Faced reality and had to sell my...

[Roadcuda]

Dakota! Don't remember if I mentioned it but friend and I partnered on a trailer to haul the bird to Carlisle this year. After talking to people around here I thought my Dakota would possibly be up to the task. Well, it wasn't! :brickwall: This truck wasn't set up at all for towing. It has just the regular spring setup. I had bought a hitch for it but when we hooked it up with the car on the trailer it sat way too low, even with a weight distribution system on it. So I found an '03 Ram with the 5.7 Hemi and has the tow package. It has 118k on it which is triple that of the Dakota which is why it was hard to part with that truck. I had hoped it would be the last one I would buy. Picked it up today and put just over a 100 miles on it doing errands. Had to punch it a couple of times and it really does set you back in the seat! :drive: I just hope the Ram turns out to be as dependable as the Dakota was!

 

[droptop]

Re: Faced reality and had to see my...

Wise choice Steve. A Dakota is not big enough to haul that kind of load. Across town, maybe, on the interstate...no way.

 

[69hemibeep]

Re: Faced reality and had to see my...

Wise choice Steve. A Dakota is not big enough to haul that kind of load. Across town, maybe, on the interstate...no way.

I have a 1500 4wd 360 with tow package and I would say its adequate to tow my runner on an open trlr, but it tends to run hot when towing. No way would I attempt an enclosed trlr

 

[Roadcuda]

Re: Faced reality and had to see my...

This one is a 4x2 1500 and we have an 16' open trailer.

 

[george68hemirr]

Re: Faced reality and had to see my...

cool.....congrats HEMI STEVE

 

[Basketcase]

looks like you slipped a little to the dark side there Steve :acme:

 

[ACME A12]

Good choice, Steve. Another case of having to select the right tool for the job. :cheers:

 

[Roadcuda]

looks like you slipped a little to the dark side there Steve :acme:

Not too far Dave, this is my trucks we're talking about here! The birds will always be green!!! :yesnod:

 

[Roadcuda]

Good choice, Steve. Another case of having to select the right tool for the job. :cheers:

Yeah, I know what you mean Ray. It's just that I've always preferred the Dakota's and I really like this truck. But as the title says, I just knew it wasn't up to the task at hand. But the replacement was a no brainer on what it was going to be!

 

[Big John]

You are going to be happier with the bigger truck for towing.

That said.... The weight distribution system should have made up for the tongue weight. Somethings wrong with the setup if it didn't. You have to get that right with the big truck too.

10% of the combined weight should be your tongue weight. On a 16' trailer, (IMHO, too short) chances are the rear tires of your Roadrunner are going to just be on the trailer with the rest overhanging the rear. You can check it with a bathroom scale set up with a fulcrum made of some wood.

Here's an old picture showing just what the weight bars can do!

 

[69hemibeep]

Behind my motor home with a 16ft trlr I can put the front of the car up to the end of the deck of the trlr. Behind my truck without bars its 1 1/2 foot back, still enough deck but looks a little odd. With the bars I would think you could pull it all the way up. Take in account the weight of a hemi vs 383 and you could fill the runner with gas and put your luggage in the trunk to help lighten the tongue a little

 

[Big John]

Behind my motor home with a 16ft trlr I can put the front of the car up to the end of the deck of the trlr. Behind my truck without bars its 1 1/2 foot back, still enough deck but looks a little odd. With the bars I would think you could pull it all the way up. Take in account the weight of a hemi vs 383 and you could fill the runner with gas and put your luggage in the trunk to help lighten the tongue a little

The tongue weight should still be 10% to 15% no matter what you are towing with. While too much weight on the tongue is better than than too little, you are still adding stress to the hitch. You might not feel it on your RV, too much tongue weight will push the rear of a pickup around under braking and steering. Too little and the trailer can sway (read crash).

