Ok, I'll be the first to admit, that I am not the most knowledgeable guy when it comes to trailers. But this is a questions that I kind of need an answer to.

I have a 20' V nose car trailer that lists the max cargo weight of 3995lbs. I would like to haul my wife's Dakota up from Florida, and there is a listed curb weight of 4531lbs. Am I flirting with the devil, or just being overly cautious?

 

your truck

should tow that with ease... provided that you have chains, a good ball, receiver and coupler i wouldnt worry bout anything and just tow it... But as far as your trailer goes, i would worry about it, it must be a small car hauler. I would find a good eight lug gooseneck and go ahead and use that instead, or a good eight lug trailer, Those lil bitty car haulers are cute but kinda useless for larger vehicles, yes they might be able to tow it, but it wasnt engineered for that weight...

Tx

 

First thing I'd do is take that Dakota to a CAT scale (or whatever you've got there) and weigh it first hand.

FL to CA is a long haul and you want to be on the safe side rather than on the ragged edge. If you're close in weight, I'd say pull it.

AFTER you've checked the trailer tires, lugnuts, bearings, brakes, lights, etc........ you do have a brake controller, don't you?

You being an LCAC driver, I won't mention a thing about securing it on deck.

 

Sounds reasonable.

FL to CA is a long haul and you want to be on the safe side rather than on the ragged edge. If you're close in weight, I'd say pull it.[/QUOTE]

Well, actually, would be possible trailering it up to Iowa. I've got orders and I am OUTA HERE!!


AFTER you've checked the trailer tires, lugnuts, bearings, brakes, lights, etc........ you do have a brake controller, don't you? [/QUOTE]

Well, it is almost a brand spankin' new trailer, and yes.....I will have a brake controller.

 

Well, do you know where one might rent one of those trailers?? I've tried everyplace I can think of, and nobody rents those things one way.

 

From what I have seen in Axles, 6 lug are typically 3500# axles, 8 lug are 7000# (4 lug are useless).

I would weight the trailer and subtract that weight from 7000# (you most likely have 2 3500# axles) I have a hard time believing the trailer weighs 3000# dry. I have seen some heavy duty car haulers and only wiegh in at about 2000#.
Past that, if you have 3" channel and 4" I beams and dont see any butt welded beams, the trailer should be good to go for the full 7000 gross weight.

 

Well, unfortunately....5 on 4/12 wheels, but they are 3500# axles.

Well, the empty weight is listed as 3045#, with a max load of 3955#. This is an enclosed trailer, not a flatbed.

Well, spec's are for 8" I beams.

 

You should be fine. Pull that sucker up to the front of the trailer and you might have about 800 lbs tongue weight (just a guess) so you'll need a load distributing hitch setup. If you have the truck and trailer weighed together you should see that you won't be over the 7k rating on the trailer. With that much weight being carried by the hitch and rear axle of the truck I'd bet you'd be fine. I have a 24ft enclosed with the same axles. I've never weighed the trailer empty but I was told it was about 3500lbs. The only thing I've done is upgrade the tires from a p205 to a p225 and I always run the tires a little over inflated on the trailer. I've got about 5k miles on the trailer with some pretty heavy loads and I've never had a problem. 65mph and you can't tell it's back there. Good luck.

 

So the GVW of the trailer is 7000. you will be a little over but I wouldn't worry about it. All 7000# of the weight will not be on the axles, some will be on the tongue. Will it fit height wise? Do you have a weight distribution system at all?

 

Well, no, I don't have any weight distribution system. The Dakota should fit. It is just about 6 feet in height, and the interior height of the trailer is 6'7".

The way it is looking, I guess this will not work. I don't want to spend 200-300 for a weight distro system that I will only use once. I was hoping with trailer brakes and such this would work, but obviously not.

I may have her run over to a scale and have it weighed. Then make my decision based on what she comes out with.

 

I still think it would be fine. You'd be talking about being a few hundred pounds over, you probably would not even be over on the axles.

Figure if the Durango is 4500 plus trailer, thats 7500. About 10% of that 7500 will be on your tongue so you'll be under 7000 on the axles.

 

Just get a class 5 hitch. It can handle 1000lbs tongue weight without weight distribution hitch. Plus, you can use them all the time whenever you pull.

 

tow it and go, that is nothing to worry about. just set your tires at max and roll on. the stock hitch is fine. i have had 4k tounge weight and it finally started to tear the stock hitch after a couple thousand miles. 7k or so total is a joke, as long as you have brakes.

 

TOW IT.
Saftey Factor included you'll be fine.

 

I assume you are talking about a heavy duty car hauler type? If so, check with compaies that build/sell them. There is a company here in SW Ohio that sells trailers and they have some really nice 10000 and 14000 gvw tag trailers that they rent for daily, weekend, and weekly rentals at a very reasonable rate... I have rented a few times and they are always well serviced HD car or equipment type trailers...