I spent many years towing a 16-foot 2-axle trailer with my 59 Burb. I had a 1970 307 V-8 engine in it, with a SM-420 4 speed and a 3/4 ton GMC Dana type 60 rear axle with a 3.73 ratio rear end gear. The trailer was either loaded with a Case 530 Diesel farm tractor and all its implements, or it was WAAAAYYY overloaded with firewood. The gross weight for the van and trailer was well over 10,000 pounds on occasion.
I had electric brakes on both trailer axles, and the original 59 1/2 ton front drum brakes paired up with the bigger 3/4 ton drums on the rear axle, all of this applied by an original-equipment 1/2 ton single line master cylinder with no power boost. The van brakes were marginal at best, but the trailer brakes helped a lot. I also had a very good Valley Tow-Rite weight transfer trailer hitch installed. That same vehicle also towed a Datsun 510 station wagon from California to Tennessee in 1980, loaded to the roof with household goods and clothes when we moved back to Nashville. My wife drove it, while I drove a 1970 Cadillac Fleetwood towing an 18-foot 3-axle trailer. The Caddy and trailer combo weighed 16,700 pounds, and got 5 MPG all the way from central California to middle Tennessee! The van got 10 MPG!
Jerry
