is it safe to tow this?

[americana]

i've got a friend with a chebby that wheezes big time towing his boat (no drydock available so he towed it home for some maintenance). my question is ... . can a stock 2500 24v except for 275's and rickson's safely tow a 10,000 boat and trailer for say less than 10miles on the flat through only city streets without doing damage to anything important (hint: it's all important).



thanks guys...



p. s. only towing i've done is with trailers... . moving my tool box, cars etc. and Olga hardly knows there's anything back there.

 

[paccool]

Peter,



Thats less weight than many of the big fifth wheel trailers that a lot of the guys tow all over the country. Your 24 valve should have more power than my old 93 and I wouldn't have a problem towing that 10K load.



I'm not real sure what the question is here, but suspect the Chevy truck is part of it!

 

[Okie-Go]

I don't think you will have any trouble at all.

 

[78repowerwagon]

10,000 pounds is a piece of cake for the cummins. Just make sure you can stop good before traveling city streets.

 

[americana]

i luv you guys

and no, i don't want your beer.



thanks for the fast replies. i am a total novice with trailers. i didn't know if i had to ask about tongue weights etc.



yes the cheburban is part of the problem. i passed by yesterday to say hello and saw the monster boat. he said he really wished he had access to Olga. i offered to take the boat back (yeah... like i'd let a man foolish enough to own a chebby borrow Olga) to see how she handled that big a load.



i'll report back.

 

[Got Smoke?]

I towed my cousins 78 Phurd F-250 up some slightly steep grades this past saturday, and it was on top of a 30' Gooseneck with a 5' dove tail. Now if his phurd is anything like my old 3/4 Chevy (off road truck) it ways close to/right @ 5,000lbs, and that gooseneck weight 9,000lbs. so that's 14,000lbs that had no trouble pulling up grades in 5th gear at 60mph.



I would have downshifted for the grades, but I was out of RPM's at 60mph in 4th! I really need that 3K GSK!!:{ Oh well Christmas isn't that far away!



Sorry about the size, but the small ones just don't say much for actual size.

#ad

 

[RustyJC]

Does the boat trailer have weight distributing bars? Notice the sticker on the stock receiver - you're limited to 5000 lbs towed weight and 500 lbs tongue weight if you don't have a weight distributing hitch.



We tow 13,500 lbs (a 36' triple slide RV), but we tow it with a 5th wheel hitch.



Rusty

 

[WadePatton]

TEN miles flat-- should be able to pull anything, just keep the speed down for stopping and corners and idiots.

 

[hammersley]

Don't forget.....

You didn't mention if you had a brake controller - I assume the answer is yes!

 

[BV]

Factory hitch

I wouldn't tow 10,000 pounds on the factory hitch but I would on a gooseneck, 5th wheel or a class 5 hitch.

 

[DIESELMAN]

I'd drag the Chebby along behind so the CTD isn't underloaded!



'Like a Rock'

 

[americana]

hmmmmm

i've got the factory hitch. i've got a brake controller and i've got a bone stock auto transmission..... am i still ok?

 

[JLinder]

If it was me,

I'd do it. Only 10mi of flat city streets should be no problem if you use common sense. Take it slow, and you should be fine. The ratings on hitches are valuable, but also include a large safety and liability factor (3:1). You aren't going cross country, so I don't see any problems with what you are doing.



If you were talking about exceeding the rated capacity of your truck, then I'd feel differently.



Good luck!

 

[MidwestMotorman]

Towing heavy...

Your rig can handle it, but you have to drive very defensively. I do not know what kind of weight you will have on your rear end. Does your rig have the tow hitch recall modification done? Look for extra support bracing on the outer ends where it mounts. I have attached a pic of my rig towing a heavy trailer with a much heavier dump truck on it (Hopefully it gets on here... )



Bottom line... tow defensively. One of my lines of work often involves towing heavy. I am the fellow who rolled across a local elevator scale weighing 53140 lbs with a 93 W350 x-cab cummins towing a couple of wagons full of grain. The cummins will tow whatever you want, you just need to know how to drive appropriately, and whether or not you need to use a semi...

 

[americana]

i'll cross my fingers

and go for it!!



hitch modification was done.



i'll be driving like an old granny (no offense) as this will be the heaviest i've towed ever.



i'll let you guys know how it goes.



you've all been very helpfull and calming. i wished i had more questions more often of this side of the forum!!



talk to you soon, guys.

 

[CAT 385]

I have a 25' tandum dual wheel trailer like the one pictured above. Trailer weight is 5500 lbs, and I tow a 310SG John Deere backhoe all over the rocky mountains. Oh Yah the hoe ways 17,000 lbs. The only trouble I have its the EGTS want to climb on the long mountain passes.

 

[RDusch]

MyBoat and trailer Weighs in at 9000+ full of fuel and gear and i have towed it back and forth from Va. to South Fla. many times with no problems, with the brakes on the trailer i can stop just about as quick as without the trailer ... ... Rick

 

[TowPro]

about 3 years ago I thought there was a picture of a guy towing a train car? Maybe it was just the story without pictures.



I tow 10K lbs all the time, and try hard to remember to keep it below the speed limit

 

[WadePatton]

Re: i'll cross my fingers

Originally posted by americana

and go for it!!

i'll let you guys know how it goes.

talk to you soon, guys.

so, what happened?

 

[zjones]

LOL :-laf I tow 26,000+ Lbs. (GCW 36,000#+) & other than snapped axle to hub bolts (little mo power than stock ), I have had no problems for 170,000 miles towing this load every day. Oo.