Trailer towing for dummies

What is he selling thats so special?

 

Interesting, I guess Dodge finally figured out how to build a transmission. I had a grand caravan, and I think the first transmission went at 80 to 90k. Rebuilt it and bad again before 125k. It only towed a dirt bike trailer a couple of times.

 

WHAT LAW?

 

^that
Gvw for a taco is around 5500. By the law that’s not a CMV. By his registration he’s an owner carrying his junk in his trailer, not for hire. All that DOT cop crap is not relevant.

 

I towed a 5500 lb travel trailer with my suburban and it was fine until I got to mountains. Even there it wasn't bad but my Father-in-law kept up the mountain going 55 mph towing his 15,000 lb fifth wheel with his f450 while I slowed to roughly 35 mph. His trans temp didn't creep quite as high as mine did either on the same grade.

I can't imagine towing anything of heft with a Tacoma or smaller.

 

Knowledge and experience is a bunch of it. The fact that he does not just take off the shelf hitches and slap a trailer on it. They custom build the hitch for the vehicle, which can actually take the stresses of a weight distributing hitch. And spend the time to setup correctly.

 

Thata alot of liability these days....
Whoops....Canada, never mind.

 

Don't believe there is any type of law for this. But I believe in some states people de-rate trailers because the registration fee goes up with a higher weight rating.

 

Also can be an issue for parkways, which have a max combined GVWR of 10,000LB. My Touareg and 5200lb rated trailer go over that, so I can't take the GW parkway or BWI parkway when towing. If I had 4000lb rating on the trailer I could. Costs me a few minutes to go around, but the narrow lanes on the GW would suck for towing anyway.

 

Not all States have a law concerning GWR, but ten of them do. If your trailer weighs more than its GWR in those States, you're doing it wrong.

As it has to do with brakes, quite a few States have laws regarding unladen trailer weights.
One State, if your unladen trailer weighs more than 1000 lbs, it must have brakes. In a number of other States, that weight is 1500lbs. This has nothing to do with whether those trailers are rated for less than 3000 or not.
Other States list the unladen weight requiring brakes as a percentage of the tow vehicles unladen weight. The typical percentage is 40...if your trailer weighs 1600lbs and your tow vehicle weighs 3999 lbs empty, your trailer has to have brakes even if the MFGs GWR is only 2990 lbs.
That's not all the additional governing...and I'm not talking about commercial vehicles. This is recreational/utility.

 

But thats only relevant if you live and register in those states. We, in the free states are still allowed to pass thru with our “unlawful” trailers.

 

Hey, questions were asked, and they were relevant to my comment so, I was answering.
BTW, there's reciprocity, or not, as well.

 

Electric brakes don't draw enough juice to worry about. All you're doing is energizing a magnet.

 

If he, or someone at their place of business is pulling a 30' travel trailer with a Dodge Caravan......He or the person doing it is DUMB! Bucket of COAL .....DUMB!

 

I know what's coming.....and I'll take one for the team!

This guys says...."What y'all talkin' 'bout!? Shutty with all that noncents!! Just hook'er up and go boy!!"

 

The only thing relevant to my situation regarding FL law is posted below. I'm getting a trailer with GVWR of over #3000, so I'll need trailer brakes. Honestly guys, if it was just me alone in the truck, I would slap the crap in the trailer and just go, but I've had a 5x10 loaded with tools, concrete bags, likely at the 3500 limit or damn close and the Taco didn't stop well in situations where either myself or someone around me wasn't paying attention.
If it means brakes and upgrades to the truck, it will be done and actually the wife just said she's disappointed I'm not getting a new truck because the Taco "smells like sweaty lumber and concrete."

You're right Ben, I find nothing regarding legality of towing beyond a vehicle's capacity, although I would never do it considering my above experience.

Florida Trailer Brake Laws

Every such vehicle and combination of vehicles shall be equipped with service brakes adequate to control the movement of and to stop and hold such vehicle under all conditions of loading, and on any grade incident to its operation.

Every vehicle shall be equipped with brakes acting on all wheels except trailers, semi trailers, or pole trailers of a gross weight not exceeding 3,000 lbs., provided that the total weight on and including the wheels of the trailer or trailers shall not exceed 40 percent of the gross weight of the towing vehicle when connected to the trailer or trailers; and the combination of vehicles, consisting of the towing vehicle and its total towed load, is capable of complying with the performance requirements of the law.

 

Hey he is competitor dealer of mine so I don't always agree with it but just blindly calling it stupid does not explain why it is stupid. What part is do you believe is 'dumb as coal'? What is your reasoning? He has proven the concept for years.

 

spot on.. thats why I hunted so long for a single axle with brakes but they are great to have

 

In the towing world, there are many factors to consider when dragging a trailer behind a tow vehicle....GVWR of the tow vehicle, GVWR of the towed vehicle, Axle ratings of the tow vehicle (both front and rear), Payload capacity of the tow vehicle, payload capacity of the towed vehicle, tongue weight, based on the towed weight of the trailer, GVCWR of the combination of the tow and towed vehicle, and probably a couple I'm missing right now. Here is an example of some of the tow vehicle weight ratings for a 2015 Dodge Caravan.....I have no idea what year his is, but it really doesn't matter too much...they are all about the same....a VAN!
Towing capacity: 3,600 lbs
Payload Capacity: 1,567 to 1,729 lbs
P metric tires.....not LT

I'm not even going to try and search for the GAWR for the front and rear axles.....the towing capacity blows a 30' travel trailer being towed right out of the water. A Dodge Caravan is more suited to towing a pop up camper or a 15' fishing boat....not a 30' travel trailer. Like I said......somebody is waaaaay overloaded is what you say is true.....and honestly, if the guy is as sharp as you say he is about W.D. hitch setup (it ain't rocket science), then he knows he's way overloaded and still continues to do it.....which is even worse than just being un-informed or stupid!

 

The thing is though he does his research and knows that vehicles here have different tow ratings that their exact counterparts in Europe. And what transmissions are actually rated for, by the likes of Aisin and Getrag and ZF. Not just what Chrysler and GM Or Ford says. And has customers who have thousands of miles on their setups. He calculates tire size changes to improve handling and into final drive ratios. GVWs are never a concern with most vehicles as they all can take the extra 500-800lbs of weight applied to the hitches. He weighs axles after setups to confirm that they are iwithin the limits of tire ratings.

Fun fact. The original 3L 140hp Dodge Caravan with a 3spd trans from 1986 had a 3500lb tow rating. The new Caravan with a 3.6L and 6spd and 290hp has the same tow rating.