Pulling Bumper Pull Trailers with PU

[Chuckie]

Would anyone buy a Chevy Duramax, 6.6 diesel 4 WD with single wheels to pull a pontoon boat that tracks outside of the truck tires all over the US? Considering road conditions is my concern. This boat is very wide and he says with the boat and trailer it is going to weigh around 7,000 lbs. No doubt that the Duramax is one of the strongest trucks I have been in. Even a flat bed with dual wheels could not be outrun from a dead stop at a certain traffic light where people often tried to pass on the right hand side of the road. Unbelievably fast and strong. One person got around the truck that I know of. It was a great truck. So, the engine is not the question here.

The pontoon boat is very wide and a new trailer is being built for it. I have a feeling that it will track outside of the truck tires as he said it was huge. And it is not a fifth wheel. A bumper pull. Not sure if I have ever seen a fifth wheel pontoon boat trailer, but crap I asked him to search long and hard before he sunk a lot of money into a truck.

I looked at a forum on trucks and found one that said, "The advantage of a truck with dual wheels is in case you have a flat on one of the rear tires that it will still hold the load up. ??? Who in the he77 wrote that article?? Then they said a wide tire would do the same as a dual wheel. No, it won't. It is better than a regular road tire, but not in certain situations.

These days tax dollars are not spent on fixing roads. There is pavement that is much higher than the shoulders and if you ease off of that, it can really put you into a death sway if moving too fast. Pot holes. Roads that are narrow highways that are high and only a gravel side a few inches wide, then a ditch lined with large trees as I see in some states. The worst of all; ruts made in the pavement by heavy trucks and trailers which your trailer will settle into and your truck is not in line with the wheels of the trailer so it is a hard battle to keep the truck on the road as it feels as if the front end of the pick up will slap the back end of the trailer as it swaps from side to side. I once had a pickup and a trailer that tracked outside of the truck tires, and when it got into that grooved payment, if I had of been a heart patient, not sure if I would have lived through it.
To not pay attention to your mirrors or where your trailer is in the road when it is a narrow path, dropping off can cause much grief.

There is no way I would pull that wide load, mostly when I don't know the wheel base of my truck and trailer before I purchased it. Still even if it were the same width, dual tires traveling the US is the only way I would do long hauls.

He said that two more extra wheels would cost him $10,000 more dollars and a ton truck is more truck then he needs. With his experience in "not pulling trailers with a wide load" I am in fear of his life as he is not an experienced trailer pulling person.

I tried to explain to him that a ton truck and a 3/4 truck is pretty much the same but the ton truck has more stability and heavy duty for towing.

I do see these not so big SUV's pulling pontoon boats up and down the road from time to time. Not sure how far they are going. But they have regular mirrors and not so sure they can even see what is behind the boat on the road.

I wonder how many people buy things without knowing what they are getting into and it costs them a huge chunk of money. And if they make a mistake on their choice, as it does not work out, it will be even worse. To buy second choice over your first choice, because of price, only makes you see that you should have bought what you wanted first time. You will sell what you did purchase and have to eat the loss. Just wait longer if you don't have the funds, or go ahead and shell it out. You will be happier in the long run.

 

[Brute 23]

Yes, I would pull it no problem. No need for a dually or one ton unless is more than a typical pontoon and extremely tongue heavy. Even then you could add a leaf cheaper than buying another truck. I would be way more concerned about the boat trailer. Make sure to have good tires and carry extra complete hub assemblies.

Boat trailer issue stories are #2 on my list only to women holding the number one spot by a wide margin.

 

[Brute 23]

... and good tires on the truck. I see quite a few 3/4 and 1 tons driving around with cheap tires. Quality tires will make a noticeable difference in this scenario.

