Towing question

[NVCowboy]

If my reading comprehension skills aren’t failing me at the moment we’re discussing a boat. It’s been decades since my family boated, but back in my day (ugh, I’m that guy now) boat trailers had surge brakes, taking brake controllers and weight distribution hitches out of the equation. I don’t know if technology has changed.

As far as your particular Bronco and towable, it’s gonna come down to frequency. Are you making the trek to the lake every weekend? Are you moving the boat from dry storage to a slip and back twice a year? Every weekend, you’ll probably want a cheap tow vehicle. Twice a year, and I’d bribe a buddy with a day on the lake and beer.

Also, if the whole package is out of whack you’ll know pretty quickly. I recently towed a buddy’s small 16’ toy hauler 10 miles from the point where his transmission shit the bed back to the nearest town. It had a WD hitch so tongue weight was a nonissue, but I was very happy to drop the trailer and get back under my 6x12 cargo conversion I built for the Bronco. It was wide, tall, and I couldn’t see very well. All I can really say was the seat of the pants experience was kinda crappy, and clearly the engine and transmission had nothing to do with it.

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[Maineah]

Since some might still be watching this post, I'll put my tow question instead of starting yet another new thread. Looking into buying a used camper with a dry weight of 3400lbs & hitch weight of 406lbs. I have a black diamond 2.3 with factory hitch.

I would like to use for long weekend trips estimating travel time of roughly 2-4 hours each way. I would prefer to camp at non-campsites so anticipate needing to haul with water, grey/black water for at least a portion of each trip. Would also need to have all other camping necessities, kids, dogs, food, etc. in the Bronco or camper...

Is that pushing everything too far?

 

[DriveAllNight]

Since some might still be watching this post, I'll put my tow question instead of starting yet another new thread. Looking into buying a used camper with a dry weight of 3400lbs & hitch weight of 406lbs. I have a black diamond 2.3 with factory hitch.

I would like to use for long weekend trips estimating travel time of roughly 2-4 hours each way. I would prefer to camp at non-campsites so anticipate needing to haul with water, grey/black water for at least a portion of each trip. Would also need to have all other camping necessities, kids, dogs, food, etc. in the Bronco or camper...

Is that pushing everything too far?

You will be absolutely over the limits.
Can it be done safely - you will get different responses based on experience and use cases.

 

[Brian_B]

You will be absolutely over the limits.
Can it be done safely - you will get different responses based on experience and use cases.

Best answer right here.

 

[Clean68]

Through all responses and more research I have opted to go against towing over capacity, it gets way over capacity too fast. Renting a vehicle or borrowing a friends seems to be the best option than risking anything. I did tow a very full U-Haul trailer after posting and realized any heavier I would feel like I was in trouble.

 

[Fordified1]

Through all responses and more research I have opted to go against towing over capacity, it gets way over capacity too fast. Renting a vehicle or borrowing a friends seems to be the best option than risking anything. I did tow a very full U-Haul trailer after posting and realized any heavier I would feel like I was in trouble.

Smart man especially since you have your family in the vehicle and other families traveling along side you.
I almost lost control of an overloaded U-haul trailer once. Usually sway gets started going down hill and it’s almost better to power out of it but since you’re already headed down hill that’s impossible, and braking makes it worse.

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