School Me on Towing

[marty79]

with the right ball for various trailers.

Hey great thread btw guys.
Sorry to impose on your thread but I see this comment mentioned several times and I was not aware of a certain hitch height. I've gotten pretty good at hauling my rig now but anything to help the experience. Thank you

 

[marty79]

Sorry I meant different height hitch not different ball sizes

 

[Croatan_Kid]

You guys aren't OCD about torquing lug nuts. I am. I carry my 1/2" electric impact AND a torque wrench with me.

 

[Scooter402]

You guys aren't OCD about torquing lug nuts. I am. I carry my 1/2" electric impact AND a torque wrench with me.

Quoted for troof....I seen him do it, too! lol.

I've always used the German torque specifications - you know, gutenteite! I've never lost a tire, either.

Well, except for that one time...

 

[ckruzer]

I still carry an impact just for the speed then torque with a 4 way after for safe measure.

I break loose and use the 1/4 impact for speed if feeling froggy. Prefer to torque. I used German torque settings before, but I worry about it until I torque.

Uncle Sam drilled torque specification too much for me to be a full fledged member of the Guten Tight Society.

 

[Scooter402]

I break loose and use the 1/4 impact for speed if feeling froggy. Prefer to torque. I used German torque settings before, but I worry about it until I torque.

Uncle Sam drilled torque specification too much for me to be a full fledged member of the Guten Tight Society.

Hah...I was still one of Uncle Sam's Misguided Children when I busted my lip open...I was on my way back to base when I blew a tire on my trailer. As soon as I went through the gate, I stopped in at the clinic and had them give me another tetanus shot and check to see if they needed to stitch my lip any. It was just funny trying to explain what happened, because I was trying not to laugh and was a bit shamed..."see, what had happen was...I mean..."

I'm with you though. I torque the wheels on my truck and my wife's car. I'm too damn leery of losing a wheel for that chit.

 

[Mac5005]

Three ugga Duggar with the cordless impact. That’s the torque spec. We checked some with a torque wrench and they were acceptable. Now just use the impact but we still keep a 4way in each towrig.

 

[Mac5005]

Hey great thread btw guys.
Sorry to impose on your thread but I see this comment mentioned several times and I was not aware of a certain hitch height. I've gotten pretty good at hauling my rig now but anything to help the experience. Thank you

Changing tongue weight and getting the trailer deck level with a load on it set the loaded hitch height.

Then it’s a matter of getting the correct ball height to match when the trailer is loaded and on the ball, which then factors in rear spring compression on tow rig.

 

[Ron]

Just to continue the discussion.

I almost always carry my snap on cordless impact if I am towing as well. But I will never not have my breaker bar in the bag.

Ive been burned by the dead battery, even though I grabbed the one off the charger as I walked out the door. (charger had been unplugged)

Also was with a friend once who had a trailer blow out and he had a 4 way that was a cheap walmart piece. Instead of a welded center this one had some thin metal hump at the cross point and a couple shitty spot welds. A seized up lug nut and one gorilla grip later and that straight fucking bar sticking off the lug nut wasnt very useful to me.

 

[ckruzer]

Just to continue the discussion.

I almost always carry my snap on cordless impact if I am towing as well. But I will never not have my breaker bar in the bag.

Ive been burned by the dead battery, even though I grabbed the one off the charger as I walked out the door. (charger had been unplugged)

Also was with a friend once who had a trailer blow out and he had a 4 way that was a cheap walmart piece. Instead of a welded center this one had some thin metal hump at the cross point and a couple shitty spot welds. A seized up lug nut and one gorilla grip later and that straight fucking bar sticking off the lug nut wasnt very useful to me.

I like my 3 foot breaker bar. But ive found if its on good ill use a jackstand so the 4way is level on the lug and stand on the wing. i always avoided the cheap 4ways, but have avoided ate up lugs this way.

I dont really feel like purchasing another 1/2 impact and dont feel like coordinating each time with going to get the farm one. so ill stick with the OCD methods for now lol. But i imagine if i hang around you guys, and especially @Jody Treadway much longer ill end up with a dedicated one for the truck

 

[ckruzer]

Anybody know where the nearest CAT/other scales are in Asheville? Gunna go get the Jeep weighed this weekend.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Also was with a friend once who had a trailer blow out and he had a 4 way that was a cheap walmart piece. Instead of a welded center this one had some thin metal hump at the cross point and a couple shitty spot welds. A seized up lug nut and one gorilla grip later and that straight fucking bar sticking off the lug nut wasnt very useful to me.

No problem, all you need is a coat hanger, jumper cables, and a socket. Hook the negative cable to the straight bar, positive cable to the coat hanger, and get your smartest friend to hold the socket. Put on 2 pairs of sunglasses and weld the socket to the straight piece (make sure the square end of the socket is facing out, this is why I said to have your smartest friend hold it). Now you have correctly sized lug socket on a 2ft long 1/2" drive extension, rated for 1200ft-lbs.

