For sake of conversation- wanting to tow two rigs...

REDLYNER

REDLYNER

Mall Crawling Race Rig
Joined
Oct 31, 2008
Location
Mountain Island
Just barely starting my research on this, but was curious if there were immediate red flags to stay away from or certain things to look for (pretty broad, I know).

For example, I am looking into towing two rigs (TJs) to 4x4 events around the South East with probably one trip a year out West. Whatever the tow rig, it wouldn't be driven but 300 to 400 miles per month, excluding offroad trips. So, that being said, I was thinking something along the lines of a Ram 3500, or F350 and like a 24' trailer? Truck must be 4 door.

I don't have many other specifics, but if I had to put parameters on it, I would say a budget of like $28 to $35k for the truck and maybe $3k for trailer? Anything right off the bat I should not waste my time test driving?


We currently tow one TJ on a 16' trailer with our H3 Alpha (V8) and it is perfect for one rig, but now we may be towing multiple vehicles.

Thoughts? Again, just looking for general feedback and biased opinions. :D

:beer:
 
I am assuming you are also looking at the diesel versions of those trucks, right? I think you should be able to find a truck in your price range, but it may be difficult finding a trailer for that. I would also think a gooseneck or fifth wheel trailer would probably be your best bet as well.
 
Yeah, I was thinking deisel. I just made up those dollar figures as a starting point.
 
You're going to want a trailer with a min. of 30ft of deck. Lowboy would be an easier haul (less wind), but deckover is easier to load and less likely to drag. Gooseneck, no question. Double your trailer budget. You can make do with a tandem, but triples might be cheaper in the long run. You'll be able to run a lighter tire (E instead of G) with the triples.

Oh, and it's tough to find a lowboy car hauler that's more than ~20ft or less than 34ft long. They're built to haul generic "cars"... not 13ft long jeeps. You've got more options with equipment trailers, but then you're stuck deckover.
 
I currently use a 24 ft tagalong deckover with 4ft dove and fold down ramps, and have pulled 2 rigs on it over a year. 14,000# (2) axles. Originally was putting my old YJ (upnoverII) which is 108" wb and jeepn-jason's 100" cj5. Now I pull his cj5 and my buggy which is 117" wb. Balance over the axles is spot on, but I wouldn't pull it with a srw truck. My tow rigs are a '08 and '06 Chevy duallies with duramax. Only made one modification to the trailer, instead of the ramps folding to vertical I made them to fold to roughly 60 degrees. One rig rest against header and one rest against ramps. Of course our approach angles allow us to be almost tire to tire with 42's on both rigs. Goosenecks are certainly more stable but I wanted to keep the bed space usable. Trailer price-$3900.

Loaded weight for 4day trip and 2 rigs with r ppl, 23,000#.

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mcutler said:
I currently use a 24 ft tagalong deckover with 4ft dove and fold down ramps, and have pulled 2 rigs on it over a year. 14,000# (2) axles. Originally was putting my old YJ (upnoverII) which is 108" wb and jeepn-jason's 100" cj5. Now I pull his cj5 and my buggy which is 117" wb. Balance over the axles is spot on, but I wouldn't pull it with a srw truck. My tow rigs are a '08 and '06 Chevy duallies with duramax. Only made one modification to the trailer, instead of the ramps folding to vertical I made them to fold to roughly 60 degrees. One rig rest against header and one rest against ramps. Of course our approach angles allow us to be almost tire to tire with 42's on both rigs. Goosenecks are certainly more stable but I wanted to keep the bed space usable. Trailer price-$3900.

Loaded weight for 4day trip and 2 rigs with r ppl, 23,000#.
Click to expand...


That is exactly the situation or setup I was aiming for. I'm still interested in what others are doing, but I'm glad to see I wasn't clear out in left field with my original train of thoughts.

I'm thinking dually and would want one with a warranty. ~$4k would be reasonable and 24' would be great. 34' would be pretty long and may cause me to have to re-think a good bit of this. I don't mind the fifth wheel, but optimal would be towing low for the space reasons mentioned earlier.



Great feedback so far, I appreciate the info.
 
I would go with a 3500 Dodge dually and a gooseneck trailer. The gooseneck with tow a lot better with that much weight.
 
