MILD THUNDER

My feeling is a SRW truck is good up until 30ft boats or so. After that, its one ton dually territory, or medium duty.

But one thing i see ALOT of, is guys who go get themselves a new diesel dually, and hook there boat up to it and think its totally fine to pull their boat at 80mph down the interstate because it tows "oh so well". Theres no truck on the market thats "idiot" proof.

I take it nice and slow with my boat in tow. Going fast does nothing good for tires, bearings, etc. And should you blow a steer tire, or a drive tire on a SRW, you better make the sign of the cross and pucker up.

Lifted trucks look cool, and are great for driving thru mud pits. But really have no business towing a 15-17k lb trailer.

I lost it once pulling a 3k lb snowmobile trailer on a slick icy wisconsin road traveling at about 40mph. The rear tires (posi) lost their grip, which kicked the rear end out about a ft or two. I let off the gas, the trailer pulled the rear the other direction, and before you know it, we were going sideways. Lucky for me we didnt hit a tree, and kept it on the pavement. But that little trailer rag dolled the big crew cab diesel. The trailer whipped so hard that it ripped the tie down straps and one of the snowmobiles slid right off the back of the trailer. I am happy we were doing 40mph, and not 60 or 70mph. Cuz i may not be typing this right now.

bigandy

This thread proves opinions are like a$$holes, everyone has one and they all stink.... here is what is important for towing, if you got tall tires you better have higher number gears if you wanna have the power to pull, most likely you have 3.73's and 4.10 would be better but 37's arent that tall.. the wider the tire the less sway you will have ( one reason for a dually ) but the most important thing is your trailer is set up right and electric trailer brakes with a manual override will keep you out of trouble. if the trailer starts to sway lean down and push the button without stepping on the truck brakes and the trailer will straighten it all out.

to recap, lift needs to have strong rear springs, if your trailer is squatting the a$$ end than you are picking the front tires off the ground and that isnt good. Wide tires with lots of air in them ( just less than max tire pressure ) and go slow ( speed limit is always nice ) your truck may pull it but most trailer tires and bearings for that matter arent designed for 80 mph and make sure your trailer isnt to heavy at the tongue or loaded to heavy behind the axles and pay attention, i like the fast lane so i have a escape route for unexpected braking and anyone who wants to go faster than me is speeding so they can go around me anyway they want ..... my .02 and hopefully my opinion doesnt stink to bad by the way without knowing exactly what equipment you are hauling i would guess there is a good chance you are hauling almost as much weight ( probably less but not much less ) with a higher center of gravity than the boat you are talking about so i say haul away brother!!!

tcuda499

[QUOTE=Catmando;3161514]7500lbs max on a dually hitch??? Surely that can't be right. My 06 Dodge dually is rated for 12,500 on the receiver hitch. He would be legal with an F450 with 4.88 axle which is rated for 24,000lbs.

thats without a wieght dist hitch. 12500 w/ a dist hitch. sounds crazy right????

Catmando

[QUOTE=tcuda499;3165056]Well I don't know anything about w/d hitches. I've never used one. My owner's manual doesn't say I need one at 12,500lbs but I can see the need, even with a dually. It would certainly help.

HTRDLNCN

even worse is the same guys with those same new trucks lift them add tuners and up the power and then are actually racing thru traffic WHILE towing.. Probably the same guys cutting you off on the water with boats they treat just as bad as their truck and trailer.

tcuda499

even worse is the same guys with those same new trucks lift them add tuners and up the power and then are actually racing thru traffic WHILE towing.. Probably the same guys cutting you off on the water with boats they treat just as bad as their truck and trailer.[/QUOTE]

thats meoh wait,my trucks an 02,dont cut people off on the water,dont drive crazy while towing.I do have a lifted truck though

Michael Garibay

[QUOTE=tcuda499;3165056]Not tryi g to hijack this thread but the '08-'10 f450 tow capacity (conventional) is 16,000 lbs. The fifth wheel capacity is 24,500. The same year f350s are 15k and 18k respectively. I know because I have been looking at f450s to replace my '99 f350 4x4 that is rated at 11.5 or 12k conventional. My 38' Scarab on aluminum trailer I estimate is probably 14-15k loaded on the trailer (and 64 ft long I might add-65 limit here in Cali)

GO4BROKE

[QUOTE=tcuda499;3165056]I think you are reading the hitch rating, not the truck rating.

Sweet Nmocean

My friends are the same way we all have 3/4 to 1 ton trucks and the some of them think they can just fly down the road and have the "look at me" most of these guys are towing trailers with brakes that don't work, tires not properly inflated. I am surprised more people haven't been injured. When we go places I refuse to even try to keep up with them, 60-65 is fast enough, I can go faster but you also have to get stopped.

Catmando

You're wise not to try to keep up with those idiots. Only a matter of time before one of them kills himself and maybe others.