 

[jeepinmatt]

Hey great thread btw guys.
Sorry to impose on your thread but I see this comment mentioned several times and I was not aware of a certain hitch height. I've gotten pretty good at hauling my rig now but anything to help the experience. Thank you

You want your trailer sitting level when it is loaded. Most trucks these days have a hitch centerline that is a few inches higher than a standard trailer, so the hitch needs to drop. Deckover trailers and equipment trailers tend to have a higher hitch point, so it needs a little rise on the hitch. I find a 2-3" drop hitch works well for most applications, since you can flip the hitch and ball to gain 2-3". I have a 2-5/6" ball setup with the drop reverse and the ball on top for my equipment trailer, and another straight shank hitch with no drop for my dump trailer, a 2.5" drop with a 2" ball for the mower/atv trailer, and a non-drop pintle for pintle hitch stuff. Also have a 1-7/8" ball in the box for when I want my 2" trailer to come loose while going down the road.

 

[Jody Treadway]

Anybody know where the nearest CAT/other scales are in Asheville? Gunna go get the Jeep weighed this weekend.

Exit 37 in Candler truck stop or exit 44 Hendersonville truck stop

 

[Ron]

No problem, all you need is a coat hanger, jumper cables, and a socket. Hook the negative cable to the straight bar, positive cable to the coat hanger, and get your smartest friend to hold the socket. Put on 2 pairs of sunglasses and weld the socket to the straight piece (make sure the square end of the socket is facing out, this is why I said to have your smartest friend hold it). Now you have correctly sized lug socket on a 2ft long 1/2" drive extension, rated for 1200ft-lbs.

You missed the point. The cross bar broke so there was nothing to turn. Still had a socket end on a straight bar

 

[jeepinmatt]

You missed the point. The cross bar broke so there was nothing to turn. Still had a socket end on a straight bar

You missed the point. I'm saying weld a socket onto the end and turn it with a ratchet, but the real point was that I was making a joke about a coat hanger jumper cable weld being good for 1200 ft-lbs.

 

[shawn]

I was making a joke about a coat hanger jumper cable weld being good for 1200 ft-lbs.

That's not a joke. You just have to get the nice high-nickel coat hangers from the dry cleaner.

 

[Croatan_Kid]

My impact stays in my truck. If I need it in the shop, I get it out of the truck and put it back when I'm done so I always have it. There's also two batteries, 3 sets of sockets, and the charger in the bag. I go prepared!

I torque every lug nut on everything I own. I don't ever want to be trying to take one off on the side of the road only to have one bound up.

 

[Scooter402]

Also was with a friend once who had a trailer blow out and he had a 4 way that was a cheap walmart piece. Instead of a welded center this one had some thin metal hump at the cross point and a couple shitty spot welds. A seized up lug nut and one gorilla grip later and that straight fucking bar sticking off the lug nut wasnt very useful to me.

That made me chuckle...LOL just picturing a straight bar sticking out off a lug nut.

 

[shawn]

Also, loading a stock-ish TJ is easy. The COG of a Jeep is about 4-5" forward of the centerline of the door. A winch shifts it forward a hair, a 2.5L shifts it back an inch, but it's always more or less right there.

 

[BigClay]

Lots of good info in here. When I first started towing my rig, I didn't even know what tongue weight was haha. Lots of trial and error for me. Pull jeep on trailer, tie down, drive around, move jeep on trailer, tie down drive around again. Did this to find the sweet spot on my trailer, then marked that spot on the wood deck on the driver side, now I know where to pull up every time.

As far as actual towing, you and I can hang out in the back of the pack and make a slow and steady ride while the diesels get 40mpgs while doing 80mph with a 20k load

 

[peewee]

Tongue weight! Tongue weight! Right after brakes this is where most mistakes happen. Not like guy in picture.

 

[Scooter402]

There are sooooo many things wrong with that picture...it's funny, and NOT, all at the same time.

EDIT: At least he's got some new-ish looking lumber on the deck going for him...

 

[peewee]

There are sooooo many things wrong with that picture...it's funny, and NOT, all at the same time.

EDIT: At least he's got some new-ish looking lumber on the deck going for him...

I own a truck almost exactly like the in one the picture. It takes tongue weight pretty good. 1000lbs Won't squat it like that. So the real question is how is it so improperly loaded with such a small load. You could put that car in the bed and I think it would be loaded more appropriately.

 

[BigClay]

I own a truck almost exactly like the in one the picture. It takes tongue weight pretty good. 1000lbs Won't squat it like that. So the real question is how is it so improperly loaded with such a small load. You could put that car in the bed and I think it would be loaded more appropriately.

Because that is the way it looks without a load... Bling Bling Yo