 

[kenny thomas]

At 7000 lb thats almost no weight to pull at all. Many empty cattle trailers weigh that much. And unless its a home made pontoon I doubt its wider than legally allowed.
I bought a 6.6 gas last December at the recommendation of our local diesel mechanic. He says there are too many things to go wrong on the new diesel pickups. Mine is 405 HP and a 10 speed automatic transmission. 2 weeks ago I went to South Carolina and picked up a bull and 2 heifers in a bumper hitch trailer. Couldn't really tell it was back there.

 

[chevytaHOE5674]

I see 1/2 ton trucks towing more than 7000lb campers going by my house everyday, many of them cross country travelers. I'd do it in a heartbeat.

 

[Dave]

I have a friend with a pontoon boat who does it every weekend.

 

[Chuckie]

Well, I guess I will write him and say that I was wrong on this one. But still, if it were me, it would have duals. I would be spending that extra $10,000 bucks on it. Tell him the men say I am off on this one.

But to pull it all over the US? Yikes. Roads unknown is what I am over concerned about. Still, I will tell him what all of you said.

 

[Chuckie]

At 7000 lb thats almost no weight to pull at all. Many empty cattle trailers weigh that much. And unless its a home made pontoon I doubt its wider than legally allowed.
I bought a 6.6 gas last December at the recommendation of our local diesel mechanic. He says there are too many things to go wrong on the new diesel pickups. Mine is 405 HP and a 10 speed automatic transmission. 2 weeks ago I went to South Carolina and picked up a bull and 2 heifers in a bumper hitch trailer. Couldn't really tell it was back there.

I want to tell him what you said, but I better not. I will just tell him I was wrong on this one.

 

[M.Magis]

As mentioned, the boat trailer is a wayyyy bigger worry. Factory pontoon trailers are junk, most just sit around in boat yards. If he’s having one custom made it’ll probably be made right. I assume.

 

[kenny thomas]

I want to tell him what you said, but I better not. I will just tell him I was wrong on this one.

Anything I say right or wrong is welcome to forward to anyone it will help

 

[Brute 23]

At 7000 lb thats almost no weight to pull at all. Many empty cattle trailers weigh that much. And unless its a home made pontoon I doubt its wider than legally allowed.
I bought a 6.6 gas last December at the recommendation of our local diesel mechanic. He says there are too many things to go wrong on the new diesel pickups. Mine is 405 HP and a 10 speed automatic transmission. 2 weeks ago I went to South Carolina and picked up a bull and 2 heifers in a bumper hitch trailer. Couldn't really tell it was back there.

All this time I thought you bought that truck so we could be twinsies.

 

[Chuckie]

As mentioned, the boat trailer is a wayyyy bigger worry. Factory pontoon trailers are junk, most just sit around in boat yards. If he’s having one custom made it’ll probably be made right. I assume.

Are they typically flimsy and poorly made? I had a fishing boat and I enjoyed it. The trailer and boat weighed much less than my 997 mower, and trailer. It pulled nicely and tracked right with the truck tires. When he and I would go fishing, I would always drive.

 

[RDFF]

I think you're getting "overwhelmed" by the physical size of the pontoon boat... they ARE wide... and if it's a big one, can be long too. BUT, they're mostly a little bit of aluminum and alot of air (those pontoons are empty, you know). As has been mentioned, 7000# is nothing... most trailers come up to almost that empty. The bigger thing would be "wind resistance" when pulling it, for the power part, and then too, potentially for controlling the thing in windy condtions... light as a kite, with a fairly big, bulky profile. And IMO, most of the comments about "boat trailers" is correct... they usually only put enough tire under those things to barely make them "legal". And then you see people towing their "treasure trophy" down the highway at about 80 mph on those little wheelbarrow tires! It never surprises me when I see an SUV piled up on the side of the road with a boat hooked to the back end. And of course, most of these weekend warriors also have pretty much 0 experience at trucking, or trailering... mostly made up of daily commuters in a compact Subaru or Tesla, wanting to escape from their concrete jungle.... so they have a "truck"... (ough, ough, ough...Tim the Tool Man) for their weekend get-aways to the levee. Always comical to watch them try to back up too! That's why they've had to incorporate that "auto-backing feature"................ Unbelievable.

