Need advice - towing on the ALCAN highway

[okieinalaska]

I am moving from Alaska back to Oklahoma to be close to my family in a few months. The short sad story is my husband of 20 years passed away unexpectedly in 2011. I love it here but my kids need to be near family and it's time to go.

I have a 17 foot enclosed trailer I am loading up with the last of our belongings. (My kids are flying down) A friend is going to be flying up to help me drive it home but due to time constraints I need to get it all packed and ready to tow before he gets here.

He had me get a Prodigy brake controller for my truck but doesn't know anything about weight distributing hitches. I called around and the only brand i have found for sale so far is a Husky rated (I think) 8,000-12,000 lbs. Sway control kit is extra $.

A second issue is my dad and I are looking into buying a used 2004 Jayco Jayflight 27BH in OK and the kids and i will be staying in it temporarily as well as camping and taking trips before school starts. It's in great condition and I think a good price $6,500.

I have towed a trailer before but it was a 1957 Shasta (just sold it last week) and was only 12 feet long so this will be a different experience for me. 🙂

BTW, I don't know if there is a scale nearby, I am near Anchorage.

Tow Vehichle:
2005 Chevy Silverado Crew Cab LS K1500 4x4, V8, 4.8L, rear axle ratio 4.10, HD Towing package, locking differential rear axle
7,000 GVW
Owners manual says Max tow amount is 8,400 and GCWR is 14,000
Truck has a cap on the back so I imagine that adds to the 7,000 gvw.


Enclosed trailer:
Eagle brand by Jenkins
18 foot v nose
GVWR 7,000 (I don't have an empty weight and it's already 1/2 packed)


This will be waiting for me in OK:
Jayco Jayflight 2004 27bh
29 feet long, empty weight 5,000 lbs, GVWR 7,500

It looks to me like I will be ok for both trailers? On the Jayco I will have to be careful not to go over the GCWR. I would like to get a weight distributing hitch that I can use for both trailers that would be easy to switch back and forth as needed.

I saw that many people recommend Equalize and Reese but I haven' been able to find those here. Also the one trailer place is booked up till end of July with work and wouldn't be able to attach it. (there is another place I could go but I'm not to keen on them) The guy I talked to said it was easy and I could put it together and adjust it then bring it back in and they would tighten the bolts. I would have to drill holes in the frame though to attach it. Is this something I could do? I am very handy with tools it just scares me to have to drill holes in the frame. I haven't called 6 Robblees yet, they may have the other brand of hitches.

Anything else I should be aware of? First order of business is to get to OK in one piece. Second is to be able to tow the Jayco once I get there. 🙂

Thank you for any advice you can give.
Happy Tuesday, 🙂
Amy

[Turtle_n_Peeps]

okieinalaska wrote:
Just wanted to give an update, I made it to Oklahoma safe and sound. It took us five long days of 15 hour driving. We had a few issues, my trailer brakes were not working 100% and we tried to get them fixed twice and I highly recommend fireweed RV in whitehorse they were great. Also we broke a leaf spring in casper Wyoming. Luckily it broke there in town and not in the AlCan. We replaced both back ones. It turns out they both had already broke off one of the springs each side before I bought it but I didn't see it. The one that broke on me was the big long one on driver side. We found a guy who was able to replace both springs and get parts in two hours.

The equalizer hitch I bought worked great and we had no sway at all and were in windy conditions at times. Truck and trailer did pretty good under some grueling conditions.

Glad you made it safe and sound. I was going to suggest you buy a spring and set of bearings before you leave but I was to late to post on this thread.

PS, sorry for your loss. Better times ahead for you I'm sure. Good luck! 🙂

[okieinalaska]

Just wanted to give an update, I made it to Oklahoma safe and sound. It took us five long days of 15 hour driving. We had a few issues, my trailer brakes were not working 100% and we tried to get them fixed twice and I highly recommend fireweed RV in whitehorse they were great. Also we broke a leaf spring in casper Wyoming. Luckily it broke there in town and not in the AlCan. We replaced both back ones. It turns out they both had already broke off one of the springs each side before I bought it but I didn't see it. The one that broke on me was the big long one on driver side. We found a guy who was able to replace both springs and get parts in two hours.

The equalizer hitch I bought worked great and we had no sway at all and were in windy conditions at times. Truck and trailer did pretty good under some grueling conditions.

[Grit_dog]

okieinalaska wrote:
I have e rated tires on my truck and d trailer tires on the vnose trailer.

Perfect!
As long as you're still prepared for a flat tire potentially you have a good combo on the truck and trailer. Note, it's real easy to jack up a tandem axle trailer by having some blocks to drive or back the good tire onto, raising the trailer, to change a tire. No jack needed.
Regarding loading the trailer. I'd suggest, get whatever suspension enhancements you plan on installed and then keep the trailer hooked to the truck while loading.
Take a "pre loaded" bumper height or wheel well height on the truck. Then use that as a guage to see how much tongue weight youre putting in hte trailer by the amount of sag.
Nothing worse than getting a trailer all loaded up with 1000 different items and then find out that you're way over on tongue weight!

