I see these dolly like hitches every once in awhile. I looked it up and its called an automated safety hitch. I see them very rarely so whats the pros and cons of it and how come I don't see more of them?

 

2 more tires/hubs to maintain. Not sure how it rides....

 

Very much more difficult to back up unless you want to jackknife for making U-turns.

 

How about stability? Looks like it doesn't put near enough weight on the back of the truck.

 

I have to take that comment back, I see that they keep the axle parallel to your truck's rear axle and it appears that the trailer wheels caster. Certainly not much weight transfer to the towing vehicle, I like running 5000-5500 when I tow my trailer at 27,000+. It does add another brake system to help stop the load but I like having a lot of pin weight (gooseneck) or tongue weight (receiver pull) to add traction for the truck. Plus my truck has MUCH bigger brakes than even my tandem axle dual config with hydralic disc brakes.

 

Pro is that the entire bed of the truck is open for toys

 

They r spends. I looked a while back and I thought around $12k. They are rigidly attached to the truck thru a quick attach set up. The wheels can be pinned for backing up. Probably more for f150 than super duty.

 

In Canada we have tractor trailers with two trailers called "wiggle wagons". In this set up, also called A trains, the first trailer is connected to the truck via a fifth wheel hitch. At the back of the trailer there is a pintle hitch. A single axle dolly connects to the pintle hitch on the first trailer. The second trailer attaches to the dolly via another 5th wheel hitch. Ussually the dolly is only a single axle. The trailers are often single axle as well, sometimes the front trailer is a tandem, the back trailer a single axle. Traditionally these trailers are loaded with relatively light bulky items to the roof. The set up referred to by the OP has two disadvantages from what I can see, one the weigh transfer on the drive tires of the pulling vehicle is limited, and second, this combination will tend to wiggle. Especially considering the dolly is a single axle, which will move around more following the track of the towing vehicle. If it was a tandem dolly these traits would be a bit better. Also, the same disadvantage with tires, single tires, still at risk of a tire failure, I am sure the dolly tires would be very critical to replace, monitor pressure as if they fail, big problems can insure at highway speeds. You would likely detect earlier by the driver not being isolated form the towing vehicle. Whereas this setup, unless your hearing a blow out, you will already have a big problem with the dolly tires failing. The other thing they are notorious for is being an absolute pain twin the tookuss to back up together. This ends my dissertation on wiggle wagons, I am sure some real truckers can chime in with their experience.

 

I'm reaching hard to think of why someone would want this, I'm not seeing much for pros. Maybe they are for a person who loves their Excursion so much but needs to haul a large gooseneck horse trailer from time to time. It looks ridiculous behind a SuperDuty.

 

These things are awesome. They provide extra steering, braking and stability. They allow half-ton trucks to haul much heavier loads because they take the bulk of the load off the truck. They are one-ton axles, brakes and HD tires. The do not articulate don't cause issues when backing up.
They have one or two winches to make hook-up a breeze.
And you can haul a 5er or a GN with an SUV.
These open up a ton of possibilities

 

You would be exceeding the GCWR of a half ton towing any 5er or GN with that rigging if it was loaded. I agree looks ridiculous behind a SD. Why not just set up the SD to pull the trailer properly. Remeber the GN or 5r pin weight is no longer in the drive wheels, therefore the handling issues will be many in certain situations. I say get the right tow vehicle and hitch for the job. To each there own, but I would not be seen using one.

 

$10-$12,000
Additional length

Does not articulate.

Nothing more then an expensive bandaid to exceed the capabilities of your vehicle.
The 'not enough weight' can really come into play where you need traction, e.g. pulling up a wet hill, gravel etc.

 

I was thinking the only advantage this could offer a super duty other than the obvious one of being able to put stuff in the bed, which is not worth it to me, is the extra braking ability. But would the extra braking not be negated by the rear tires on the truck not being able to contribute very much at all because there is zero pin weight?

 

IMHO, it violates the K.I.S.S. principle. And I'm not talking about the rock band.

 

Here you go...
The Automated Safety Hitch | Trailer Hitch | Gooseneck Horse Trailers | 5th Wheel RVs | Flatbed Goosenecks | Fifth Wheel

Automated Safety Hitch System Review

You can decide for yourself.