7,000 lb Trailers Enough?

[hammer1995]

I haul a L3130 with FEL and box blade on a 16' 7K trailer without brakes that I borrow from a friend. It's quite a nerve racking experience. I can almost guarantee that the extra weight of the BH is going to cause the trailer to sway unless it is positioned precisely. If you're gong to buy a trailer, get at least 10K and brakes.

 

[Lazy]

Hi
I use a 1 ton dually chevy with a 454 engine to pull a 7000 # trailer without trailer brakes loaded with a 100 bales of hay with no problems. each bales weigh around 60-70 pounds. but would like to have a goose neck to make backing a little easier. I have hauled a lot of cars and trucks on the trailer and never had a problem with braking. I think the dual wheels makes the difference.

Charlie.

 

[FordMan2000]

I pull a ford 2000 with FEL and box blade on an 18 foot 10k trailer with brakes on both axles, and have never had any problems, but some times would like a longer trailer to move some of the weight back off of the rear of the truck. So I say you should look at a 18 to 20 foot 10k trailer. but every one knows that the price and your budget with make the final choice for you. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

 

[Chuck_Lind]

There's a lot of rumbling about the Feds coming up with a standard for trailers in terms of brakes on a trailer. I hear that anything being towed over 3000 lbs. will require brakes on the towed unit, whether it be a trailer, car or otherwise.

 

[MarkV]

Fctadam, It sounds like you are in the same situation I was recently in. I needed a trailer to haul a smaller tractor than you and could have gotten by with 2 3500lbs. axles and still had about a 500 lbs. cushion. After looking at a good number of trailers I found the difference between 7000lbs and 10000lbs 18 ft trailers with brakes on both axles and the break away system to be right at $300. Figuring that a quality trailer will last the rest of my life and not knowing what my future towing needs, towing vehicle and future equipment might be I went with the bigger trailer. Some where along the line I would have overloaded that 7000 lbs trailer and it would only take one bad incident to cost much more than the $300.

Here on TBN bigger is always better /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif and in this case that is right. You bring a 400lbs boxblade along for the ride and you are over loaded.

MarkV

 

[Bert04]

jim, yeah it is to much weight if you loaded the trailer to max capacity. I have a new 2500hd duramax tow rated at 12,000lb, but never pull anything that heavy. I got a 16,000lb trailer because it is a tri axle with brakes on all axes. it tracks much better, does not sway and tows much nicer than a smaller 12,000lb twin axle. Empty you dont even know your towing anything.

 

[jdcork]

I pull a 7k trailer with one brake axle. On it is a NH TC35d with loader, total weight is about 4200 lbs. With brake controller properly adjusted I can definitely feel the trailer slowing the truck down. Have had several quick stops at lights and I still feel quite comfortable with the rig. Pulling it with a F150 7700GVW and it will go 70 on the interstate if I felt comfortable going that fast. I was going to get a 16 ft trailer and a friend convinced me that the 18ft was the way to go. Boy was he right! Bottom line, buy more than you think you need but not more than you have the capacity to pull comfortably.

 

[hammer1995]

For what it's worth, in my area the prices on 18 and 20 foot trailers are the same. Dealer said that the 20' was more cost effective to make because the steel came in 20' lengths and required less fabrication.

 

[GV40U]

Regarding length, I had the same experience as Hammer1995. The local trailer dealer makes 16 and 20 foot trailers, 18 foot trailers required more fabrication because of the length of steel stock. I purchased a 10,000 lb. GVWR, 2 axle, 20 foot trailer with brakes on both axles. I recently moved all my equipment including my L3430 tractor with loader and back hoe, box scraper and grapple about 400 miles. I didn't weigh the load but I was certainly close to the rated GVW. Probably the only time I will move everything at one time. The extra length (compared to a 16 or 18 foot trailer) is great. I could move things around until I got a reasonable tongue weight and I had room to haul everything in one trip.

 

[BigMike]

fctadam,
If you plan on towing often or far, get a bigger trailer. If you will have very limited travel time or distance, the 7000lb trailer (with brakes) will work okay.One great thing about TBN is all the things you can learn here in just a few minutes, both good and bad. Pulling trailers is a delicate operation even in the best of conditions. Everything is a factor, trailer weight and capacity, tow vehicle weight and capacity, hitch capacity, distribution of weight, braking capacity, tongue weight, travel speed and distance, even how many people you have in the vehicle. Exceeding safety limits of any of these factors is an invitation to disaster. Remember, regardless of how many times you get away with an unsafe practice, that practice does not become any safer.