. It's happened several times with off-brand drive tires.

 

[AuroraGirl]

Maybe so? If it goes well enough, stops safe enough and doesn't take much effort to keep it between the ditches, then I'm comfortable.

I can definitely be uncomfortable though. It's happened several times with off-brand drive tires.

proper brakes and tires and (Both trailer and truck) are big here


my car trailer was worse handling when it had 3 different size tires (2 matched, opposite corners, and the other 2 were the other corners and did not match). one was a snow tire lol...
Anyway, matching made a big difference. and the way the loads are on the trailer and the speeds you try to go are big too

 

[Frankenchevy]

Maybe so? If it goes well enough, stops safe enough and doesn't take much effort to keep it between the ditches, then I'm comfortable.

I can definitely be uncomfortable though. It's happened several times with off-brand drive tires.

I agree for the most part. I have images of failures in my head and we live in a litigious society. I definitely don’t want a hitch failure while I’m overloaded. More than getting sued, I don’t want someone to get hurt, albeit far fetched.

Fortunately, it’s not a risk I have to take having a modern 3500 with ~30k lb tow rating. We don’t have 26k combined rules here, which sucks. We are limited to 10k with a class C.

 

[Frankenchevy]

I think a lot of it has to do with where you live. We have most of the steepest roads in the country here. 20-30% grades can be encountered with 15-20% not being extremely uncommon.

A dump truck guy cooked his brakes a few miles from my house and had a fatal accident. This happened just 2.5 miles from the quarry.

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This was a wake up call as he was a veteran operator and I am just some guy. This is the same route I take 50% of the time. It’s a windy descent into a T and not near as steep as many of the other roads I tow on.

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I’m sure these truck can tow well beyond what they are rated for as Andy has shown.

If you want to do that, especially if you live in mountainous terrain, I’d make sure everything from the frame, to your suspension, brakes etc are all in tip top shape.

 

[bucket]

I think a lot of it has to do with where you live. We have most of the steepest roads in the country here. 20-30% grades can be encountered with 15-20% not being extremely uncommon.

A dump truck guy cooked his brakes a few miles from my house and had a fatal accident. This happened just 2.5 miles from the quarry.

You must be registered for see images attach

This was a wake up call as he was a veteran operator and I am just some guy. This is the same route I take 50% of the time. It’s a windy descent into a T and not near as steep as many of the other roads I tow on.

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I’m sure these truck can tow well beyond what they are rated for as Andy has shown.

If you want to do that, especially if you live in mountainous terrain, I’d make sure everything from the frame, to your suspension, brakes etc are all in tip top shape.

Yes, you must be sure that everything is in good serviceable condition and up to the task.

As for the terrain, I still don't see the need for weight distribution with an appropriate truck. The long and heavy loads that I mentioned earlier with the modern work trucks isn't just flatlander Ohio stuff. A large portion of those loads involved driving across the Blue Ridge mountains. Sure, it ain't much compared to out west, but the Sandstone mountain pass and surrounding area certainly has some grade to it.