Trailering your square body

[Dave Kay]

Hey all~! Haven't found anything here yet on how guys/girls might trailer their square-bodies--- or if they do at all--- as I'm about to retrieve (2) longbed stepsides, weighing appox 4000lbs or less. One at a time of course! The location is about a 500 mile round trip.

Note: Both vehicles are totally stock, complete w/tires-wheels and BOTH VEHICLES ARE IN-OP which means they must be winched on & off my trailer.

Got my 10k car-hauler fitted out with winches, tie-downs, etc. Trailer has 2 tandem-axles w/brakes on both axles and in-cab brake controller installed on tow vehicle. Tow vehicle will be my 2007 Silverado 2500HD w/factory 9200k tow-package to pull it all. All works together just fine, with no-load!

Since my trailering experience is somewhat limited for this kind of hauling, what I'm wondering about is if anyone's car-hauled their fullsize 1-ton or 3/4-ton squarebody and which way might be best to load them: head-in or backwards?

My main concern is getting the right tongue weight (got a scale) and I might spring for a weight distributing hitch. Any thoughts, ideas, complaints or flaming welcome!

Dave

 

[CalSgt]

I haven’t really towed any squares but have towed several GMT400 trucks and SUV’s of all wheelbases, my 4 door jeep, some Toyota rock crawlers and one half ton dodge. I always load facing forward and haven’t had any issues.

What kind of deck length are you working with?

ETA: also towed some different cars on the flatbed forward facing and have towed an enclosed with a few different cars forward facing.

 

[fast 99]

Generally speaking, you want 10% tongue weight. Should be adjusted to keep from getting squirely.

 

[nvrenuf]

I’ve towed my Blazer quite a bit, it’s not a 3/4 or 1 ton long bed but it’s pretty fat. With a big block, 4spd, Doubler, 1 tons and tires I feel like it’s over 5500 lbs , this combined with a 2800 lbs trailer and a full toolbox the whole thing has to be 9k.

My Dodge sits high in the rear so I load the Blazer so that the weight makes it sit level.

I would think you’ll be fine.

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[PrairieDrifter]

Front end of towed vehicle towards the rear is pretty sketch, even with a suburban. My trailer is on the smaller side though. Front end forward tows pretty nice really.

 

[bucket]

What is the length of the trailer? A shorter trailer will be much more affected by a rearward facing vehicle. A longer trailer though will be just fine, as you have some wiggle room to adjust tongue weight. I've never ever had any kind of scale, I've always just ran the load forward until the load looked right to me, based on tow vehicle suspension load.

Just yesterday I towed my '00 3/4 Suburban with my van. The Suburban was broken down in a small town and I loaded it backwards to avoid blocking a main road into town. It's an LS engine of course, but it's an early one with iron block and heads too. It towed perfectly fine. The trailer weighs right about 5K by itself. I weighed the Suburban years ago, but I don't really remember what it was. I'm wanting to say 6200#.

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[Ricko1966]

Towed my 2wd 1/2 ton burb, nose in on a 16ft tandem flat bed,pulled it with an 87 r10. It towed great. Salina Kansas to LaCygne Kansas. IDK the miles. I just looked them up, over 200 miles mostly highway. If you back it on I'm sure you'll have negative torque weight which is very squirlley and scary did it once only for a minute it was too squirley

 

[mtbadbob]

Facing forward is the best. Also, if you have any type of protection rail on the front of your trailer deck, the rear bumper of the truck will prohibit you from getting the weight of the truck forward, reducing the tongue weight & making trailer fishtail.

 

[Buck69]

Have hauled my K30 twice in the past couple weeks on a tandem trailer. It was under power loading both trips. Engine forward. You can take a quick measurement of the hitch height unloaded and loaded to give yourself an idea of what your tongue weight is.

 

[Bloodhound1981]

Towed my 1981 C10 about 90 miles to the body shop, with my Ford Expedition. No issues.

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But when it came time to bring her home a year (and a lotta $$ later), I took no chances...

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[TotalyHucked]

Do not load it backwards unless you have a very long trailer like @bucket and can get the weight over the rear tires. Tail heavy is extremly dangerous.

How long is your trailer? That would really be my only concern, if it's too short for those longbeds, you'll either be too far forward (increasing tongue weight) and/or the rear tires will be at the very back of the trailer, making it hard to tie down.

