[weambulance]

(04-19-2017 11:26 AM)heavy Wrote:  

I bought a truck for a side business, 2005 Chevy 3500. I want to get an inch or two more on the hitch for the trailer.

Does this require lifting it or leveling? I'll end up asking a buddy, just haven't had the convo yet. And I know one of you hicks will have all the answers.

How heavy is your trailer, first of all? You may want a weight distributing hitch. Or to skip the rear hitch entirely and go to a fifth wheel / gooseneck.

And no, you shouldn't screw with your suspension. They make lots of different height hitch mounts including adjustable mounts. You want your trailer to be slightly nose down toward the truck.

It just occurred to me to ask... you're not talking about one of those shitty-ass bumper mounted balls, are you?

[heavy]

Sheesh, thanks for nothin fellas

[Laner]

I just bought a 2005 Chevy Suburban.

Threw the family in there, all our ski gear and a whole bunch of other shit we didn't need and took off for 4 days.

I have never owned a suburban or SUV. But I think I am hooked. My family has all sorts of GM and Chevy trucks over the years, so I have a lot of love for the utility of them.

But I can seat 8 with room in the back still for luggage. Everything stays dry and secure. It will be my "work" truck and I will keep it at the farm as I live in downtown Vancouver in a condo. I use "" because it will also be the family road tripper and camping machine. Push button 4wd is amazing on the Chevs and will get me down some nasty back country roads and into some sweet spots for camping.

Again, the dry factor is huge for me. I live in fucking Vancouver.

[heavy]

(04-19-2017 01:33 PM)weambulance Wrote:  

(04-19-2017 11:26 AM)heavy Wrote:  

I bought a truck for a side business, 2005 Chevy 3500. I want to get an inch or two more on the hitch for the trailer.

Does this require lifting it or leveling? I'll end up asking a buddy, just haven't had the convo yet. And I know one of you hicks will have all the answers.

How heavy is your trailer, first of all? You may want a weight distributing hitch. Or to skip the rear hitch entirely and go to a fifth wheel / gooseneck.

And no, you shouldn't screw with your suspension. They make lots of different height hitch mounts including adjustable mounts. You want your trailer to be slightly nose down toward the truck.

It just occurred to me to ask... you're not talking about one of those shitty-ass bumper mounted balls, are you?

Thanks weambulance

Hookup is a donut on a pintle hitch. I'd estimate the total weight around 6,000 - 6,500 pounds.

I had a car guy who knows his stuff (I've seen him work) tell me I could just lift 1.5" with a couple blocks and be fine.

When loaded, the weight will sit slightly forward on the double axle trailer.

[weambulance]

No problem.

Lifting a truck is never a good idea if you're going to tow with it. It changes the geometry significantly unless it's a very sophisticated lift (certainly not just blocks), which reduces towing capacity and stability, as well as general longevity of the vehicle. So I strongly recommend against doing some kind of lift, or much of any other kind of "enhancement" like that. These pintle / lunette ring arrangements aren't rock solid in the best of conditions, seeing how they're made to accommodate rough terrain and have a lot of slop. They're not unsafe in general use but you're going to be stacking instability on instability if you lift the vehicle. That might matter if you're in high winds on the highway or have to do a panic stop sometime.

You'll definitely want a brake controller and you might consider airbags for the rear leafs to level the truck for better stability, towing or not, when there's a heavy load over the rear axle. Those are real enhancements, as long as you don't abuse the airbags to carry more than your truck can handle.

Why can't you just get a new pintle hitch or adjust the one you have? The ones I worked with in mining and the military were like this, sort of, very easily adjustable with a couple wrenches:



If you adjust something like that, just make sure you torque it right.

I've done a fair bit of towing and I'm having a really hard time understanding what vehicle setup you could have that would make it easier, cheaper, and safer to modify the vehicle suspension instead of just adjusting the hitch setup. Is the hitch hook welded to the frame or something? Even then... I'd just grind that bitch off and do it right.

[Kona]

Can you alter the trailer at all?

A 95 3500 might need a bunch of other hooha if you lift it.

