Okay my current setup is a 35 ft 5th wheel toy hauler. Behind a 2011 drw Ram. 6.7 diesel Long bed. Was planning on trading in toy hauler for a truck camper. We want to have the jeep and an RV and I am not a fan of triple tow. Now planning 2017 road trip we want to have our motorcycles and Jeep with us.Plan was to get between a 10-11 foot camper with one slide, then put jeep and bikes bikes on a car hauler. Bikes are a Harley low rider s and a sportster. So about 1100 pounds together. I current have a 16 foot car hauler but I don't think I can get both bikes on there with the jeep safely, so I was thinking about selling it and getting a 20 foot open hauler. I was planing on putting both bikes on the front of the trailer and jeep behind them. I am aware I need a special hitch to extend past the camper, but wanted to ask if my plan sounds correct. What do you all think? It's a lot of moving parts I know. Thanks for your help.

You need to get some real world weights. The Jeep plus the bikes plus dry box full of gear will need to be within the trailer's payload rating. Then there is the camper, again forget guesstimating. By the time you are loaded ready to go you will be heavy and possibly over the trucks GCWR. Err on the side of caution.

Thank you for response. Trailer will have two 3500 pound axles so 7k on trailer. Jeep is about 4500 pounds but not totally sure with gear. Truck is a dually and my current 5er is about 17k. Had it weighed loaded with 5er and four adults and and couple motorcycles in back and was at 23k total. If I remember right 7k on drive axle 12k on trailer and 4 on steer axle. I could be wrong. It did fine and I believe Cgvw is 30k. I know the new set up will be lighter, but was a little concerned putting an unknown amount of tounge weight with the camper and the extended hitch. I know the correct extended hitch will not cut tounge weight capabilities. Impossible to buy the car hauler then try it and return if it doesn't work. Can't really get a bigger truck. Lance 992 should weight 3800, empty. Anybody have a guess what my tounge weight will be with bikes and jeep? Should I put jeep backwards to counter bike weight infriont of the axles? Think air bags are needed?

You might want this in the truck camper section...pretty sure some folks are already doing this. Depending on how folks open the forum for reading you may get more looks from somebody that can give you a good answer that way. Sounds like good way to travel, truck should be fine. I thought you lost rated tongue weight when you extended with a stinger, but maybe you found one that does not.

Just looked up weights of my truck. I'm not sure what gears I have, I will have to check as that changes the tow capabilities significantly, but not the payload. Assuming I have 4:10sPayload: 4720Max Trailer is 21000GCWR is 29,100

Twomed wrote:You might want this in the truck camper section...pretty sure some folks are already doing this. Depending on how folks open the forum for reading you may get more looks from somebody that can give you a good answer that way. Sounds like good way to travel, truck should be fine. I thought you lost rated tongue weight when you extended with a stinger, but maybe you found one that does not.Good call, thank you

Motorcycles and Tj wrangler on car hauler. | Good Sam Community

22 Replies

tinner12002
Explorer
Nov 23, 2016
Might even look at an alum flatbed trailer, not much more $ but somewhat lighter and more carrying capacity, still make sure you get a 10K rating.
Nwatkins176
Explorer
Nov 23, 2016
Bedlam wrote:
FYI: My enclosed 20' trailer with dual 5200 lb torsion axles is over 3000 lbs empty. You will find that a quality 10K lb trailer doesn't just have heavier axles, but also a heavier frame. If shopping for an enclosed trailer, make sure door opening height clears your Jeep (you may need to order a 7' or 8' high model).

Trailer is a big Tex, I still had the cheap Chinese Tires on it. Also I only had a four inch drop hitch at the time so the trailer was running high, all that could have been a contributor..

I have decided I am going with a 20ft open equipment trailer that has two 5080 lb axles. They are $3500 new so not too bad. I will have that behind an Arctic Fox 992 and use a super truss to clear the camper. I am not that concerned with an enclosed trailer. Most the time it will only have the jeep on it. Jeep is a 97 TJ for now. Thank you everybody.
Pattle
Explorer
Nov 22, 2016
I'm doing something similar. I have a 24' 10k trailer. Motorcycle goes in the front, and either the Jeep or Silverado goes behind it. With the Silvy, I have just enough room for the bike and truck. With the Jeep I have lots of spare room. I needed two sets of D rings on the trailer deck to handle both. Also, I maxed out the trailer width to 102" and have drive over fenders. The truck is a wide prerunner. :)

The tow rig is an F350 diesel dually with a Lance 992. I have the Supertruss extended hitch, along with air bags and StableLoads.

