1/2 ton trucks and 4 place trailers

[glassman]

Can you LEGALLY pull a loaded 4 place trailer with a 1/2 ton truck? I know the new trucks have a huge towing capacity, but is the cargo capacity bigger too? If you have a half ton that can only legally carry 1500 lbs, and you put 3 guys in with the driver, a full tank of fuel and anything else you may have in the box, you are at about 700+ lbs cargo already. Now put a 4 place into the equation. You can only have 800 lbs of additional cargo weight (legal axle weight). Some trailers, loaded properly, with the correct axle placement, may fit the bill, but I would bet 90% of them don't. Get in an accident and you are over the rating for your truck and likely have no insurance. What about decks and sleds? 2 sleds at 600 lbs with fuel, plus deck, you are already over. Hope your buddy is taking the bus.

Don't get me started on the headlights and fog lights.

Who knows for sure?

 

[powder junkie]

Can you LEGALLY pull a loaded 4 place trailer with a 1/2 ton truck? I know the new trucks have a huge towing capacity, but is the cargo capacity bigger too? If you have a half ton that can only legally carry 1500 lbs, and you put 3 guys in with the driver, a full tank of fuel and anything else you may have in the box, you are at about 700+ lbs cargo already. Now put a 4 place into the equation. You can only have 800 lbs of additional cargo weight (legal axle weight). Some trailers, loaded properly, with the correct axle placement, may fit the bill, but I would bet 90% of them don't. Get in an accident and you are over the rating for your truck and likely have no insurance. What about decks and sleds? 2 sleds at 600 lbs with fuel, plus deck, you are already over. Hope your buddy is taking the bus.

Don't get me started on the headlights and fog lights.

Who knows for sure?

Open 4place yup easy. Enclosed?... Id hate to try it and my guess is no. I had a 20ft 3place loaded behind a 1/2 ton b4 in a cross wind on dry pavement and it sucked.

 

[Carrots]

Open 4place yup easy. Enclosed?... Id hate to try it and my guess is no. I had a 20ft 3place loaded behind a 1/2 ton b4 in a cross wind on dry pavement and it sucked.

Depends on the trailer too, if your using a old enclosed that's super heavy then it would be sketchy. My f150 will tow this 24ft triton just fine, when it's empty you can't really tell it's there.

 

[Transporter]

A one ton is overkill id say for mabye 6000 pounds. Supercrew good for 9300 i think.

 

[cdnredneck_t3]

The answer to your question is that it depends. The manufacture will give you a GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) that the total weight of truck trailer and cargo must be at or under. Fords is here 2014 Ford F-150 | View Towing Specifications | Ford.ca Now you will also have local regulations that may be more strict and might even give you load per axle as you mentioned. You will have to use both manufacturer and local weights regulations to figure out if you are legal.

Lets say your trucks GCWR is 5080KG (11200Lbs) and your truck weighs 2234kg (4925Lbs) and the trailer weighs 1588 KG(3500Lbs) that leaves you with 1258kg (2773Lbs) left for cargo. 4 sleds might weigh 907kg (2000Lbs) leaving you 351kg (773Lbs) for everything else.

 

[pistoncontracting]

Yes, loaded minamally it will. Full of Apexs and 250lb guys, with 4 days gear, no.
And no, having air bags will not change anything legally.

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[moyiesledhead]

Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD!

 

[pano-dude]

no kidding, been trying to get that through to my manager. I pull a tandem dump trailer every day, loaded up its close to 9000lbs. Our 1/2 tons are rated to pull it but fawk its scary some days and it's prairie driving.

pulled the same size trailer daily at pano site with a 1ton and never worried.

Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD! [/QUOTE

 

[Rev mike]

You might get away with a 4 place behind a half ton in AB
Dont try it in BC you probably won't make it past Golden lol
i got a half ton with a sled deck on it and I know I can't legally have 2 sleds on it in BC
When that hwy is bad I wouldn't want 2400 pounds of sleds pushin me down the mountain IMO

 

[ABMax24]

You might get away with a 4 place behind a half ton in AB
Dont try it in BC you probably won't make it past Golden lol
i got a half ton with a sled deck on it and I know I can't legally have 2 sleds on it in BC
When that hwy is bad I wouldn't want 2400 pounds of sleds pushin me down the mountain IMO

If you are under your GCWR, and no axle is overloaded, and you have the appropriately rated hitch, and functioning trailer brakes you shouldn't have issues with the law. Its all about doing your homework to ensure your tow vehicle is capable of towing a 4 place trailer. And of course the newer half-tons are far more capable than the older models.

Although I disagree with sled decks on half tons, even if they are under the max cargo capacity, the weight is up high enough they begin to compromise the stability of the vehicle. As I know my 2500HD is nearing capacity with 2 sleds, gear, and gas, and the weight is fairly noticeable. Also, since when are the laws different that a sled deck is legal in Alberta, but illegal in BC, I believe it is just that weight regulations on non-commercial vehicles aren't enforced in Alberta like they are in BC.

