Will my truck pull it?

[hardee]

I've not done this myself, but a friend of mine added several 100-lb sacks of sand toward the rear of his van when he 1.) towed a heavy loaded boat, 2.) in windy conditions, 3.) or when he needed extra traction on the ramp, etc.

As long as it doesn't make the towing vehicle under powered or overloaded suspension wise, this seems like a legitimate way to "beef up" your towing vehicle.

You'd have to do some experimentation with different amounts of added weights to get it right for each tow vehicle and towed vehicle combination.

Worth a a try, at least. (IMHO)

Joe. :teeth :thup

Joe, That is a good option and I have used that a few times. One thing to note, If you are adding weight (like that), smaller sacks are easier to move (50#) AND they should be placed forward of the rear axle in the towing vehicle. That weigh the weight transfer includes some poundage onto the front axle. Adding it behind increases the weight on the rear but also adds to the trailer/tongue weight and decreases the weight on the front, (steering) axle.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[covalbro]

I bought my van for towing boats. The boat I had before the CD22 was smaller and lighter. However, I have had the 22 for 6 years now. Any towing in the that time has been with the van. In the 50K miles or so that I've had the van, I have not had to replace the brake pads. They get inspected every year by the state and have only at the last inspection (yesterday) was it mentioned that the pads are down to about 25% remaining.

My trailer has brakes.

I only mention this because it would seem that towing my boat with my van does not seem to put abnormal load (and thus wear) on the vehicle brakes.

Just curious what van you have and if the trailer has electric or kinetic brakes. Asking because I'm looking at wiring a hitch harness on my Sprinter 2500 which is rated to tow 5000, but not sure if its necessary to add a electric brake controller. From what I'm seeing the tandem axel trailers we are looking at can have either brake type--and the harness for the controller is going to set me back quite a bit!

Thanks for the insight!

 

[colbysmith]

Many folks just stick with the Surge Brakes. However, electric, or electric over hydraulic will give you a much better/safer brake system. I run straight electric on my trailer, but most of my boating is in fresh water. When I do dunk the trailer in salt, I give the brakes a good fresh water rinse down. ( I fabricated/installed a system that I can just hook a garden hose to.) If your van comes with a towing package, the wiring harness may already be there. If you will be a doing a lot of towing, the electric or EOH brakes are worth the price of installing the brake controller wiring harness. Colby

 

[Chester]

My 22 has a single axle but I can tell you I am pleased with the disc surge brake system it now has. Never going back to the troublesome drum brakes, ever.