Towing with a Tundra - FYI

Scrounger · Dec 21, 2005

Its hard to get it in writing but all hitch material and towing equipment has to be tested to three X the rated limit. We decided to see just how much we could over do this one. A class II hitch was 'attached' to a F350. We had 15,000# on the trailer and over 1200# on the tongue before it broke. All very impressive, make you feel good about the equipment that yuu have.

BUT BUT BUT, if you tow over the rating of the truck/trailer you are SCREWED BIG TIME if you get caught. We had a NY State Trooper figure the fine for us had we been pulled over pulling what we had set up and it was over $10,000 with court costs added.

We have a 7000# trailer that we wont put over 5000# on for just that reason.

Its better to eb safe than sorry.

RalphVa · Dec 22, 2005

I rented a trailer to bring my Gravely and attachments home on. That trailer was probably made to accommodate a 3000# tractor. It was a heavy beast. The Gravely and attachments were probably less than 1500# total.

Hitched to the ball on my Tacoma bumper. Pulled it fine, but I could certainly tell it was back there. My Tacoma is a stick with 140 hp 4 cylinder. Normally gets 26-27 mpg but will do 30 mpg at 85 mpg over 3 tankfuls from Louisiana to Virginia.

Once pulled a double wheel trailer from Oklahoma to California with a 1957 Olds with a V8. Couldn't really tell it was back there until you went to stop. Didn't stop very short. This is true of most trailers unless you put trailer brakes on them.

Ralph

RayH · Dec 22, 2005

IM all for safety but I also believe that safety has less to do with WHAT youre trying to accomplish and more to do with HOW you accomplish it. In other words, "unsafe" acts can be safely accomplished.
I see towing capacity as a guideline, mostly a legal guideline more than a mechanical guideline. Example: A Cherokee with a manual transmission or a four cyl. has a tow capacity of only 2000lbs and a Cherokee with a 4.0 and auto has a capacity of 5000lbs. Is it that much "safer" to tow with an auto than a manual, NO. It has nothing what so ever to do with safety. Its a number that the manufacturer came up with to take responsibilty away from them for whatever reason.

On another point. There are quite a few people on this board that tow, probably more than the average public. How many of you have actually been stopped, ticketed or had any other legal issues while towing with there personal vehicle? I'll go out on a limb and say "0". Youve got to really be doing something stupid for the law to mess with you for towing unsafely. As long as your truck, trailer and equipment are in servicable condition, no ones going to bother with you. Does anyone actually believe that officers know or care what the tow capacity of your particular vehicle is? Has anyone ever had or heard of this coming up in court? Probably not.

Farmwithjunk · Dec 22, 2005

( IM all for safety but I also believe that safety has less to do with WHAT youre trying to accomplish and more to do with HOW you accomplish it. In other words, "unsafe" acts can be safely accomplished.
I see towing capacity as a guideline, mostly a legal guideline more than a mechanical guideline. Example: A Cherokee with a manual transmission or a four cyl. has a tow capacity of only 2000lbs and a Cherokee with a 4.0 and auto has a capacity of 5000lbs. Is it that much "safer" to tow with an auto than a manual, NO. It has nothing what so ever to do with safety. Its a number that the manufacturer came up with to take responsibilty away from them for whatever reason.

On another point. There are quite a few people on this board that tow, probably more than the average public. How many of you have actually been stopped, ticketed or had any other legal issues while towing with there personal vehicle? I'll go out on a limb and say "0". Youve got to really be doing something stupid for the law to mess with you for towing unsafely. As long as your truck, trailer and equipment are in servicable condition, no ones going to bother with you. Does anyone actually believe that officers know or care what the tow capacity of your particular vehicle is? Has anyone ever had or heard of this coming up in court? Probably not. )

Well, it isn't "0", I can tell you. I've been stopped on numerous occasions. I frequently drive through an intersection of two major interstates. The Kentucky Commercial Motor Vehicle Enforcement Officers "hang out" there. They can ,and do pull over commercial as well as NON commercial vehicles at random. I've been inspected probably 10 times over the past few years. On two occasions, I was found in violation of state laws. (Over legal width by 3/4". No VISABLE DOT #. No on-board fire extinguisher.) (I'm considered commercial----Farm)

There's saftey as you or I CONSIDER it safe, There's safe as the LAW requires us to be safe, and there's safe as we inter-act with other (sometimes UNsafe) drivers on the road.