 

[Brute 23]

Are they typically flimsy and poorly made? I had a fishing boat and I enjoyed it. The trailer and boat weighed much less than my 997 mower, and trailer. It pulled nicely and tracked right with the truck tires. When he and I would go fishing, I would always drive.

Some of the pontoon trailer dont even have full-size tires on them. They are made for getting you in and out the water and maybe a little further to the house. Those are not what I would want to pull very far.

Like said above, that probably why he is having a trailer built.

I wonder if its a true pontoon or one of those deck boats? The deck boats are pretty awesome and a ton of fun.

 

[Lucky]

Dually is way more stable than a single wheel when pulling but doubt it's needed in this case. Never heard of pulling a pontoon boat all over the US, hope he has fun.

 

[jltrent]

The bumper trailers I have pulled make sure more weight is up front of the wheels than behind on the trailer, or it will fish tail bad.

 

[jshep]

My F-150 is rated 13,000 lbs for my truck

 

[M.Magis]

Are they typically flimsy and poorly made? I had a fishing boat and I enjoyed it. The trailer and boat weighed much less than my 997 mower, and trailer. It pulled nicely and tracked right with the truck tires. When he and I would go fishing, I would always drive.

Yes, they're terrible. Like mentioned, they're made to get the boat in and out of the water and that's about it. Many have tires the size of lawn carts.

 

[Travlr]

I think you're getting "overwhelmed" by the physical size of the pontoon boat... they ARE wide... and if it's a big one, can be long too. BUT, they're mostly a little bit of aluminum and alot of air (those pontoons are empty, you know). As has been mentioned, 7000# is nothing... most trailers come up to almost that empty. The bigger thing would be "wind resistance" when pulling it, for the power part, and then too, potentially for controlling the thing in windy condtions... light as a kite, with a fairly big, bulky profile. And IMO, most of the comments about "boat trailers" is correct... they usually only put enough tire under those things to barely make them "legal". And then you see people towing their "treasure trophy" down the highway at about 80 mph on those little wheelbarrow tires! It never surprises me when I see an SUV piled up on the side of the road with a boat hooked to the back end. And of course, most of these weekend warriors also have pretty much 0 experience at trucking, or trailering... mostly made up of daily commuters in a compact Subaru or Tesla, wanting to escape from their concrete jungle.... so they have a "truck"... (ough, ough, ough...Tim the Tool Man) for their weekend get-aways to the levee. Always comical to watch them try to back up too! That's why they've had to incorporate that "auto-backing feature"................ Unbelievable.

LOL... I've got a neighbor that's older than me and builds houses. He's got trailers attached at least half of the time I see him... and he can't back out of his driveway without jackknifing the truck at least once. He's run over everything he possibly could at one time or another. And it worries me, because I know he's not looking for traffic when he's backing out.

 

[Brute 23]

I have jackknifed two trailer in my life. Both were in my driveway with the same trailer, 2 different trucks.

I have a small dog trailer and it sits low behind the truck and just barely sticks out the side. Both times I whipped in to my house to grab some thing, at night, started backing out the driveway and completely forget the trailer was back there.

On my old Chevy truck it hit the bumper and bent it but didnt wrap around. Not too bad.

On my dodge it wrapped around and hit the fender because of the hitch. My dad was with me and we heard it hit. I pulled forward and we jumped out. It was on my dad's side. He said... you are good, the bumper is fine. I said... not the bumper the fender. He made an ugly face and said some thing like... oh ya... you ****ed it up. Its funny now. I was sick to my stomach at the time. It was a 4dr, 4wd, 3/4, manual, diesel and smashed the **** out of the fender. After that bill I never pulled in the driveway again with that trailer. I would park in the street and put my flashers on.