Tandem towing

[BOWTECH.JUSTICE]

I am looking to set up a way to tandem tow my 19' boat with my 18' utility trailer. I am looking for some input as to what is the best way. Thanks to all for your ideas.

 

[RotaryRacer]

Re: Tandem towing

Where do you live?

Is it legal to tandem tow? Many locations only allow it if the first trailer is a fifth wheel. Others don't allow it at all.

 

[LippCJ7]

Re: Tandem towing

First it may or may not be legal to tandem depending on where you are..

Towing World Official Website

Second I don't know many that like to tandem off the bumper or receiver hitch, everyone I know that tandems regularly does it off a fifth wheel and while its not what I do they have never had a problem

 

[ssobol]

Re: Tandem towing

Even if you can do it and stay within the towing limits of your vehicle, most states have a maximum length limit for the entire vehicle. With a big tow vehicle, long trailer, and long boat you may exceed this length.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Tandem towing

It is generally called "double tow" .... I do it all the time with a 38' fifth wheel and a jeep on a tow bar BUT if you plan on going far or fast you will quickly find that it doesn't work very well at all with two small trailers... if you were pulling a 24' utility and a 16' boat behind it would be fine but with both trailers being short and the same size you will likely get a LOT of tail whipping and possibly so much that it could cause you to wreck... years ago I put a jeep on a tow bar and a light sand rail on a tow bar behind it and towed them with a 3/4 ton ex cab longbed chevy 4x4... On flat ground up to 65 it did ok but I found out real fast that I was in trouble when I started down a mile hill.... It took everything I had to keep it under control until I could get to the bottom of the hill. I was covering two lanes and the shoulder all the way down and if I tried to slow down at all it got sharply worse... After that I finished the last 900 miles of my 1000 mile trip at no more than 45 mph and sold the dune buggy there so I wouldn't have to pull it home.

I don't recommend that you even try but if you do you absolutely need lots of tongue weight (understand that tongue weight on the first trailer has to be measured with the second one attached) and good high quality anti sway bars on both trailers.

 

[pullin]

Re: Tandem towing

I double tow quite a bit. I'll include a couple of pics of my rigs. It's usually more stable to have a 5th wheel plus bumper tow setup (first picture below), since the weight distribution of the 5th wheel puts the center of gravity much further forward of the wheels. If you're going to double-tow with 2 "bumper pulls" in tandem, you will probably need a sway control somewhere in the mix. I used a sway controller between the boat and camper (second picture) in order to make the trailer pair react like a rigid (but long) single trailer.

No matter what people tell you, the stability of the trailer is related to the position of it's CG vs the axles. Moving the CG forward increases stability, and positioning it right over the axles (as in most non 5th wheel setups) makes it less stable. Sway controllers are cheap insurance. If you're double towing with conventional hitches, you'll really be better off with the sway controller.

 

[Alwhite00]

Re: Tandem towing

I know in Michigan you can't do it unless it's a 5th wheel up front.


LK

 

[tazrig]

Re: Tandem towing

I double tow quite a bit. I'll include a couple of pics of my rigs. It's usually more stable to have a 5th wheel plus bumper tow setup (first picture below), since the weight distribution of the 5th wheel puts the center of gravity much further forward of the wheels. If you're going to double-tow with 2 "bumper pulls" in tandem, you will probably need a sway control somewhere in the mix. I used a sway controller between the boat and camper (second picture) in order to make the trailer pair react like a rigid (but long) single trailer.

No matter what people tell you, the stability of the trailer is related to the position of it's CG vs the axles. Moving the CG forward increases stability, and positioning it right over the axles (as in most non 5th wheel setups) makes it less stable. Sway controllers are cheap insurance. If you're double towing with conventional hitches, you'll really be better off with the sway controller.

Your a better man than I Gunga Din. That would scare the (bleep) out of me!!! :faint2:

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Tandem towing

Here's how I roll

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Tandem towing

 

[Thalasso]

Re: Tandem towing

Could you have someone make a movie of you doing this. I can see this going very bad quick.

