Hey!

About a week ago I had a class III hitch installed on my truck with a class 4 ball and a digital reece brake controller + a weight distributing kit.

Now my question is, I haven't towed anything bigger then a jetski before (and I dont consider that towing) and on thursday I am going to drive 230kms to pick up my girlfriends new blazer on the back of a UHAUL trailer. Now the UHAUL website says they dont permit weight distribution equipment as it interferes with the coupling...I think that is crap. And they are probably going to tell me that my truck isn't capable of pulling a blazer on top of a duel axle car trailer, and then try to make me rent their truck + trailer (which I wont do)

Now my questions are:


For those who have used a uhaul trailer will I be able to get the straps (or whatever tie down mechanism) around the 31x10.5" tires on this blazer or should I bring smaller tires for it (if possible id prefer to leave on the 31x10.5s)

2nd) I am going to be going over a REALLY TALL BRIDGE. What can I expect with this setup? 79 F150 the above mentioned towing equip. 302/ mild build with c6 tranny and 235/75/15 tires.

Am I going to be changing lanes unwillingly ? Or is it going to be a comfortable ride?


Looking for all the tips/advise (reassurance) before I go as I said round trip is going to be about 470kms (approx) and I plan to tow the trailer empty up with me to give me a feel for it on the busy highway, and then bring it back to the same location (again I figure more experience is a good plan)


Ok so help me out


Thanks!
Chado

 

i have called them different time wanting to rent just a trailer and they always told me i could not unless i rented there truck always.u should not have to much trouble pulling it, may be down on power a little,you may want to fill up with 93 octane for your loaded pull.just keep enough hitch weight so the trailer doesnt get to swaying.i believe there trailers have surge brakes dont they?

 

I would think that you would be fine. I've hauled several vehicles on the UHaul trailers. I would think that the tire straps will fit over the tires.

Is this a full size, or a baby Blazer? A full size blazer should go about 3500 lbs, and a baby Blazer about 2700 lbs. I think. The trailer is 2000 lbs, roughly and it is equipped with surge brakes. As in the brakes are hydraulic and in the tongue of the trailer.

You should be fine without a weight distributing hitch, because the Uhaul trailer is not equipped for one, so the point is pretty much moot anyway.

Just take it easy, and don't get in a hurry. You'll know the truck is there, but it shouldn't be a problem.

 

It's a 1984 S10 Blazer 4x4 and It's got a few parts baskets and some extra tires in it (which I may relocate to the bed of my truck)


So my fancy digital brake controller wont even be of use for this trailer

Surge brakes work by when I hit the brake and it slides into me it activates them correct?


Also just fyi I was on their website and when I put in my truck specs they said I could rent a dolley. When I entered that I had a F350 DRW PSD they said I could rent a car trailer go figure.


Chado

 

Yeppers, your brake controller is useless for this. But keep it, you never know when you need it.

You are right about the surge brakes. They activate, by physics, when you slow down, the momentum of the trailer pushes a cylinder in the tongue, and then the brake fluid goes to the brakes. They work pretty well, but well engage going downhill, so just be prepared that you may feel some very little jerks coming down an incline.

I rented one with my 1/2 ton Chevy. Told them I was towing a Datsun 210. That is what I was towing, off of our land to a junkyard. But they will never know.

Good luck, you should be fine.

 

As for the tires, just air down the tires a little and put the straps on. If you can, air them back up to keep the tires on the rim and air down again to remove.

 

I rented a uhaul trailer to go to Albany from Boston to get my wifes Plymouth a year ago. I was towing it with a Ford Bronco with a 351. As far as the weight distribution it is not needed with those trailers as you can adjust it by moving the vehicle back or forward as needed. I found that it was pretty well balanced and the axles of the trailer were located well. I was able to travel at 65-70. With the 302 you will probably be a little slower on the hills. (Speaking from experience, having towed with both engines.) But with the F150 you will have a longer wheel base than the bronco making it alot easier to handle. (Unless you have the short bed.) I think you will find it handles with little effort at all.....Good luck.

 

Just one quick pointer on the surge brake trailer....

Backing it up an incline may be tough with the trailer loaded, the weight of the s-10 may cause the brakes to kick in, leaving you sol.

just some thing to keep in mind.

