In this day and age of the great TVs and there are a lot out there I can see where some people are concerned with Rig setups. BUT I can remember back when we were kids growing up, we traveled all over the country with A 24' TT behind Dads Ford LTD. Do you folks that have been Camping A long time remember those days? Campers going up and down the roads behind Full sixe cars and Station Wagons. Shoot there werent 1ton pickups owned by Families, What did those TTs weigh? They were built with real Metal real wood (REAL HEAVY) and where were the WDH Bars, Sway controls and the likes? They werent there and we all survived and traveled A lot.
Dont get me wrong I believe in proper setup and safty At 50 Years old I have towed MANY miles Be it towing our Racecars up and down the east coast to now traveling with the Grandkids with our TT.
My 2cents You cant tell or make anyone how to do their traveling all you can do is setup your Rig whatever it is, The safest way possible for your family and the other's on the road, Be carefull and enjoy,
I'm sorry but I think A big problem with our lives right now is that everyone thinks they do things the best, and all others should follow.
Lets just all have fun and enjoy Life is way to short to WORRY SO MUCH!
Nuff said sorry if I ruffled some feathers but that my thoughts and I think that if A lot of you would think back to the days I talk about you will agree.
Happy Camping!!!!!
2007 Wilderness Yukon 300RLS TT
2007 Silverado 1500 5.3 4X4 Extended Cab, Z71 & Z85
2008 Tahoe LS
Reese WDH W/Dual Cam, Prodigy Brake controller
Putnam XDR
Carol & Kirk Sometimes 3 Grandkids And now Nicholas 1 year old
Makes 4
JJBIRISH wrote: as long as all axle, tire, and hitch weight limits are not exceeded they are probably not overloaded, but may be well over the weight ratings...
how well it tows and how safe it is are entirely different things, and much of it has to do with what you can't see...
Thnxs JJ... you hit the nail on the head with your post and my hat comes off to you. Folks should read it over and over again and give the info some serious thought.
Airstreams.... the best towing trailers on the planet!
If any of my family, friends, or just someone I kinda like gets into a serious accident with someones tow rig that is marginal....You betcha I will be the first to let their/my lawyer know what rating information that I can get my hands on.. and let the judge/jury decide!
People just will need to take their chances I guess that don't care about "ratings".... Debate all you want, but we all know how the legal system works...and it isn't always logical or "written in stone" they way it is "supposed to be" etc. Go ahead, take your chance in court! Whatcha got to loose anyhow....your money or conscience?
If anybody wants to step up to the plate and buy me a F-250 V10, I will happily take it.
Otherwise, I will keep towing with my truck. Its paid for, and it has taken me from the Rockies to the Beach, and everywhere in between.
Never have felt unsafe, but my expectations of how my trailer will handle with my truck is realistic, and I drive accordingly.
Go ahead and sue me. You may get a multi million dollar judgment, but I only have thousands, so good luck collecting.
In fact, if this ever happened, I would do work "under the table" for the rest of my life, all the while sitting on welfare, so you would not get 1 red cent. God Bless America!
* This post was
edited 08/13/08 06:02pm by moparmaga2 *
2000 National RV Tropi-Cal 37 ft Double Slide Ford V-10
1994 Toyota Celica on a Master Tow Dolly (40 MPG)
kirk37r wrote: What did those TTs weigh? They were built with real Metal real wood (REAL HEAVY) and where were the WDH Bars, Sway controls and the likes? They werent there and we all survived and traveled A lot.
Well, according to this post and picture, WD hitches and the Reese Dual Cam sway control have been around since at least 1966.
I also remember my dad and mom towing their 26 foot Avion trailer all over the U.S. fulltime with their Chevrolet Ranchero. They used a Reese trunnion style WD hitch and friction sway control. This was in the middle to late 50's. My wife and I used the same rig in the early and middle 60's and used the WD hitch and sway control then also. Sorry but I don't have a picture of it. Sure wish I did!
Barney
Until you have experienced a bad accident you will not understand why others are concerned about someone towing over there limit. GVW represents what the vehicle can tow and stop safely.
I was towing my boat which is around 12k lbs with trailer with my '06 f250 diesel. Well someone in a honda civic which is about 2k lbs max hit me head on doing 65. My f250 was TOTALED from this 2k lbs car. What about a 3-4k lbs vehicle with a 3-5k lbs trailer behind it.
Luckily all four of us, wife, 2 kids (2&5 then) walked away. My wife has ankle problems now for rest of her life and we are still negotiating. The people in the civic didn;t walk away.
Also, people are concerned about your safety and the safety of the children. They have NO say so in the matter but parents being CHEAP won't buy a proper TV and then wreck killing everyone or leaving the children with NO parents.
