Adding a rear hitch...

[nguyenbio]

I have a Grand Design 303rls towed by a 2015 F350 FX4 CCLB SRW. I am way under weight on all numbers and am wanting to add a rear hitch to the fiver to pull a utility trailer with my SXS on it. I will be under length and weight with double towing. I know the laws and regs since I am a LEO officer here.

My question is for those who have added the hitch. Experiences, problems, warning, successes, advice in terms of adding the hitch and towing concerns?

Thank you in advance for sharing!

[me2]

The welding shop should be able to talk you through if you need to beef up the frame.

Ironically, I've found that most welding shops are pretty poor at figuring out where structures need to be beefed up.

I put a hitch on the back of my 5er. If the hitch weight of the towed trailer is low, I don't think it affects the TV ride that much. I've never found it to be an issue.

I think towing doubles is fine for light trailers, less than 2,000 pounds. Once it gets above that, I worry that the 5er frame isn't up to the forces that a larger trailer could put on it.

Whatever you do, stay under the weight rating of your pin box and truck hitch.

If the second trailer is sufficiently heavy, you'll need to wire a brake feed for it.

I have towed small boats behind my 5er. You literally don't know they are back there. A backup camera on the back of the 5er is an excellent idea so you can actually see what is going on.

I'm typically over length, but nobody has stopped me or complained. I get lots of gawks though.

Not being able to back up is a huge pain, particularly when getting fuel.

If your 5er is long, you really have to watch how high and low the hitch on the back of it is going to be when going in and out of various places. It can make for very dramatic tilt angles on the 2nd trailer if the hitch to wheel distance is short.

[Winged_One]

nguyenbio wrote:
I have a Grand Design 303rls towed by a 2015 F350 FX4 CCLB SRW. I am way under weight on all numbers and am wanting to add a rear hitch to the fiver to pull a utility trailer with my SXS on it. I will be under length and weight with double towing. I know the laws and regs since I am a LEO officer here.

My question is for those who have added the hitch. Experiences, problems, warning, successes, advice in terms of adding the hitch and towing concerns?

Thank you in advance for sharing!

Pretty much all covered. I agree on getting a good welding shop that regularly works on trailers. That is what I did.

Is that a Honda SXS? They can be pretty heavy. Plan your hitch weight accordingly (go heavy). How heavy are you expecting it to be?

What frame is on your 5th? I-beam? Size?

The welding shop should be able to talk you through if you need to beef up the frame.

I also have a rear mounted camera. I got a wired one. I attached the camera to the rear ladder with rubber and zip ties so as to not permanently attach to the 5th. I can remove it when it goes into storage.

I don't have to deal with backing up issues, but I have seen one nasty jackknife while backing up. Watch your surroundings. Better to stop and look then getting yourself in a fix.

Good luck. We plan on visiting California in a couple years with our Swivel.

[j3ff9ack]

I tow my ATV trailer with 2 vehicles loaded behind my 5th. It works well - no sway or excessive bouncing, but the total weight of trailer and vehicles is less than 2500 lbs so my tongue weight is pretty low. I don't go over 65 even when I could just to give me some extra margin if I need to stop quickly.

The only issue I have had is turning sharp - the tongue of the ATV trailer is not long enough to avoid the front of the ATV trailer hitting the back of the 5th wheel when turning too sharp, and I have bent the ATV trailer angle iron and cut grooves in the back edges of the 5th on each side.

Of course, backing more than a few feet is not productive so you have to make sure you can drive through or give yourself enough room to unhook the small trailer if necessary.

Having the ability to take extra stuff (ATVs, boats, etc) without spending large bucks for a toy hauler is well worth the cost to get the hitch installed and the extra hassle of turning and backing up. I will do it if I ever change 5th wheels in the future.

[Tin_Pusher]

I got one of these so I could keep an eye on the 'Doo while towing. Not the best out there, but pretty good and pretty trouble free.

Cheaper now than when I bought.

[nguyenbio]

bpounds wrote:

majorgator wrote:

Let's rehash...
OP knows the regs...he's said it twice now.
No need to school him on the regs.
If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane.

