Alternative towing hitch

[papaloco]

There use to be a device that allowed you to tow a fifth wheel trailer with a receiver hitch. It had an axle with 2 tires to support the trailer and connect to the pulling trucks class 5 hitch. Is it still made? Any info would be helpful.

[Bipeflier]

A local drag racer uses one behind his class A to pull his huge race trailer. It pulls fine, he is known to run 75 to 80 MPH at times on the interstate. As it has a "steerable" axle, it follows the MH perfectly and it can be backed up with ease.

His is not a 5th wheel but the principle is just the same.

[LIKE2BUILD]

Bedlam wrote:
These dollies were more common when people used to tow with sedans:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464/slimp-dolly-44260.html

Yep. When trailers started getting bigger but ma and paw still had the 'ole '55 in the driveway they needed something to keep the bumper off the ground. The WD hitch wasn't yet on the market so these tongue dollies were the way to make it happen.

[Bedlam]

The dollies are typically pinned in two or three places to the vehicle and do not swivel relative to the tow vehicle, but they swing left or right in a turn requiring the dolly axle to pivot. Because of this pivot, most use some type of spring or dampener to keep the axle tracking true.

I have looked at these dollies a number of times and just cannot get over the price even though the engineering is sound. It would make a good companion to many truck camper combinations where vehicle payload is already used up but you still want to tow something.

These dollies were more common when people used to tow with sedans:

http://www.airforums.com/forums/f464/slimp-dolly-44260.html

[fj12ryder]

carringb wrote:

fj12ryder wrote:
Wonder if that would fall under the heading of a double tow?

No. Converter dollies don't count as a trailer. Otherwise you'd have to call double semi-trailers triple towing, and triple-trailer semis quintuple towing.

PS - I saw a Freightliner M2 4x4 pickup driving through downtown Portland with an Automated Safety hitch. The bedsides on that thing are about 6-feet high, so using one of those is the only way possible to tow a fifth wheel with one of those rigs.

There's a considerable pile of rules and regulations that apply to commercial rigs that don't apply to civil vehicles. I have read that if the truck didn't come with it from the factory, then it is a trailer. Just what I read at some point. But it varies from state to state.

[mkirsch]

The hitch does not pivot with respect to the tow vehicle. At least not the ones I am familiar with.

[carringb]

fj12ryder wrote:
Wonder if that would fall under the heading of a double tow?

No. Converter dollies don't count as a trailer. Otherwise you'd have to call double semi-trailers triple towing, and triple-trailer semis quintuple towing.

PS - I saw a Freightliner M2 4x4 pickup driving through downtown Portland with an Automated Safety hitch. The bedsides on that thing are about 6-feet high, so using one of those is the only way possible to tow a fifth wheel with one of those rigs.

[fj12ryder]

Wonder if that would fall under the heading of a double tow?

[4x4ord]

drsteve wrote:
I wonder how much tongue weight this rig puts on the truck, and how stable it tows.

It looks like it won't put much tongue weight on the tow vehicle wihch is half the goal of the thing. I'm quite certain that a large fifth wheel would tow nicer from a bed mounted fifth wheel hitch than it would on one of these dollies, however, I believe that part of the reason a fifth wheel tows better than a TT is the better weight distribution that a fiver processes. I think I'd rather tow a heavy fiver using one of these dollies than a similar size TT on a tag hitch.

[Walaby]

yeah.. good points thinking about it more.

Mike

[drsteve]

I wonder how much tongue weight this rig puts on the truck, and how stable it tows.

[LIKE2BUILD]

mowermech wrote:

Not everybody has or wants a truck. What if you have a 3/4 ton Suburban, and find a smokin' good deal on a fifth wheel?
How about a one ton van?
With one of these dollys, no problem. SUV or van can tow a fiver!

Right, I was going to mention that too. Let's say you have 3 kids and they want to bring friends on a camping trip to fill that bunkhouse 5er. You could drive 2 cars, or use the dolly and a 1-ton van to pull the 5er and haul all the passengers.

[mowermech]

Walaby wrote:
I guess one would have to ask... Why???

Mike

Not everybody has or wants a truck. What if you have a 3/4 ton Suburban, and find a smokin' good deal on a fifth wheel?
How about a one ton van?
With one of these dollys, no problem. SUV or van can tow a fiver!

[LIKE2BUILD]

Walaby wrote:
I guess one would have to ask... Why???

Mike

The main rationale is there are a lot of vehicles produced that have the power to tow loads that are pretty high, but when you put the tongue/pin weight on the TV you run out of GVWR.

Case in point, my truck as a GVWR of 10,000lbs, but a GCWR of 25,000lbs. Unloaded the truck weighs about 7.500lbs which means I could technically pull a trailer weighing 17,500lbs. If you go by the standard 25% pin weight on a 5th wheel, that would be a little over 4,300 lbs on the bed of the truck.....which I don't have capacity to hold. So, if I were to use a dolly system, I could have the bigger 5th wheel, stay in the weight ratings of my truck, and have the bed free and clear for bikes, gear, etc.

I'm not sure I would like using the system, but it seems like a decent option depending on your needs.

[Me_Again]

I saw a Reese one years ago. Guy had a Ford flatbed with two side saddle quads and a fairly large 5th wheel trailer. He liked it however stated he did not have a spare tire for the dollie.