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Can I tow a 6x12 enclosed trailer fully loaded with home goods for our move?

16K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  pdxfj 
I towed the 6x12 uhaul enclosed trailer fully loaded, plus bed and cab filled with mine ( pretty sure I was within manufacturer limits haha ) through the prairies up and over the Rockies last year, and down to the west coast last year, flat ground running was plenty good, plenty of power when dropping a gear or two, at the expensive of fuel burn though, climbing up into the Rockies was good, rocked along at speed limit most of the time, just gotta remeber that going into the valleys to keep the momentum up if there's a uphill on the other side, once you get used to the truck and trailer you'll forget it's back there for the most part, into the twisty valley river running it was plenty happy. Trailer brakes are a must with that much weight back there, uhaul uses surge brakes, which I found on the long downhills did their job good, for the most part, even on some of the longer steeper grades I was on gas more then the brake( when the cars ahead seemed to ride the brakes all the way down )as the surge brakes were slightly engaged due to the trailer pushing on the tongue. If you've ever seen the show "Highway through Hell" I got to experience that road, though thankfully not in winter, just the dark and the rain, the long long uphills, you'll feel the trailer, and won't be the fastest rig out there, but not the slowest either, again all depends on how much fuel you wish to burn, that V6 is plenty powerful when you stomp on it. The long twisty downhills will build momentum up, but I found the combination of trailer brakes and the truck brakes to be plenty good ( truck was less then 6 months old though ) enough to get it stopped if need be, but once you get used to the trailer you tend to automatically start leaving copious amounts of room for stopping. The one thing I will say is, beware of how the trailer is loaded, and what induces sway, gentle turns at speed on downhills are important. If you are buying the trailer I'd suggest going with electric brakes as you have more control, and can activate the trailer brakes independent of the truck to bring sway under control quicker and easier. ( I had the trailer sway once, due to a combination of excess speed, downhill, darkness, and an unplanned lane change to avoid a chunk of blown tire ) and it was pretty terrifying to be swung across three lanes like a rag-doll. With the uhaul trailers, don't take the attendents word it's safe to use. Inspect it super carefully yourself. The one i picked up ended up need major work before i could continue using. Noticed a weird vibration while driving, found 3/4 of the tires cupped on the inside, and then noticed one brake line just dangling, which had drained all brake fluid from the trailer. The shop then found a second brake line broken and 2 leaf springs cracked. It was shown to me later that near the hitch had a sight glass( which on this one was really hard to see into ) that you can check the fluid with, and I believe me, every gas stop after that I was checking that sight glass and everything else on the trailer pretty religiously.

Hope this helps ??
 
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