 

superranger Thanks for the tip never thought of that! (I dont much like the sounds of these brakes. Why cant they have nice brakes so I Could use my digital brake controller ;/)

Oh well I pick it up Thursday night (which is dumb because I dont really have a spot to park it) and so friday morning I am going to go pick it up.

Debating on where I am bringing it (here or to the mechanics) if I bring to mechanics then I am stuck with them doing work which is scary business, but I need the tranny fluid changed and I've never done that myself. Not sure if I should try it in the driveway..

Chad

 

Just got back from picking up the trailer from uhaul (35kms from my house as they were the closest one that had one) and have it backed into my driveway.

Think I would of preferred to have a trailer with electronic brakes. (or whatever the ones tha hook up to the truck are called) the surge brakes stopped it but they were very annoying every time I hit a bump i could feel them going off (at least I think it was the trailer brakes, supposed it could of been just pulling my truck around)

I always thought my truck was over 5000LBS (last time I went to dump I had a GVW of over 5700LBS and I dont think my load could of been more then a half ton.)

They informed me the computer says my 79 F-150 only weighs 3800LBS. Am I a little dillusional? Reg. Cab long box 2wd. 3800lBS??

Oh one other thing, the amount my truck was slowed down towing htis (2500LB trailer they dold me was weight) trailer was alot more then I thought, so when I get the truck on the back I think I am going to be driving 80km/h all the way back.

302 is not a good pulling engine, I will agree with anyone on that. Though I have read that the C6 I have is a little heavy duty for it, so maybe its robbing some of the power..


Anyway, no problems driving empty trailer up and over the one skyway I have to cross on way back (other is bigger though, ALOT bigger) and it was pouring rain the whole way back avg speed somewhere around 95KM/h most of the way(down to 80 on some of the climbs)


Mabye I just dont like to rev the hell out of my engine...maybe its this LOUSY RV cam. I just dont have the time to swap a cam, so I am waiting till I have a whole bunch of engine stuff to do it..


Anyway I'm tired and rambling.

Looking forward to this, hopefuly I can get the Aux, tranny cooler on in the morning, its been raining for 3 days and I Have no garage to do it in Otherwise it would of already been on.


Anyway,
Talk to you after the big voyage.

Chad

 

Well FYI...

The load may be too much for your truck to handle. What you are doing could be very dangerous.

That trailer will push you around, empty or not, especially with a heavy load...The only truck I have ever driven where the trailer didn't push the truck around is my F350.

Check the air in your truck tires and the trailer tires, air up if you need to.

There is no such thing as over-securing your load...

3800lb truck...somebody's full of something...my dad's supercab longbox '78 weighs about 5700, so your truck probably weighs a little less than that.

Drive slow, and whatever you do, do not lock your brakes.
If you do, its all over.

RV cams (at least I heard) reduce horsepower, but are supposed to deliver better fuel economy (is this actually true?)...

Good luck.

 

All I know about my RV cam, is that it gets me going mighty good (till about 15km/h!!!) but if I floor it and it downshifts (were talking no load here) I go about the same speed as if I stayed about half way down on the pedal (but my one header isn't attached to the exhaust because its rotted and I have the new headers sitting beside me waiting to be installed) so its a heck of a good sound when I floor it =0


And of course I'm going to be careful, it shouldn't be to bad. I'm not that nervous anymore (was a little before I picked it up)


Thanks though,
Chad

 

How'd it go?

 

Turned into a 12 hour adventure.

1) Thanks to whoever advised the surge brakes would make it jerkey, didn't notice much when it was loaded though just when it was empty. I was waiting for it, it was not bad or anything, just nice to be aware of it.


2) Trip up there was fine, everything was going good. Got there, slight trouble loading the straps around the big tires but they did go on. Then the real trouble, looked and my hitch was on the ground. I was like CRAP. So I tried driving with it just hovering (I used to have a low rider car I thougth we will try it) after going 40km/h for a while I realized it just wasn't going to work. OPP is blitzing this weekend and would love to pull me over (remember I had over 230km/s to travel) So anyway I pull over and call my moms boyfriend who lives in Hamilton (in this traffic about 2 hours away) and he comes up (he used to drive for CAA in his younger years) and so anyway he says I can invert the drop bar (I took all the tools out of the cab so my mom would have somewhere to sit and it was pouring rain (bad visibility to) so I couldn't put them in the box. So anyway he goes to home hardware and gets a wrench. Comes back and helps me flip it. Then he goes ahead and hooks up the trailer. Well the coupling wasn't hooked down right (he didn't tighten it enough, it was odd I've not used one like this either, but that doesn't say much all I've done is my moms jetski. and a couple campers) so anyway I drive the blazer on the trailer and SLAM into my tailgate goes the trailer, got a nice scuff of missing paint (not really a dent though some metal shavings and paint thats about it) and my license plate took a beating on the way down.