Im gonna suggest an 07 3500 dodge mega cab dually. More room, im guessing you are gonna have a few people in the truck since you are towing two rigs. You sacrafice some bed space for room, and you can find one in your price range. Stay with the '07 cause it comes with the 5.9 cummins which with the 6 speed should get close to 20mpg unloaded if not better, then throw a smarty programer, fass fuel system (or airdog), and a good clutch and have a near bulletproof towrig. Something with awesome power and still very reliable.

Im gonna suggest stay away from the ford and chevy just because of cost of parts and repair. Also would stay away from anything with emission equipment (namely 08 and newer, or anything with an egr, or dpf due to poor fuel mileage and cost and repair intervals on emission equipment).

Now that being said im very partial to the cummins so take my opinion as you want but if you work on your own stuff then you will appreciate the cummins much more than the v8 diesels. Also sorry about the long post I just wanted to get my opinion across with good info to back it up.
 
You can pick up a 7.3L Ford crew cab for around 10K that would tow two TJ's with no problem.
 
i have a 03 gmc 2500 duramax and a 24' deck over gooseneck and my jeep is 106" wheelbase and my other jeep is 103" wheelbase and i have to drive on blocks to get front of jeep over front of trailer to have enough room to fit the second jeep on the trailer. in the picture i have about 3"s to spare behind the white one.
truck pulls it great though but a dually would prob do alot better as far as stability.
 

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I'd go look at the '05 dodge 3500 w/ the nv5600 that is posted on here. I think it's close to you and seems the guy is ready to sell. This is what I have and it is plenty strong and mine is completly stock. They say the nv5600 is the best six speed dodge ever made but I don't see you getting 20 mpg like the other guy said.best I get is 11.5mpg but my truck is a flatbed dump and weighs in at 9500lbs
 
I was thinking about something newer than the '05 or '07, which may mean updating the budget. I'm just window shopping, but it kind of works in stages for me:

Gather info
Whittle down choices
Obsess over it until wife goes crazy
Wife says go buy it so she doesn't have to hear about it any more


I currently get 9 to 10mpg towing and maybe 13mpg not towing- on premium 93 gas. So anything better than that is cash in my pocket.
 
Cummins or duramax both very strong trucks an plenty of pulling power although the dodge is strait axle an Chevy is ifs, the ride quality maybe better but the dodge is prob 5,000-8,000 less on the cost. The dodge 3500 mega cab 5.9 cummins 6 speed with a few motor upgrades an drive train mods would make it almost bullet proof.
 
Shawn said:
You're going to want a trailer with a min. of 30ft of deck. Lowboy would be an easier haul (less wind), but deckover is easier to load and less likely to drag. Gooseneck, no question. Double your trailer budget. You can make do with a tandem, but triples might be cheaper in the long run. You'll be able to run a lighter tire (E instead of G) with the triples.

Oh, and it's tough to find a lowboy car hauler that's more than ~20ft or less than 34ft long. They're built to haul generic "cars"... not 13ft long jeeps. You've got more options with equipment trailers, but then you're stuck deckover.
Click to expand...

X2. I have a 26' gooseneck lowboy. Hauling a bobbed yota truck and a bobbed 4runner, they were almost touching the neck of the trailer, each other, and the ramps. And by almost touching I'm talkin less than 1/4" between them. Go with a 30' and you won't regret it. A deckover is much easier to load on if you're hauling rigs with full size axles. You're definitely going to have to double your trailer budget though.
 
Just my .02, but doubling the trailer budget is not necessary. $3k is gonna be tough, but I bought (off here) a nearly new 30ft deckover gooseneck for $4200. Love it. Only problem so far is its a PITA to load up small/low cars with the ramps that come with it, you need to pull down in a ditch or raise tounge up and add wood to lengthen the angle on ramps.
 
toyota231 said:
Im gonna suggest an 07 3500 dodge mega cab dually. More room, im guessing you are gonna have a few people in the truck since you are towing two rigs. You sacrafice some bed space for room, and you can find one in your price range. Stay with the '07 cause it comes with the 5.9 cummins which with the 6 speed should get close to 20mpg unloaded if not better, then throw a smarty programer, fass fuel system (or airdog), and a good clutch and have a near bulletproof towrig. Something with awesome power and still very reliable.
Im gonna suggest stay away from the ford and chevy just because of cost of parts and repair. Also would stay away from anything with emission equipment (namely 08 and newer, or anything with an egr, or dpf due to poor fuel mileage and cost and repair intervals on emission equipment).
Now that being said im very partial to the cummins so take my opinion as you want but if you work on your own stuff then you will appreciate the cummins much more than the v8 diesels. Also sorry about the long post I just wanted to get my opinion across with good info to back it up.
Click to expand...