Here's a really good site about setting up the tongue weight and towing in general.

http://www.eyershitch.com/trailer-weight.html

 

[Roadcuda]

Behind my motor home with a 16ft trlr I can put the front of the car up to the end of the deck of the trlr. Behind my truck without bars its 1 1/2 foot back, still enough deck but looks a little odd. With the bars I would think you could pull it all the way up. Take in account the weight of a hemi vs 383 and you could fill the runner with gas and put your luggage in the trunk to help lighten the tongue a little

I'm still trying to figure out how to use that system. We tried placing the car in a couple of places to change the weight balance and it didn't help. The farthest back it sat was with the rear tires just at the top top of the dove tail part of the ramp. When I drove the car onto the trailer it lifted the back of the truck up close to a foot until the trailer took the cars weight! At least I knew that the hitch ball was locked in properly! After seeing the springs on trucks that were set up for towing I realized that the springs on my old truck weren't going to take the load. I though of adding either helper springs or maybe even air bags knowing how much weight they support on the big rigs I drive but knew that it may still not solve the problem. This is a new kind of towing for me. I've spent the last 35 years in big rigs pulling 48' trailers at weights up to 80,000lbs and I know that this is a bit different kind of towing. I hope to get the car on the trailer today and get this thing set up. I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes!

 

[Roadcuda]

Behind my motor home with a 16ft trlr I can put the front of the car up to the end of the deck of the trlr. Behind my truck without bars its 1 1/2 foot back, still enough deck but looks a little odd. With the bars I would think you could pull it all the way up. Take in account the weight of a hemi vs 383 and you could fill the runner with gas and put your luggage in the trunk to help lighten the tongue a little

The tongue weight should still be 10% to 15% no matter what you are towing with. While too much weight on the tongue is better than than too little, you are still adding stress to the hitch. You might not feel it on your RV, too much tongue weight will push the rear of a pickup around under braking and steering. Too little and the trailer can sway (read crash).

Here's a really good site about setting up the tongue weight and towing in general.

http://www.eyershitch.com/trailer-weight.html

Thanks John, it's bookmarked for future reference.

 

[Big John]

I'm still trying to figure out how to use that system. We tried placing the car in a couple of places to change the weight balance and it didn't help. The farthest back it sat was with the rear tires just at the top top of the dove tail part of the ramp. When I drove the car onto the trailer it lifted the back of the truck up close to a foot until the trailer took the cars weight! At least I knew that the hitch ball was locked in properly! After seeing the springs on trucks that were set up for towing I realized that the springs on my old truck weren't going to take the load. I though of adding either helper springs or maybe even air bags knowing how much weight they support on the big rigs I drive but knew that it may still not solve the problem. This is a new kind of towing for me. I've spent the last 35 years in big rigs pulling 48' trailers at weights up to 80,000lbs and I know that this is a bit different kind of towing. I hope to get the car on the trailer today and get this thing set up. I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes!

I sold one of my son's cars (a Saab, he loves those Saabs) on Ebay and when the guy came to pick it up with his trailer, I drove it up on the trailer for him. As I got to the top of the ramps, the tongue of the trailer came up! Turns out the trailer hitch was never latched. He towed that trailer about 80 miles like that.

You might have to bring the car back a bit more. Don't be afraid to locate the rear tires on the beavertail. It will be fine there.

Since we're talking about trailering, do you have good tie down straps?

 

[69hemibeep]

Like John said I scaled it behind the truck and do to the axel placement on my 16ft trlr a few inches changes tongue weight allot. Once I got it where I wanted it I screwed a board down in front of a tire to bump against for quicker loading. Oh and trlr brakes are a must in my book, stops better and gets rid of trlr push during braking on curves.

