Trailering question

[vicar]

Recent discussions have convinced me that if I want to trailer my BX24 with FEL BH, etc., I should be looking for a dual axle trailer with brakes. I saw one advertised rated at 7000# for a not unreasonable price. Here is my question: Can I legally pull a trailer rated at 7000# with my Nissan Frontier 4X4 rated to trailer 6100#. Even figuring that the trailer weighed 1500# or so, there's no way that my load would exceed 4500#. Is that legal? Is it safe?

The truck has a trailer package with a 6pin connector. Does that provide for control of the electric trailer brakes, or are there other considerations? So far I have only used it to pull my light utility trailer with no issues.

Thanks.

John

[wushaw]

Well I know in my state you can. You may need to ck your state requiremnts.

Yes the 6 pin is for trailer brakes and a charge wire for a battery.

[RichT]

Yes, the dual axle (tandem) trailer should work nicely. Before I sold my BX22, I trailered it around using my 7000# rated car hauler.

Using your figures, as long as your loaded trailer weight doesn't exceed the 6100# vehicle rating you should be fine. Make sure you position the load to keep the tongue weight between 10-15% of the load. This is an often overlooked, but critical factor in towing.

You'll need an electronic brake controller. It should work through the existing connector. Some truck manufacturers provide a brake controller hookup harness.

[Ductape]

Around here, if you ran into the right cop, you'd be in trouble. All you need to do is have the capability to excede your trucks limitations to get a ticket (and most likely, your trailer towed away). But...... with that being said, i'd go with the odds. And the odds are you'd never be bothered as long as you are not using your truck/trailer/tractor commercially in any way. You can, by the way, get a two axle trailer with a lighter rating to match your Nissan's towing capacity.... but you'd most likely need to order it as most dealers wouldn't want to keep something odd like that in stock.

As a side note....... be sure you use properly rated (and placed) tie downs with the ratings permanently affixed to them. Straps will have a tag permanently sewn onto them, and chains with a metal tag stamped with their ratings on them. Always go by the "Working Load Limits", and NOT the breaking strength. Alot of the big box stores have the breaking strengths in bold letters indicating the straps are rated much higher than they really are. Its terribly decieving.... look for the working load limits which keeps the maufacturers intended safety factors in check.

[mswlogo]

Get a load leveling hitch. Makes all the diffenrence in the world.

[Berniep]

Originally Posted by Ductape

Around here, if you ran into the right cop, you'd be in trouble. All you need to do is have the capability to excede your trucks limitations to get a ticket (and most likely, your trailer towed away). But......

I think this is ridiculous. Every semi truck on the road has the "capability" to exceed the trucks limitations. You can't go around punishing people based on what is possible. If that were the case then every driver would be ticketed for speeding the second they started the car.

[LarryRB]

Originally Posted by Berniep

I think this is ridiculous. Every semi truck on the road has the "capability" to exceed the trucks limitations. You can't go around punishing people based on what is possible. If that were the case then every driver would be ticketed for speeding the second they started the car.

not ridiculous. I am a mile from the Union CT scale house and they go out of their way to find smaller pulled trailers, busses, small rental trucks and the like that think they are exempt from crossing a scale,, They don't scale me when I cross, they do however come outside and make sure there is a schedule 70 chain with binder, one on each corner plus another around my backhoe crowd stick. I don't know where in NECT this guy is, that would tell a lot about what he can do..

[Ductape]

Berniep..... it is crazy, isn't it? But.... unfortunately true. Law enforcement officers today are trained to use every grey area in the laws to generate REVENUE ! Its not about reasonable responsibility or reasonable safety anymore.

Hopefully the original poster will stay away from Union Ct. at all costs. LarryRB is 100% correct about that area.....an area i know all too well ! When the law decides they want a look at your vehicle, 9 times out of 10, they WILL find something to write you a ticket for.

If this type of enforcement isn't yet going on where you live, don't worry, its coming. Its just the way police are trained nowadays. If you think this stuff is bad, wait till your state discovers the "view tax" !!

[LarryRB]

Duct

Is your "view" tax the same as ours where a home on a hill can "view" a body of water, it therefore adds ten grand to the value of the home? If you are aware of my area, and travel through, e-mail me, I am 75 yards off the first interstate exchange when you cross into CT on I 84

[KeithInSpace]

I just bought a trailer rated for 10,400# to accompany my Expedition rated for 9,400#. Every source available official source told me that there was not a problem with this configuration unless I actually LOAD the trailer to beyond the GVWR of the entire rig.

I only got the heavier trailer (vs. 7,000#) because of the deal I got, but it will be nice when I need to haul a few yards of sand or stone.

I've never considered stopping at a weigh station. Does a personal vehicle have to do that?

And regarding the APPEARANCE of the tow rig in general, that will probably go VERY far in keeping you out of any trouble for the slightly mis-matched truck/trailer combination. I have seen some TERRIBLE circumstances with folks with legal trailers and legal loads where the rear bumper of the truck is dragging on the ground and the trailer is all over the place. Bind the tractor down with chains and get a WD hitch to keep things nice and flat at all times and that would make a big difference in how the tow LOOKS. And I would think that would make someone less likely to look twice at you.

One think I will say, though: That WD hitch head is pretty ominous. It's HUGE! I'm not done mounting mine since the one that came didn't have enough drop, but I'll post some pictures. The combination of shank, head, and bars is probably pushing 80# alone. Makes me feel better, though...the entire hitch/receiver assembly would have to tear out of the back of my truck for me to lose the trailer, because that shank assembly sure ain't going nowhere.