Tow a 29 outlaw with a Bronco?
10-09-2014, 11:47 AM
#11
the braking issues that every was is talking about. minus a panic stop. a trailer i have towed that has had a good braking system, and i mean working. if i applied the brakes on the truck. i could literally take my foot off the brake and the boat trailer could slow the vehicle to a stop for me relatively quickly.
is that not a common occurence with other trailers?.
is that not a common occurence with other trailers?.
10-09-2014, 12:00 PM
#12
the braking issues that every was is talking about. minus a panic stop. a trailer i have towed that has had a good braking system, and i mean working. if i applied the brakes on the truck. i could literally take my foot off the brake and the boat trailer could slow the vehicle to a stop for me relatively quickly.
is that not a common occurence with other trailers?.
is that not a common occurence with other trailers?.
Case in point - many years ago I towed my 25ish Baja with a 92 Dodge Dakota 2WD club cab. It had the 5.2L V8, so pulling was not much of an issue. I had surge brakes on the trailer, so most of the time I could stop just fine. I was always careful to give myself an extra safety factor with extra following distance when towing. One day on the way to Lake Cumberland, I was on a narrow 2 lane road (Hwy 127) within a few miles of the ramp. It had just started to drizzle lightly, and I had a little Toyota sub compact in front of me. I had oncoming traffic, and briefly took my eyes off the road to look in my side view mirror to make sure my trailer was on my side of the line. When I looked back up, the lady in the Toyota had basically come to a sudden stop to make a left turn into a yard sale - no signal or anything - she just stopped. I hit the brakes, started to skid on the wet road, and had a millisecond to decide whether to cream her or try to steer around her. I took option B, which put me through a 4-foot deep ditch into a gravel parking lot. The guy behind me said that everything - truck, trailer, boat - the whole works - went airborne about 3 feet in the air. Bent the frame on the truck, tore the hitch off, bent the trailer up pretty good, and had to pull the engine and transom assy on the boat to reseal from the impact. But no one was hurt - thankfully. If I would have hit her, pretty sure she would have been killed or seriously injured.
I'm not sure if having a bigger tow rig would have made a big difference in this situation, but it sure couldn't have hurt. I couldn't imagine trying to stop that boat and make that maneuver with a short wheelbase vehicle. And this was just a 25 foot Baja - not a 29 foot boat with twin big blocks.
10-09-2014, 12:30 PM
#13
VIP Member
2WD vs. 4x4 doesn't matter one bit in this use case, except for pulling that thing out of the water on a slippery ramp. (I would never own a 2WD tow vehicle anyhow, but that's a whole separate topic.)
As I and others stated in the other thread with the exact same title; this is not a good idea, including being over the capacities of the SUV and legal specs as well.
Some folks are not clear on how braking works.
Some of the newer tow vehicles have exhaust and transmission braking that will continue to slow a truck/trailer down after the brakes are applied, but the pedal is no longer engaged.
If the above is happening with surge brakes (and no alternative braking in the driveline), the surge brake coupler springs are likely worn out.
Surge brakes only work effectively when the truck and trailer are in a straight line. Turn the wheel ever so slightly and/or get any angle between the two vehicles, and you are going to jack-knife in a hard braking situation.
And any braking system can fail. I've had electric brakes, surge brakes, and EoH brake fail for various reasons since I started towing many moons ago. Even the "best" trailer setup (IMHO), EoH will fail and fail terribly when you crack a brake line which can happen at anytime. You better have a tow vehicle than can handle that. Ask REMEDY here on OSO about loosing the TRUCK brakes on his Ram 2500 Cummins with his 33AT behind him with SURGE brakes. He's damn lucky he had a 6-speed manual transmission.
As I and others stated in the other thread with the exact same title; this is not a good idea, including being over the capacities of the SUV and legal specs as well.
Some folks are not clear on how braking works.
Some of the newer tow vehicles have exhaust and transmission braking that will continue to slow a truck/trailer down after the brakes are applied, but the pedal is no longer engaged.
If the above is happening with surge brakes (and no alternative braking in the driveline), the surge brake coupler springs are likely worn out.
