New Style Trailer Hitch setup

[Larry Schramm]

I got this from a friend a while back.  Thought you might like to see a new type of 5th wheel setup.

 

Class lll Hitch Install... (patent pending..)
Wouldn't you love to see how the trip went...?  Good chance he ended up doin' some unintended off roadin' somewhere.  Check the 'hills' in the background.  Howja like to meet this rig on a two-lane road....coming down the mountain in your direction...?

She's hitched up and ready to roll!!  Amazin' how the extra weight  smooths out the ride.  

Needed to air up the rear tires a bit ('bout 160 psi).

Added some super heavy-duty chain for extra support on the tailgate, (note the 'Heavy-Duty 'S' hooks to attach the chain) Also paid-up for some BIG Number 5/16 sheet metal screws to attach the Reese hitch frame to the tailgate (see 'em there?  one on each side...) Likely two more through the carpet into the floor pan inside....

Yep, probably overkill, but didn't want the possibility of having an accident.

Most of the time was spent on the front porch whittling down that MASSIVE solid pine 4x4  to fit precisely down into the hole in the ball mount receiver.

Note also - The 14”x14” piece of 3/8” plywood on the underside of the tailgate to distribute the load more evenly and beef up that tailgate support.

PS: they are out there and they vote.

 

 

Edited January 3, 2021 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[SC38dls]

 I thing there is a problem as pics not there on my system 

Edited January 3, 2021 by SC38DLS (see edit history)

[TerryB]

1 minute ago, SC38DLS said:

 I thing to see as pics not there on my system 

Me too....

[Terry Bond]

No pics here either.

 

[Graham Man]

Wow that is scary...hoping it is a joke, the "S" hooks look to be the correct load size.....how will he tie up his chihuahua now without the chain?  Do you think it made it around the first corner without hitting the S10?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[John348]

I know I have seen that rig on I-75 in Florida, going about 80 MPH

Edited January 3, 2021 by John348 (see edit history)

[padgett]

There's one born every half minute.

[charlier]

Reminds me of the Ford F350 Super Duty I saw towing a Dump trailer full of cut pieces of tree trunks of various large diameters. The bed of the truck was also full. Every time the truck hit a small bump in the road I could see sunlight under the front tires when those tires lost contact with the road. Needless to say even that Super Duty was not enough truck for the load being hauled/towed. BTW I saw this on a crowded stretch of Route 30 near Lancaster, PA on a Friday afternoon. I wonder if the driver is still trying to win his Darwin Award.

 

Have also seen an SUV kinda like the one in the photo with a bumper pull 27ft Travel Trailer with that same amount of sag in the parking lot of the local Walmart. Funny how I usually see it there when the local township police are doing safety inspections for all trucks and vehicles pulling trailers.

[Larry Schramm]

5 minutes ago, charlier said:

Have also seen an SUV kinda like the one in the photo with a bumper pull 27ft Travel Trailer with that same amount of sag in the parking lot of the local Walmart. Funny how I usually see it there when the local township police are doing safety inspections for all trucks and vehicles pulling trailers.

 

"I'm from the government and here to help you"

[nickelroadster]

I bet he could do a wheelie pretty easily.  It does not look like correct weight distribution.

[lump]

Oh, MAN! Hope this rig won't kill innocent folks, who happen to be on THAT stretch of road when IT happens! 

[Studemax]

This is old news. I saw those pictures at least 3 years ago on AutoWeek or BangShift.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

Power steering? Who needs power steering?                   Ben

[pkhammer]

  Reminds me of a guy I know that built his own homemade trailer using angle iron and light gauge framing, you know, like used in construction to build walls. It had a single axle, no brakes, and was 10 or 12 feet long. It was adequate to haul the trash to the dump or a couple of canoes or maybe even a riding lawn mower. So we have this big storm in 2012 and he knows somebody that gets a couple of nice walnut trees blown over, about 100 mile away near Richmond, Va. He hooks up the above mentioned trailer to his son's 2500 Dodge diesel pickup to go after several nice walnut logs.

  The trailer literally came apart on I-64 west of Richmond, destroying the trailer and scattering the logs on the interstate. Thankfully he was able to get stopped in the emergency lane and roll the logs off the road before there was a major accident. The logs rolled down an embankment along the side of the road and a rollback was called to haul the remains of the trailer to scrap. He came home with an empty pickup. -True story.

[60FlatTop]

First time I have seen a picture where covering the license plate was appropriate.

 

Wife's car. First two letters are RN.

 

Edit: Just a random thought. Those Central American caravans are still rolling. Why isn't it news today? It was a big thing before.

Edited January 3, 2021 by 60FlatTop (see edit history)

[TAKerry]

I saw a Honda crv at home depot a few years ago that was completely loaded with 2x4s. The stance of the car was about the same as the s10 in the first pic. He had the lift gate up and it was packed to the ceiling! I had a pic at one time but it must be on my old phone.

