Big rolling box

[denverpilot]

I gave the Yukon a workout this weekend... New trailer... A tad big for the Yukon, but not full, it pulls it fine. 18 x 8, upgraded axles rated for 10,000 lbs, plain jane interior with untreated plywood floor, and 4000' drop ramp. Wheee!

10,000 is slightly over the maximum for the Yukon with the towing gear ratio it has in the rear end. I won't be towing it that heavy.

If I need to ever tow it that heavy, it's well within the Suburban's limits, but it pulls nicely and takes up a lot less space behind the Yukon.

Took about 20 minutes to put a trailer brake controller in, including drilling two holes to mount it. Man you gotta love pre-wired connections direct from the vehicle manufacturer for that... click. Done.

And I love the accelerometer in the controller, and the resulting smooth braking. Brake lightly, it only puts 10%-15% brakes on the trailer. Nail them and it hits them harder. Gadgets are cool.

I still remember the god-awful cable actuated one in grandpa's station wagon in my youth.

Way different than last time I pulled a trailer big enough to have its own brakes, some 20 years ago. Just had to run around the block a couple of times to get the braking controller set for amount of brakes to apply to not lock up the trailer tires, with it empty. After that, set the sensitivity of how fast it reads the accelerometer and then forget about it. Trailer brakes are applied at just the right amount.

Plus ... I need to put a trailer brake controller on the Suburban and I think it's old enough I'll have to do the old-fashioned vampire-tap splice job on that vehicle. Haven't checked yet.

The dual axle is much MUCH nicer than the 3000 lb single axle camper trailer. The big box trailer stays straight back there with no oscillations in wind or getting knocked around by large adding vehicles, compared to the camper. Only took running over two curbs to get the swing distance right without tow mirrors. Haha.

Backing it really isn't too bad either, but can't see much. Definitely need tow mirror extensions. Backing it with the Suburban would be much harder, whole rig would be too darn long.

This model didn't come with any internal cargo hooks welded to the frame, so I will have to fix that, so I can tow the Miata around in it. Make it into a lightweight car hauler. That way the Miata or the tractor can go on board safely. Nothing appropriate to strap them down to, yet.

Fun with trucks. And trailers. Big kid toys.

Now if I just hadn't had to fill the trailer floor with crap moving from one house to the other... And have to unload it tomorrow and probably load it again... Karen's garage is empty now, finally. Next, my garage. Yikes. Toolboxes.

 

[Skip Miller]

Nate, just looking at the photo it appears that you could easily load the trailer with the CG too far forward. What is the max tongue weight? How do you measure that?

Looks like a nice rig!

-Skip

 

[denverpilot]

Nate, just looking at the photo it appears that you could easily load the trailer with the CG too far forward. What is the max tongue weight? How do you measure that?

Well, if you really need to find out, head for a set of scales...

But generally, just load it uniformly with the load slightly fore instead of aft, and you won't be too far forward. A quick and dirty check is how far down the rear suspension is on the tow vehicle.

The stock Yukon 1500 tongue weight is very low without a load-leveling hitch. And with the short wheelbase, an anti-sway hitch is also in order if you're towing at max numbers. I won't be.

If I had to go up to that trailer's max numbers it would have to be behind the Suburban with at least a load-leveling hitch.

The heaviest load I have planned for it right now is a Miata which weighs in below 3000 lbs. The trailer is 2100 empty.

 

[Dr. O]

Ah jeez... I hate to be the party pooper, but - as a farmer who has to move large machinery I'm much more aware of the traffic laws than most non farmers.

Likely, you will never have trouble, but if you do draw the attention of your friendly state/local troopers you will find there are vehicle laws of which you have never heard. I am not going to go into the picky, picky, myriad details (and there are many) but the big picture is that your vehicle has a sticker on the door that lists GVWR and the trailer has a sticker that lists GVW.
1. Add those two numbers together and if they exceed your driving license maximum weight number you will get a citation. (really)
2. Add the vehicle weight of the car (usually found on your registration) to the GVW of the trailer and if it exceeds your GVWR you get a citation.
3. And then there is a maximum towing weight of your hitch. If the GVW of the trailer (does not matter if it is empty) exceeds that number - yup, you get another citation.

Now there are those who will say, 'never heard of it', and in their mind that ends the discussion. However, in the mind of trooper X who has you pulled over, the fun is just beginning.

 

[silver-eagle]

And our local police often set up a commercial vehicle checkpoint so it isn't limited to just the State Police.
Just a word of caution. Something I didn't think of when I was hauling an antique desk in my buddy's trailer.

 

[denverpilot]

Well aware of the vehicle's numbers and the law, thanks. Also going to be well inside the numbers.

Any officer wanting to run the numbers on my vehicle would have to know which rear differential gear ratio is installed, per the factory, also. They could get it from the VIN... If I haven't changed it. Enjoy opening it up and taking a look... After you get a warrant.

