toy hualers and towing

[roon101]

i have never towed a toy hauler but i know some of you guys have them
i own a heavy half ton gmc. truck wight wise i can probley easly haul as much as a 3/4 ton but i was woundering how heavy are these toy haulers
lets say one that carrys 3 atv's one full size sportsman and 2 mid size 250's

would i be heaver they say hauling a 1/2 ton van a car trailer that is the lagest thing i have towed and my truck pulled it just fine all the way to orgen.

i want to buy one but i am fearfull it may be to much for my truck to handle any advice and picuters of rigs and set ups would be cool too.

[DAVE]

I have a 26 ft toyhauler, loaded it is 10,000 lbs. I tried to pull it with a 97 chev Z71 1/2 ton truck........truck was not desiged to do that much work. Pulling the trailer is one thing...stoping is another.

I purchased a 3/4 ton ford with the power stroke.......perfect truck for the job.

DAVEF

[Mr. Green]

most 1/2 tons, have a cap around 10k. In real life you should only use about 80% of what they say is max. With that said you can do several things to make a 1/2 ton pull better such as a weight distrubition hitch, helper bags, and of course oem tires are not going to hold up well. I pull a 6-7 k toy hauler all over the place with no issue's but i have also towed around a dump trailer with about 11-12k short distance and i wouldnt want to haul that much weight long distance. I find that my max carry load on my truck comes into play more then the tow weight issue mines 1600-1800 so minues people , gas , tools , gear etc from that and that will give you a weight to work with for a tongue weight of a trailer.

[Mr. Green]

I have a 26 ft toyhauler, loaded it is 10,000 lbs. I tried to pull it with a 97 chev Z71 1/2 ton truck........truck was not desiged to do that much work. Pulling the trailer is one thing...stoping is another.

I purchased a 3/4 ton ford with the power stroke.......perfect truck for the job.

DAVEF

thats a heavy trailer for a 26 footer, is that total length or usable interior space? 4 season? with how many toy's?

[ontherks]

Just to give to some more weight numbers.
I had a 37' toyhauler, Loaded it was 18k lbs, I towed it with 3 diffrent trucks, 03 F350 SRW, 06 F350 SRW and a 07 dodge 3500.

All towed the trailer fine, and with 3 axles on the trailer all having brakes I could stop great.

I did put airbags on all the trucks, since they would bottom on bumps.
But I had over 5k lbs of hitch weight.

Now my enclosed bumper pull only weighed just over 10k lbs loaded.
I would rather pull the 18k lb 5th wheel any day over the 10K lb bumper pull, even with a weight distribution hitch.

[Ken]

Just to give to some more weight numbers.
I had a 37' toyhauler, Loaded it was 18k lbs, I towed it with 3 diffrent trucks, 03 F350 SRW, 06 F350 SRW and a 07 dodge 3500.

All towed the trailer fine, and with 3 axles on the trailer all having brakes I could stop great.

I did put airbags on all the trucks, since they would bottom on bumps.
But I had over 5k lbs of hitch weight.

Now my enclosed bumper pull only weighed just over 10k lbs loaded.
I would rather pull the 18k lb 5th wheel any day over the 10K lb bumper pull, even with a weight distribution hitch.

The key note here for AJ...is all are 3/4 ton.

Bottomline....I wouldn't tow ANYTHING over about 8000 with a 1/2. They just aren't made for it......Axles, tranny, springs ...you can add bags...you can upgrade the tranny......but you can't change the fact the truck just doesn't weigh that much.

I would give up your towhauler dreams until you get a 3/4 ton....not unless you want to kill your truck or worse, you or someone else.

[ontherks]

I have to agree with Ken. Get a bigger truck first. And then if you can get a 5th wheel, they tow much nicer.

[Kendo]

AJ - you've seen my trailer, 26 foot Weekend Warrior bumper pull. As stated here, it's about 10K with quads, water, fuel and all our crap. I have a 2500 Chevy with Dmax and Allison. I have 0 issues. However, no way in hehl I would try to pull that thing with a half ton. Brakes, trans, springs, axles - damn near everything is smaller and not up to the task in the half ton. Nothing against your truck, just nature of the beast.

If you wanted a TH, I would say stick to something in the under 25 foot range, or a lite weight model. As far as hauling the quads, I see no problem with what you're proposing. Put the full size Poo in first, over the axles, then load the two middies side by side in the rear. Probably wouldn't be any heavier than mine with two full size Poo's.

Pay attention to hitch weight too. Mine is around 1200-1300 lbs. You want to stay under 1000 on your truck, and closer to 800 or so would be my goal.

One last thing, stay away from Weekend Warrior, they are heavy pigs. They do make a lite model, and the major difference is the components used to make the interior. I would recommend finding something that weighs about 5k unloaded, that would give you enough cushion to fill with water, fuel and gear.