I have a lifted 2500. It tows like a dream. But its a factory lift, even though gm sends it somewhere. Just this morning I got stopped by a girl cop with a gopro on her tittes because I don't have a recondition permit. I had to go over the factory lift versus the non factory lift with her. She wanted my cock, and let me go. That's something for you to think of also. I don't know if they require recondition tags in your state though.

Aloha!

[roberto]

(04-19-2017 12:37 PM)AntiTrace Wrote:  

- Cutting/Hauling/Stacking firewood. Every summer for years.
- Moving motorcycles/dirtbikes around. Hitching up a trailer and moving my apartment in one trip.
- Being able to get under the vehicle and work on something without needing a jack and jack stands.
- Hauling plywood/2x4's/etc from the local hardware store to build stuff at my house.
- Impromptu random field keggers. Having to drive back and forth to pick people up whose cars can't make it to clearing.
- Parked off the runway of a small (but busy) local airfield. Dropped tailgate. Watched shooting starts and landing planes into the wee hours of the morning. Made out with my high school sweet heart.
- During storms/accidents, towing cars out of ditches.
- Having people rear end end me, getting a little annoyed that my hitch gets scratched, while their entire front end is caved in.
- Went camping with a bikini model I met. No tent, just some blankets/pillows in the bed of the truck. Bounced from camp-site to camp-site around this lake for 5 days. Not a care in the world. Just the summer heat, firewood, lots of booze, and zero condoms. Skinny dipped in the lake to clean ourselves up. It's a long lasting memory, banging her in 4 foot deep water while watching minnows swim around and nip at my feet. Should be a mastercard commercial.
- Road trips and rest stops. Sleeping in the bed, tying a hammock off to the hitch, 'discreetly' banging while knowing everyone can see the cab rocking back and forth.

Some of the best memories of my life were made possible by my truck.

Sure the gas mileage sucks (I get around 14 mpg), but the utility of a truck is unquestionable and I can survive accidents that would without doubt kill someone in a small sedan/sports car. By the way, if you are going to get a truck, make sure you get a bench seat. A nice center console can be useful but nothing tops a cute girl saddled up next to you in the bench seat as you cruise down old back country roads. It comes in handy for other things as well, giggity.

I don't get the truck hate some guys have, seems to me it's like a skinny guy talking shit about weightlifting.

Glad to see some love from my bros for pickups. I love my Ford Ranger- it pulls way better than my 3.5t tipper trucks, and like AntiTrace says, it comes in handy for EVERYTHING.

Re the trailer, I'll co-sign what weambulance said. I use these on all my trucks



We also got things like wire unrollers that mount to them for unrolling fencing wire. Handy bits of kit.

There's no point lifting your truck to get the trailer angle right. Next time you borrow a smaller trailer it's arse will be scraping the tarmac.

[RoastBeefCurtains4Me]

(06-03-2015 07:50 AM)TravelerKai Wrote:  

I'm gonna buy a cheap used F-150 with cash in a few months. Hopefully a 4x4 one for when I need to go hunting I won't have to worry about getting stuck in the middle of fucking nowhere and need a tow to get out of a muddy spot. I'm not selling my sports car so this will be vehicle number 2.

Are you still in China? I'd imagine F-150s are rare there.

[Lateapex]

Been eyeing the 2017 super dutys but I'll probably hold off until 2018 so they can work out some quirks since it's the first year of the new body style

[CaptainChardonnay]

TEAM CHEVY

[Leonard D Neubache]

You yanks are on a whole other level with your "trucks".

This is about as fancy as it get for me.



I can't honestly say I've ever seen a vehicle in Australia using anything other than a towball configuration.

[Tex Cruise]

As far as I know, only ball couplings and polyblock couplings like the one below are legal in Australia for anything except heavy vehicles.

Even my F-truck, which is set up for a 5th wheel (gooseneck horse float) just has a slightly bigger than usual ball coupling.

[Sidney Crosby]

I don't see how anyone couldn't like a truck, if you look at all the top end models they all have interiors that rival luxury cars and combine that with the ability to pretty much use it for everything. Anyone who wouldn't like that must be some faggot from Europe.

[Leonard D Neubache]

Having said that, the old towball is a pretty amazing system.

I once loaded an old Fergie on the back of a dual axle trailer and forgot to chock the back with blocks. Lifted the rear end of my car clean off the ground.

