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Originally Posted by mikeinaustin
let me resurrect this with my case, your comments are appreciated. i have 2002 access cab v8 tundra.
i would like to haul a g35 coupe about 200 miles (completely flat roads, 99% all highway). the trailer comes in at 2100lbs (all 4 wheels of car to be towed are on the trailer). The g35 comes in at 3,486lbs. This gives us a total of 5586lbs, lets round up to 5700lbs for various options which (may) be on the g35 which will add to its weight.
For this trip the truck will contain only me (180pds) and nothing else (ie empty bed, no luggage, no passengers, etc).
I hear that towing a car like this is harder than towing a boat. what are your thoughts on this setup?
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In terms of total weight of truck/trailer/car, with the V8 you're within the the Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) of your Tundra.
However, you didn't say whether or not your truck has the towing package and/or a Class III/IV Hitch receiver.
If you
don't have a Class III/IV receiver (this is part of the towing package)...and you are planning to use a bumper mounted hitch ball, you're out of luck. According to my '03s manual (probably the same as your '02s), the MAXIMUM total trailer weight with a bumper mounted hitch ball is only 5000 lbs. Exceed that by very much (and 1000 lbs is very much) and you could easily rip the bumper off the truck.
If you
do have the towing package and/or Class III/IV hitch, you will still need to pay very close attention to your hitch weight. Again, according to my manual, the maximum hitch weight with a weight
distributing hitch is 1095 lbs for the Access cabs and with a standard weight
carrying hitch, it's only 710 lbs for the Access cabs. You need to check the numbers in your manual but they'll likely be the same.
As I strongly suspect you won't be using a weight distributing hitch...for some reason, only folks who tow travel trailers seem to use these...you'll most likely
need to use the 710 lb limit for hitch weight.
Depending on exactly where you put the car on the trailer (assuming you have any locating choice front-back), you could wind up with a hitch weight between about 10% of the trailer's weight (around 600 lbs) to as high as 20% of the trailer's weight (1200 lbs). IOW, if you position the car too far forward on the trailer, you could easily wind up with a hitch weight that's so high that it will overstress and even break the truck's hitch/rear frame area. This is so critical that after you load up the car on the trailer, you should take the entire rig to a commercial truck scale to get it weighed...in particular, get the truck weighed with and without the trailer hooked up. If the difference between these two weights is over 700 lbs, you have too much of the trailer's weight on the hitch and you'll have to adjust the car's position on the trailer. However, be very careful to not get the hitch weight too light either...it really needs to be at least 10% (around 600 lbs) minimum. If you manage to move the car too far back on the trailer and have less than about 9% (around 550 lbs) of the total weight on the hitch, your trailer will be exceedingly prone to swaying while traveling. This trailer sway can rapidly get out of control and cause your truck and trailer to jacknife and then roll over.
Finally, it's absolutely critical that this trailer has brakes. Your truck's brakes are really just nicely adequate for stopping the truck itself. Toyota states you need brakes on any trailer that weighs over 1000 lbs. Consider this a no-B.S. requirement. There's a good chance the trailer has "surge" brakes...these are basically hydraulic brakes that are activated by a cylinder on the trailer tongue...and you'll be good to go without further ado. However, if the trailer has electric brakes, then it's mandatory that you install a trailer brake controller in your truck. DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE ATTEMPT TO TOW THIS TRAILER WITHOUT TRAILER BRAKES.
There are several reasons why towing a car carrier is much harder than towing a boat. One is the total weight is likely to be much higher. Two is the criticality of getting your hitch weight right...you
will have to fiddle with the car's location on the trailer. Third is that you'll very likely have only about 10% (or less) of the trailer's weight on the hitch to get the hitch weight below your truck's limits...and that small a percentage is very conducive to having trailer sway. Fourth is a car on a trailer is a lot less aerodynamic than most boats on their trailers...it's much more likely to be affected by sidewinds and the air coming off passing semis.
If you can get all the weight numbers to be in the proper ranges, you will still need to drive very carefully and not exceed about 60 to 65 mph due to the potential for sway.