[wayne sheldon]

Ah, yes. The inevitable result of telling children "Good job!" for not spelling correctly. When society gives a "pass" to children that cannot do basic math, or use the proper "for", "too", or "you're", and tells them that they are never responsible for anything because everything is someone else's responsibility, you get people that believe themselves brilliant engineers when clearly they are clueless. And since they "are not responsible for their own mistakes", they just go on doing horribly reckless things until either themselves or innocent people (or both) are killed.

 

By the way. Just about three miles down the highway from our house on New Year's eve, an 80 year old man driving a 35 foot motor home lost control and killed an innocent woman in a head-on crash. This very same man, a bit over three years ago, driving the large motor home he had before this one, lost control and destroyed his and another motor home, only about five miles farther South. That time, fortunately, nobody was killed. According to comments on local news websites, the family has said that it is the state's fault for refusing to take his driver's license away. This one may be interesting to watch for the next couple weeks.

 

 

 

(There I am, criticizing our state politics and educational systems, trying so hard to make certain I made NO mistakes. I proofread it all at least five times. Double check spelling (again), syntax, word choices. Post, then look back a bit later after making a cup of tea.  And what do I see? A ridiculous spacing error that hid from me due to the different spacing in the computer window that I do the initial writeup in.)😒

 

(Well, if one cannot laugh about or willingly admit to one's own errors, one doesn't really have the right to criticize the errors of others.)

(By the way, it took only a single punch of the "backspace" key to correct the error.)

Edited January 4, 2021 by wayne sheldon
spotted a typo :( (see edit history)

[padgett]

For a really scary thought, watch the Movie "Idiocracy".

[John348]

1 hour ago, wayne sheldon said:

 

By the way. Just about three miles down the highway from our house on New Year's eve, an 80 year old man driving a 35 foot motor home lost control and killed an innocent woman in a head-on crash. This very same man, a bit over three years ago, driving the large motor home he had before this one, lost control and destroyed his and another motor home, only about five miles farther South. That time, fortunately, nobody was killed. According to comments on local news websites, the family has said that it is the state's fault for refusing to take his driver's license away. This one may be interesting to watch for the next couple weeks.

 

The first thing I thought while reading this is "how do they give this guy a license at 80 to allow him to operate a 35' vehicle?" If it were a vehicle were commercial he would need to have a physical to maintain his/her CDL, it is not like he lost control of his 15 year old Buick LeSabre. or Grand Marque  (the vehicles of choice for most 80 year old men). If an 80 year old man bought a 35' cabin cruiser and smashed into another boat killing someone the same question would be raised. The states should regulate who operates these vehicles. If a relative of yours died you would not ask the same question that family asked?

 

 

 

 

Saw this set-up in a rest area in South Carolina this past July

 

 

Edited January 4, 2021 by John348 (see edit history)

[wayne sheldon]

20 hours ago, John348 said:

The first thing I thought while reading this is "how do they give this guy a license at 80 to allow him to operate a 35' vehicle?" If it were a vehicle were commercial he would need to have a physical to maintain his/her CDL, it is not like he lost control of his 15 year old Buick LeSabre. or Grand Marque  (the vehicles of choice for most 80 year old men). If an 80 year old man bought a 35' cabin cruiser and smashed into another boat killing someone the same question would be raised. The states should regulate who operates these vehicles. If a relative of yours died you would not ask the same question that family asked?

 

 

I am so proud of my mother. She is over 90 now. She was driving her twenty year old Buick LeSabre well past the age of 80. I rode with her several times in those years. Frankly, she was never a really good driver, but not all that bad either. Her driving at the age of 85 wasn't much worse than it had been thirty years before. She, on her own, decided it was time to let her license go. My sister and I agreed with her, and supported her decision. My sister took care of donating her Buick (it really was not worth keeping, although a year later I wished I had it when my Ford Expedition broke down!). We did not have to go through the difficulties of trying to get an arrogant parent to give up driving. My sister lives way out of the area, but I make myself available to drive mom anywhere she needs to go.

Edited January 4, 2021 by wayne sheldon
I hate leaving typos! (see edit history)

[DLynskey]

My wife's grandfather was in his late 80's when he moved from Tennessee to North Carolina to be nearer his relatives. To get his NC license he had to start from scratch with the written test, vision test and driving test, all of which he did with no trouble at all. As he was walking out of the DMV office he handed his license and keys to his son-in-law who had accompanied him and said "You take these. I'm through driving. I just had to know I'm still able."

 

What a classy gentleman!

 

Don 

[wayne sheldon]

Don L, A truly classy gentleman indeed!

[Grimy]

4 hours ago, John348 said:

The first thing I thought while reading this is "how do they give this guy a license at 80 to allow him to operate a 35' vehicle?" If it were a vehicle were commercial he would need to have a physical to maintain his/her CDL, it is not like he lost control of his 15 year old Buick LeSabre. or Grand Marque  (the vehicles of choice for most 80 year old men). If an 80 year old man bought a 35' cabin cruiser and smashed into another boat killing someone the same question would be raised. The states should regulate who operates these vehicles. If a relative of yours died you would not ask the same question that family asked?