Do I need to drive my f250 when I only use it on the weekends to tow the boat or TT?? Wifes first response after the accident was bo buy another f250. I wanted to sell the boat back then.
2009 Jayco Eagle 324BHDS
2008 F250 King Ranch 4wd
2005 GLacier Bay 2670 Cat
I have never towed a TT with a 250HP Sienna so I do not know how it would perform or handle so it's not fair for me to comment on that apsect.
However I have towed our 23' with the smaller 150HP Nissan Mini Van for many years. It worked very well with "0" issues.
If someone jumped on the forum and said they had a perfect 1955 Mercury sedan with a 188HP engine and wanted to tow a 30' TT, 99% of the members would be crying the blues about the idea.
Knee jerk comments like "please don't drive in my State" or "I don't want to share the road with you!" will be posted immediately.
If you look at this link below you will see from 1955 how well a 55 Mercury was at handling the 30'r. Acceleration, braking, high speed of 91MPH etc are very respectable numbers.
Now in the interest of science lets compare the Sienna to the old Merc.
The uni-body used in the Sienna is stiffer with far less flex.
The brakes are so much better.
The engine is much more refined and has much more power.
The Toy with stability control is far superior for handling.
And so many other advantages including modern technological advancements with hitch platforms, hitches, brake controllers etc.
Now if one was to do an on road towing review how would they perform? Based on the vehicles advanced technical merits many would suggest the Sienna would easily out perform the old Merc in every way????
Seems like the combination a seen by the original poster may not be as far fetched as many folks believe!?!?!
I would suggest you go to this thread, with this post copy'd here as to legality of towing overwt! copy'd from pupeperson whom also copied it by!
"Well, here's a little more grist for the mill. The following was copied off a post TODAY in the DTR entitled "max towing":
Originally Posted by cincydiesel
"Alot of stuff goes into pulling heavy trailors.. Alot depends on the driver. Just dont forget that anything being pulled thats over the manufactures GCVW is a posiblity for getting sued by a possible accident victim. I've pulled things in upwards to 33,000 gross with the truck below for several hundred miles. Was it legal, NOPE!!! Would I do it again, YEP.. If the trailer has good brakes and the truck is well maintained with the correct equipment I say pull till broke.."
This is the reply to the above from a poster named ddestruel:
This is not legally correct. I would like to point out i have my own personal experience with this. the manufacturers GCVWR is not a legal benchmark. The insurance company and the families of the deceased all three sued and claimed that since i was pulling a 20k lbs gooseneck loaded at 18950k lbs i was over the the GCVWR of the pickup truck the court and jury ruled that i was niether negligent nor in violation of any transportation laws with the weight that i was pulling my total GCW at the time of the accident was 28050 my max licensed GVW was 9900 for the pickup and 20k for the trailer no single axle was over weight and no tires were over loaded all safety equiptment was functioning including brakes were in perfect condition. My lawyer was able to find numerous cases where the courts have ruled that manufacturer GCVWR is a recommendation not a legal benchmark since they set the towing capacity without knowing anything about the engineering of the trailer being pulled. either way it was determined that the moron and his friend who pulled out in front of me on the highway were negligent for not looking before entering a highway where trucks and trailers are legally going 65 mph and cars are moving at 75. shoot i was doing 60 and only had about 40' worth of skid marks before flatting his chevy 1500. the court ruled they were responsible for covering my court costs so that ended that.
This is the first post I've seen by anyone claiming to be a "First Party" to the circumstance thrown in the face of everyone on this forum not running at least a dually or MDT by the weight police. I realize it's heresay at this point, but it makes sense to me and it would seem to support the positions expressed by Wadcutter and Blt2ski, both of whom I regard as being very knowlegeable on this subject. Based on the above, I'm very tempted to take ddestruel's post at face value."
One might also want to go to the Tow vehicle area and look at a sticky at the top, discussing "legal" wt limits etc, and what "ACTUAL" LEO wts and easure police really look at. "Manufacture Tow ratings/GCWR's" are NOT one of them!
Marty
05 Chev CC D/A LS Dooley
92 Navistar dump truck, 7.3L 7 sp, 4.33 gears with a Detroit no spin
00 Chev C2500, V5700, 4L80E, 4.10, base truck, no options!
92 Red-e-haul 12K equipment trailer
3 Single axle utility trailers
The question is do we know how much that mercury weigh?? What type of brakes and how big of disc/rotors did it have??
Tech has improved but also everything has gotten lighter due to cost of steel. If the load has lightened then I am sure the brakes do not have to stop as much either.
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