BBQ BOY

Today i towed my 77' FJ55 to take it to someone to help work on it. Only about 3 hours away, but I do plan on towing it 5-6 hours away a few times a year to camp and trail ride with my Land Cruiser club.I used an older trailer my father had that he said he towed his old tractor and El Camino with and said it was fine. I found the COMPLETE opposite today. I only got about 10 miles down the interstate before I turned around to come home. I pulled over 2-3 times on the interstate(NOT fun) to adjust the load and nothing helped. It was soon squarely and swayed like crazy anytime a car or truck passed. No trailer brakes either. The scary trailer is the one with the sides.

I turned around because my father reminded me that he had another trailer he uses for his big tractor. It has electric brakes as well. After reading some info here lately, I think I made a mistake buying the F-150 and should have went with he 3/4 ton truck. It's very confusing with all of the info I have read, but the tractors trailer does have a WDH already. However, my father needs to find it. I plan to re-pack the bearings and install new tires.

Before I get into that expense, and in light of reading the minuscule payloads of these trucks, I am going to take the trailer to the weigh station to find out how much it weighs. It is a heavy duty trailer and custom built by an extremely trailer and hitch shop in the nation. It was built about 20+ years ago though, so it isn't pretty any more.

So, Please look at the pics and make suggestions on how to tie down he Cruiser better(suspension or axle tie downs) and if the trailer does come out to weigh 4,000lbs and the Cruiser weighs about 4,300lbs, I feel that I may need to look for a lighter trailer?

I am going to take the trailer to have the tongue weighed too. Funny thing is, the original trailer that scared me to death had my truck dragging a lot in the read, but this heavy trailer barely made the truck squat.
I am really hoping y'all tell me I don't need to spend another $2k-$4k on a good trailer. I have no where to keep the dang things. LOL.

Oh, and also, I was under the erosion that the 2015 could tow more, but after seeing some peoples post here of their 13' and 14' stickers, it looks like they can tow more than my 15'?

Storeman

On The older trailer your load was too far back
That is why you got the sway. Both trailers are too short for my taste . I like to have more room to adjust the load plus carry camping gear.
A 18 foot car hauler tows my 4000 pound Jeep
Perfect on the interstate . My trailer weighs 1800
Pounds . 3.7 V6 3.73
I would not tow without trailer brakes period.
Just my experience

BBQ BOY

Thanks for your reply. The trailer in the last pic is the trailer that didn't sway, but also weighs at least 2-3x's as much as your trailer. So is the last pic loaded too far back?

snobdds

Love the old pig. You on mud? I have a couple of old Toyotas myself that I love, but the Ecoboost made me go in a new direction on a new DD. There is not a better engine in a half ton...is that what you have?

Those old 2F's are heavy tractor engines in the LC. I would back the pig on the trailer to transfer that tongue weight to the rear of the trailer. Put on a distribution hitch, and if you want added assurance get one with sway control too. The truck will also manage sway for you...if the 7 pin plug is active from the trailer. That means the trailer must have breaks.

The truck will pull that load just fine. Just need to load it correctly and have the proper hitch set up. I would also make sure the trailer brakes were working...

snobdds

Oh yea, don't tie the truck down like that. Trying to make one strap wrap around the back axle is bush league. You should have 5 individual straps minimum. One at each corner of the trailer going to a tie off on the axle. Then one strap from the front of the trailer to the front diff tube. If you want a one in the rear going to the axle as well that fine, but not really needed. Best anchors are weld on D rings to the trailer.

Manuellabour247

If you load it on the green trailer again, try backing it on instead of driving it forward. It looks like you have too much weight forward of the tandem axles. I agree with snobbs on having tie-downs on all 4 corners vs one on each axle. The green trailer is not made for hauling cars. It looks like more of a utility style trailer where the older one looks like a car hauler. Look at where the tandem axles are compared to your rear tire in each picture. You can see how each one has the load at different points.

EDIT** It also appears that the green trailer has trailer house wheels and tires. Those could make a difference if not balance right. The only way to fix that is to replace the entire spindle and a new set of trailer wheels. Not really worth it if you ask me.

Storeman

The green trailer looks better but the high side are going to make it more difficult to strap down. You have a really nice truck
Go ahead and get you a 16 or 18 foot car hauler with brakes. These trailers are designed from the the start for transporting
They usually weigh in around 2200 . I don't doubt your dad got good service from these trailers but I doubt he was trying to do 75 on the interstate .

schmenke

Would having more weight towards the rear just induce more sway?

acadianbob

You are correct. You want more weight on the front. Approximately 15% of the total trailer weight loaded should be on the tongue.

That weight looks awfully high; high center of gravity; and poorly distributed. It looks like an accident waiting to happen. Trailer is too small. Rent one for the task and improve safety.

tsigwing

You need a WDH to pull that much weight, at least per the manufacturer of your truck.