Towing THIS with just a 2 5/16 Ball!! Crazy.

[Casslaw]

I was filling up my truck at the local Racetrack and had to pull next to this to check it out! 2015 36’ Yellowfin with trip 300 Yammys. I spoke to the guy for a few minutes as the boat was beautiful! He said total weight is right at 15,000 lbs and it holds 500 gallons of fuel!

Then I looked at the tow vehicle. Single tire 2500 series Duramax GMC...no airbags, no helper springs and a class 5 hitch and ball, that was it. He tows this behemoth the same way I tow my bass boat! He said he tows it at 70 and gets 8.5-9mpg. No sway bars on the trailer, literally a ball and 2 safety chains!

So the next next time you worry about towing a bass boat with a 1/2 ton truck...remember this. I thought it was crazy and not safe but I showed my neighbor and he said “Ehh, it’s gotta be insured, I wouldn’t drive behind him though”.

Am am I wrong or should a boat of this size have SOME kind of safety equipment other than electric brakes??

[Nova Kaw 650]

Is it within the rating of the truck?
The truck doesn't look like it's sitting particularly low in the pic, so no airbags or helpers needed.
It's got a class 5 hitch, so he's good to go.

[Casslaw]

The truck was sitting very level! Even with a triple axle trailer I figured the tongue weight on that rig has to be huge! I see trailers, campers, boats swaying a lot on the interstate and I’ve looked up the stabilization systems for trailers. I guess my thing is, since the boat weighs close to 8000 pounds more than the truck how would you recover if it starts swaying from wind, being passed by a semi, etc?

I will never have the luxury of pulling a boat that size so the simplicity really shocked me.

[Fishysam]

Tandems don't want to sway compared to singles, trips is probably better and they have a 5'+ footprint, pretty easy to balance the load

[bill.s]

That's 900 HP and probably 1 MPG. Go to NY where the gas is over $4 per gallon and that's a lot on the credit card!!!!!!!!!!!

[BigDozer66]

The truck was sitting very level! Even with a triple axle trailer I figured the tongue weight on that rig has to be huge! I see trailers, campers, boats swaying a lot on the interstate and I’ve looked up the stabilization systems for trailers. I guess my thing is, since the boat weighs close to 8000 pounds more than the truck how would you recover if it starts swaying from wind, being passed by a semi, etc?

I will never have the luxury of pulling a boat that size so the simplicity really shocked me.

Tongue weights on boats are very low compared to Travel Trailers which run from 10-15% of trailer weigh with 13% being the target zone.

Isn't the 3/4 D-Max trucks normally rated to pull like 22-24K where the 1T's go up to 34'ish with the right trailer?

Of course the 22-24K rating would be with a Gooseneck or 5th wheel so (without checking) that would out the bumper pull ratings shy of 18K maybe.

[BigSexyPhoenix]

Pulling that with a 3/4 ton diesel is no different than everyone on here that says they pull 10,000 lbs with their EcoBoost 1/2 ton. The guy probably needs a dually but you aren't going to convince people when they have the wrong tool for the job.

[CJ1]

So ford and gm are just guessing when they rate their 1/2 tons at 13k? I thought my 2-5/16" hitch was rated at 25k but I just checked at it is actually 30k. But really what do the ratings ensure safety? No not at all. I would rather deal with someone who knows how to haul a load that is overloaded that someone who has never pulled a trailer before that buys a 40' fifth wheel and is running 80+ on the freeway! Some of these big diesel motorhomes scare the crap out of me the way they drive. Cj

[Joe4d]

Well looks like guy is fine,, however what gets me ar ethe ones who are very obviously overloaded,,, I mean bumpers near dragging... Cops do NOTHING,, yet will be quick to write a ticket for someone doing 50 in an a no reason created 45 zone.. Yet they ignore stuff that really does get people killed.

[Transom]

Looks OK to me. People think you need a full ton to pull stuff these days for some reason.

[CJ1]

Well looks like guy is fine,, however what gets me ar ethe ones who are very obviously overloaded,,, I mean bumpers near dragging... Cops do NOTHING,, yet will be quick to write a ticket for someone doing 50 in an a no reason created 45 zone.. Yet they ignore stuff that really does get people killed.

A lot of the police don't have a clue unfortunately, their job is hard enough dealing with all the crazy druggies out there. Don't know what the answer is other than education and experience. Cj

[Bass Junkie]

A lot of the police don't have a clue unfortunately, their job is hard enough dealing with all the crazy druggies out there. Don't know what the answer is other than education and experience. Cj

And what would be the probable cause for the stop? I stopped you because your bumper is riding too low? Police officers don't carry load scales anyway (maybe some highway patrol or others but not "cops" as it was stated) so how are they going to prove a person is overloaded? And if they did it would take some snapper head about 10 seconds to post up on Youtube about how they got illegally stopped because the officer couldn't prove how heavy their load was to begin with and about 10 more seconds for a bunch of people here to jump on the bandwagon. They are probably too busy writing tickets for 50 in a 45 anyhow .

[pops slowdog]

IF the 15,000 lbs “total weight” is truly the total weight of the rig, that is within the ratings for my 2015 GMC 3500HD single rear wheel Crew, Cab. Also, my ballmoumt and 2 5/16” hitch ball is rated at 16,000 lbs with a Sheer rating on the ball of 30,000 lbs. The truck has a built-in sway control system with the hill descent and elec braking system.

Not sure but think the 2015 3/4 HD’s were rated a couple thou less, but the newer heavy duty diesel trucks are probably rated higher all round with the BIG HP and torque increases in 2018 for GM.

[Casslaw]

So...I stand corrected! It wasn’t the weight that caught me off guard as much as it was towing stability. I see guys with bass boats that think they need a 3/4 or 1 ton truck to pull it and when I had my bay boat every 1/2 ton truck with a 24’ bay boat had stabilizers linked to the trailer for swaying while in the interstate.

Im sure the triple axle trailer helps a ton with the sway. Being in Florida I see people tow large things with tiny trucks!

[Jason280_2]

It's truly impressive what newer trucks can handle, especially when properly loaded. We've towed close to 20k lbs several times with a '14 Dodge 2500 6.7 Cummins and a triple axle trailer, and it had absolutely no trouble with the load. In fact, you had to really watch the speedometer as getting over 60 mph was no problem with the truck.

[mudduck]

I'm sure the truck pulls it fine ,but what's going to happen when he needs to stop fast.

[fishnfireman]

I'm sure the truck pulls it fine ,but what's going to happen when he needs to stop fast.

Depends a whole lot on how good the trailer brakes are.

[martyd]

He's got the right Truck..

[Bassin Billy]

All I see is $$$$

[stratos200xl]

Actually he is illegal due to towing capacity with the hitch. The full towing capacity can NOT be used unless he uses a hitch stabilizer of some sort. If you look in the manual then you are likely to find the conventional towing is around 10k without a stabailizer. However we all do this all the time with most not knowing any better. The trucks have absolutely no problem pulling these loads and I have pulled 17-20k numerous occasions with my 2016 and 2017 f350 SRW trucks. Is it dangerous? Not to me. I have watched f350s pull d5 dozers in the past....that was dangerous.