Cafe vs Gun Weight
 

What is the realistic weight of a Cafe Racer and a Top Gun on trailer?? Say mid 90's non stepped hulls. I know alluminum vs steel makes a difference. Just trying to get rough figures right now. My truck will tow 15k and I want to stay at or below that.

I'd say about 26,000#. Why are you trying to tow both at once???





I couldn't resist.

LOL... Good one. Not to mention one would be really flat.. A true flat deck.

I think I read some where on here that a top gun weighs about 14,000 trailer and the cafe racer is just a little less. I think the bigger question is what are you going to pull one with? Most people pull Guns with 3500s or F-350s (diesel), or bigger.

My Cafe Brochure says 9600 dry weight stock - I've seen other brochures as high as 10,000 for the Cafe.

Add

100 for swim platform
100 for hydraulic steering/Tie Bar
200 for a pair of blowers
100 for other non-stock running gear (sea strainers, extra props, etc...)
100 for "other stuff" Anchors, Tool Box, Lines.

Add 1300 for fuel
Add 2000 for aluminum trailer, 3000 for steel

Add 200 for coolers and liquor.

I'm nudging up on 14k pretty quickly.

Assume a gun weighs about 300lbs more.

I tow with an F350 Dually Crew Cab and will upgrade to a bigger truck as soon as possible. It's a lot of weight to truely feel "comfortable" with.

My current truck is an 03 Dodge Ram 3500 heavy duty with the 5.9 cummins HO. Its rated to tow 15k. Ive pulled my buddy's 89 Formula 357sr1 with it and you know the boats there. Its almost at my limit on a steel trailer. So, I figured the Cafe should be close. The gun might be a lil too heavy. The whole reason for buying the Ram was to be able to tow it myself when ever i wanted to. No sense getting a boat that is too heavy for what I have and need to rely on borrowing a truck once again.

I put my Cafe on a truck scale.

12,200 on the trailer, 1,300 on the tongue (13,500 total).

Almost no gas, steel trailer (15K lbs rated triple axle) - add a couple hundred pounds for the blowers.

I like the stability of the Dually, but a lot of guys tow these boats with SRW 1-TON trucks like yours...

I couldnt justify buying the dually. As much as it would help when towing, I spend more time driving the truck around city streets without anything behind it. what I plan on doing is getting a second set of rims and running stiff low profile tires. This will make the ride harsher but will take away lateral sway due to having shorter sidewalls. Believe me, I'd love to be able to have a F650 or Gm/Chevy 6500 just for towing the boat. Unfortunately, my truck is a multi use vehicle.

Only problem with the shorfter tire is that all the streaght of the tie is in the side wall. So by shrinking it you are potextially taking away some of the streaght area. Plus with a lower profile that are not forgiving on any type of imperfection in the road. One good hole and you have a pinched wall that leads to a bubble. Once the side wall is comprimised the tire is junk and unsafe.
-Mike

My dually is my DD so I know what you mean!!

How far are you going to be towing it? You'll be within spec so I wouldn't worry too much....

most of my boating will be done on the rivers here in Pittsburgh. I will take it to Lake Erie, the Chesapeak and Raystown lake some. So most of the towing will be local with a few extended trips. I want to be able to weekend on the boat. I've always loved the lines on the Cafe Racers and wish I wouldve been in the market when you bought yours. Otherwise it might be sitting at my marina. lol But I have to sell my Baja first.

Sounds like you have dealt with tires before MIke! HahAhaha....

I know a little..........
-Mike

Tg
 

I pulled our old 94 TG with blowers and #3SSM's on an aluminum trailer with my 2002 Chev 2500HD. It was a little anemic, and definitly the max, but it worked.

I am VERY happy with my purchase and can't say one bad thing about the Cafe's. It might be blasphemy in the CIG world but the lines are better than the TG's :evilb:

If you are under the tow capacity of the truck and consequently dont have to worry about liability I would say go for it. You won't regret it EVER. If you decide you want a little more stability throw some bags on the truck.

I have a 1994 Cig Top Gun. It's very heavy and kind of dangerous to tow. I had a 2000 Dodge Daully Automatic. Destroyed the transmission every 150 miles of towing. I had to get my transmission replaced 4 times in one summer. Went to a 2007 Dodge Dually 6 speed 4x4 manual tranmission and have not had any problems is 3+ years. If you have 225/75/R15 tires on your trailer, go with Maxxis tires. I have had bad luck with other tires.....like 3 blowouts in 2 years. Anyway, be careful towing that thing, it can be hard to stop.
Note: if you are turning and there is gravel on the road, expect your rear to be pushed as if you were on ice.

Tow my 02 Gun w a 07 Classic cc lb 3500 single rear wheel Duramax.
Put air bags on back and it tows better than I thought it would.
Dont forget the TRAIN horn to warn the fkrs when you are comming thru!

Dodge autos have sucked for years 2 options allison or a bull dog 4R100 in the ford. The reg. Ford trans will only last if babied and a huge...... cooler and the inline filter that they rec. from the factory now.
-Mike

Up to 03', Dodge had the Chryler built auto transmissions. 04' and above has the Mercedes built transmissions. I pull a 25' dovetail gooseneck (4,000 +/- ibs) with 12,000 - 17,400 ib pieces of equipment on it quite often using my 04' Dodge dually with an automatic. Truck has 60,000 miles on it now and I have had no troubles at all.

I know the tranny was always the week part of the dodge trucks. So far no problems with my truck and it has 66k miles on it. I figure when it goes, I'll put in a heavy duty aftermarket unit. Id also like to do the airbags plus Im gonna switch out the hitch it has now for a Class V weight Distribution hitch for a lil more stability. I'd rather overprep the truck than have that Oh Sh!t issue arrise.

Good call on getting a class V. My 05 dodge and my current 08 dodge 3500 each came with 10,000lb hitches even though the truck is rate like 15k "properly Equipped."

The tranny on the 05 sucked. You had to let off the gas to help it shift. Although the 5.9 cummins got crazy good fuel economy. My 08 is also a SRW 3500 and the newer transmission is much better.

Also, the exhaust brake on the newer trucks is awesome. Truck slows itself down to about 35mph before you ever hit the brakes.

My 36' Apache is probably pretty comparable to the cafe as far as towing weight. Most of my towing issues have been related to driving to fast and blowing tires. Now, I try to keep the speed between 65-69mph on the highways and have much fewer trailering issues.

Not sure about your state but in Missouri you vehicle is supposed to be licensed for the GCW of your rig. So I have 24k plates on my truck I believe the ticket here is $1100 or so.