towing a holiday trailer

[canadian_ranchero]

does anyone have a idea how big a holiday trailer you can pull behind a country sedan?

[Limey57]

We always say with a camper/travel trailer to keep the maximum weight of the trailer equal or lower than the curb weight of the tow car.  I know you guys use weight distribution hitches & the like so I guess that needs to be factored into the equation, but we don't use those over here so I have no experience of them.  I will be pulling a 3500lbs trailer with my 57 Ranchero.

[Limey57]

I've installed trailer wiring but not installed a hitch on my Ranchero yet, the chances of getting anything other than a bumper-mounted hitch is slim so I'll fabricate my own.  I'm using 2", 1/4" wall thickness box section to run under the back, with brackets at either end picking up on the end of the chassis rails with 3 x 1/2" bolts either side, then one bracket in the middle that will pick up on the existing hole in the rear crossmember (about 5/8" from memory).

[SkylinerRon]

A 3500lb trailer will wag the tail of your ranchero. A Reese type hitch w/bars is needed for that trailer or your bumper angle will be waaay down and dangerous.
To see what it will look like put 400lbs on top your hitch ball and see what it does.
Be safe!

Ron.

[Limey57]

I'd forgotten your trailers have set back axles & high tongue weights, over here hardly anyone owns a truck so our trailers get towed behind family sedans & wagons so the trailers have central axles & tongue weights around 170 lbs.  Our trailer is below, body length of 18 1/2 feet, unladen 2755 lbs, maximum laden weight 3420 lbs with a maximum tongue weight of 176 lbs, tows really well at 60 mph behind my 2013 Mercedes C Class station wagon (2.2 litre, turbo diesel, 205 bhp with 6 sped manual transmission), the wagon has a curb weight of 3750 lbs with a maximum towing weight of 4000 lbs.



How do your weight distributing hitches work?  Do they distribute the weight of the hitch through the tow-cars frame somehow?

[John Palmer]

Hi, I use a Ranch Wagon with a 351W/C6 to pull my vintage trailers.  I bought the wagon specifically because of my Vintage Trailer addiction.  I have four Vintage (1948 to 1958) travel trailers between 15 to 24 feet long.  I have made several towing observations, that I will pass along.

On my four trailers, as the trailer length increases, so does the trailer width.  For example, on my two 15' trailer's the width is 6' 6", on my 17' trailer the width is 7', and on the 24' trailer it's 8' wide.  When towing with the Ranch Wagon, I can easily see using the side mirrors around the small 6' 6" wide trailers.  But you cannot see around the 7' wide trailer at all.  I have to use slip-on mirror extenders on my F150 Crew Cab to see around the 8' wide trailer.  One of my Vintage Trailer buddies pulls with a 1957 Chevy panel delivery (like our Courier's) and he fashioned wider towing mirrors from some old Honda motorcycle mirrors and made some aluminum bases on a mill.  They look very original all polished up, and hold still while towing at speed.  All of the bolt on, and strap on accessory towing mirrors slip/vibrate/scratch paint.

"Safe Stopping", is a bigger issue than having enough power to pull the added trailer weight.  Every tow vehicle needs to have electric brake controls mounted to operate the trailer brakes.  After you use electric brakes you will "become a believer" in their importance.

We have our trailers set up in the U.S. to tow at what we call 60%/40% weight distribution.  Another way of saying the same thing is that on a 4000 pound gross trailer weight, you would need to have at least a 400 pound tongue weight to tow without sway.  Weight distribution hitches, transfer some of the hitch tongue weight to the front axle of the tow vehicle.  The weight distribution hitches are only required on heavier trailer weights.  Adjustable sway bars are a good addition on trailers with a large side exposed to cross winds.

1500 to 2500 pounds is a comfortable tow.  In order to make the 2500 pound weight "comfortable to me", I had to add a rear spring leaf (now up to seven), stiffen, and re-arch the rear springs to carry the 250/300 pounds of added weight.  The air shocks do almost nothing, because they are mounted at only a 45 degree angle.

