How big of an enclosed trailer can I haul?

[mrquick68]

Screw people in their duramaxs? That hurts!

Seriously, spend the money that you have for the trailer on a truck made for towing heavy weight and then save again for the trailer. Its not worth raping your light duty truck, putting yours and other lives in danger, etc. If you can't afford it, that's cool - just buy a two place with one of those toppers and save for another day. I've gone around and around on this subject myself. I finally bit the bullet on 3/4ton HD duramax and then just bought a three place enclosed. I had older chevy 3/4ton that towed light stuff OK with its 350 but 7mpg sucked, so then stepped up to 2005 RAM 5.7 HEMI quad cab that had a tow rating of 8500lbs and i only towed 3000lbs with that and it felt like it was only adequate, no way i'd throw a 3-place on it looking back. Now i feel safe that my setup is the right way to do it, though its a little pricey, so i finally went for the enclosed. Towing in the mountains and winter weather is a lot different than towing on the flat - a 1/2t would be fine for a 4 place if you never took it in the snow or up a hill. BUT Trust me, i've been down this road the wrong way and the right way - if you want to tow a big trailer, get a deisel and then the trailer. I'll never drive a 1/2ton gasser again.

 

[khaddon2110]

I have an 87 fifth ave CAR with 2.2 gears and a 318, 3500lbs is nothing behind that car with trailer brakes, Shoot a month ago I was hauling 5500lbs behind it, just acceleration was a little slow, but 65mph was easy at 2400rpm.

I've towed a 16ft enclosed behind my car with a decent load in it.. twas a little hairy.. damn trailer didn't have brakes, but driving accordingly it was all fine.

My dad's 96 ram 1500 long box extended cab with a 5.2L(318) not sure what gears, i towed a 20ft enclosed loaded to the roof(not with sleds, but I was moving, so it was taken apart desks, big heavy stuff), the bed of the truck was loaded, with a 200lbs canopy on it, with my matress strapped to the top of the canopy.. pulled it over 200miles with a dieing oil pump, no prob and decent milage, trailer didn't have brakes either.

I have a feeling that your not towing in the mountains. Or icy covered roads. Everything changes on what you can do and get away with when your looking over a guard rail 1000' down into a canyon, wind gusting, on snow covered roadway.

That being said, I'd love to see the pic of your land yacht towing a 20' enclosed trailer. Just for later use on the forum if for nothing else.

 

[khaddon2110]

Hatchers, is that you? LOL somebody 'Offtrail' using your AVI

 

[w8ing4snow]

We pulled a 3 place inline 7.5 wide with my 1500 Hemi through Cheif Joseph pass to Cooke. It did fine but in the mountains you need a a Bigger truck to get through the pass. Every hill You pretty mach are flooring the pick-up. Got around 8 miles to the gallons. Not sure a 4.7 would pull a 4 place enclosed even if it was alum. But for Flat land you probably will be fine. IMO

 

[PJ-Hunter]

OK, OK, I believe you! But, dude you need a truck, BAD!! LOL So, you beefed up the suspension? I was wondering about that!

Those trailers are small compared to an enclosed trailer. I would get a truck that is meant to tow that kind of load. From the looks of it you certainly would put it to good use, therefore worth the extra coin that it would take to be safe. Around here the wind and the icy roads would cause an enclosed trailer to push that car around all over the place. Be safe, man, and get a truck!

 

[phatty]

Screw people in their duramaxs? That hurts!

Seriously, spend the money that you have for the trailer on a truck made for towing heavy weight and then save again for the trailer. Its not worth raping your light duty truck, putting yours and other lives in danger, etc. If you can't afford it, that's cool - just buy a two place with one of those toppers and save for another day. I've gone around and around on this subject myself. I finally bit the bullet on 3/4ton HD duramax and then just bought a three place enclosed. I had older chevy 3/4ton that towed light stuff OK with its 350 but 7mpg sucked, so then stepped up to 2005 RAM 5.7 HEMI quad cab that had a tow rating of 8500lbs and i only towed 3000lbs with that and it felt like it was only adequate, no way i'd throw a 3-place on it looking back. Now i feel safe that my setup is the right way to do it, though its a little pricey, so i finally went for the enclosed. Towing in the mountains and winter weather is a lot different than towing on the flat - a 1/2t would be fine for a 4 place if you never took it in the snow or up a hill. BUT Trust me, i've been down this road the wrong way and the right way - if you want to tow a big trailer, get a deisel and then the trailer. I'll never drive a 1/2ton gasser again.

perhaps i should clarify... yes the backseat is big enough to "screw people in the duramax" and when i say people i mean male/female none of this other homo crap...