It HELPS considerably to be a safe driver/operator. It's another thing entirely to meet the scrutiny of a DOT inspection.

It's BEST to meet (or exceed) ALL those "requirements". Life's a lot less complicated when you do.

daTeacha · Dec 22, 2005

I have a Dakota. I used it to haul a big load of green lumber from the Amish mill about 3 miles away to my place on my trailer. I knew it was overloaded, but didn't want to do two trips. When I got here, I had to use the Kubota to drag it up the hill, with two people in the bucket to keep the front end down, creeper gear, and walking from side to side with the brakes as one or the other rear lost grip. The truck towed and stopped the load, but I was slow and short distance. The only uphill part was ugly since the load tended to slide off the back despite being tied down. The downhill was done very slowly.

How heavy was it? No idea. But the tongue weight was enough to bend the reinforced bumper hitch on the truck and the thing was still a little too tail heavy.

A truck will haul a lot, just don't do it very often.

tjkadar · Dec 22, 2005

We've been pulled more then once while hauling pretty big loads of square bales. Both times, we were required to drive up on portable scales and both times we were well within our weight limits. Whenever we get a new trailer, we'll load them up and take them to the scales so that we know what we're moving. Beat guessing and only costs $8.00.

I've seen two 1/2 ton trucks that were taken for a ride by their trailers while hauling a 28 ~35 hp tractor. One ended up upside down in a ditch. The other wound up smashing into two parked vehicles. Neither was traveling very fast when it all went wrong in a very quick and final manner.

Towing a heavy load with a Tundra can be done. But it had better be a short, slow, and infrequent trip. Myself, I would not be comfortable hauling that much poundage with such a small truck. YMMV

RayH · Dec 22, 2005

[quote (Over legal width by 3/4". No VISABLE DOT #. No on-board fire extinguisher.) (I'm considered commercial----Farm)

)

The key there is that you are considered commercial. Im talking private vehicles.

RayH · Dec 22, 2005

I stand by what Ive said, If youve got a private or personal vehicle and your load is tied down safely and you are towing it safely, the officials dont care if its 1000lbs over weight.
Ive never seen a bunch of doomsdayers like on this site. I hope I dont get pulled over by the owners manual police or maybe they will check inside the door of my Cherokee and add up the axle ratings or do they have a list of every vehicle and its tow capacity.
Note that Im not advocating anyone overloading their private vehicle, Im just simply saying that no one cares. No one is out there looking for someone towing 7000lbs with their 1/2 pickup and they dont care what kind of transmission or engine it has.

gobbler · Dec 22, 2005

(
Incidentally, adding margin to tow rating is rediculous IMHO - as an engineer, I can tell you that EVERYTHING is specified with considerable margin already, and something that could have significant litigous ramifications will have HUGE margins built in - you can trust me on that one. )

Is it just me, or is this the typical engineer response. I bet I've read this a hundred times on this forum when topics such as this come up.

Now, here's a business school, MBA grad response .... WHY TAKE THE CHANCE. It only takes one incident and you'll be facing a stack of legal papers 10' tall.

I'm also one of those paranoid RV's that you spoke about. Why do you think we are paranoid? Could it be that in a typical year I tow about 8-10K miles. Could it be that I've been in towing situations that the normal short haul tower like yourself will never see or experience. When carrying my 5th wheel, I've got about 12K pound behind me and my family with with as well as respect for the rest of the motoring public.

You owe it to yourself and others to operate a tow vehicle as safely as possible, and you're not by knowingly exceeding your limits.

TheKid · Dec 22, 2005

( The key there is that you are considered commercial. Im talking private vehicles )

Depending on what state your in, your private truck may be a commercial vehicle. Under Missouri law every pickup is a commerial vehicle.