Hypothetical 2 Rig Question

Safety?

  • Total voters
    10
mtnbiker4evr13

mtnbiker4evr13

Trail Whale
Joined
Sep 18, 2018
Location
Asheville NC
Over the past few years I have intermittently searched for the legalities/do's/oughtta not's with a 2 rig towing setup:

Say you had an 18-20ft TAG or GN trailer and wanted to tow 2 vehicles (CJ7, yota, samurai etc) and can fit 1 on the trailer pulled up enough to have room on the back for the front wheels of the 2nd rig. Strap the 2nd rigs front tires down like a tow dolly with the back wheels on the ground. Assuming GVWR/GCWR are in check, trailer is rated for the weight etc.

Basically 1.5 towing since its not quite "double" trailers. Obviously GN would be preferable to handle the tongue weight and forces but I don't even know what to call it or have seen any reference before.
 
It has been done before. We had to do it with a group I was with on our way back from Harlan in 2007. A Samurai was the rig with the front tires on the back of the trailer and the rear tires on the ground. It was a 'must' situation. The transmission took a shit in one tow rig just outside Harlan so we had to strap it to the nearest town and leave it. That meant that one of the wheeling rigs had to be street driven. The wheeling rig began to overheat after maybe 1-2 hours of highway driving, so that is when the double up was necessary. I wouldn't plan on doing that though. No nuns were killed.
 
drkelly said:
It has been done before. We had to do it with a group I was with on our way back from Harlan in 2007. A Samurai was the rig with the front tires on the back of the trailer and the rear tires on the ground. It was a 'must' situation. The transmission took a shit in one tow rig just outside Harlan so we had to strap it to the nearest town and leave it. That meant that one of the wheeling rigs had to be street driven. The wheeling rig began to overheat after maybe 1-2 hours of highway driving, so that is when the double up was necessary. I wouldn't plan on doing that though. No nuns were killed.
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Seems like I remember this, Amy’s zuk?
 
GONOVRIT said:
Seems like I remember this, Amy’s zuk?
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Yep. I think Greg had his buggy on the trailer in front of her Samurai on the last part of that ride home. I towed her Samurai to Harlan on my trailer. I ended up coming home with JT's Cabasourus on my trailer after it got too hot to keep going. LT1, TH350, 42's with a rear radiator at 75 mph in the summer on the way home from Harlan, LOL. Good times!
 
I can’t see that working too well if you consider the swing of the trailer every time you turn. Probably absolute hell on the tires and not to mention the force being applied to suspension mount points. Just take video... for research.
 
Its definitely not an ideal conventional setup. Like I said hypothetical since I've neither the need nor the cubic Busch Light to try it.

Figure tires wise no worse than flat towing or dollying.

Backing up would obviously be out.
 
Tandem towing is obviously a thing and legal in some states, so it is feasible. The amount of nuns you kill will be entirely dependent on how secure the load is. In my head this isn’t much different than a trailer and a tow dolly.
 
UTfball68 said:
Tandem towing is obviously a thing and legal in some states, so it is feasible. The amount of nuns you kill will be entirely dependent on how secure the load is. In my head this isn’t much different than a trailer and a tow dolly.
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I think this would be better than a dolly, assuming it was secured well enough to the trailer. The dolly would add an extra pivot compared to this setup.

Might be better to do this to your current trailer: Front Range's extendable trailer
 
Has it been done? yeah. Is it ideal? No. Did it work just fine? yeah. Would we do it again? Questionable :lol:


Dumb college kids that HAD to go wheeling but the trailer was too short.
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If I remember correctly this was only from Boone to Mtn City. Could have been Harlan or down to @DAWGTOY’s place
Way back when. Those years were fuzzy and judgement was questionable.
 
Two Samurais will fit on a 16ft trailer. One was sideways :eek:. We were going to Uwharrie, LOL.
 