I towed my '85 shortbed 1/2 ton last year on an 18' car trailer borrowed from a coworker. You could load a longbed on it but the rears would be right at the back of the trailer. As it was, I was a touch too far forward for ideal tongue weight to keep the rear tires off the dovetail (doesn't help that these Dodge 1/2 tons have very soft rear springs, so it squats more than it should) but it towed just fine. I just kept it below 70.

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[nvrenuf]

@TotalyHucked makes a great point about trailer length vs what you're hauling. My trailer (pictured above) is 18' and it's had a Suburban (129" wheelbase) on it, it was full! With the fold up ramps locked in place (vertical) it seems like the back bumper was less than a foot away from them.

 

[85K304SPD]

Make sure that you have good tires on the trailer. Load it up and go. It sounds like you have a good truck for the job. Take your time and tie it down good, so it doesn't bounce. Hope for the best, be ready for the worst. Do it now, before it gets too hot, and it will be easier on you and your equipment.

 

[bucket]

Do not load it backwards unless you have a very long trailer like @bucket and can get the weight over the rear tires. Tail heavy is extremly dangerous.

How long is your trailer? That would really be my only concern, if it's too short for those longbeds, you'll either be too far forward (increasing tongue weight) and/or the rear tires will be at the very back of the trailer, making it hard to tie down.

I towed my '85 shortbed 1/2 ton last year on an 18' car trailer borrowed from a coworker. You could load a longbed on it but the rears would be right at the back of the trailer. As it was, I was a touch too far forward for ideal tongue weight to keep the rear tires off the dovetail (doesn't help that these Dodge 1/2 tons have very soft rear springs, so it squats more than it should) but it towed just fine. I just kept it below 70.

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My old trailer was only 14 foot and I pulled my Suburban with it, lol. I won't say it pulled fine, but it wasn't too bad.

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[Bextreme04]

Hey all~! Haven't found anything here yet on how guys/girls might trailer their square-bodies--- or if they do at all--- as I'm about to retrieve (2) longbed stepsides, weighing appox 4000lbs or less. One at a time of course! The location is about a 500 mile round trip.

Note: Both vehicles are totally stock, complete w/tires-wheels and BOTH VEHICLES ARE IN-OP which means they must be winched on & off my trailer.

Got my 10k car-hauler fitted out with winches, tie-downs, etc. Trailer has 2 tandem-axles w/brakes on both axles and in-cab brake controller installed on tow vehicle. Tow vehicle will be my 2007 Silverado 2500HD w/factory 9200k tow-package to pull it all. All works together just fine, with no-load!

Since my trailering experience is somewhat limited for this kind of hauling, what I'm wondering about is if anyone's car-hauled their fullsize 1-ton or 3/4-ton squarebody and which way might be best to load them: head-in or backwards?

My main concern is getting the right tongue weight (got a scale) and I might spring for a weight distributing hitch. Any thoughts, ideas, complaints or flaming welcome!

Dave

If those are 3/4 or 1-ton trucks, they are likely well over 4k. My 1980 K25 8600GVW pickup weighs in at ~5400lbs on the scale. That's with a 350/TH400/NP205 and 14BFF rear with the big 13" brakes. When it broke down out in the woods hunting a few years ago I took a friends ~20ft car trailer with no functioning electric brakes(we didn't know they didn't work until we went to pick up the trailer and the brake controller didn't recognize the connection) and my father-in-laws 2019 Dodge Ram 3500 and went to get it. Loaded it nose forward and the 3500 had no issue pulling it all the way home through the coastal mountain range.

If you are using a bumper pull and the trailer is long enough that you are taking both trucks at once(doesn't seem likely), or it is a factory V-5 hitch with just a single truck and the trailer... you will likely need to have a weight distribution hitch on it regardless. If the trailer weighs even 1500lbs by itself and you load a 5500lb truck on it, you now have a 7000lb load. Most of the factory V-5 hitches will say that they are rated for 6000lb GTW/ 500lb Tongue weight without weight distribution and 10000lb GTW/ 1000lb Tongue with weight distribution. So you will be over the non weight distribution weight or very close to it.

If the entire drivetrain is missing out of them, then I agree you'll be less than 4000 lbs and shouldn't have an issue.