Tandem Towing

Do you tow a trailer behind your fifth wheel? What size? Do you tow it for short or long distances? How does it handle? What type of hitch? Scruffy tells me that we could go with a regular single tongue/ball or get a hitch that connects in two places. I guess I should ask him what it was that he told me. I hope you understand what I'm referring to. We're thinking of a small utility trailer, and I want something very stable.

As I write this, I'm looking at Carpe diem's rig (the current featured rig), so I'm expecting at least one reply. :)

Tater

Tater,

I have towed tandem trailers before, a 20' utility trailer w/ a small boat trailer behind it. Towed from N. Texas to W. Kentucky. Pulled great.

I am very interested in pulling tandems w/ my Cat also, so looks like I'll be waiting with anticipation on other's replies.

-Mark

Probably a few issues to consider, based on what you are pulling with and what state you are in. You can see our rig in signature. This is primarily a set up we use during desert season, not too far a drive, about 200 miles round trip, but we do go up and over a fairly good size mountain, and there is lot's of varied terrain. The Duramax with Allison combo make the pulling portion a breeze, other variables such as other drivers, braking, backing up, weather are another story. Our over all length is 60 feet, which is within the limitations in California, however a special Commercial Class A license with Doubles endorsement is required. The extra weight does also take a toll on the mileage, I usually get around 8 miles with the extra trailer, 10-12 without. (But it is definatley worth it!)

That is a question I have, can it be backed-up if needed. I would suppose it is like backing up a hay wagon?

You can back up a very short distance...at least I can. It is one of those things that you need to plan ahead so you don't blocked in and have to back up.

It is also illegal in a lot of states, so check the laws in your area.

Pulling in tandem is not that bad, but like others said, make sure you check the laws in the state you are in. South Dakota is pretty lax obviously. I am at about 73' and the limit is a liberal 75'. We ususally never encounter any heavy traffic and most trips are less than 100 miles round trip.
The F350 pulls my setup like a dream. Most of the time you don't even know the boat is back there. My trailer is wide enough to see the tires in my mirror's, but if I pulled anything I couldn't see, I would get a camera. I can usually back up short distances, but in a pinch the boat is easy to disconnect and manuever around. I have never had to disconnect to turn around, a person just has to be thinking ahead.
My hitch is a 2" receiver custom welded into the frame at four places. The welder made a "H" type frame and tied it into the wildcats frame. This was approved by the FR rep that serves my dealer. It is rock solid and it cost $350 with the wiring connections. A person could by the bolt on reciever for a smaller application, but in my case I trusted the custom welder for safety reasons. I know tandem isn't for everyone, but it works for me. Good luck in your choices. Here is a couple of pics to get the idea.

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i installed a hitch on our cat as well. in MI you have to have a "double R" endorsement on your license to tow tandem. check with your DMV on any requirements as well.

Thanks for the replies, everyone. We looked up towing laws and there are a lot of states that don't allow tandem towing. We also noticed that none of the charts were up-to-date. Texas says no, but we see a lot of people towing two. Oklahoma says no, but we saw a lot of people towing two there also. We've also seen, very frequently, 3 trailers being pulled in OK (commercially) - now that's a scarey sight to see.

We'll probably put it off for now, and give it some thought in a year or so.

Thanks again, you were all very helpful.

Scruffy and Tater,

Are you sure Texas says no? I haven't checked in a year or so, but last time I checked Texas was ok with it. I believe legal length limit was around 72', if my memory serves me correctly.

Thanks for the info about Texas. I found some charts on-line with details about towing laws - but, as I mentioned above, the charts were out-of-date.

We'd likely be pulling from Texas to Florida, so would want to stay within the law through several states.

Tater

Here is a guide for towing in each state. I have no idea how old or accurate it is, but some might like to see how the laws vary from state to statehttp://www.towingworld.com/articles/TowingLaws.htm

thanks Dennis,

It would be nice to know the date that chart came out. I thought a chart I had seen in the past stated Texas did allow tandem.

-Mark

Thanks Dennis. I don't know how this site escaped my search. As I understand it, the maximum combined length in Texas is 65 feet. The maximum length for two vehicles (TV and trailer) is 65 feet. And triple tow is allowed (41). What does that 41 mean? There aren't any footnotes listed at the bottom of the page. I'm going to assume that triple tow means TV and 2 trailers in this case. Also going to assume that the combined length of 65 feet applies no matter how many trailers are attached.

Does all of that seem right?

I think we'd be within the 65 feet with a small utility trailer as our secondary towed vehicle. So, we might do it. I’d hope that if it is allowed in the state we live in, other states would let us pass.

Tater

There is another tab that shows the footnotes. The 41 is "41. Total maximum combined length of 65 ft". The tab is on the lower left side of the screen.

Thanks. I didn't see that. I looked all over the chart part of the screen, didn't look at the bar below. Duh! :) :)

Tater