It was an expensive set up, but for me seemed the best way to haul the prerunner around and still have a place for the wife to nest, so I am happy and would do it again.
Bedlam
Moderator
Nov 21, 2016
FYI: My enclosed 20' trailer with dual 5200 lb torsion axles is over 3000 lbs empty. You will find that a quality 10K lb trailer doesn't just have heavier axles, but also a heavier frame. If shopping for an enclosed trailer, make sure door opening height clears your Jeep (you may need to order a 7' or 8' high model).
tinner12002
Explorer
Nov 21, 2016
Nwatkins176 wrote:
Moving the jeep back and fourth, how do I know when tounge weight is correct? Moving it around on the 16ft hardly makes a difference. Is that because the dually is empty and just the jeep and trailer is fairly a light load? Last summer we pulled the Jeep 2000 miles with it too far forward and I destroyed all four tires on the trailer. I don't want to test for correct tounge weight by going through trailer tires. Thank you

Its hard to think that a jeep loaded on a 16ft trailer would cause tire issues...I've pulled mini vans, jeeps and several different cars on a 16ft trailer with them pulled all the way to the front of the trailer and never had a tire or handling issue. With an average vehicle its pretty hard to mis-load a 16ft trailer. My guess is you might have been driving over the speed rating on the tires or they weren't in good shape to begin with. Now that's based on a factory built 16ft car trailer and not one someone built not knowing where to locate the axles. Based on the bikes you mentioned your going to be around 1250lbs for both of them. A jeep wrangler 4-door Unlimited is going to be in the 4100-4200lb range, 2 door being less weight so on a 7000K trailer your going to be near the max load rating of the trailer so you should look for a 20ft that rated at 10K. Weights were researched, rest just my opinion.
atwowheelguy
Explorer
Nov 21, 2016
Nwatkins176 wrote:
Moving the jeep back and fourth, how do I know when tounge weight is correct? Moving it around on the 16ft hardly makes a difference. Is that because the dually is empty and just the jeep and trailer is fairly a light load? Last summer we pulled the Jeep 2000 miles with it too far forward and I destroyed all four tires on the trailer. I don't want to test for correct tounge weight by going through trailer tires. Thank you

Sherline trailer tongue weight scale.
http://sherline.com/product/sherline-trailer-tongue-weight-scale/
Nwatkins176
Explorer
Nov 21, 2016
Moving the jeep back and fourth, how do I know when tounge weight is correct? Moving it around on the 16ft hardly makes a difference. Is that because the dually is empty and just the jeep and trailer is fairly a light load? Last summer we pulled the Jeep 2000 miles with it too far forward and I destroyed all four tires on the trailer. I don't want to test for correct tounge weight by going through trailer tires. Thank you
Nwatkins176
Explorer
Nov 21, 2016
These are all great thoughts, that's why I came here. Thank you
mrekim
Explorer
Nov 20, 2016
I would go 16" wheels on the trailer and 12" brakes. With the 16" wheels you have more high quality tire options and the 12" brakes will stop much better.

I agree that a 16 foot deck won't work with the jeep. You will also need some room to dial in the weight distribution on the trailer. With the bikes up front, you might need some wiggle room for the jeep to make sure you don't put too much weight on the tongue.

I wonder if you will also benefit from looking for some specific axle placement arrangement that will work better with your intended load?
mikegt4
Explorer
Nov 20, 2016
While you are weighing your Jeep, weigh your bikes as well. 1100 lbs. total would mean 550 lbs. each. HD hasn't made a 550 lb. bike in a long time, I would guess more like 750-800 lbs. each.

As others have said, I would go with a 9900# trailer of a length long enough to allow for moving the vehicles around to achieve a proper tongue loading.