I just sold my DMAX a few months ago... freaking loved the truck!

My point was you shouldnt care that your going a little slower than the rich folks... that it shouldnt matter what people think about your truck or how slow you drive.

That being said my next truck will be a GMC denali 1500 crew cab with the 403 HP gas motor (next year i hope). It will pull a 4 place just fine and be alot easier on the pocketbook that diesel... especially at $5 a gallon (diesel) next year...

 

[Gold5th]

I have a feeling that your not towing in the mountains. Or icy covered roads. Everything changes on what you can do and get away with when your looking over a guard rail 1000' down into a canyon, wind gusting, on snow covered roadway.

That being said, I'd love to see the pic of your land yacht towing a 20' enclosed trailer. Just for later use on the forum if for nothing else.

I live in a small town in Northern Alberta, town is in a river valley, it's all hills, mind you, no not mountain. Icey roads.. we have those for over half the year.

 

[Gold5th]

OK, OK, I believe you! But, dude you need a truck, BAD!! LOL So, you beefed up the suspension? I was wondering about that!

Those trailers are small compared to an enclosed trailer. I would get a truck that is meant to tow that kind of load. From the looks of it you certainly would put it to good use, therefore worth the extra coin that it would take to be safe. Around here the wind and the icy roads would cause an enclosed trailer to push that car around all over the place. Be safe, man, and get a truck!

It was a 16' version of this I towed, they don't list the 16' on the site as they use it/them as rentals not sales.

Yeah my rear suspension stock is 4 leaf, now it's custom 5 leaf 1" over and I have load carriers, I had 200psi air shocks, but I blew a bladder so I ditched them, front has been up graded a touch, I haven't done the big brake cop brakes yet, but I am running a performance higher temp grade brakes, so they're noisy when driving normally, but grip good and quiet with little to no fade while hauling. Like I said I'm looking into a durango with a 5.7L hemi, hopefully I should be good with the 8000+lbs tow limit...

 

[dragon12]

Good god, with a durango you should be able to tow the Titanic. I guess I should give you credit though, you did make the best out of what you own.

 

[goforbroke]

I have a triton 3 place aluminum (21 foot) that I haul with a toyota tundra 4.7l 280 hp. It does just fine. A steep pass will slow me down to 60mph. It only wieghs 4000lbs loaded, so braking is not an issue with trailer brakes. I get 8-9 mpg, but 97% of my driving is not towing. I love this set up. I wouldn't want to haul a 4 place steel trailer.

 

[dragon12]

I did ok last year with my f-150 and a 4 place aluminum enclosed trailer, but going up passes was slow. Nothing like being passed by a trucker giving you the finger for being too slow in the right lane. In the end, I didn't like the feeling of my trailer pushing my truck around.

 

[renman]

Last year we used brother's 1500 Chevy, 5.3 to pull 4 sleds in my steel framed enclosed 27' Haulmark. Flat ground loaded, not to bad. Frost heaves headed up a small hill almost put us in the ditch. Heavy tounge weight threw that little pickup around way bad, back wheels almost coming off the ground on the bounces. A 3/4 ton needed to handle a four place enclosed in the hills, IMO.

 

[Gold5th]

Good god, with a durango you should be able to tow the Titanic. I guess I should give you credit though, you did make the best out of what you own.

Heh that's funny, and you know... if I thought there was a chance (like that one Chev commercial) if it actually working, I'd try it. I also know the newer vehicles aren't as under rated as the older ones

What I've found to bereally funny, when I was towing the Neon as pictured... I got funny looks from all the guys in their towing rigs with fifth wheels and pindle hitches, but when i was hauling the car on the car hauler, not one look, til I got back to town with an empty hauler(dropped the car off at a wrecker).

 

[Ultra]

This topic comes up every year. The answer is it is simple math. If your trailer weighs as much, close to or more then the tow vehicle you will find your disaster in the icy mountain roads. Its a simple ratio of tow weight vs loaded trlr weight. A safe ratio is 70/30, marginal is 60/40. My ratio is 75/25, simply put no more white knuckle drive / seat pinching for me.
I went thru 5 different trucks and 4 different trailers before I found a safe combo. I now have 1ton crew dually and a 2 place aluminum enclosed with 2 more sleds on the truck.

 

[R J]

A 1/2 ton pickup can easily pull the weight, has the ability to do it safely and all that. I would like to know when a enclosed 4 place, steel or aluminum is approaching 6K or even 7K for that matter? Most of the current day 1/2 tons can and will do this day in and day out.