Surge brakes only work effectively when the truck and trailer are in a straight line. Turn the wheel ever so slightly and/or get any angle between the two vehicles, and you are going to jack-knife in a hard braking situation.
And any braking system can fail. I've had electric brakes, surge brakes, and EoH brake fail for various reasons since I started towing many moons ago. Even the "best" trailer setup (IMHO), EoH will fail and fail terribly when you crack a brake line which can happen at anytime. You better have a tow vehicle than can handle that. Ask REMEDY here on OSO about loosing the TRUCK brakes on his Ram 2500 Cummins with his 33AT behind him with SURGE brakes. He's damn lucky he had a 6-speed manual transmission.
Last edited by Sydwayz; 10-09-2014 at 12:33 PM.
10-09-2014, 12:46 PM
#14
And any braking system can fail. I've had electric brakes, surge brakes, and EoH brake fail for various reasons since I started towing many moons ago. Even the "best" trailer setup (IMHO), EoH will fail and fail terribly when you crack a brake line which can happen at anytime. You better have a tow vehicle than can handle that. Ask REMEDY here on OSO about loosing the TRUCK brakes on his Ram 2500 Cummins with his 33AT behind him with SURGE brakes. He's damn lucky he had a 6-speed manual transmission.
10-09-2014, 07:18 PM
#17
Registered
I have a 94 bronco(351) that I drive several days a week. I have a 30 concept CC with twin outboards on an aluminum trailer which is likely a lot lighter than the boat in question. I tow my boat with my 4 door long bed 2500 silverado. There is no way I would try towing my Concept with the bronco. My boat tows great with the 2500, but I can tell its back there. Even if you could make the bronco handle the weight towing with that wheel base would never allow it to be very safe. Thats just my opinion. here is an example from just last weekend...
driving down the highway at 60ish mph in the right lane. Come up on a left hand curve going under an overpass. There is a suv in the fast lane beside me with her front bumper at about my trucks rear bumper. Watching my mirrors I notice the suv starts to swerve toward me. I move right to the rumble strip and beyond laying on the horn...luckily there was plenty of shoulder. Remember this is on a decent curve at 60mph. "She" came over a foot into my lane before swerving back into her lane. There is no doubt in my mind had I not been paying attention it would have been one hell of an accident. Anyhow, she proceeded to come past me like nothing happened still looking at her phone. My wife and I are in the truck with our hearts racing. Worked out fine but I fell like a quick swerve like that towing with the short wheel base bronco would have been UGLY!
driving down the highway at 60ish mph in the right lane. Come up on a left hand curve going under an overpass. There is a suv in the fast lane beside me with her front bumper at about my trucks rear bumper. Watching my mirrors I notice the suv starts to swerve toward me. I move right to the rumble strip and beyond laying on the horn...luckily there was plenty of shoulder. Remember this is on a decent curve at 60mph. "She" came over a foot into my lane before swerving back into her lane. There is no doubt in my mind had I not been paying attention it would have been one hell of an accident. Anyhow, she proceeded to come past me like nothing happened still looking at her phone. My wife and I are in the truck with our hearts racing. Worked out fine but I fell like a quick swerve like that towing with the short wheel base bronco would have been UGLY!
10-09-2014, 07:21 PM
#18
Registered
iTrader: (1)
Rent a bigger truck for the 100 mile trips. It's only twice a year right ?
10-09-2014, 08:05 PM
#19
Buy a rat 2500 to tow the boat and keep the bronco off the road in the winter and keep it nice! I have a crew 4x4 2500hd 8.1 with Allison trans you can buy for $5k if you need it. Will tow that fountain at 80 no problem! I can't see spending big $$$ to buy a truck here in NY and drive it in the winter, or any vehicle period. 4yrs here and they are rotted, 8 years and they are rotted through!
10-09-2014, 08:25 PM
#20
Buy a rat 2500 to tow the boat and keep the bronco off the road in the winter and keep it nice! I have a crew 4x4 2500hd 8.1 with Allison trans you can buy for $5k if you need it. Will tow that fountain at 80 no problem! I can't see spending big $$$ to buy a truck here in NY and drive it in the winter, or any vehicle period. 4yrs here and they are rotted, 8 years and they are rotted through!