 

[tazrig]

Re: Tandem towing

Oh yeah??!!,


This is HOW I ROLL:


:laugh::laugh:

 

[Part-time]

Re: Tandem towing

and make sure your lead trailer is the heavier of the 2...

 

[pullin]

Re: Tandem towing

Wow, smokeonthtewater, that's a good sized rig. Does your state require a CDL for that size? Here in Texas, we're limited to 65 feet w/o a commercial license. Mine's actually 67 feet, but I could pull the boat swim platform to get legal (if I ever got stopped).

I'm curious, did you need to beef up the frame of your fifth-wheel? I guess towing your jeep 4-down doesn't have a big tongue weight though. Due to the heavy tongue weight on my boat (600 lbs) I had to weld a substantial amount of additional I-beams to the trailer frame to make sure I didn't end up bending the overhang behind the axles. I used a sort of heavy wall drill pipe for the fiver bumper (welded directly to the I-beams) to replace the stock one, and welded receiver/etc directly to that. The lightweight campers are surprisingly frail when you look underneath, so I had to beef it up considerably for it to handle the loads. Just curious what modifications were necessary to your larger 5th wheel (for future reference, ya know)

And to tazrig: You'd be surprised how stable it all is. With brakes on all twelve of the wheels, it stops pretty quick too. The gas mileage? Well that's another story....

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: Tandem towing

Well, my type of tandem towing involves taking the travel trailer to the seasonal lot at the campground one week and bringing the boat the next week after we are all set up. That's enough for me !!! Mind you I am only towing with a Trailblazer. For winter we reverse the procedure
Good luck to you all with the doubling up.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Tandem towing

I do have a cdl with double/tripple etc but no state allows over 65 feet for multiple trailers (I think Indiana is 50') with or without a cdl except for specific class 8 combinations. I am just over 75' IIRC and am thus illegal everywhere I go.(but have never been stopped) I generally tow back and forth between Indiana and Texas and of course the occasional hurricane evac. The only way I can see the jeep is with a camera or on tight turns.... So far I have towed over 5000 miles with that setup at 70 plus mph. It is rock solid on the road, pulls smooth as can be, and stops like you wouldn't believe ... My gross weight with full fuel tanks (140 gal) is right at 31,000 lbs Not all camper frames are built the same but mine has 10" i beam frame rails IIRC and I built the bumper from 4x6 tubing and I capped the ends and welded a receiver tube in the center through the front and back or the tube.
There is no tongue weight at all but there is always a lot of fore and aft bucking (I can't feel it in the truck tho) when pulling with a towbar behind a vehicle with a lot of overhang. I wouldn't hesitate to put a boat behind it but I have to have my jeep w me. In the future I plan on getting a toy hauler so I can put the jeep inside and take boat along too.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Tandem towing

found another pic

 

[rbh]

Re: Tandem towing

OK, now lets see the movies of you guys backing those rigs? LOL

 

[tazrig]

Re: Tandem towing

And to tazrig: You'd be surprised how stable it all is. With brakes on all twelve of the wheels, it stops pretty quick too. The gas mileage? Well that's another story....

It's not the stability that would scare me it would be taking corners and the potential hassle of having to back up because you would have to disconnect the last vehicle or trailer being towed.

 

[smokeonthewater]

Re: Tandem towing

no you don't.... I have to lock the steering on the jeep and let the front wheels scrub but with a boat back there I can back it up pretty easily.... The only reason I have ever had to back up is because there was an accident ahead of me that closed the highway so I backed up a couple hundred feet to make a u turn..... Otherwise, If you have to back up then you weren't paying attention.... You only pull into places that you can pull out of.... I look at the parking lot at a gas station from the road and pass it by if it's not big enough for me.

taking corners is no different than if I only had the fifth wheel... the jeep actually tracks slightly outside the tires of, but still inside the rear outer corner of the camper.