Dangerous Towing

[cyborg]

Thanks to this board and a couple of sightings on a recent trip, I've been paying attention to whats towing what.



The most notable this week has been: GMC AstroVan (?1/4T?) pulling a 28' boat, and damn that boat looked big behind that little van. F150 pulling a BIG TT, springs bottomed out. Dodge Ram 1500 pulling a big 5th wheel. Toyota T100 pulling a 5th wheel. Yesterday was an F150, 5th wheel, 70 mph.



I'm sure this has been happening but I just didn't notice unless the frame was on the axles.



There should be a point where the people installing this stuff on ultra-light pick-ups should "just say no!".



Are they ignorant and don't know or are they stupid and don't care?

Is there no liability?

Do they only get cited after an accident?

 

[DragonflyDriver]

I saw a Mazda Miati with an 18' V-Hull runabout behind it. They were pulled slightly off the road into the median.

 

[Jumbo Jet]

Just returned from Pigeon Forge, TN and saw a Dodge Caravan with a large popup camper trailer jack-knifed in the median of I-40.



I was passed one day (I was driving 65 mph pulling my 31' 5th wheel) by a Dodge Caravan pulling a 22' CrownLine I/O boat.



There are lots of dangerous towing being done on the roads!!

 

[CumminsBurban]

I know a person who pulls a 24' camper and a 20' boat behind that. Now, he is pulling with a GM 6. 5 diesel 1/2 ton. He says it works pretty well and doesn't sway much but it sure scares me.



Shane

 

[Nate]

How do you back that up? haha.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

YEAH - but don't EVER try to convince them that what they're doing is unsafe or illegal - or you'll just get a FULL ration of #@$%! :-{} ...

 

[JRD]

I saw a guy with a Dodge 1500 V6 towing a 22' 5er and a small toy hauler behind that. I saw a Dodge and a decent load so I thought for sure it was a diesel. I caught up to him and I heard that poor little straight piped V6 gasser reving to the moon. I dont see that poor motor lasting much longer if he does this on a regular basis.

 

[wtfd6]

i remember going down rt 20 here in ohio one day. i caught up to and passed a guy with a 3/4 ton dodge pulling about a 30' tt. and hooked up to it was a car trailer with a full size gm car on it. actually i think it was an old el camino. i couldnt believe it. that cummins was grunting.



mark



but these days that doesnt seem like a big deal. after owning a cummins. haha. i just couldnt get over the fact that it wasnt a 5er it was a tt.

 

[TKingsbury]

I've been seeing lots of small pick-ups pulling TTs lately. Not really big mind you, and maybe not too heavy, but still look too sketchy for an S-10 type truck. I saw a guy in an F-150 a while back towing a heavy duty 20' trailer with 2" steel sides on it with some dirt and a full-size Bobcat on it. You could tell the truck wasn't up to that, it looked like the trailer was driving the truck.

Travis. .

 

[GCross]

I know a person who pulls a 24' camper and a 20' boat behind that. Now, he is pulling with a GM 6. 5 diesel 1/2 ton.

Does GM put diesels in half tons?



-George-

 

[RustyJC]

They did with the 5. 7L Olds conversion, the 6. 2L and the 6. 5L.



Rusty

 

[Joe G.]

Does GM put diesels in half tons?



-George-

I have a friend with one of them in a Blazer.

 

[Turbo Tim 1]

I was late for work one day while they cleared the road out, some moron was trying to tow a 33-35 foot TT with a 80's vintage Ford bronco. He ended up upside down and across three lanes of traffic. A week later a guy died locally because he was towing a larger trailer with a little SUV and took a dump with that too.

 

[formula]

Guy I know was pulling a TT with his Durango. After about 3000 mi the rear tires were worn down to the belts and he complained that he couldn't do over 50mph. I told him he was a real DA and should get a bigger truck or a smaller trailer before someone gets killed #@$%! #@$%!



Sean

 

[rrausch]

I've driven I-40 West from the Colorado River several times the last few summers. I generally am coming across the Mojave desert with no load. That stretch of road is about 150 miles of nothing but desert, with few cops, so I'll be driving along about 70, sometimes 75 and I ALWAYS get passed by at least 4-5 morons driving black Ford Expeditions towing fairly large boats. These guys think nothing of towing at 85-90 along that stretch.



It's not just the towers. The young woman (cute too!) who used to cut my hair was complaining about her boyfriend's truck. Seems he had a '90's Toyota pickup with a big camper on the back. Twice he has broken axles while humming along about 65 or 70 mph. Twice the truck has gone off the road and twice he has escaped serious injury. I dropped by their house one day on purpose, and we "just happened" to talk about trucks, and I tried to explain to him that Toyota was overloaded, and if he was gonna carry that much of a load he needed to get a bigger truck. He seemed miffed that I had dared criticize him.

 

[CumminsBurban]

Does GM put diesels in half tons?



-George-

They did with everything until the Duramax because nothing had enough torque to concern the 1/2 ton. The Duramax is put in a 3/4 ton at the smallest. Also, you can no longer get a Suburban with a diesel because they don't put theDuramax in the Suburban yet.



CB

 

[bmoeller]

A week later a guy died locally because he was towing a larger trailer with a little SUV and took a dump with that too.

The gene pool got a bit of a cleaning.

 

[macdaddy]

OK, my turn!!!

A F-250 extended cab PSD with an 8" lift 35" BFG's. Behind it a 40' weekend warrior Toy Box Red Mountain Ca. He's usually there I'll snap a pic the next time I see it.



Mac

 

[surfbeetle]

Does GM put diesels in half tons?



-George-

Yes, but my 1500 diesel suburban is identical to the 3/4 tons with the exception of the rear end gear ratio. 3. 73's = 1/2 ton and 4. 10's = 3/4 ton. With that said, I still only tow a 7,000 lb trailer with my dodge and nothing with my chevy.

 

[JasonCzerak]

Towing with an XJ

I used to do weekly hauling of an 1985 Sea Ray 18' i/o boat with my '93 XJ. The springs were re-arched (factory defect I found later). it sat nice with the fixed srpings. the relativly stock 4. 0 tugged nice. Break power could be better. I suppose it was close to 4000 pounds?



The most I have ever had behind my jeep was my dad's Ford 1320 tractor + mower deck + frontend loader on double axel car trailer. That thing didn't wanna stop. Good thing I was doing no more then 45mph on an early sunday morning with zero traffic. I have unlimited breaking distance and no one to complain about slow accelerating. I know I was over loaded, but we didn't have a truck and I picked a time and roads well.



With the Hesco 4. 7 kit installed in the XJ, it pulls really well just doesn't stop worth a damn. It's now just a toy. I pulled that jeep on the trailer with my truck. forgot it was behind me!