 

[69hemibeep]

I'm still trying to figure out how to use that system. We tried placing the car in a couple of places to change the weight balance and it didn't help. The farthest back it sat was with the rear tires just at the top top of the dove tail part of the ramp. When I drove the car onto the trailer it lifted the back of the truck up close to a foot until the trailer took the cars weight! At least I knew that the hitch ball was locked in properly! After seeing the springs on trucks that were set up for towing I realized that the springs on my old truck weren't going to take the load. I though of adding either helper springs or maybe even air bags knowing how much weight they support on the big rigs I drive but knew that it may still not solve the problem. This is a new kind of towing for me. I've spent the last 35 years in big rigs pulling 48' trailers at weights up to 80,000lbs and I know that this is a bit different kind of towing. I hope to get the car on the trailer today and get this thing set up. I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes!

I sold one of my son's cars (a Saab, he loves those Saabs) on Ebay and when the guy came to pick it up with his trailer, I drove it up on the trailer for him. As I got to the top of the ramps, the tongue of the trailer came up! Turns out the trailer hitch was never latched. He towed that trailer about 80 miles like that.

You might have to bring the car back a bit more. Don't be afraid to locate the rear tires on the beavertail. It will be fine there.

Since we're talking about trailering, do you have good tie down straps?

John we are just up the road from a RV storage and U-Haul so with the dip in the road I get to watch folks jack the front of their trlrs up and put it back on their rig on a regular basis. We had a commercial compressor like they use on jack hammering come off and land in our yard no chains.

 

[Roadcuda]

I'm still trying to figure out how to use that system. We tried placing the car in a couple of places to change the weight balance and it didn't help. The farthest back it sat was with the rear tires just at the top top of the dove tail part of the ramp. When I drove the car onto the trailer it lifted the back of the truck up close to a foot until the trailer took the cars weight! At least I knew that the hitch ball was locked in properly! After seeing the springs on trucks that were set up for towing I realized that the springs on my old truck weren't going to take the load. I though of adding either helper springs or maybe even air bags knowing how much weight they support on the big rigs I drive but knew that it may still not solve the problem. This is a new kind of towing for me. I've spent the last 35 years in big rigs pulling 48' trailers at weights up to 80,000lbs and I know that this is a bit different kind of towing. I hope to get the car on the trailer today and get this thing set up. I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes!

I sold one of my son's cars (a Saab, he loves those Saabs) on Ebay and when the guy came to pick it up with his trailer, I drove it up on the trailer for him. As I got to the top of the ramps, the tongue of the trailer came up! Turns out the trailer hitch was never latched. He towed that trailer about 80 miles like that.

You might have to bring the car back a bit more. Don't be afraid to locate the rear tires on the beavertail. It will be fine there.

Since we're talking about trailering, do you have good tie down straps?

Yeah, here is a pic of the style, it has a working load of 3333 lbs. I had one guy tell me that to strap it down I should run the straps over the lower control arms up front, and since the gas tank is in the way of cross strapping to go over the top of the rear axel on each side. At a swap meet I saw someone that was selling a strap that was about the circumference of a tire that when placed on a strap like I had you can then strap over the tire itself. Like how the U-Haul car trailers are set up for the front tires. I almost bought them but not sure abut them. What do you guys recommend? The trailer does have brakes with the break away feature, and I just got a brake controller for it.

 

[69hemibeep]

Steve I use these over the LCA in front and over the leaf spring in front of the diff and cross the straps to give yourself room for the ratchet straps on the rear do to the short trlr. Its also a better way to tie down. http://www.ebay.com/itm/AXLE-STRAPS-4ea ... 25&vxp=mtr Besides, look at the pretty color

 

[Roadcuda]

Steve I use these over the LCA in front and over the leaf spring in front of the diff and cross the straps to give yourself room for the ratchet straps on the rear do to the short trlr. Its also a better way to tie down. http://www.ebay.com/itm/AXLE-STRAPS-4ea ... 25&vxp=mtr Besides, look at the pretty color

Gee, it was an easy guess what the color was going to be! That's what they make dye for!!!!!! :jester: So on the back after you wrap it around the spring, do you go over, or under the axle and that's so you can cross strap, correct? And I think I got the system figured out. After getting it all level, making the adjustments I had to with the ball height, the rear was almost and inch lower, but the front stayed the same, which the instructions said was most important.