[BlackFriar]

1987 Ford Crown Vic wagon. Did everything a truck could do. I had one....pulled an old barn down with it. No joke..actually pulled a barn down with it.

[Laner]

(04-22-2017 10:35 AM)BlackFriar Wrote:  

1987 Ford Crown Vic wagon. Did everything a truck could do. I had one....pulled an old barn down with it. No joke..actually pulled a barn down with it.

Those 351 motors were great.

First engine I ever blew was a Windsor.

[BlackFriar]

@laner, it was unfourtunately a 5.0. But it had limited slip differential in the rear end. I put polyurethane airbags in the rear coils spings and a class III tow hitch on it and knobby mud tires in the back.

[Ski pro]

I just drove down from my mountain house to my city appt and I was followed all the way down by some massive ford truck. Had ld80 or platinum or soemthing written on it. Double cab, absolutely enormous.

Anyway, ski pro drives a pretty quick 4wd bmw and had the dog in the back so didn't want to throw him about too much but I still know that road well and drive pretty fast. This massive truck kept it with me all the way and was holding tighter lines in the corners.

Impressive, I may have just seen my future ride.

[dirty_old]

Regarding the chevy 3500. For towing with that setup.. you probably have a 2" square receiver already, if not you can't be towing 6,000lb on the bumper, buy the 10,000lb receiver that bolts to the frame. THEN ..Just use a standard "DROP HITCH" as pictured (may be necessary to flip it upside down), so instead of lowering the hitch (pintle in your case) like you would on a lifted truck, you raise the tow point to get the weight loading right on your trailer.

you typically want about 20% of the trailer weight on the tongue. You can buy a weight distribution hitch if necessary.

As mentioned, lifting the truck for the purpose of towing is silly, and the truck will tow worse and probably worse mpg's when lifted. Not that you can't tow or it's unsafe to tow with a properly lifted truck, but it's just not worth doing for towing purposes.


A PINTLE hitch is fine (dump trucks use a pintle hitch to tow 26,000lb trailer) but for anything on road use you want to have the correct style of wiring connector, (ie not just the regular small 4 pin flat connector) and trailer brakes on the trailer. probably a trailer brake controller in the truck cab.

(04-19-2017 03:44 PM)weambulance Wrote:  

No problem.

Lifting a truck is never a good idea if you're going to tow with it. It changes the geometry significantly unless it's a very sophisticated lift (certainly not just blocks), which reduces towing capacity and stability, as well as general longevity of the vehicle. So I strongly recommend against doing some kind of lift, or much of any other kind of "enhancement" like that. These pintle / lunette ring arrangements aren't rock solid in the best of conditions, seeing how they're made to accommodate rough terrain and have a lot of slop. They're not unsafe in general use but you're going to be stacking instability on instability if you lift the vehicle. That might matter if you're in high winds on the highway or have to do a panic stop sometime.

You'll definitely want a brake controller and you might consider airbags for the rear leafs to level the truck for better stability, towing or not, when there's a heavy load over the rear axle. Those are real enhancements, as long as you don't abuse the airbags to carry more than your truck can handle.

Why can't you just get a new pintle hitch or adjust the one you have? The ones I worked with in mining and the military were like this, sort of, very easily adjustable with a couple wrenches:



If you adjust something like that, just make sure you torque it right.

I've done a fair bit of towing and I'm having a really hard time understanding what vehicle setup you could have that would make it easier, cheaper, and safer to modify the vehicle suspension instead of just adjusting the hitch setup. Is the hitch hook welded to the frame or something? Even then... I'd just grind that bitch off and do it right.

[dirty_old]

I do like trucks, but I cringed when I saw the first post on this thread, as personally I would never buy a new truck like that f150. I buy trucks for work and every day drivers.

The other thing I've got to add is ....it isn't a real truck unless it's a diesel. some of you guys might know what I'm talking about.

When I see someone driving a 1st generation cummins (89-93 dodge diesel) I can almost assume that person know's what's up. (Not saying girls would be into that truck, but who cares, drive whatever car you want to drive).

The trucks really haven't gotten any better in recent years, the key is to find a good older one with a history of maintenance, that hasn't been abused or hotrodded.

