I just bought a new 37' toy hauler. Loaded with water, 60 gallons of gas and four full size quads it weighs almost 20K lbs. I have a Dp tunner on it's way, I have flushed and refilled tranny, changed rear diff fluid, getting gauges, what else should I do? I have never pulled anything this big before. I did learn that one spare is not enough with three axels. Any suggestions would be appriciated!

 

I'd make sure of your weights. Have it checked at a CAT scale at a nearby truck stop. 20K is alot for a 1 ton. I think your GCVW is only 20-22K and thats for truck and trailer. I pulled a 15K 5ver with a 1ton and an upgrade to 19.5 wheels was one of the best things I ever did. Know I don,t sweat it. got an F550 this spring. It doesn't even know the 5ver's back there.

 

Well I have a 9500 fiver and had a rash of blown tires over the last 20,000 miles. Make darn sure they are at least load range E tires and have the right amount of air. I keep mine at 80 and check them each time I move the trailer. If you stop overnight, check them the next morning.....before you come home, check the tires....If the are low, the will shread....and on the side of the interstate, that is NO fun. Get a ramp to back the trailer on to jack up the other tires but have a good floor jack handy. As for the truck, make sure all the tires are good and properly inflated. Hopefully you have a 6.0 tranny cooler or bigger installed and watch the speed. I was told by an old race team owner last season that speed and heat will kill tires. As well as fuel economy, keep the speed down to 65ish or so if possible. My dually has 4:10 gears in it and about 2000 is just about right for me. 2000 rpm is supposedly the best fuel economy for the 7.3 and that is right about 62 or so for me. I tow through the mountains of North Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky and I get about 12 mpg overall using the 60 tow setting on my DP chip. I have the unrestricted exhaust and Kwik filter setup. Watch the tranny temps, and if they get upward of 180 give it a rest. I run on average about "outside temp + 75" but so far (knock on wood) I have never been over 160. In the mountains last summer and it was about 101 outside, I only saw 160. If you push the speed they will climb but overall with the 6.0 cooler I have only see 160 max. The EGT's will keep your attention too. If you start going over 1100, either downshift and get the air flowing through the exhaust or back out of it and let it cool.....Be careful and have fun with the power of the beast...Dave

 

That's a good idea. The salesman said the trailer empty weighs 15K. Is there a way to verify the trailer weight other than going to a scale? Would it be on the trailer anywhere?

 

Get some trailer brakes. I pull pretty heavy pulling my camper and wave runner but I live in Texas nice flat lands. Never had any problems with it getting hot or any problems with the tranny.

 

I took my whole shooting match to a CAT scale...or any truck stop. I pulled the truck on the "steerage axle scale" and parked the camper wheels on the other scales. Got a total weight, then went back and weighed the truck by its self on the "steerage axle scale". Subtract the truck alone weight from the total weight and you have the weight of the trailer. Granted the first weight on the "steerage axle scale" will be higher because of the hitch weight but you can also get "trailer suspension weight" by pulling the trailer axles on the "steerage axle" scale and get an accurate weight of the weight on the wheels. I did that to determine that my tires were not overloaded just in case you have tire troubles. Main point is to get a total weight, truck alone weight and that difference will give you the trailer weight. If you weight on the wheels alone it will be lower because you are not measuring the weight on the fifth wheel hitch....this should be about 10% of the overall weight of the trailer. Hope this makes sense. Lead your turns to you don't drag the rear axle over any curbs or off the road and try not to make sharp turns cause this will scrub the tires and sidewalls. Look at your tires when you turn. You will see them flexing a lot but they should take it, just try to take it easy on them.....

 

The tires are load range D. The service department said D's are fine as there are 3 axels. I would like to change to E's but they are $90 each. If the trailer should have E's shouldn't the manufacture install them? If E's are way better to go with then I'll make that purchase.

YES... I have learned to make wide turns!! Just about took out a stop sign or two. I have trailer brakes and a prodigy controller. Should I upgrade to load range E tires on the truck? I currently have 315/75/16 tires.

What about an exaust brake?

 

I agree with Dave, checking your tires is very important. We pull a boat to Florida a lot. We bought a new trailer, and though the tire pressure and load rating was right, the size wasn't. The tire diameter was way to small. Both blew before the trip was over. Running 70 down the interstate, no telling what kind of rpms those little tires were turning. We put larger diameter tires, same weight rating, on there and haven't had a problem since, knock on wood. We also pull a 12k 5th wheel, havent had any problems yet. Only advice I can give is just make sure you got plenty of grease on the hitch. I don't know what kind of problems it will eventually cause, but I do know that it gets really noisy at low speeds maneuvering through the campground.


Good luck and lots of fun

 

I bought one of those teflon discs. It's the only way to go. Never needs grease.

 

Thats nice, where did you get it?

 

Camper World. $14.95

 

Good price for the convenience.

 

the DMV tag is just the manufacturer's estimate of what the thing SHOULD wiegh not what IT DOES weigh. go to somewhere there is a scale, doesn't have to be certified.

afterwards, go and divide the total weight of the trailer less 10% by six and see if that is bigger than the tires allow EACH. you ought to add a 10% margin here just because. if the 1/6 value is near the max allowable on the tire, expect future tire problems, like poor wear, blow-outs. my trailer company added an extra axle the year after I bought mine, but I run "E" rated tires now.

 

Go way OVERKILL on the tires. My trailer had (if you can believe this) Load range "C" goodyear marathons on it. Within the second year, just short of 20,000 on it, I blew 2 on one trip. When I got back to Charleston, I was trying to get some load range "D"s to put on it. Well a Carlisle dealer here got me a WHOLE set of 4 Load range "E"s WITH wheels for about $115 each, so I got them immediatly. I made it about 8000 miles and for some reason I lost a right rear. That is when I reweighed everything and determined it was the tires fault. It was properly inflated so they charged me like $15 for the tread gone and got another pair of Load range "E"s and put them on the back axle. Now I have new ones on the back and the ones with mileage on the front, but I now have 3 good spares!! Yeah I am parinoid but the most uncomfortable feelling is knowing you have to do the last 300 miles of a trip with NO spare..never again....also, I hate and will NEVER again drive after dark. You can not see the rear tires. When I blew one last year, I heard something, but never saw something. A trucker passed me and called me on the CB and said I lost a right rear about 5 miles ago. Well when I pulled over, the rim was ok, and the only things left were the steel beads..I got lucky there..Oh yeah, keep your CB turned up just incase you need help or if someone else sees something wrong they can tell you....The tips keep on coming....

 

I would strongly look into a crew cab dually F-350, or better yet a 450 or 550. That is alot of weight to be stopping and moving. Even with the trailer being able to stop itself, you still have to keep the trailer BEHIND the truck. I pulled the 34' enclosed trailer (bumper pull) once with a sidewind and with the scsb srw truck, it was swimming all over the road. Ended up buying a CC dually Towboss. Today i was pulling about 20,000 on our new dually tandem gooseneck, and the truck didn't sweat anything other accelerating slower than normal.