The Stovebolt Site Forums Swap Meet Hauling Board Hauling and Trailering Tech Tips

Should you decide to haul your truck (or anything for that matter) yourself, here are a couple of Tech Tips (See the menu bar at the top of the page to go to our big Tech Tips section) to help you. Even the seasoned pros might find something new in here

Trailering Basics -- One of our earliest Tech Tips, written by the late Barry Weeks.

Gooseneck versus Tag-along trailers ... a comparison -- Head-to-head comparison of the two major trailer types, written by me.

Hope they help!

Good info, John- - - - -but there's one variation that didn't get mentioned- - - - -a bumper pull rig with a wheeled dolly supporting the tongue of the trailer. This setup would be similar to putting a hitch ball on that much-maligned tow dolly. The "advantage" is that tongue weight carried by the tow vehicle can be controlled better, since the position of the ball on the tow dolly can be adjusted to vary the amount of weight the tow vehicle carries. Most of the tongue weight of the trailer rests on the wheeled front support axle. Disadvantage- - - -like the vehicle tow dolly or a set of double trailers on a big rig- - - -don't even think about backing up! Those wheeled front supports actually date back to the earliest days of towing. There was an example of that system used with an early camper trailer in the Harrah's Club automotive museum in Sparks Nevada that I saw back in the late 1970s. I believe the tow vehicle was a Model A Ford!
Jerry

I remember seeing a picture of what you are talking about Jerry.
It was a third tire mounted on a swivel with springs and it took some of the tongue weight off the bumper hitch when towing.
Back in the day, passenger cars were mostly used to tow camper trailers and did not like much tongue weight.

Don

From the movie The Long Trailer with Lucille Ball.

A totally bizarre towing setup I saw once was a custom built gooseneck setup with the trailer tongue centered over the roof of a dually pickup. Four heavy duty supports wrapped around the vehicle sides and were bolted/welded to the frame. It allowed the tow vehicle to make a 180 degree turn and PUSH the trailer instead of pulling it. Very handy for maneuvering in close quarters!
Jerry

Sort of like this Jerry?

Gooseneck trailer setup

Sorta- - - -kinda- - - - - -except the trailer I saw hauled horses, about 15 at a time, and was pulled by a Ford pickup with dual rear wheels. The guy used to show up pretty regularly at a horse auction near my place, back about 30 years ago when horses were still being shipped to France as food.
Jerry

You mean like this
https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18YYxESnbr/

For 360 turning and good mileage.

Jerry ... You crazy nutbag! Congratulations! You have successfully driven this thread off the rails.

There is a very good reason I did not discuss your variation. Well, there are many reasons, actually, but we'll go with the main one and that is because that variation is an exceptionally bad idea that Stovebolt.com will never endorse (at least while I own it, anyway). There is no way on God's green Earth that I would even suggest towing that way... especially to anyone *without* the doubles and triples endorsement on their CDL-A (and not even then if they have the A/T only restriction, wear a man bun, drive in their skivvie drawers wearing crocs or ... probably ... all of the above).

Maybe you did it once. And then again, you've probably come down the Grapeville backwards on ice overweight driving triples with twin sticks and no brakes at night and on fire singin' "Amarillo by Mornin'" on the CB.

The rest of us ... meh, not so much :P

Well- - - -I did take one trip down the grapevine in 1976 with a 78K gross weight and no brakes. No ice, and only one trailer! 28 seconds between mile markers figures out to 122 MPH or so. No, I was not driving a twin stick rig that night- - - -just an Eaton 15 speed. That's a 5 speed main box and dual 3 speed electric shift rear axles. They're actually only 2 speed axles- - - -to get the "intermediate" ratio one axle shifts to low range and the other to high- - - -and the planetary inter-axle power divider makes up the difference! I think the engineer who designed that system was R. Goldberg! Also- - - - -the Cat 1674 engine in that 68 Freightliner did not have a Jake brake- - - -as there was no way to install one on that design of engine!
Jerry

Maybe, sometimes, it is good they don't make 'em like they used to ...