[okieinalaska]

I have e rated tires on my truck and d trailer tires on the vnose trailer.

[Grit_dog]

It's no sagging now but it will. Have yet to see a 1/2 ton truck that could hold up a 16-18' cargo trailer loaded.
Be wary of weight dist when loading your goods. You need some tongue weight but too much weight fwd or aft is a bad scenario for towing.
Personally I'd just beef up the back of the truck and call it good but a WD hitch will be better.
Good D or E tires on the truck is needed. Trailer tires should not be maxed out either and less then 5 yrs old. Trailer brakes are a necessity too.
Just drove the Alcan twice inthe last 2 months. Pulling trailers both times.
Maybe got lucky but with good tires rated for more than I was hauling I had zero flats. Knock on wood!
A co worker made the trip but he was loaded down looked like over gvw of the trailer. He had 3 blowouts on the trailer.
Don't forget to inspect, grease the the trailer axle bearings too.

[okieinalaska]

Thank you Marty,I do have a very experienced friend helping me drive down. But he lives out of state and can't be here to help me prepare and he has never used or installed a wdh. Even without it I know he could get me there though. I just want to be the best prepared I can be.

[blt2ski]

pitch wrote:
I will probably draw a lot of criticism with these comments, but so be it.
Seems to me that you are in a do what you gotta do scenario. Go ahead and get the curt wdh. It is not one of the expensive models but it will function just fine. Get an added antisway device. If your truck does not already have them put on LT tires.
You will almost certainly exceed one or more parameters,but as long as they are not grossly exceeded you should be ok.
Just don't make it a race, operate sensibly and you should be ok

I agree with this. Yes it the combo will make it to OK just fine. Max the trailer Should weigh is around 8000 if the axels are maxed along with additional HW. As noted, many times cargo trailers tow better than RV trailers, as they are lower to the ground, less wind resistance etc.

Enjoy the trip south, not that from circumstances, sounds like it is not a fun reason to go south. I am sure the kids would/might have enjoyed the trip south, depending upon ages........

If pulling steeper hills, and you can not hold a gear, shift down, then if you can hit max rpm in the lower gear, DO NOT do that, slow to about 3/4 of max rpm and enjoy the drive up the hill, this will be better on you and the drive train.

Marty

[okieinalaska]

Thank you pitch, after researching it more I can order an equalizer hitch which I like much better so I think I am gonna do it. It it's more expensive but looks like a much better hitch and no drilling required. I am wiling to spend the extra $. In looking at the Web site it sounds like tongue weight is the most important number, I don't think the 1000 one will be enough so thinking about ordering the 1200. Any thoughts? For sure the Jayco with the water and gas (I figured at 400lbs just for that plus the 650) will. Worried about the hitch being the wrong size though and don't want to go over..

[pitch]

I will probably draw a lot of criticism with these comments, but so be it.
Seems to me that you are in a do what you gotta do scenario. Go ahead and get the curt wdh. It is not one of the expensive models but it will function just fine. Get an added antisway device. If your truck does not already have them put on LT tires.
You will almost certainly exceed one or more parameters,but as long as they are not grossly exceeded you should be ok.
Just don't make it a race, operate sensibly and you should be ok

[okieinalaska]

Sorry it was a long post. To clarify: there is no sagging yet, I don't even have the wd hitch yet. Also the trailer here is an enclosed utility trailer that will hold all my worldly goods and it will hold them in OK till I get a house there. The Jayco travel trailer there is to live in and camp in. 🙂

I will keep the utility trailer when I get there after I get my own place because my brother or myself will use it for hauling four wheelers or whatever. Or my Dad will use it.

[The_Texan]

Dave, she does not have 2 RV trailers, one is a cargo trailer to move her from AK to OK......The other is a RV that is in OK now.

[Dave_H_M]

Okie

I should go over your post again but guess I am lazy tonight.

Is there a reason you need two campers in the lower 48.

When I left AK eons ago I sold the camper up there in a heart beat compared to pfarting around with price haggling I have gone thru here.

:h guess I don't quite get the scenario.

[time2roll]

okieinalaska wrote:
One more question, another friend suggested I beef up my rear end, I informed him I do that everyday but he told me he meant my truck. He suggested I add additional leaf springs. Is that necessary with a wdh? A good idea in addition to?

Thanks,

Unnessary IMO. If the rear is sagging I believe you need to adjust the hitch.

[The_Texan]

Not if it came with the HD towing package.

Yes the tongue weight will deduct from your load capacity and with only 1200#± you will be short on weight capacity for other stuff. Get it weighed as you normally drive it, with full fuel and 2 passengers and then you know just what you do have for load capacity.