I don't know about your engine though and it being a manual, probably not the best set up but it would work as long as your trailer is set up properly. Meaning proper brakes on both axels, and in this case a load distrubition hitch system would be very helpfull.

Guys, this isn't a ranger that the other guy wanted to pull an enclosed with. This truck will do it. No one needs a 3/4 or 1 ton to pull simple bumper pull enclosed trailers around. Just not needed. It's not bad to have, but it's not needed. Good tires, good brakes with a proper brake controller and a load dist. hitch and it would be perfect. Slow, but doable with ease.

 

[RJF]

This topic comes up every year. The answer is it is simple math. If your trailer weighs as much, close to or more then the tow vehicle you will find your disaster in the icy mountain roads. Its a simple ratio of tow weight vs loaded trlr weight. A safe ratio is 70/30, marginal is 60/40. My ratio is 75/25, simply put no more white knuckle drive / seat pinching for me.
I went thru 5 different trucks and 4 different trailers before I found a safe combo. I now have 1ton crew dually and a 2 place aluminum enclosed with 2 more sleds on the truck.

You are kidding right???? Your 1 ton dually probably has a GCWR of around 23K...your truck can't weigh more than 8K from the factory...


So with your calculations, I need a Kodiak Topkick to pull my 4 place enclosed safely.....no...

 

[RJF]

I see way too much emphasis on how big of an engine or HP that it takes to pull a certain size trailer.

What the original poster needs to mention is if he has a short bed regular cab or quad cab long bed, HUGE difference, and the factory GCWR numbers will reflect that.

ever wonder why you can't order that Dodge 1 ton Cummins in a reg cab short bed???? Because it would be worthless...

If he's got a long wheel base truck that will have the length to control a long wind catching trailer than he will be fine, especially with the addition of air bags or a helper spring.

Preferably, in the winter'd mountains a 3/4t or 1 ton is the best for a steel enclosed trailer. NOT horsepower, but CHASSIS strength and wheelbase minimums!

At the minimum you need about 250HP out of a small block, that will pull a steel 4 place enclosed with normal weighing sleds in the trailer. If you've got all Yamaha 4 strokes, plan on a hopped up diesel to get those pigs over a pass...{just kidding}...

A big block, mean small block, and decent diesel is nothing more than a luxury, not a neccessity.

 

[Dogmeat]

is yours a 16' including the nose, or 16' deck? I'm looking at the Triton two place trailers that are 12' deck w/ 5' nose. Figure that should be enough to haul 1-156" and 1-162" sled. Might have to start looking at the triton three place though that has the 16' bed w/ 5' nose, its only 4' longer overall.

12' deck, 4' of nose on it ...

I have to load my sleds in through the front door facing backwards otherwise I can't even use the man door to climb in the side of the trailer. If I park my 144" with the skis touching the rear door, it gives me about 1' before the nose V's in ... The 151" is about even in that respect.

I would highly recommend getting at least an 18' with at least 14' of deck. That deck space is a hell of a lot more usable than the nose space is.

If I had my 151" back right now I'd take some pictures of it to show you, but as of now all I have is the 144.

Suffice to say, I don't even have enough room to set a folding chair down in the nose and put my gear on out of the wind .... It's nice to have the trailer to keep the sleds out of the elements and for storage while I don't own my own house, but I've been wishing I would have bought the 18' ever since the first month I had this 16' ....

 

[khaddon2110]

I would like to know when a enclosed 4 place, steel or aluminum is approaching 6K or even 7K for that matter?

Well if my figures are correct, The 27' pace enclosed weighs in at just under 4,000 but we'll call it 3500 for fun. Add 4 mountain sleds, (we'll make it interesting and call em XP's) @ 500 lbs wet. You can see that it does not take much gear to get to 6k or even 7k.

We actually put 5 sleds in our 27' and so 7k would be easily reached.

Chances are you won't have 4 xp's and chances are they will weigh more than 500 each, but that is a different thread.

 

[RJF]

I would like to know when a enclosed 4 place, steel or aluminum is approaching 6K or even 7K for that matter? Most of the current day 1/2 tons can and will do this day in and day out.

Next time I'm headed out of town with all 4 sleds in one my trailers, I'll swing in and weigh it on my scale. You'll likely be very suprised.

I've always figured one of mine loaded is near 7K, and I've always said it's like pulling a 10K flatbed loaded with stuff in the mountains, due to the fact that the shear size of the enclosed trailer catches wind gusts like crazy and makes it feel fairly larger than it really is.