All in all that sucked really bad.


Then I hook it up with him (me tripple checking everything this time) and then drive the blazer up, was perfect height and all. So off we go.


Things of note:

302 w/c6 going 60MPH was difficult (like I dont like revving the crap out of my truck) 45-50MPH was ok.

used about 1.25 tanks of gas. So about 50$ worth, and thats keeping in mind that I towed a 2500LB trailer 230KM's and then on the way back another 230KMS with the trailer loaded with a blazer that weighs in at around 3200LBS (because its 4x4 and the big tires etc; etc

Not bad milage I guess?


Wish someone would of told me the UHAUL trailer is 4pin connector. I had to goto canadian tire at last second and get a 7round to 4 flat adapator as uhaul didnt' have one ;/

Wish I would of thought to flip the drop bar before I left

Didn't sway or try to drive the truck at all, just noticed when big trucks went by me they sucked me in.

I did mention pouring rain and cold, didn't have the tranny cooler in but due to temperature it didn't matter much.

So in the future I will do the following:

Check on trailler connectors (how many pin flat or round etc
Buy a bigger truck next time round (F250 at least)
Buy a bigger truck with a bigger engine next time round.



But in all honesty after I got everything hooked up the actual ride home wasn't bad at all. We had walkie talkies and my ma and her bf were helping me at first in traffic to see how it sways (toronto traffic is lousy on the highway and with the amount of rain we were getting they thought it best they gave me a hand to ensure I had lots of room)

I was very glad they helped but it was me doing the driving, and ultimatly responsible and I think I did ok. Nothing but my tailgate was damaged and that wasn't my fault. I will fix it and I dont discredit him for helping me, again he did drive 2 hours just to give me a hand, but I wish he would of had me check the connection a little better, I trusted his word and just gave it a glance and did some damage.


So anyway I didn't bring it to my house, left it at my gf's and didn't have my digi cam there. Just had her regular camera, and I took as best pics I could considering it was night time. But when I get them developed I will throw them up for you guys, (you can see how far my truck sagged!)


Anyway,
I learned alot and am very glad I got to do this, will make me much more comfortable next time I consider towing something large etc; I figure my total trailer weight in around 5700LBS according to what I know of trailer weight + vehicle weight. Not bad for a F-150 w/ 302 and a c6.

No weight distribution setup used, even though I have one.


Chado

 

Sounds like ya had some fun!

I'll tell you about my latest hauling story now.

I live in Washington state, USA (south of BC).
This happened back in Novvember.
Well, there's a lumber yard up there in BC, about an hour west of Abbottsford. They sell storage buildings up there, so my dad bought 2 and we went up there to pick them up with the trailer.
My 1-ton was in the shop, so we used my dad's '78 Ford F250 (460/C6, supercab, mean little truck. I guess thats why everyone calls it "The BEAST") So were up there, and the forklift drops these buildings (they came in 4 by 4 by 8 package) and that trailer really sinks, and brings the truck down with it. That load must have been at least 7K. The mudflaps on the truck were on the ground. At that point I was pretty sure we were going to die. We get on the road and go to a gas station and aired up the tires - it was sagging bad and handling wasn't exactly good. Now the worst part.
There is this HUGE hill we have to go up - no semi could even make this hill. Speed limit was 25mph, so no running start. So my dad kicks it up that hill, and it starts to drop speed like a stone, he asks "what is going on?!" I replied "Downshift to first and open the secondaries!" Darn truck topped out at 15mph at full rev. But it pulled it up that hill, that was the TRUE TEST for a truck. I am still amazed that truck did that, especially being as old as it is. Rest of the trip was Ok, except a ratchet strap came off.
Parked the trailer in our pasture, and then used my 1-ton dually to move it a few weeks later, and it sunk my dually almost to the ground, unreal. After seeing all of that, my dad decided not to sell his truck.