Towing a heavy tag trailer.

[SSage]

The biggest thing I pull is a 24' flat deck over axle dove tail tag trailer with a pintel hitch. It's 30' LOA and about 8' wide. Now, its already almost 5K unloaded. My loads vary, if I pull the tractor 10k, load it down with lumber, 12K to 14K comes quick. So, I think I need a WD set up to be safe in the eyes of the DOT officers.



My front end is never "light", the trailer supports most of the load. I balance the load over the axels of the trailer. The truck pulls it great, no sway, no bucking loaded. Its a rough ride empty when the pintel is light. The whole set up rides level if I can get the weight back far enough. My tractor loads the hitch more than lumber loads, because it takes up all the deck room with the loader and bush hog attached.



What would you guy's use on an 03 3500 dually for a WD set up pulling an equipment trailer? Have you seen one that will work with a trailer made from 8" I beams or bigger? I do have a ball type hitch that bolts to the trailer along with the combo pintel I'm using now. I use the pintel/ball type so I can use the 2" ball for my small trailer or the pintel for the larger trailers without changing the draw bar / ball mount. Hope that makes sense.



I've never pulled this heavy with a tag trailer, so I don't know what I can get away with. The following pics are of my trailer almost fully loaded with about 150 4x6s and 4x4's, its a good load. Notice the truck is not very low in the back, I'll also need a bed full of sugar water for my newer bee hives. The truck still rides level with that kind of load, what a truck.



#ad




#ad




#ad

 

[GMichaels]

legal limit

Here in NY the legal limit for towing from the bumper on a pickup is 14k. pintles are hard on the drive train, unless your running a with an absorbor.

 

[y-knot]

I pulled a tag trailer that was just under the 10,000lb limit, of coarse this was with a weight distributing type hitch set-up. The factory hitch on my truck is 5000lb/10,000WD. I would never go over the 10K limit with the factory hitch, it's just not smart. In fact now that my hitch is older and it's been several years since I hauled a tag trailer, I would replace it before I hauled a heavey load again. They were not built all that heavy new, and with the age,deteriation, and stress it is time for something new. I would recomend going to a class V reciever hitch, they are very strong and tie into the frame with some additional mounting bolts. Most will take the legal limit up to 12,500lb. That is the limit for the hitch, you would have to check your truck rating to see if it could haul that much. The added peace of mine is well worth the extra money.

 

[Turboman]

I figure if pulling the sled didn't hurt it, it must be pretty tough. I pull 12-13k all the time, as much as 16-17 with a backhoe on trailer and 2 5/16 ball. No cracks as of yet.

 

[SSage]

I'll see how this run goes, I'll be running heavy for about 140 miles. It will be the longest trip I've made with the trailer just about maxed. I like the higher rating of the pintel, my ball is rated for 8K. Its a real pain in traffic though. I need to find a HD ball. Just a couple tons of lime on pallets will put me close to 9K total weight, I guess they make 12K rated balls? I know of travel trailers over 8K dry.