Just because he is LEO does not mean much. For all we know he could be a cadet in Fontucky. And his second post, leads me to believe he does not know the regs as well as he thinks he does.

Unless of course he has the commercial class A with doubles endorsement. If he does, great, he can setup a sweet combination. If he doesn't, maybe we will have saved him from a sticky wicket down the road.

I am not here for your opinions on my occupation. I'd rather not participate in that. I did not ask if any of you could offer legal advice. I do see why our country is going down the drain with the lack of respect. I asked if any of this forum's members ever towed with a trailer behind their fifth wheel, since I have not. I am asking for personal experiences on
the stability of the towing.
In CA, for those that are wondering, towing double requires a commercial class A and a T endorsement for double towing. So for now, can we get back to the original post.

[JIMNLIN]

Good grief.
The LEO says he knows his regs so why lecture and all the needless blather about regs.

Agree with the custom fabricated hitch welded into the trailers main frame and cross members.
I've owned three 5th wheel trailers and had custom fabed hitch on all of them for double towing.
I wouldn't mess with a bolt on unit.

RV doubles (two trailers) around here are very common and have been since the late '60's when RV world developed and became popular.

Some big rig trailer repair shops can do this type of work. Check with them.

[bpounds]

majorgator wrote:

Let's rehash...
OP knows the regs...he's said it twice now.
No need to school him on the regs.
If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane.

Just because he is LEO does not mean much. For all we know he could be a cadet in Fontucky. And his second post, leads me to believe he does not know the regs as well as he thinks he does.

Unless of course he has the commercial class A with doubles endorsement. If he does, great, he can setup a sweet combination. If he doesn't, maybe we will have saved him from a sticky wicket down the road.

[bpounds]

nguyenbio wrote:
I have a Grand Design 303rls towed by a 2015 F350 FX4 CCLB SRW. I am way under weight on all numbers and am wanting to add a rear hitch to the fiver to pull a utility trailer with my SXS on it. I will be under length and weight with double towing. I know the laws and regs since I am a LEO officer here.

My question is for those who have added the hitch. Experiences, problems, warning, successes, advice in terms of adding the hitch and towing concerns?

Thank you in advance for sharing!

Since you are LEO, and your sig says you are in CA, then I have to assume you have a class A license with doubles endorsement, which as an LEO you know is required in CA.

Correct?

I would love to do exactly what you are planning to do. But not enough to go to the effort of earning that license.

[Bionic_Man]

Few things seem to get more negative posts on this site than towing tandem. People usually come out of the wood work telling you that you are a danger to society by doing this, an accident waiting to happen, and are quick to tell you laws from some on line souce (that is usually inaccurate), and that your insurance isn't going to cover you when you inevitably cause an accident.

My experience is that if you are set up correctly, and drive responsibly, and plan ahead, your trips will be trouble free.

As I stated earlier, I have been towing tandem for years (probably more than 15 now). I had a custom welder fabricate a hitch when I first bought my current 5er new 13 years ago. And the 5er before that had one as well.

Towing lighter weight trailers I don't even notice that it is back there. I have a 16' aluminum fishing boat, probably weighs around 2500 pounds (likely less). I can't see it back there, so a rear camera would be nice, but it isn't needed. The difficulties can be when you need to get fuel (why I have my aux tank), when you are going into a tight campground (when going to a lake, I drop the boat off at the boat ramp parking lot on the way in), or if you get into a situation when you need to back up (that can be big trouble).

Bigger trailers are a different story. I also have a ski boat. Old one weighed about 5500 pounds, new one is closer to 6500. With a lot of tongue weight, all the expansion joints in the highway, or any rough road, are amplified up to the truck. There will be a lot of chucking, and a ton of stress put on the trailer. I actually broke my hitch last year (not a catastrophic failure). This year I had the hitch and back of my RV beefed up to the tune of nearly $2000.

After all of that, I decided to take a 2nd vehicle when pulling the big boat. Still do the small boat without thinking about it.

You sound like you are considering a smaller trailer, which I don't think would be much problems. My take aways are as follows.

