Towing question: Hitch weight on toy haulers

Jetboy · 07-26-2005, 09:45 PM

These questions may sound idiotic but I've never towed more than around 5,000 #'s before.

I'm in the market for a toy hauler but the hitch weights seem to run heavier on them. The Titan manual states max 920#'s for hitch weight. If I get a trailer that has a dry hitch weight around 1,200# is there any chance it will get down to an acceptable level when I load 800#'s of sportbikes in the back? Does a good weight distributing hitch do anything to allow a heavier hitch wieght or does it just redistribute weight? Even if the weight of the toys puts me in spec I'm guessing I am in trouble when I pull the trailer without the bikes in back, probably answered my own question. Comments on helper springs and air bags appreciated.

rdfeatherstone · 07-27-2005, 01:53 AM

I know its not what you want to hear, but overloading the hitch is a bad idea. The truck is not designed to handle that much at the hitch. There is more than the weight issue. You need to consider the legal and liability issues. You can get ticketed if you overload the hitch and place yourself in a bad situation if there were an accident.

Is a 5th wheel an option for you? If so, you might find a toy-hauler that meets your needs.

Ralph

travism · 07-27-2005, 03:32 AM

If you are going to have that much hitch weight, which I assume puts you in the 9,000+ lb trailer weight category, you need to think about a bigger truck. The Titan is IMO the best half ton truck out there but it cannot safely pull, or more importantly stop, that much of a load. It is just outweighed too much by the trailer. You can get away with it for a while, but it will lead to an early demise of the truck or a disaster if you have an emergency stop while going around a curve.

That being said, I don't think a toy hauler trailer has a dry hitch weight of 1,200 pounds on its own. That might be what it is rated for, but not what it actually is unless you are loading the trailer to it's limit. What all will be on the trailer? Just bikes? You could load 6000 lbs worth of bikes on a trailer and be fine. Maybe I'm missing something here or we have a different view of what a toy hauler trailer is.

ZacharyT · 07-27-2005, 05:05 AM

Doesnt this all depend on the hitch as well? My Titan had the Tow Package & the Hitch had a sticker on it that said Tongue weight is 1000 lbs. The GVWR is rated depending on your truck I beleive mine is a King Cab & I think mine is 9200 lbs. I dont think I would oush the numbers though. I also donot understand how the Sway bar & weight distribution system works either. I am still in the learning Curve. It must be a Big Toy Hauler & I also dont think the Tongue weight was 1200 lbs as to I as well am looking into Toy Haulers to handle 2 Quads & dont think I have seen that on any I have looked at!

blackdiamond · 07-27-2005, 04:15 PM

I know the tongue weight on the toy haulers are ofter more that what the trailer mfg advertize. Yes the tongue weight will go down when loaded with toys as you put more weight toward the rear of the trailer. I have a 26ft and w/o toys it rides poorly, with toys it rides much better. I do plan on adding air bags to help. Just remember the overall payload is olny a little more than 1400 lbs, by the time you add passengers, and other stuff it does not leave much room, if any for a 1200 lb hitch weight. It is very easy to be within the CGVRW and be over the payload capacity.

wrenrj1 · 07-27-2005, 05:26 PM

WHAT IS A TOY HAULER? Maybe you need to be more specific about the trailer you want to pull and the max. weight the trailer can hold. I think a trailer that would put that much weight on the hitch must be a BIG trailer with a big GVW (hauling bobcats etc...) If you could specify exactly the trailer you wanna pull, maybe it would help.

joaks · 07-27-2005, 07:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wrenrj1

WHAT IS A TOY HAULER? Maybe you need to be more specific about the trailer you want to pull and the max. weight the trailer can hold. I think a trailer that would put that much weight on the hitch must be a BIG trailer with a big GVW (hauling bobcats etc...) If you could specify exactly the trailer you wanna pull, maybe it would help.