I really hate the lifted trucks, big wheels billowing black smoke is cool etc thing, all that shows is that you wasted money. fortunately the worst of that is limited to North America for the most part.

BUT all that said, it really is nice to get a 4 door truck. Once you've gone to a crew cab pickup, it can be hard to live with anything else. There are some decent options out there, in America. I personally would recommend 87-03 ford with the 7.3 / powerstroke, with crew cab and a flatbed. dodge and chevy/gmc diesels of around the same age range also can be a good buy. I guess if you live somewhere rust is a problem, either go to california to buy your truck, or you will have to live with something newer.

Some of those trucks (f250 f350 2500 3500) can get decent mpg's, 16-22 or so.

4 doors with plenty of room in the back seat.

So I understand why guys would buy a newer pickup, nice interior, 4 door..nice and plush, not so loud.... but just realize that the chances are you will have to spend big $ on repairs at some point, (so you might as well budget for half the car's value in repairs, over a few years) and with all the electronics & emissions crap you will only be able to take it to the dealer for service.

So if you need a 3/4 ton (2500) or larger...that older diesel crew cab is the ideal truck.. if you are actually using it to work. few guys really need a full size truck so a mini truck, probably an import makes more sense.

I have a soft spot for toyota pickups, and nissan as well. A small pickup like a ranger(mazda) or nissan 720 can be a good choice, especially an extended cab, 4x4.

Small diesel pickups are non-existant in america, but the rest of the world has some and they are tough little vehicles.

Would love to see a 30-40mpg small diesel truck sold in the USA but that's not likely to happen. In the early 1980's...Nissan, Toyota, VW, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Isuzu etc all sold diesel mini trucks in the USA that were capable of great mpg's.... so why is there nothing now?

I'm pretty sure a diesel tacoma / hilux pickup would be a good seller, and I have no idea why there isn't something like that sold in the states..

[Mikan]

I live on a farm, my truck is a tool. I have a nice car for transportation. This is not the case for most of my neighbors though.

Many of the good 'ol boys I live around have immaculate lifted American pickups they got ripped off by a dealership for. Nothing has ever been in the bed and never will. The winch and tow hitches have never been used. Hell, the Cadillac Escalade EXT is basically the apex of this trend. Many of them have actually bought the EXT when they get older. They are rural status sybols. Many of them have a 2nd truck for actual use.

I have a 20 year old Tacoma with over 300k miles. The bed is scraped down to the metal and the AC hasn't worked in years. Its hauled thousands of tons of just about everything: wood, hay, scrap metal, furnature, dead horses, live dogs and shirtless hillbillies. You could mount an AA gun in the back and it would fit right in in Iraq.

[Laner]

I have been measuring out a roof rack for the Suburban. The city boy in me hates throwing wood into the back of the SUV. Never thought about that before, but now it bugs me having slivers of wood stuck to the carpet and 3rd row seat backs like Velcro.

Any you rednecks build roof racks for trucks before? I am thinking:

Half the rack is for my Yakima box.
Other half for jackall, axe, shovel
Spare tire?
Big water jug/shower
Logs for firewood
Kids bike

Let me know if I am missing something.

This Suburban is awesome. Today it was pissing rain but we wanted to get some big bearings over to the other side of the farm without getting wet so we could press them. On a tarp, back of the suburban and off we go. I really cant stress enough how nice it is to keep things dry here in Vancouver.

[dirty_old]

laner, just go with standard (yakima, thule etc) bars and mounts, on a suburban you may want 3 or even 4 sets of bars instead of just 2 if you will be carrying both shorter and longer items. for the type of stuff it sounds like you will be carrying, an open top metal cage/basket/carrier like you bc folks might commonly see on delicas (about 6" tall sides) might be just the ticket

[UlteriorMotive]

I've always had a love for pickup trucks since renting one out in the US.

They aren't practical in London otherwise I'd deffinitely invest in one.

Jet Engine Pickup

[Araveug]

I do love me some trucks. I drive a ford f-150 for work and for recreation. I've had my personal truck for 6 years (2011 f-150 ecoboost) - zero problems and excellent performance. Sometimes you just gotta get your dobermann riding shotgun and gtfo of town.