1. Spend money on they hitch with a quality fabricator. Not a bolt together job.
2. Consider adding an aux fuel tank or replace standard tank with a bigger tank in the truck if you are going off the interstates
3. Some sort of air ride will improve the ride in the truck. I added an TrailAir pin box. If I were starting over, I would do true air hitch in the back of the truck.
4. Always plan ahead, know where you are camping and fueling. I have seen people back up, but I have a hard time with it.
5. Rear view camera behind the 5er woudl be nice, but not necessacary.
6. Tandem axle utility trailer will tow much better a single axle

And, perhaps most importantly, ignore all the naysayers out there, and be safe and have a good time.

[Tin_Pusher]

Well, C.B. what a nice thing to say. Thanks 🙂

IIRC, paid about $400 to get mine built, included wiring.

[Bayley]

I had a custom hitch installed for $500.00 and never looked back.
I tow an ATV trailer hauling my 4 wheeler and the 5th wheel tows perfectly without issue. Yes backing could be a problem, but I simply plan my moves accordingly!
I doubt you will have any problems towing your trailer behind your 5'er.

[cmeade]

majorgator wrote:

cmeade wrote:

nguyenbio wrote:
I apologize for using the acronym LEO. Yes I am a law enforcement officer and know the laws and regulations. My question is about your personal experiences with towing doubles.

The warranty on my trailer has expired and I'm seriously thinking about adding the hitch. I would love to get a toyhauler but if I can avoid it, that would be great.

I recommend you talk to a CHP officer and not the ones in tan uniforms. The dark blue uniform working as a Mobile Road Enforcemen officer or MRE. Your length is one problem. The weight capacity of your kingpin is another. A CDL with T endorsement (double /triple trailer)(12804.9 CVC). Controlled Substance Alcohol Testing or CSAT 34520 CVC). BTW you can't get any endorsement on a non CDL so no double/triple trailer endorsement on non commercial A license. You will need to remove the R on your gear selector cuz backing up will be near impossible. JMHO.

Let's rehash...
OP knows the regs...he's said it twice now.
No need to school him on the regs.
If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane.

I apologize..Just seemed like if he can't get past the regs then he doesn't need info on the hitch. We all know if he gets stopped by a fellow LEO that he would never show his badge to get a free pass. Being in an accident would be another matter. Guess I read too much into this.

[majorgator]

cmeade wrote:

nguyenbio wrote:
I apologize for using the acronym LEO. Yes I am a law enforcement officer and know the laws and regulations. My question is about your personal experiences with towing doubles.

The warranty on my trailer has expired and I'm seriously thinking about adding the hitch. I would love to get a toyhauler but if I can avoid it, that would be great.

I recommend you talk to a CHP officer and not the ones in tan uniforms. The dark blue uniform working as a Mobile Road Enforcemen officer or MRE. Your length is one problem. The weight capacity of your kingpin is another. A CDL with T endorsement (double /triple trailer)(12804.9 CVC). Controlled Substance Alcohol Testing or CSAT 34520 CVC). BTW you can't get any endorsement on a non CDL so no double/triple trailer endorsement on non commercial A license. You will need to remove the R on your gear selector cuz backing up will be near impossible. JMHO.

Let's rehash...
OP knows the regs...he's said it twice now.
No need to school him on the regs.
If we couldn't laugh, we would all go insane.

[cmeade]

nguyenbio wrote:
I apologize for using the acronym LEO. Yes I am a law enforcement officer and know the laws and regulations. My question is about your personal experiences with towing doubles.

The warranty on my trailer has expired and I'm seriously thinking about adding the hitch. I would love to get a toyhauler but if I can avoid it, that would be great.

I recommend you talk to a CHP officer and not the ones in tan uniforms. The dark blue uniform working as a Mobile Road Enforcemen officer or MRE. Your length is one problem. The weight capacity of your kingpin is another. A CDL with T endorsement (double /triple trailer)(12804.9 CVC). Controlled Substance Alcohol Testing or CSAT 34520 CVC). BTW you can't get any endorsement on a non CDL so no double/triple trailer endorsement on non commercial A license. You will need to remove the R on your gear selector cuz backing up will be near impossible. JMHO.