So after owning the truck for 8 months, I finally got to tow something. A bud at work fried his clutch and asked me to tow his car to the shop.

Unloaded Trailer: if you haven't towed with these trucks yet, you're in for a surprise. the torque of the 5.4 is amazing. I barely noticed I had a ~2000# trailer behind me. however, because of the high bed sides and tailgate, I COULD NOT SEE THE TRAILER except when turning....which is weird, because I always check to make sure it's still there when towing and it was kinda unnerving to not see it. the tow package was really nice as the 7 pin on the trailer just snapped right into place.

Loaded Trailer: the truck only squatted about 2-3" in the rear, and the front lifted about 1". I was really impressed. I did get a surprise however when we winched the car on. The rear wheels picked up off the ground. Never had that happen before. My wife had to push the truck brakes to keep from rolling down the street. We loaded the Jetta tongue heavy....you can see how it needs to be back about 1 1/2 ft or so...would have tried to even the loading, but the fried clutch made things too difficult.

Going down the road, the transmission adapted to the loaded trailer very quickly. While I knew I had a pretty good load behind me, the truck handled great. I had more than enough acceleration and held my own while towing 60-70 mph in traffic. I left her in O/D for the majority of the trip and snapped O/D off going down a few hills and for 2 or 3 big climbs. Otherwise, the tranny shifted into O/D and stayed there at about 2,000 rpm and never once seemed to lug.

After I dropped the car off though, the transmission wasn't happy for about 10 miles with just the truck and trailer. It was shifting funny and finally it re-learned normal shifts (without a load).

All told, I drove about 200 miles with the trailer/car combo and got 14 mpg going 60 mph on average. We stopped at a scale station and the whole combo weighed in at 11,900 #'s. Kinda surprised me, until I really looked at the trailer construction. That thing is built like a tank. The Jetta weighes about 3800#'s or so.

Oh yeah, I think this should pretty much settle the whole leveling kit debate. With almost 6,000 #'s behind my truck, it only squatted maybe 3" total. The truck was rear heavy, but it didn't look bad. The 2.5" kit I've got doesn't seem to have that big of an effect




sorry for the size of the post

 

Cool. Do you have a brake box in the truck, or what type of brakes did the trailer have?

If they were electric, how much is the brake box?

 

I didn't think the load was big enough to justify hooking up a brake controller. the trailer has electric brakes. sorry I can't be more help.

I had more than enough stopping power with just the trucks brakes however.

I've seen some controllers go for ~$100...it's been awhile since I've really looked though

 

In Ontario we have to have brakes when towing anything that is 1360 kg's (3000 lb's) or more, by law.

I've had opportunity to tow a few things lately but declined because I didn't have a brake box. My buddy's car hauler has surge brakes and a master cylinder so hooking that trailer up is a no brainer.

The rest of the time, my boat isn't heavy enough that the trailer requires brakes anyway, so that's why I've never bothered getting one. I may have to move my house trailer one day (it's parked up north and is up on blocks with an add-a-room) in which case I'd definitely need the brake box. If they're only around the $100 mark then I guess I'll move it myself if and when the time comes.

I'm surprised you found the braking just as effective without the brakes on the trailer, actually.

 

I was going to help my wife's family by hauling a bobcat over to their house to redo their driveway. I rented a trailer, but the idiot that rented it before me shorted out the brakes, causing them to be on all the time. He drove the trailer back to the rental place with the brakes on, thus destroying 3 out of the 4 brakes on it.

I declined to tow it, and got my money back. IMHO, a 6,000 lb trailer, towed by a 6,000 lb truck is just plain dangerous. That would equal half the braking power the rig is supposed to have. Most states in the US state that if it's over 1,000 or 2,000 lbs it's illegal to tow without brakes.

 

many of the western/midwest states mandate brakes only over 3,000 lbs

1,000 lbs is under the payload for most f150s, so brakes for a trailer at that weight wouldn't really be necessary at all

 

If the trailer gross weight is 3000# you need trailer brakes. Or if under 3000# you need them if the trailer is 40% of the weight of the tow vehicle.