A toy hauler is generally a travel trailer with a small garage in the rear where you put motorcycles, 4-wheelers, etc. Since the garage is on the rear, he is asking if the weight of the 'toys' will offset some of his hitchweight. Toy haulers are generally made to be heavier on the front end than a normal travel trailer to more evenly distribute the weight on the trailer's axels when it is loaded down.

The only real way to answer this would be to get some portable scales and do some testing. You could also call the manufactuer of the toy hauler and see if the tongue weight listed is a dry weight. Even if it is a dry weight, and loading it up would push some weight back on the trailer axles, I would be wary. Your definately gonna exceed the payload rating for the Titan.

Old Speed · 07-27-2005, 09:40 PM

thats a big toyhauler! i have a 20 foot toy hauler it is nice for 2 people and 2 bikes, thats it and i have a 680 tounge and 7k trailer weight. now my father had a 30 foot toyhauler and it has 1k tounge and about 10k of trailer.. thats a huge, overweight trailer if your looking at 13k tounge

Jetboy · 07-27-2005, 10:48 PM

Thanks for the input. The trailer weight is 7200, I think the hitch weight is so high because of the front bed and long storage area, 10 ft. garage. I would be hauling it dry except for the bikes and maybe 500#'s of stuff so I'm not as concerned with the total weight as I am the hitch weight. The portable scale suggestion is a good one. I will also apply that to another model I'm looking at which is a lighter Starcraft but instead of the garage it has a platform which is on the front. It only has a hitch weight of 344 but I think I could get in trouble putting 800#'s of bikes right in the front. The portable scale sounds like a must do before pulling the trigger on either.

travism · 07-28-2005, 04:26 AM

I had no idea that a toy hauler was also a travel trailer. All this time people talked about toy haulers I thought it was just a flatbed trailer that you could roll your bikes up onto and haul your toys around. Learn something everyday I guess.

Loading the bikes on the front of the Starcraft doesn't sound like a good idea to me either. Any unbalanced load with either too high or too low tongue weight will not pull well.

wrenrj1 · 07-28-2005, 05:33 PM

I thought I saw some of these toy haulers that have the storage area in the back with a drop down back wall. That would seem to be the way to better balance the weight while loaded.

Jetboy · 07-28-2005, 09:25 PM

The one with the heavy hitch weight is a back loading garage. I will try and see if I can get a portable scale on it this weekend to see what 800#'s in the back does to it. This is the one with the 1200# hitch weight. The 28SRV
http://www.victorylane-rv.com/

For the most part it would just be used to go 30 miles each way to the race track. Maybe once per year a trip of 150-400 miles one way and then stay for 2-3 weeks. Thanks for the feedback

moore101 · 07-29-2005, 07:48 AM

You may want to look at http://www.a1warriortrailers.com/ they have some lighter toy haulers.

dcwinters · 07-30-2005, 03:26 PM

I have a 26ft Work and Play Toy hauler. It pulls fine behind the Titan. You are correct, the tongue weight is high. I went with a Load distribution hitch (load bars) to take some of the weight of the hitch. I also added Air Lift Air bags to help out the sag. I now can run 75 mph plus down the highway without worry. I can give you specs on my Toy Hauler if you are intrested.

Jetboy · 07-30-2005, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dcwinters

I have a 26ft Work and Play Toy hauler. It pulls fine behind the Titan. You are correct, the tongue weight is high. I went with a Load distribution hitch (load bars) to take some of the weight of the hitch. I also added Air Lift Air bags to help out the sag. I now can run 75 mph plus down the highway without worry. I can give you specs on my Toy Hauler if you are intrested.

DC, thanks for the info on how the 26' Work and Play tows. I haven't looked at one of those in person yet. I will check out the web site for the specs. I went looking some more today and I'm starting to get torn on whether or not I should really go with a toy hauler or just keep putting the bikes in the bed and jus tget a regular TT. Comparing a regular TT to a Toy Hauler the regular TT's look like a better deal. For track days with the bikes the Toy Hauler makes sense but for vacations I think I would be happpier with a regular TT. Advantage to the Toy Haulers is they have higher ceilings and being tall that is a nice feature.