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Crazy towing question

6K views 41 replies 24 participants last post by  koditten 
#1 ·
Read the forum on and off for a while and just decided to join since this seems to be the best place for tundra specific info.

I have a 2012, reg cab, std bed, 4x4, tundra, 5.7L FFV, SR5 package.
Bought it new and just turned over 36k miles about a week ago.
A couple of times a year I tandem tow a 34ft bumper pull camper with slide and a 15ft bass boat, whole load weighed in around 9500#. It's one of those things (like driving overloaded)that's technically illegal but so many folks around here do it (saw a guy pulling a 30ft camper with a trailer hauling 2 side by sides using an s10) that the cops don't enforce it for non-commercial drivers. I've had no problems getting it up to speed or stopping even without using my trailer brakes. I've hauled a skid steer on a heavy equipment trailer without trailer brakes. Also I was driving a truck with a trailer for 5 years before I drove one without a trailer.

I say that to ask this, I am going to look at a small dozer (JD 450B) tomorrow and was wondering if it would hurt the truck to pull the dozer (~13k#) to my house which is about 30 miles on blacktop country roads with very few hills. If I do it, I would be taking it slow (obviously) and using extra caution.

No flaming please, just looking for input.
Thanks in advance
 
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#3 ·
I wouldn't do it either, but you really aren't going that far, and it certainly isn't the space shuttle.

You have to ask yourself is it worth if it ends up damaging your truck?
 
#5 ·
Will the truck do it? Probably. Should it? No.

Dozer weighs in at 13k, does that include the weight of the equipment trailer you're going to tow it on? If not add another few thousand pounds for that.

This really is not the forum that you want to asking advice about this kind of topic. Most guys here are pretty firm believers in staying within the posted limits of the truck. You're +30% over your tow limit with just the weight of the machine and I can only imagine what the tongue weight is on an equipment trailer loaded down with a bulldozer. I'm not one of those guys that won't go a single pound over their ratings; but there's a reason that construction companies use things like Diesel pickups and dump trucks to move around equipment like that.
 
#7 ·
Does this trailer have properly working brakes?

I think you can do it, but certainly don't think you should do it. The problem is the rear suspension isn't heavy enough, a trailer that heavy will be like the tail wagging the dog.
 
#8 ·
It's not something that I intend on doing more than once. If I were doing it with regularity like construction companies do I'd get a dump truck or duece and a half to pull it. I have a friend with an 18 wheeler and flatbed but not way to get the dozen on or off and I haven't seen many long haul semis with a provision for a bumper hookup. The route that this would be moved along is part of my daily commute, so not unfamiliar territory.

I know the truck has the muscle to move it (once), heck it pulled the shuttle, but I imagine 300k# ruined the drivetrain. I'd like to see Toyota do a post haul teardown/inspection. I'm sure they have on one of the test trucks, but I don't think they've released it.
 
#12 ·
I know the truck has the muscle to move it (once), heck it pulled the shuttle, but I imagine 300k# ruined the drivetrain. I'd like to see Toyota do a post haul teardown/inspection. I'm sure they have on one of the test trucks, but I don't think they've released it.
It pulled the space shuttle because exactly zero weight was on the Tundra. Like all of these types of threads, if you have to ask the question then you already know the answer is no.
 
#13 · (Edited)
$100. Won't pay for the gas. The guy would have to drive to pick it up. Then drive 30 miles then drive back to where he came from. That sounds like a 2 hours atleast. I wouldn't do it for less than 300$. But that is still a cheap price to pay.


To the op,. Instead you can ruin your truck, your dozer, your life, someone' else's life. If you afford the dozer you can aford to pay to have it delivered. Like you said it is just this one time. MAke the person you are buying it from deliver it ,work that into the deal.
If you do decide to do it, watch your tongue weight as mentioned. Should be Easy to adjust with the bulldozer's position on the trailer. Flame flame flames. Lol
 
#19 ·
Yay, puppies are being saved now!
 
#20 ·
I wouldn't even think twice. I'd do it.

