Towing behind the TT

NOT legal in all states. Check the law. PS - legal here in CA.

I don't believe it's legal to double tow with a travel trailer (as opposed to a 5th wheel).

A few issues:
- With a 5th wheel, the trailer is slow to follow when you turn because the hitch is directly over the rear axle. With a TT, the hitch is behind the axle exaggerating the impact of a turn. The 2nd trailer is typically well behind the trailer axles so a quick turn could result in erratic forces (TT are already much more subject to sway issues and this could make it much worse).
- The weight of the 2nd trailer hitch will take weight off the main trailer hitch. With a 5th wheel, you typically start at 20-25% on the main hitch since the 5th wheel axles are around 2/3-3/4 of the way toward the back, the 2nd trailer hitch weight will only take off around 25-50% of the weight off the pin. With a TT, the hitch weight starts at a much more modest 10-12% and the axles are around 55-60% of the way to the back. The result is 70-80% of the 2nd trailer hitch weight is taken off the main TT hitch. The result is a 5th wheel has a lot more margin to take weight off the pin and still maintain a decent percentage of weight on the pin. A TT has a lot less margin to take weight off the ball.

With a very small 2nd trailer, lightly loaded, you may have gotten away with it but as that 2nd trailer gets larger and heavier, you could be creating issues.

It is legal to tow behind a TT in Calif, dont know about other States

The hitch is probably NOT for towing, but for a bicycle rack.

downtheroad wrote:
The hitch is probably NOT for towing, but for a bicycle rack.

I agree: I myself have a bicycle rack that slips into a two inch receiver. That is if it has a receiver instead of a ball hitch.

I would drop by a pro steel fab shop...... large shop that installs them and ask for their advise.

I wouldn't give anyone that type advice with out my seeing it in person how it was fabed and welded.

You can't put a lot of weight on that hitch no matter how well it's connected because it will unload the weight on the tongue.

samsontdog wrote:
It is legal to tow behind a TT in Calif, dont know about other States

You might want to check that, the information I have says no double towing behind a passenger vehicle. The hitch on his trailer was likely for a bike rack as was mentioned.

valhalla360 wrote:
I don't believe it's legal to double tow with a travel trailer (as opposed to a 5th wheel).

It is in Idaho, where the OP is. No restrictions on trailer types for this purpose.

^What Jim said... Have it checked out by a fab shop, for the hitch capacity.

Real capacity will be tongue weight most likely. You can't let the 2nd trailer tongue weight cause the primary trailer's tongue weight to become offloaded enough it becomes unstable. In other words, keep the primary trailer at 12% or more.

I have towed snowmobiles behind my TT throughout northern Idaho, and it was still a just as stable as towing the TT only. I will be installing a rear camera before I do this next time. The snowmobile trailer was completely invisible except when going around curves. I puta snow skirt on the rear of the TT (aka mist guard.... looks like long broom bristles) and that reduces snow buildup on the 2nd trailer.