Towing Long Distance

[Supercharged111]

Bought mine brand new in 2019; it's actually coming up on 4 years I've owned it. I'm hoping to redo a bunch of stuff on it, thought about getting rid of it for a 14K dovetail but started looking at prices and wait times

So this one will be getting some new lights, fresh paint, and a few other things that'll make it a much nicer trailer to use.

Wait times? They're in stock out here. The prices suck, but they're probably not gonna suck any less going forward. Don't forget what yours is worth today either.

 

[BNielsen]

Wait times? They're in stock out here. The prices suck, but they're probably not gonna suck any less going forward. Don't forget what yours is worth today either.

For a 22 foot, 14K bumper pull trailer with a dovetail and drive over fenders there's a wait time; haven't found any dealers with that particular trailer in stock.
If someone walked up with the right amount of money I'd probably let it go. But I paid right at $3400 for this thing BRAND NEW, I couldn't even buy a stolen one for that cheap these days!

 

[Supercharged111]

They have one with removable fenders too. Thinking I'll make the drive out there when the time comes.

View Detail Page - Trailer Solutions

Trailer Specs Dimensions Length 22 foot Width 102 inches Deck Height 26 inches Weight Rating GVWR 14 000 lbs GAWR 7 000 lbs Empty Weight 3 480 lbs Load Capacity 12 098 lbs Finish Type Powder Coat Prep Grit Blast Standard Black Powder Coat Warranty Axle 5 Year...

trailer-solutions.com

 

[BigReb95]

So to follow up so far, picked the U-Haul trailer up this morning. Guy was very friendly. Trailer seems good shape, checked lug nuts and tires on it. My truck didn’t squat an ounce and handles it fine. But again, it’s not loaded yet. Bringing extra straps. Truck I replaced tensioner and idler pullers with new belt, just preventative maintenance. Will be leaving in a few hours as I got few things to catch up on at home.

 

[pressureangle]

So to follow up so far, picked the U-Haul trailer up this morning. Guy was very friendly. Trailer seems good shape, checked lug nuts and tires on it. My truck didn’t squat an ounce and handles it fine. But again, it’s not loaded yet. Bringing extra straps. Truck I replaced tensioner and idler pullers with new belt, just preventative maintenance. Will be leaving in a few hours as I got few things to catch up on at home.

I just caught this thread; it's not clear what sort of locker you have, but towing with a Detroit Locker is VERY disconcerting and my advice is to get a hundred miles under your belt on low-speed roads to get used to the feedback. I towed 10,000 lbs. on a bumper pull equipment trailer from Detroit to Antlers, Oklahoma with an '85 k3500. That was the trip of a lifetime, I broke every rule of towing and survived, but you couldn't pay me to do it again. The Detroit always hooks to the slowest wheel; it always wants to drive you to the outside of every turn as you accelerate. Worse, when you let off the gas, it switches to dragging you into the inside of the turn. It causes severe snaking with any throttle action, and the instructions specifically say not to tow with it. I did it, you can do it, but be sure the trailer has great brakes and use the controller by hand whenever you can to insure you stop straight, or you'll be wrestling the steering wheel with every stop.

 

[Supercharged111]

I just caught this thread; it's not clear what sort of locker you have, but towing with a Detroit Locker is VERY disconcerting and my advice is to get a hundred miles under your belt on low-speed roads to get used to the feedback. I towed 10,000 lbs. on a bumper pull equipment trailer from Detroit to Antlers, Oklahoma with an '85 k3500. That was the trip of a lifetime, I broke every rule of towing and survived, but you couldn't pay me to do it again. The Detroit always hooks to the slowest wheel; it always wants to drive you to the outside of every turn as you accelerate. Worse, when you let off the gas, it switches to dragging you into the inside of the turn. It causes severe snaking with any throttle action, and the instructions specifically say not to tow with it. I did it, you can do it, but be sure the trailer has great brakes and use the controller by hand whenever you can to insure you stop straight, or you'll be wrestling the steering wheel with every stop.

It's not that it sucks you into the turn, it's just suddenly not pushing you out of it. They work better in race cars, I wouldn't want one in a street driven pickup. Unlocked is good for turn in and throttle on you want both digging.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

Almost 40 years with two car trailers with surge brakes. Rebuilding one this winter and putting on new surge. You won't have any issues with surge brakes. There are electric or mechanical backing provisions. You can back them slowly without them if it is not uphill. Always look at truck braking capacity when towing. Another thing to consider is repair cost if you do break down on the road. Parts prices are cheap for OBS trucks compared to some other vehicles. Do you want to pay high $$ to repair a rented, unknown condition truck?

I have never had an issue backing a surge brake trailer even uphill. Feed it some onions and they back up. The setup that operates the surge brakes takes a good bit of effort to actuate the brakes and the minimal brake effort they create is fairly easy to overcome in my experience if I need to back up.

 

[L31MaxExpress]

I put a 4L85E and swapped the weak stock overload springs to 1 ton units in the van before I ever put a hitch on it, but towed all over the place with the 350/4L85E and 3.73 geared G80 setup in the 9.5 14 bolt. It had enough power, cooling, sway control and brakes to get the job done. There were a few places I found that an open differential probably would have had me stuck taking off uphill. It would slip the right rear tire trying to get rolling and engage the G80. We are talking 12,000-14,000 lbs combined weight.

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[L31MaxExpress]

I also rent trailers from an equipment rental place. A far better trailer and they come with load binders that have chains on them that attach to rings on the trailer frame. Easier to distribute the weight properly and a much nicer trailer to tow than the Uhaul ones. Only catch there is you have to have a brake controller and 7 pin harness. I have hauled the G20 van and a Kubota with a loader and box blade on them.

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Then again I have towed stuff all over for years. My dad before he passed and I fished about every north Texas lake in a fairly heavy pontoon boat that we pulled there with a 20 year old G20 van that had the 200K mile 305 and 700r4 at the time. Never had an issue towing even with the 3.08 rear gear in it. It never even worried us making a 2-3 hour trip one way to go fishing, bump the key and go. In all the trips I remember an alternator failing once and having to swap it in an Oreilly or NAPA parking lot in a small town. The boat was far more stubborn than the carbureted SBC. The boat had a tendency to eat ignition control modules and rectifier diodes. Just don't act like it is a race, give yourself plenty of stopping distance and even an older rig can tow decently. That 305 never had an issue walking that boat up a ramp either then again one of us was always in the boat and gave that old Mercury all it had to help push the boat out too. That poor van also made numerous trips hauling a tandem axle trailer with a solid chord to 1.5 chord of wet fresh cut fire wood on it as well. Even hauled the 1980 C10 with it once for over 250 miles when the clutch failed on it. The tired 305 got unhappy power wise over about 5,000 lbs of trailer weight but otherwise the old G20 never complained. Around 2004 dad picked up a 1994 RCLB 2500 V10 Ram with a 5spd and it became the new go to tow vehicle. It was a better tow rig in every way imaginable than GM trucks of the era and ones before them. The 90s Dodge was on par towing wise with the GMT800 3500HD trucks. We would put a chord of wet wood in the bed and still load the same trailer up when we went to cut firewood and the V10 moved it like it was not even there.

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[Supercharged111]

Ya know you don't HAVE to pull the car all the way forward on a Uhaul trailer.

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Even with the 5+1 leaf pack my truck was not happy. I backed it just out of the "chocks", tied it down with regular straps, and swapped the hitch for one with less drop

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This towed effortlessly with the bed full of crap. Helping my friend move his last bit of crap here, caught him at a good moment too as you can see.