(In reality, If that actually came up, I'd just tell 'em, since they're well within their rights to pull whatever they think is unsafe off the road and park it while I pay to move the whole thing to their mechanic to investigate. My point here is, the door sticker on my vehicle does you no good if you don't know which rear-end is in it, since both are listed. Because GM is lazy and makes only one sticker.)

 

[Alexb2000]

On my enclosed trailers I use e-track. Two levels (low and high) going down both sides and the same across the front if possible. Buy some e-track ratchet straps and just leave them in there.

I also pick up a few commercial load locks off Craigslist for maybe $20-30 each and cut them down to the trailers width. They are really handy for keeping stacks of boxes in place, set quickly, and without damage.

Before I spent the money on a load leveler hitch, I would put on a set of air bags. I love bags, allows you to adjust the pressure depending on tongue weight. Nothing like leaving a little tongue heavy and just leveling it out in 10 seconds on the road. Of course this makes the most sense if you plan to tow more than one trailer with the yukon.

 

[denverpilot]

On my enclosed trailers I use e-track. Two levels (low and high) going down both sides and the same across the front if possible. Buy some e-track ratchet straps and just leave them in there.

Yeah, was looking at that stuff. Fancy, and gadgety... which appeals to the geek in me, but somewhat spendy... haven't decided yet.

I also pick up a few commercial load locks off Craigslist for maybe $20-30 each and cut them down to the trailers width. They are really handy for keeping stacks of boxes in place, set quickly, and without damage.

Don't know what those are, but will Google a bit on that phrase.

Before I spent the money on a load leveler hitch, I would put on a set of air bags. I love bags, allows you to adjust the pressure depending on tongue weight. Nothing like leaving a little tongue heavy and just leveling it out in 10 seconds on the road. Of course this makes the most sense if you plan to tow more than one trailer with the yukon.

Yeah, bags work pretty well. No plans to tow anything else (or anything else heavy enough to even need bags, let alone change them...) right now. Not with the Yukon anyway. If we were serious about towing something any bigger, I'd swap the Yukon for a diesel pickup with a 5th wheel. There's a point where you're just being dumb towing really big stuff behind that short of a wheel base...

Karen's folks found that out the hard way when they lost a Yukon and their 28' camper trailer, upside down in a ditch along an Interstate in Arizona when the wind came up. People had told them to get a longer tow vehicle, but they didn't... and they amazingly came out of it with nothing more than bumps and bruises and a couple of scraped up fingers, years ago. Had the load-leveler, and all the top notch gear that was recommended, but ignored the recommendation to go to a 5th wheel and a truck because they liked the SUV platform better when not towing.

The likely evolution for this trailer is this...

1. Use it to move a bunch of junk around while we get settled in the new house.
2. Outfit it to move the Miata around. Move the Miata around.
3. Park the tractor and other stuff in it at the new house as a temporary shed until we decide what we're building as an outbuilding to put all the tractor accessories and tractor and all the usual implements of destruction in, since we don't want them in the garage long-term. (Garage spot goes to the Miata... it wins... tractor doesn't rate... haha... poor tractor...)
4. Use it to drag the Miata to pavement once in a while for fun. The Miata isn't technically worth what the trailer cost, even... but it's a limited edition and tearing it up on gravel roads is just poor taste and poor stewardship of a nice little sports car.
5. If Miata is getting used, and we're enjoying it... stop here... continue to use trailer as needed.
6. If Miata is sitting parked too much, sell Miata, move all the crap out of trailer into an outbuilding and then start building a communications trailer out of it... have friends who've done this three times (three trailers) now... but there's always uses for a communications trailer... (GRIN!)

Even without cargo tie-downs, we've already moved a ton of crap around in it... already useful. The floor is so big, we're just loading it one "layer" deep and stuff isn't really moving around at all... I'm a sedate, boring, tow vehicle driver. Some furniture, and boxes... it's already been exactly what we needed to get stuff done.

And I only ran it over curbs twice, figuring out the turn radius and where it likes to track in corners. Backing it into the city driveway definitely takes up the whole street to accomplish that maneuver, though... haha... the Yukon can "catch back up" if you want to straighten it out after a turn, but the Surburban would be too long... you'd end up in the across the street neighbor's front lawn trying to straighten out the trailer. LOL.

Definitely need extension mirrors.... dang thing is too wide. I've seen some photos where folks have ordered the OEM extendable towing mirrors for the Silverado and put them on Yukons... it doesn't look that bad...

 

[Alexb2000]

Nate-

E-Track spendy? I'm talking about the stuff used on almost every commercial box truck in the country.

This stuff:

http://www.uscargocontrol.com/Van-T...l-Galvanized?gclid=CPn4uOPhg7cCFcJo4AodrwgALQ

Easy to find local at a truck and trailer (semi) place.

Load locks are a locking bar you put across the trailer side wall to side wall. It is literally just a bar to keep things like a stack of boxes from falling. They are also not very expensive, but once you have them they are really nice.

http://www.mfrexpress.com/super-loa...3-p-217.html?gclid=CJuf8qXig7cCFUFo4AodJ1IAIw

The commercial solutions above are proven, cheap, and you can get more almost anywhere.