Hello forum,
We have a 04 Dually 4x4 with a pintle type hitch and a pintle eye on the trailer. Its short, just total length about 16ft, 10ft deck + 3 dovetail, 3ft is the triangular section up front. It has two 6000 or 7000lb axles with 3300lb rated per tire and the brakes are pretty good. I can lock them up empty or with a 3000lb car at 10-20mph if the settings high enough. Usually I have the brake controller setting at 3 empty and 4 or 5 with a 3000lb car ( Max is 10) and it does very good, I can stop the truck with it if I wanted to.

I went to the scales and the truck + trailer combo gave me a 10400lb reading, with two men combined about 370lbs and little more then half tank and a few extra parts and pieces in the bed. Looking at the Dodge Site a 3500 dually 4x4 QC should weight 7400lbs + 400lbs extra which should give me a 2600lb trailer.

So Now I want to move our 11000lb forklift to the shop, 110mile drive. Only problem is Im worried about tongue weight. The combination trailer+ forklift is going to be 13600lbs so would 1600 or 1800lb tongue weight be too much for the truck to handle? With that much tongue weight the tires and axles on the trailer should hold up. BTW 55mph speed limmit, and trailer is fairly heavy built.

 

Is the pintle hitch on a class 3 or class 4 receiver?
Put the forklift further back on the trailer to reduce your tongue weight.
I moved from CA to WA with combined weight of 18,100 with my 2500.

Mike

 

if its a ball

its probly 2 5/16, which should be the way to go if thats the case, its alot for a two inch ball, I know its not a ball, just thinkin out loud, You have a pintle eye on the trailer, and yes i agree, Marine has the right idea, pintle hitch is better suited and put as much weight as u can on the axles to facilitate the tow.. best of luck, Id tow it, no problem, even with a two inch ball, just make sure the brakes and everything else works

Surely i could be wrong here, but arent most hitches on these new trucks class four already? i dont think ive seen a class three on a heavy duty pickup truck, i dont know about the pintle reciever though, i do know mine is rated 7000 lbs at the ball i think and is a 7 or 8 ton pintle.... but its on a homemade (guaranteed indestructable) mount, bolts are the weak point in my setup....


Tx

 

Im not sure which class its in, but its pretty heavy, Pintle hitch type trailer. The actual pintle hook that goes into the truck reciever came off a class 8 semi truck. BUT, not the hayoooge versions that can lock up another trailer for towing a double or tripple setup. Just one size below it. It might be a 15 or 20 ton version.

I had to fabricate a pintle hook reciever mount to, Made it very similar to the ones at a heavy duty equipment renter. 1/2inch plate welded to a solid 2x2 bar with gussets made out of 3/8inch thick plate for added support. About 25lbs for the hook and reciever unit alone.

 

You will be fine. Hitches are VERY overbuilt for their ratings. I went to a recycling yard with a trailer of scrap steel behind my Grand Wagoneer and grossed over 15,000 lbs. on the scales. The Waggy was around 5500 at the time, so that left 9500 behind it. That was being pulled with a Class III receiver and a 2" ball. It was the same tow rig and trailer shown below, but with a load of scrap steel. I hauled it around 50 miles with a mountain in between.




Jim

 

ive pulled a bobcat, and it with the trailer is around 12,000 on a 2 5/16 ball with around 1000 tongue and it pulled great, thats even with a 2500. a dually can handle 1500lbs tongue

 

Awseme, The forklift right now has a bad steering ram, get that changed and I'll go pick it up next weekend or so. I'll let you guys know how it goes. Thanks for the help.

 

Don't put all your weight directly over the axles or you will have alot of trailor sway. More people lose trailors to "trailor sway" than any other way... NEVER PUT THE MAJORITY OF THE WEIGHT BEHIND THE AXLW

 

I Fully understand that, my dad wrecked his truck 3-4 yrs ago b/c not enough tongue weight. Im going to use a couple of 8ft long 2x4's, a stand, and a weight scale to come up with 1400-1800lb tongue weight. I'll start at 1400lb then take a test drive, see how it handles and I'll move the forklift forward a little to give me a little more tongue weight and see how it handles then.

 

https://www.dieseltruckresource.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=67321&highlight=Bobcat

Don't let this happen to you. I couldn't help but wonder if a conversation like this lead to an accident like this.

 

Also different tow vehicles behave differently with the same percentage of tongue weight. I have towed a lot of pretty heavy trailers (5000-6000 lb.) with a Jeep Cherokee, and it works just fine...as long as I have a lot of tongue weight. If I go with the typical 10% of the trailer weight for a straight hitch, I'll get lots of sway. I know, I've been there more than once. But if I put plenty of weight on the tongue, the Jeep sags more, but tows just fine. I've never had a steering problem doing that (I don't go overboard on tongue weight, but I do use a good amount).

Jim

 

Thats going a bit overboard. One thing people don't keep in mind is that if a tow vehicle is rated for, an example, 1500 lbs. tongue weight, the truck won't care if the 1500 lbs. is 10% or 30% of the trailer's weight. The point is, having a bit too much tongue weight isn't a problem as long as you don't overload the tongue of the trailer or go over the truck's rating.

I get used to my tow vehicles and look at them as I'm loading the trailer. I make sure there is a good amount of tongue weight on the truck by making sure the back of the truck is an inch or so lower with the trailer loaded than with it empty. I know, this isn't very precise, but it works great for a smaller (4000-6000# or so trailer).

I really like towing wheeled vehicles. If I'm off a bit on tongue weight, I'll know it as soon as i start driving. I can easily move the load forward or back a bit. Skip the scales, just place the load on the trailer until the truck settles a couple inches. Test drive CAREFULLY and see how it handles. Move the load up a bit more if necessary. I always try to put the load too far forward, if anything. Why? You usually don't know if its too far back until you get sway. And if you've ever had a good amount of sway,

 

Thats going a bit overboard. One thing people don't keep in mind is that if a tow vehicle is rated for, an example, 1500 lbs. tongue weight, the truck won't care if the 1500 lbs. is 10% or 30% of the trailer's weight. The point is, having a bit too much tongue weight isn't a problem as long as you don't overload the tongue of the trailer or go over the truck's rating.

I get used to my tow vehicles and look at them as I'm loading the trailer. I make sure there is a good amount of tongue weight on the truck by making sure the back of the truck is an inch or so lower with the trailer loaded than with it empty. I know, this isn't very precise, but it works great for a smaller (4000-6000# or so trailer).

I really like towing wheeled vehicles. If I'm off a bit on tongue weight, I'll know it as soon as i start driving. I can easily move the load forward or back a bit. Skip the scales, just place the load on the trailer until the truck settles a couple inches. Test drive CAREFULLY and see how it handles. Move the load up a bit more if necessary. I always try to put the load too far forward, if anything. Why? You usually don't know if its too far back until you get sway. And if you've ever had a good amount of sway, YOU WON'T FORGET IT!!! I'll take too much tongue weight any day.

Jim

 

the bobcat trailer i mentioned in my previous post i have pulled before with actually no tongue weight at all. One of our workers loaded it before and i picked it up but it didnt sag my truck at all. come to find out there was so little tongue weight i could lift it off my hitch without needing to put the jack down. I moved that baby forward and made sure my truck sagged a little before i went anywhere

i am like NHDiesel. i dont get a scale and measure tongue weight. I dont like to see my trucks sag below level at all. when i load something i just make it so my truck is level or so and that always seems to be enough tongue weight.

 

Won't the ball receiver be overloaded? The best receiver I have seen has a rating of 10,000 lbs. I run a gooseneck, it is way better.....