X2! Especially the maintenance and cost aspects.
Dodge is the way to go if you are really going to work it that hard and that often. They all have thier issues, Dodges just dont live in your wallet quite as bad.
 
I just pulled $3k out of the air- basing it on that I paid ~$1400 for my tandem axle 16' trailer.
 
If you are newer than '07, you are getting into Tiered Light Duty Diesels.
That means no more 5.9s, or 6.0s (though nobody I know cried about the demise of the 6.0...even though it could be argued that Ford finally fixed it in 07 and then killed it)
I would definitley want a dually to tow 2 rigs...to be honest I'd probably step up to a 450 if it were me.

I'm not the huge fan of manual trannies that most are...



oh yeah I'd avoid 2008 model years.
Obviously I am a Cummins fan boy....but the dodge around it...urhhhghhh
Now the 2010+ Rams seem to be much higher quality.
 
For that much weight i'd say dually deisel (really doesn't matter which brand. They all have their good an bad points. I would also say a 30' trailer. you'll want a little room to shift the load.
 
Personally I would buy a pre-EPA07 (DPF) truck. There is a lot of extra stuff on the EPA07 trucks to fail.

My next truck will most likely be an 06 Chevy Duramax. I love my 01 Ram, but my wife hates riding in it due to the rough ride from the poorly engineered suspension.
 
Jay, you've seen my crap. Pull two bout everywhere i go.
1... Aint gonna get into what brand of truck, i do suggest it be drw.
2... I bought a 2009 32' gooseneck off this forum for 3k! It works for me. 12000# capacity and pulls like a dream.
Just my opinion.
 
redneckcj5guy said:
Jay, you've seen my crap. Pull two bout everywhere i go.
1... Aint gonna get into what brand of truck, i do suggest it be drw.
2... I bought a 2009 32' gooseneck off this forum for 3k! It works for me. 12000# capacity and pulls like a dream.
Just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Nice. :beer:
 
Not to Hijack the thread but when I bought my 03 Dmax SRW I had not intensions on pulling a 30ft gooseneck.....but I picked one up on here a few years later and use it most of the time when I tow.

? is, if I had a dually would I be blown away at the difference? I love my truck and all works great but maybe in the next 5 years or more an upgrade could be possible. :popcorn:
 
Jeremy1977 said:
Not to Hijack the thread but when I bought my 03 Dmax SRW I had not intensions on pulling a 30ft gooseneck.....but I picked one up on here a few years later and use it most of the time when I tow.
? is, if I had a dually would I be blown away at the difference? I love my truck and all works great but maybe in the next 5 years or more an upgrade could be possible. :popcorn:
Click to expand...
There will definatly be a difference with a dually mainly in the sway control with a larger trailer and load. Ive pulled with both and my next rig WILL be a dually. It just feels so much more stable than a single wheel and of course the gvwr is higher, and im a safety freak when it comes to this suff so it makes a big difference to me.

Now if you only tow on occasions it might not be justified, but if you tow alot , like every weekend or tow heavier loads its definatly something to think about.
 
Hey redlyner i have a 32ft pull behind double car trailer i am going to be selling in a week or two. i have used this for years hauling 2 off road race trucks behind a excursion diesel. i know everyone says gooseneck but that adds weight. I like my pull behind because its lighter than a big gooseneck trailer. I am selling for 3000 bucks. Call or text me for details 864-202-5850 here is a picture of the kind of trailer it is. dont have any pic of trailer on this computer.

I have pulled this trailer with 2 rig, 2 dirt bikes, 2 4 wheelers, and a pit bike plus a ton of gear from SC to King of the Hammers in 09 behind a 04 Diesel Excursion with no problems(some sway with big winds). I currently use a 01 Diesel F250 single wheel and it pulls it awesome with no sway.

808.jpg
 
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