As Wayne knows, I'm sure, in California a Class C (i.e., regular driver's license) allows you to operate a single motorized vehicle of up to 26,000 lbs GVWR (which includes many motor homes) and you may pull a trailer of up to 9,999 lbs GVWR.  To pull a personal trailer heavier than that, you need a Class A Non-Commercial license which requires, among other things such as an exhaustive road test, a specialized physical exam every three years until you reach 75, at which time the physical must be done EVERY year.  My Class C license was last renewed on my 77th birthday in 2019 and required a vision test plus a written test, but no behind-the-wheel test--but I had no accidents and no tickets which might have triggered a behind-the-wheel test.  My license is good for 5 years until my 82nd birthday.

 

Involvement in any incident such as this gent's PREVIOUS accident "should" have resulted in a special test and/or medical certification and/or possible restriction of his Class C license to one year at a time and/or vehicles under 10,000 lbs and/or (whatever).  COVID has had a severe effect, I'm sure, on the ability of any state DMV to conduct behind-the-wheel testing and to impose additional requirements.  Tragic situation, to be sure.  My substantially younger lady friend can drive all my collector cars--quite well--AND my F350 dually + tall car trailer.  So when I have a drool cup hanging under my chin suspended from a rubber band around my ears, SHE will do the driving and I'll be along for the ride.  I certainly don't want to give up driving anytime soon, but I know of too many cases where individuals should have done so, and will definitely accede to restrictions that SHE urges on me.  We older bubbas need to listen to family.

 

My role model for graceful aging is the late Bill A. of SoCal, a longtime Pierce owner, who passed just before his 104th birthday.  The last time I saw him was when he was driving his 1918 Pierce like mine on the 5-day Modoc Tour at 99 years old--he drove 1/3 of the time and a family member drove 2/3.

[Joe in Canada]

Go to the Canadian Rockies and see rigs on the side of the road that cant make a hill being under powered with a 1/2 ton pulling large camper. 

[Larry Schramm]

4 hours ago, Joe in Canada said:

Go to the Canadian Rockies and see rigs on the side of the road that cant make a hill being under powered with a 1/2 ton pulling large camper. 

 

It is not just Canadian Rockies, GM does some hill testing south of the border too.  I do not remember "the hill", but it is a well known truck towing test location within GM truck engineering.

[SC38dls]

Your government at work. I have a private pilot license and need to take a physical to get certified. 35 years ago I had a stint put in a minor vessel in the lower part of my heart. The doc said he was in there checking due to some pain so might as well get it 100% then. After that it took six months on average to get the license renewed and only after I achieved 100% on a major stress test each year. Ten years ago my back problems has cut off the feelings in both legs, so much so I sold my sport cars and 49 pickup as it was such a tight cab. Absolutely no problem getting the pilot license with braces on both legs but they still worry about the 35 year old stint that has caused me no problem in all that time. It’s rules they don’t bother updating and modifying as the population gets older. Too busy making it better for themselves is the only reason I can think of. 
I don’t fly in private planes anymore just in case you were worried I my crash into your garage!  
dave s 

[padgett]

"under powered with a 1/2 ton pulling large camper" Suspect a matter of gearing. Remember pulling 6-10% ers with a VW Westphalia. Just had to keep dropping gears. Was slow but NP. Of course was not collecting rocks and had an RVEECO oil cooler on the side.

 

Had a set of low 1st and 2nd gears (of 5) in my Vixen RV, was more to keep from burning out the clutch though. Suspect more of the rigs "that couldn't" were overheating either engine or trans. THM400 is particularly bad unless driver is smart enough to drop a gear or two and turn the heater on MAX.

[Larry Schramm]

1 hour ago, padgett said:

Remember pulling 6-10% ers with a VW Westphalia. Just had to keep dropping gears. Was slow but NP.

 

Been there, done that. Getting ready to do it again.

Edited January 4, 2021 by Larry Schramm (see edit history)

[padgett]

Modern lockup trannies are great for towing, just have to keep power out of PE. My '12 Jeep GC has both a tranny temp readout and manual gear selection. Of course being from the souf tend to paw more attention to the temp gauge when towing than anything else. Pulled the Monteagle grade on a hot summer midday with a loaded tandem axle car trailer and never broke 200F.

[charlier]

5 hours ago, padgett said:

My '12 Jeep GC has both a tranny temp readout and manual gear selection. 

So your Jeep has a digital tranny temp readout?  Much more accurate than the analog gauges with C-H and a needle.

I use an app on my tablet that reads the coolant temp, tranny temp and torque converter temp among other things from the sensors in my truck. The nice big digital numbers are easy on my old eyes which is nice.

[padgett]

That is correct, is in the center of the dash. Only other thing I would recommend is an EGT readout(s) for a turbo.