IF your doing, do it right....
make buckets and tie points, like this one....
(i pilfer the picture from...)
Either make tag with sway bars ~1500#
or a GN, IMHO they do not run enough toung (sp) weight, but an ways...
[Please get/ or barrow a toung scale a few inches can, well... screw you up ;)]
aaf.jpg
 
I totally overlooked the front would have to physically pivot aspect on the 2nd rig. Thought the unlocked steering would work like on a regular dolly, the long swing behind trailer axles changes things.

But reading through all the links it sounds legal depending on state DOT trailer weights you'd already be over with a full length trailer.
 
mtnbiker4evr13 said:
I totally overlooked the front would have to physically pivot aspect on the 2nd rig. Thought the unlocked steering would work like on a regular dolly, the long swing behind trailer axles changes things.
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Both of our tow dollies have a platform that pivots, and the steering on the vehicle stays locked. The only time we tow a vehicle with the steering unlocked is when we use a tow bar.

Duane
 
I've seen it done before. More than once, CJ5 and a CJ7 not sure about the trailer. Tow vehicle was a 90's F350 DW if I remember correctly.
While not ideal it worked and fortunately never stopped in NC that I know of.
I would not recommend it and I don't know the laws.
 
This is how my parents get their golf cart and car to the campground. While not a definitive answer to the legality issue, it is a tagged trailer designed to do this so I'd argue to the bitter end that it is legal for a larger setup, although I think I would modify an 18ish foot trailer a good bit to make the idea work if it was something I was seriously considering. Their trailer has a few holes for the pivoting platform to be positioned back and forth on, the farthest forward putting the towed car tires directly over the trailer axle, the farthest back being about 2.5 feet behind the axle. It also sits on a dropped spindle design for cars, but a regular trailer height could probably work for larger 4wd vehicles.

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Duane
 
CLRracer said:
While not a definitive answer to the legality issue, it is a tagged trailer designed to do this so I'd argue to the bitter end that it is legal for a larger setup, although I think I would modify an 18ish foot trailer a good bit to make the idea work if it was something I was seriously considering.

Duane
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How will you go about keeping tongue weight up with that much force pushing down on the terminal end of the trailer? That would be my biggest concern
 
Ron said:
How will you go about keeping tongue weight up with that much force pushing down on the terminal end of the trailer? That would be my biggest concern
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If you put the lighter vehicle all the way to the nose of the trailer, then used the heavier as the dollied vehicle, it might work. Obviously there are several factors such as trailer length and the length and weight of each towed vehicle though. You could play with the vehicle on the trailer, load it forward and backward, move it around, etc. If it couldn't balance like that, then you'd have to move the axles back, but then if you hauled only one vehicle your tongue weight would be off for that application. But with the axles back on the trailer you would reduce tail swing, which would help keep the pivoting dolly part you should put on the rear from having to pivot too far. Seems like a lot of work to me, but if I absolutely HAD to haul two rigs on a 20ft trailer regularly enough to do it I think it could be done safely. I'd want to purpose build the trailer from scratch though, where the dolly part can pivot and be adjustable forward and back like the pics I posted, maybe make the axles on the trailer slide fore and aft like on a semi, so it could be fine tuned, and low enough not to scrub the underside of a lower vehicle if needed.

Duane
 
CLRracer said:
If you put the lighter vehicle all the way to the nose of the trailer, then used the heavier as the dollied vehicle, it might work. Obviously there are several factors such as trailer length and the length and weight of each towed vehicle though. You could play with the vehicle on the trailer, load it forward and backward, move it around, etc. If it couldn't balance like that, then you'd have to move the axles back, but then if you hauled only one vehicle your tongue weight would be off for that application. But with the axles back on the trailer you would reduce tail swing, which would help keep the pivoting dolly part you should put on the rear from having to pivot too far. Seems like a lot of work to me, but if I absolutely HAD to haul two rigs on a 20ft trailer regularly enough to do it I think it could be done safely. I'd want to purpose build the trailer from scratch though, where the dolly part can pivot and be adjustable forward and back like the pics I posted, maybe make the axles on the trailer slide fore and aft like on a semi, so it could be fine tuned, and low enough not to scrub the underside of a lower vehicle if needed.

Duane
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Agreed...but regarding the bolded, at that point Id just buy a bigger trailer...
 
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