I fabricated a receiver hitch from a commercially available utility truck kit (from eTrailer.com).  It uses 3" thick wall square tube, and is 48" between the side plates.  It tucks up nicely hidden under the rear bumper.  The center section was pre-made.  I made cardboard templates for my desired ends, then cut down their universal plates and drilled to my size.  I also connected the new tow bar to the Ford frame in the center behind the license plate for "side to side" sway strength.

In general, my opinion is "for towing" the back section of the Ford frame is very weak, thin, and very extended past the rear end arch.  You need not only a hitch that will carry the weight, but one designed to stiffen the vehicle frame structure.  On my Ranch Wagon, it showed signs of having a trailer hitch welded on at some point in it's life, but most was cutoff by the time I got the car.

I also need to upgrade my steering box before I start using the Ranch Wagon for more towing.  I purchased a new Borgeson power box, but have not yet installed it.  The steering with the stock '57 Ford box was very vague and loose feeling, even when adjusted correctly.

My 24' 1948 Spartan trailer would look great behind your wagon.  It was built by the Spartan Aircraft company, in Tulsa, OK.

[Limey57]

Interesting and detailed reading, thanks for that.

[Thor]

John,
         Do you have any pictures of your Vintage trailers? I, for one, would be interested in seeing them. Thanks in advance.

[BWhitmore]

Pictures of vintage trailers please. 

[John Palmer]

John,
         Do you have any pictures of your Vintage trailers? I, for one, would be interested in seeing them. Thanks in advance.

Sadly, your dealing with an old guy with limited technical photo ability, LOL.

I have one "completed" trailer currently for sale, it's on a trailer magazine site called VintageCamperTrailers.com and if you click on the for sale button at the top of the page you will see my trailer listed as one of the first listings.  It's a "fully rebuilt, and upgraded" 1958 17' Mallard in polished aluminum and avocado green color.  They have about ten photos showing the trailer.  I rebuild one, or two vintage trailer's per year.  I focus on 1940's to 1950's trailer's only, nothing newer.  Just like in building vintage cars, after you purchase the all the materials  needed "at today's prices", and consider it takes 500 to 750 hours of labor per trailer, the net profit is very small when your all done.  But they are fun to do, and it keeps me very busy.

One of my recent builds was a 22' 1953 Silver Streak with a full sized "claw foot" bath tub in the bathroom.  This trailer will be eventually used as a guest house in Montana.

[Thor]

John,
        I downloaded a couple of the pictures of your 1958 Mallard from the website you listed. What a beautiful Trailer!

[RICH MUISE]

Very impressive. If I ever hit the lottery, you'll be one of the first I call.

[Zapato]

reading this thread makes me want to dig thru my old VHS tapes and watch The Long Long Trailer.

John that trailer came out beautiful.

Zapato-

[John Palmer]

Thanks Guys.

The trailers are done kind of like we do when we build restro mod cars.  We try to keep the vintage look and flavor of the early era, but we do our best to hide the new modern amenities that are added.  My wife is a NASCAR fanatic, so it has to have satellite radio for her to keep up when we are camping.  It has a flat screen TV, micro wave, 12v LED lights, 12v accessory plugs for the grand kids games/phones, on demand water heater, 12v Fantastic vent fan, 12v porch and step lights, floor plan was changed and toilet was added, both city water and 12v "on demand" water pump, propane refrigerator, all new aluminum skin, Diamond Back whitewall trailer tires, etc, etc.

[John Palmer]

reading this thread makes me want to dig thru my old VHS tapes and watch The Long Long Trailer.

John that trailer came out beautiful.

Zapato-

Last year we did a vintage trailer rally in Lone Pine, CA.  It's on Hwy 395 close to Bishop.  It's a very cool "one stop light" town!  Anyway, that is where they filmed the Long Long Trailer film with Desi and Lucy towing the trailer with their 1954 yellow Mercury convertible.  We drove up the same road to Mt. Whitney and "that switch back turn" is still there, and it's a killer turn, like 270 degrees!