I was thinking today on how after all my repairs were done I'd like to tow my car around to local shows and maybe take a few out of state car show trips and it got me wondering how many still will hook a trailer up to their aging trucks? How far would you trust it or what would you do before towing?

 

I haul a trailer on a fairly regular basis. Anything from my 5X7 utility trailer, to a 14ft dump trailer. Not to mention hauling several thousand pounds of dirt in the bed... It's a truck, I bought it because I needed one, and I use it as such.

Now, mine has pushing 200K miles on it, and doesn't particularly care for long trips.... So, maybe 200 miles one way is about the max I will push it. Any further, or, a really heavy load, and I will borrow/rent one.

If you wanna tow with your truck, especially haul a car around, I would highly recommend a 3/4 ton truck, or upgrading the snot out of the brakes on your half-ton.... and make sure ALL the maintenance is up to snuff.

 

I would not hesitate to use my truck to drag a reasonable trailer coast to coast and back again with nothing more than the oil change that's coming due in about 800 miles. But a typical second gen Ram as they actually exist today, I wouldn't even own, let alone use to drag a trailer around.

So the questions that matter most to you are about the condition of your own truck.

 

iv looking into doing the 3/4 ton axle swap on my truck buy am not to keen on drilling into the frame for the new mounts. Besides the 3/4 single piston calipers and the 1 ton wheel cylinders what else can I upgrade in the brake system? Hoses are a given but iv seen rubber and braided. Calipers and rotors are a given but I believe the 3/4 ton uses the same size rotor correct?

 

I'm slowly bringing it back around from the previous owners negligence. My next project are to service the differentials and replace the ujoints aswell. Intake, ball joints, and exhaust are my most immediate repairs. Farthest iv seen q 2nd gen ram tow personally was about a 3 hour drive one way when my dad went to get my first car ( the car I'm wanting to tow myself). But this was 7 years ago in his 00 ram

 

I wouldnt hesitate to haul with my truck. I pull a tandom axel, 16' x 7', tilt top that can carry 7 1/4 ton with electric brakes. Now I havent maxed it out and dont plan to but The heaviest thing Ive hauled is a C232 track loader. Some others would be wacker nueson 38z3, case 350 dozer, case 470 tractor, bobcat 325, massey furg 165 w7' bush hog. My truck only has 74000 and not suffering from salt disease so Its got alot of life in her. Now my other truck is a 1997 z71 Ive added extra leaves, brake controller, steel driveshaft, and Lt tires Over the years. Its got 184,000 on her now and suffering from years of Ohio winters and the only thing I would trust her to carry is a load of firewood in the bed. And yes Ive had to rebuild the tranny twice . Hind sight is always 20/20. Love my 2nd Gen. Its twice the truck of the z71 for 1/2 the price.

 

You'll want to get a good lot of that done first. When your truck was new, same as any other V-8 Ram, it was up to the task, so it's just a matter of getting it back to that point.

I've seen lots and lots of people find out the hard way that the most important part of trailering is keeping it under control once it's moving. That means everything in the brake system, steering, and suspension has to be up to the task. For serious on-road towing, that means stock size tires and no higher than stock ride height, and if you're going to spend on mods you'd do well to start with brakes and suspension to enhance your control. It takes just one experience of a trailer taking over the steering to make a believer out of anyone, and twice will make an evangelist. The third time just proves you're stupid.

I've been the evangelist for about 25 years now.

If the trailer you're going to drag around is within the rated capacity of your truck, you might want to just bolt on a Timbren SES rather than fiddling with swapping in 3/4 ton springs and all of that bother. But if you're going with a load distributing hitch, you might want to beef up the front coils.

Also: Don't cheap out on shock absorbers. Lots and lots of problems that get lots and lots of money thrown at them are traceable to economy shock absorbers. OTOH, lots and lots of money gets wasted on upgrading shocks that aren't the cause of poor handling. So just buy high quality units and if the suspension is still weird trust that it's not the shocks causing it.

After brakes and suspension are done, focus on cooling. Things get different when your truck is no longer just a big car with no trunk lid. Think about all that stuff that's not the engine, too. Power steering pumps just dump outrageous quantities of heat during low speed maneuvers if you've got a load distributing hitch out back. Diffs get hot on hard grades. Brakes fade (and then glaze, and then fly apart) when they're hot -- and you don't always get the option to just not use them for a while. And so on. Sometimes those parts don't die alone...

If it's a factory automatic under the hump, bookmark the Mega Viper page and start saving your change now.

If you want to add power, after being certain you can cool it, make sure it's low and midrange power you add. Top end power only counts if you can get into it, and it sucks to roll slow and loud only because you can't grab the next gear.

Towing is just another way that trucks are like sex: You want to go long and hard, not short and fast. So build for it.

 

A trailer with proper brakes and a brake controller in the cab of the truck will go a long way for proper stopping power.

To add what UnregisteredUser posted, I installed Monroe Heavy Duty shocks when I had my Second Gen. The truck never sagged when I hitched up my 1,800lb trailer and loaded it with over 5,000lbs of scrap metal (there's pictures around here of some of my work).

 

Well, yeah, but you weren't running tens on 44" Super Swampers hanging on spools and then passing everything in sight while towing aircraft carriers over the Rockies, so you weren't really all that serious about it.

Just smart about it.

And no, man, giving you flowers doesn't mean I'm hoping for a long night in the hot tub with you and a bottle of Merlot so just keep your fantasies to yourself, okay?

 

Care to back that claim? Not ONLY did I do that, but I did so going uphill, both ways, in 10' of snow!





That's just mean.