I bought a truck to tow and haul shit. I'm not running over a truck scale every time I need to haul or tow.

I'm basically tired of this society of pussies we are raising. I'm tired of being hand cuffed by the lawyers yelling out the liability is not worth it.

Fvck it! I got insurance and I'm not going to tow like the thousand other people hauling over loaded trailers at 75+ mph.

Go slow, watch out for other drivers trying to pass you and putting you in dangerous situations.

We do require pictures of the truck and trailer with the crawler.
 
#24 ·
If I go over the speed limit my head will explode...oops wrong thread.

I think the weight is doable as long as the trailer brakes are functional. The real issue is tongue weight. You really don't want to be on your bump stops for 30 miles.

Why don't you just rent an HD truck from U-Haul?
 
#26 · (Edited)
Why don't you just rent an HD truck from U-Haul?
'Cuz they don't come with a receiver hitch. For this exact reason. I tried to rent one once... didn't work. Not enough duct tape and bailing wire. So I bought my tundra. :)


I wouldn't even think twice. I'd do it.

I'm basically tired of this society of pussies we are raising. I'm tired of being hand cuffed by the lawyers yelling out the liability is not worth it.
Bwwwaaaahahahahahahaaaa! I almost fell out of my chair laughing!

I wouldn't even think twice. I'd do it.

I bought a truck to tow and haul shit. I'm not running over a truck scale every time I need to haul or tow.
I'm pretty sure that's why I bought a pickup, as well. The irony of taking a trailer to the scales to weight it is by the time I could get to the closest scale, I'm half way to anywhere I wanted to go with trailer anyways...
 
#29 · (Edited)
The correct tongue weight is 12 - 15% of the trailer weight. True enough, he can shift the weight to decrease the tongue weight.

However. That may not be the best course of action. Too little hitch weight relative to trailer weight, can lead to a dangerous tendency to sway. Too much, and of course you risk damaging the truck's suspension as well as impact steering by pulling up the front of the truck.
 
#30 · (Edited)
I already have a WD hitch and sway bar for my camper I was going to use.
But the auctioneer bid on the dozer and ran the bid up to $6700.
I just couldn't justify going over $6100 (+10% buyer fee) on a 30+ year old machine that was in need of steering clutch work.
May have just needed an adjustment, and may have worked until after I fixed my pond, but with the repair needing ~$2-3k of parts I wasn't willing to spend that money. With my luck I could play russian roulette with an empty gun and still get shot.
Dozers come up around here for$12-15k regularly, so not going to get into more debt unless a smokin deal comes along.
Guess I won't find out what Big Green can do this time around
 
#32 ·
No negativity here....... well maybe just a touch.

I'd say that you are a bit light on the weight of the machine. It's probably 16K or so since it is a used machine and is at operating weight, I assume. Add 3K for a trailer big enough to handle it, plus all the clay stuck to the undercarriage, and you could be looking at 20,000lbs. I'm just saying..........lol.

Brakes would be a question because an equipment trailer with a ramp strong enough to load/unload the machine more than likely does not have an adaptor to go from your 7 pin to the trailer for brakes/lights, whatever.

You can definitely balance the weight by moving the dozer on the trailer to get a few hundred pounds on the hitch, but what happens when you hit some dips and the trailer starts to porpoise. It would be funny to watch a Tundra pulling a trailer with it's rear wheels in the air every time the tongue came up, and the front wheels off the ground every time the tongue came back down.

Just having fun here, but you might want to think about it.
 
#39 ·
I can't hardly believe someone actually tried this! At dangerous speeds to boot.

 
#41 ·
Not that familiar with Mitsubishi, but it looks similar in size to a JD/Case 350 or a Cat D3. Still looking at maybe 15,000 pounds with the trailer and the bike and whatever else is on the deck. I'd say that the motor was probably maxed on the hill for sure.

The truck is good for 16K combined, so only 5,000 overloaded?
 
#42 ·
No argument here. I'm sure it was overloaded. I just can't figure out why they needed to work up to close to the rev limiter.

I might go back to the YT vid and see if there are any comments that might be worth while.
 
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