Towing over limit

I need to get an old bronco from Utah to MN- about 1200miles. I'm guessing trailer and bronco about 6000lbs. My 2500 hitop has 190K and is very well maintained and all miles are hiway.
What do you think? Would you do it?

If the trailer had a surge brake or electric brakes that worked, I would probably do it, but wouldn’t advise anyone else to do it.
Also a tow dolly with surge brakes keeps the weight down and the CG down for better hauling, they rent pretty cheap.
Also if you only drove 5mph you could probably tow 50,0000 lbs, the faster you go the more unstable/stressed/max out everything is.
One of my least favourite sights is a pick up with nothing in it, hauling ass in the fast lane with a huge rv trailer. Everything is great until something happens and the rig has to slow and avoid something quickly

Tow dolly or flatbed trailer? Braking performance is important, so you need something with working brakes.

If possible I would tow with a dolly (equipped with brakes). The best option is 4 wheels down, and a brake-buddy or equivalent working on the towed brakes.

What does your van weigh? What is the wheelbase? If you are light (under 6000lbs), you may have stability issues, especially with a shorter wheelbase. In that case more tongue weight is better.

I have a 144, 16 inch wheels, light rv home conversion. I was planning on a flatbed so I wouldn't have to disconnect driveshafts. I do have a brake controller wire to connect ( the trailer has brakes)
MAybe I should look into a dolly

The bronco isn't that tall, so it might be okay. Depending on the trailer, having something the heavy can be quite hairy in cross winds or sharp turns.

Note that if you have an accident, even if it is not your fault, and your insurance company finds out you were towing over the limit, it is possible they may use that to deny your claim or even blame you for the accident. It probably depends on the insurance company, but you never know.

Regards,

Mark

Final note: I forgot about towing four down.
I would guess that towing it four down with a tow bar will keep you legal re weight. Different jurisdictions have different rules regarding breakaway brakes, so you need to look into that. Last time I looked not all states required breakaway brakes (a big pita to install) . I have towed vans four down and found it the most comfortable way to tow, a well aligned vehicle will track behind very smoothly.
Barring that, tow dolly is next. The problem are 3 fold with trailering vehicles, extra weight, the suspension bounce and high center of gravity. Chaining the vehicle into compression helps the bounce, the other 2 you can’t work around.
P.s. disconnection of the rear drive shaft is not much trouble,,especially if the bronco has a lift.

dg55117 said:

I need to get an old bronco from Utah to MN- about 1200miles. I'm guessing trailer and bronco about 6000lbs. My 2500 hitop has 190K and is very well maintained and all miles are hiway.
What do you think? Would you do it?

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Not on roads shared by other innocent motorists.

Don't do it on a trailer with all 4 truck wheels off the ground. Can you say "wag the dog"? A tow dolly with brakes will be just fine. Take it slow.

In the UK there is an unofficial rule that states...

"The '85% rule' is not legislated, but a recommendation that states that the weight of the loaded caravan should be no more than 85% of the cars kerbweight. Those who are experienced caravanners may go up to 100% of the cars kerbweight, but no-one should tow a caravan that is heavier than the towing limit of the car."

Based on this rule the loaded trailer should NEVER exceed the loaded weight of the towing vehicle.

Keith.

I've done my share of questionable things while driving and riding motorcycles...

One thing I've learned is, everything's ok... until the very moment it's out of your control.

In motorcycling riding I've learned, high speed doesn't kill you, it's the sudden stop that does.

#drivingdharma

What year and model? A catalog says 1970 Bronco with a six is 3,200 lbs.

Think a UHaul car Trailer is about 2,200. Aluminum are much less, as little as 1,200.

If you are really concerned, rent the trailer, put a car on it and test. That’s a $75 experiment,

We just bought a boat and would like to trailer it with our '16 2500 2.1L 144 Crew Cab Sprinter converted with about 700 lbs of equipment. But... we'll be overweight as the towing capacity is 5000 lbs, and the boat, fully loaded with trailer will be 6500 lbs.

Now.... we are only towing from storage to the boat ramp which is all of 3 miles.

Any idea if this is practically doable? I'm hoping it is, as I don't want to buy a vehicle just for launching the boat. I'm also hoping the I4 engine can pull this thing up a boat ramp!

3 miles? No sweat, drive slow.

So that’s a yes from me.

So, how do you get a sailboat with that much draft onto the trailer? Sling?

Thinking more about our situation, the trailer tongue weight is normally 10% of the total boat/trailer weight, right? That puts my tongue weight at 650 lbs. That's not bad, as I've hauled that much work gear around from time to time. At low tire air pressure (40 lbs), the tires bulge a bit with that weight in the back, but it's barely noticeable.

Now, steep boat ramps? We'll have to see how those 4 little cylinders can pull.

The diesels have exceptional power below 2500RPM. The torque converter will allow at least 2,000rpm from a dead stop. Unless its a 50% slope, you should be fine.

ENMeyer said:

We just bought a boat and would like to trailer it with our '16 2500 2.1L 144 Crew Cab Sprinter converted with about 700 lbs of equipment. But... we'll be overweight as the towing capacity is 5000 lbs, and the boat, fully loaded with trailer will be 6500 lbs.

Now.... we are only towing from storage to the boat ramp which is all of 3 miles.

Any idea if this is practically doable? I'm hoping it is, as I don't want to buy a vehicle just for launching the boat. I'm also hoping the I4 engine can pull this thing up a boat ramp!

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Then rent a vehicle that IS capable of legally towing it on public roads, on the days you want to move your boat over public roads.

ENMeyer said:

So, how do you get a sailboat with that much draft onto the trailer? Sling?

Thinking more about our situation, the trailer tongue weight is normally 10% of the total boat/trailer weight, right? That puts my tongue weight at 650 lbs. That's not bad, as I've hauled that much work gear around from time to time. At low tire air pressure (40 lbs), the tires bulge a bit with that weight in the back, but it's barely noticeable.

Now, steep boat ramps? We'll have to see how those 4 little cylinders can pull.

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For a boat like this (my wife’s) they are often lifted by crane. There are lifting eyes on the keel, which is most of the weight.

The club also has a hydraulic lifting trailer. It is “U” shaped and is backed in alongside the boat. Lifting arms are fitted front and back on both sides. Then the travel trailer is removed. Typically the boat is put on stands, rigging fitted, and the trailer comes back to put it in the water.

We have a long ramp and the tidal swing here averages 10’. The ramp is completely high and dry at low tide, completely submerged at high tide.

A note about US tow ratings: they are all over the map and often far lower in the US than elsewhere. Except pickup truck manufacturer, who use often their own test specs to come up with their BS “Best In Class” ratings.

Our 6 cyl Outback is currently rated 3,000 lbs. The smaller, less powerful previous generation was rated for 3,500 lbs. Almost everywhere else in the world the same vehicle is rated 2,000 kg: 4,400 lbs.

In Europe, tow rating for the Sprinter with reinforced tow hitch seems to be 3,500kg: 7,000 lbs. For some reason and like many other vehicles, they derate it to 5,000 in the US.

So towing 6,500 would not be a big deal, especially for three miles.