 

[glassman]

My point exactly. We all ride in BC, out here anyways. And I would guess that about 15 - 20 % of the trucks I see are 1/2 tons. On any given Friday night you can easily see about 150 - 200 trucks roll through town, and alot of them are 1/2 tons with decks or 4 place trailers. Just waiting for the day when they do the big blitz like they did 10 years ago at the scales. I had an old 3/4 ton for sale and guys were fighting over it because they only had half tons. I really believe that alot of people are mislead when they buy a truck and are told "you can pull 10,000 lbs." Loaded properly I can see it, but when the bumper is dragging and the headlights are pointing to the sky, chances are you are not legal. Be prepared, because with the amount of vehicles rolling down the road, it is only a matter of time.

Not trying to preach here, just don't think guys are aware, or they just don't care. I would guess the latter.

 

[finndoo]

If you are under your GCWR, and no axle is overloaded, and you have the appropriately rated hitch, and functioning trailer brakes you shouldn't have issues with the law. Its all about doing your homework to ensure your tow vehicle is capable of towing a 4 place trailer. And of course the newer half-tons are far more capable than the older models.

Although I disagree with sled decks on half tons, even if they are under the max cargo capacity, the weight is up high enough they begin to compromise the stability of the vehicle. As I know my 2500HD is nearing capacity with 2 sleds, gear, and gas, and the weight is fairly noticeable. Also, since when are the laws different that a sled deck is legal in Alberta, but illegal in BC, I believe it is just that weight regulations on non-commercial vehicles aren't enforced in Alberta like they are in BC.

I agree.with my half ton I can legally tow my 27 ft travel trailer that weighs about 7000 lbs fully loaded. I have the proper hitch, brakes, equalizer bars, however that is with nothing in the box, and only two kids and two adults in the truck. I don't think that a good four place trailer would weigh more than that. Of course a one ton truck would be better but a half ton would still be legal if the truck is not over its capacity. I have never towed anything that heavy on an icy road but it can't be fun when it's super icy regardless if you have a half ton or one ton, maybe the weight of a diesel one ton would help in that case.

 

[fredw]

We did it once..... And will never tow a enclosed 4place again with a f 150... It was a death trap...

I guess that's why there is laws against stuff like that

 

[Dragon4x4]

And I've always wondered why some people jump on the bashing the one ton club band wagon.... seems like some just don't understand the bigger picture. Education is definatly needed when it comes to this sort of issue

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[ABMax24]

We did it once..... And will never tow a enclosed 4place again with a f 150... It was a death trap...

I guess that's why there is laws against stuff like that

Its also about having a proper weight distributing hitch, we have 30' car trailer at work that will throw around a 5500 dodge picker truck, but with a weight distributing hitch is easily and safely pulled behind a 3/4 ton pickup. Both scenarios were with the trailer lightly loaded.

So truck size and weight doesn't always fix the problem, it helps, but sometimes other setups have to be explored

 

[Bezzola]

Mobile Uploads Photos by bezzola1 | Photobucket
My f150 pulls mine good.

 

[sledneck_03]

Fawk had a cat m8 in my box and two pro 800s on a 8x10 tailer and was getting 10mpg with my 2010 ram 1500.... Sure a diesel is more money but your buy a more expensive truck and more re sale not just blowing it out your tail pipe.

I burnt twice as much fuel as a duramax same trip pulling a 4 place enclosed.

 

[Sparky's]

It all depends on weight. I tandem tow with my half ton and that's heavier then a 4 place loaded

 

[ABMax24]

Fawk had a cat m8 in my box and two pro 800s on a 8x10 tailer and was getting 10mpg with my 2010 ram 1500.... Sure a diesel is more money but your buy a more expensive truck and more re sale not just blowing it out your tail pipe.

I burnt twice as much fuel as a duramax same trip pulling a 4 place enclosed.

It takes a lot longer to pay off than most people think, say a 1 ton diesel costs $20,000 more than a 1/2 ton gas job, and a gas job gets 10mpg and a diesel gets 20mpg, at the same fuel price of fuel lets say $1.00/liter for easy math. It would take over 170,000 kms to pay the price difference off based on fuel savings alone, now this also negates the fact the wear parts (tires ,brakes, etc) cost more on a larger truck, as well as more expensive oil changes and now more emissions related issues on the new diesels, as well diesel costs 25 cents/liter more than regular right now. So the only place you are ahead is in resale value. Not to mention the fact that if a major component (engine, transmission) fails off warranty the cost can easily be double on a diesel over a gas. A new motor replaced at the dealer on a 6.7 cummins cost about $22,000 BTW.

Now don't get me wrong, I love diesels, just don't buy one expecting to save a pile of money.

 

[0neoldfart]

You have to do your homework, plain and simple. The vehicle salesperson will seldom spec a truck to your needs. Most any new half ton will pull a 4 place enclosed, but it won't stop it effectively. The added weight of a 3/4 or 1 ton truck (combined with HD brakes, lower axle ratios, and stiffer suspension rates) make them more suited to handling a heavier load, and the "tail won't wag the dog" in most cases. Does everyone need a diesel? No. They do offer one thing the gassers don't have, which is torque. Torque gets your load moving, and allows you to pull heavy loads especially when trailering through the hills.