Towing M1008 WITH M1009

[wallew]

With the medium military tow bar, and the help from Crash AF, we towed my M1028A2 about five miles from an auto parts store where it died (starter bolt fell out, go figure) to my house.

Given the distance and the fact it was city streets, Crash just lit up his yellow light bar and away we went.

I unlocked the steering and put the tranny in park with the transfer case in neutral, plus the front hubs were unlocked.

NOT ONLY did this work very well, given how short a distance it was and we never exceeded 35 mph, I feel confident you CAN do this.

BE VERY CAREFUL and perhaps the gods that look over drunks and small children will smile on you. He has smiled on me many times, some when I did NOT deserve to arrive alive. But I did.

You can do this. But this asks the question, don't you know ANYONE who has a trailer with brakes? Just sayin...

 

[2deuce]

I strongly advise against doing it, besides the insufficient braking available, you could very well find yourself in a situation (because the M1009 is short and lighter)where the M1008 is pushing you, in which you would have to speed up to stay in front, not a good feeling. A trailer with some tongue weight is better and more stable than a M1008 being flat towed. The M1008 will follow nicely but when your speed increases to a certain point depending on conditions the M1008 will try to take control and you may not know it before its too late.

 

[acmunro]

A trailer with some tongue weight is better and more stable than a M1008 being flat towed.

This is exactly right. The right amount of tongue weight when towing a trailer helps keep the rear of the tow vehicle planted. The towbar has nearly zero tongue weight - the vehicle being towed wants to go strait - if the tow vehicle turns the towed tries to push it around. The front of a M1008 is a lot heavier than the rear of a M1009. That's where you could go for a spin with a light weight short wheel base vehicle like the M1009. Did I towbar with my M1009 (a lighter K10 with a brake man inside for about 3 miles and really slow) YES - Should I have - NO.

 

[91W350]

Kansas has some strange towing laws. Regardles of what you are towing with, if the load is over 10,000 pounds, you have to have trailer brakes. Among others, here is the killer. You must be able to stop your combination within 40 feet at 20 mph.

I think a lot of us are missing the point here though. Take your empty M1009 out and do some braking tests. Try at 30 mph and just stomp the brakes, lock up the tires and see how it stops. Now try 35, 40, 45, 50 and you will find that they tend to dive move and are prone to tail coming around, empty. Now imagine that with the M-1008 pushing the tail. Go ahead and tell me you will not do that while towing. I know from experience that when that vehicle pulls out in front of you, you will be on the brakes for all they are worth.

Like I said previously, I would do it to get the truck home if I was out of options and it had to be done, but not at 55 or anything close to 55. Sure, if you are on a long stretch of highway in Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Texas.... where you might not see another car for 20 minutes.. I might run 55 in those conditions. I sure would not want to hit any Interstates or in traffic traffic at that speed.

I recruited my brother and his diesel F250 4x4 with a trailer and trailer brakes to haul mine home. We ran 65 with that rig. Glen

 

[kenny]

Kansas has some strange towing laws. Regardles of what you are towing with, if the load is over 10,000 pounds, you have to have trailer brakes. Among others, here is the killer. You must be able to stop your combination within 40 feet at 20 mph.

I think a lot of us are missing the point here though. Take your empty M1009 out and do some braking tests. Try at 30 mph and just stomp the brakes, lock up the tires and see how it stops. Now try 35, 40, 45, 50 and you will find that they tend to dive move and are prone to tail coming around, empty. Now imagine that with the M-1008 pushing the tail. Go ahead and tell me you will not do that while towing. I know from experience that when that vehicle pulls out in front of you, you will be on the brakes for all they are worth.

Like I said previously, I would do it to get the truck home if I was out of options and it had to be done, but not at 55 or anything close to 55. Sure, if you are on a long stretch of highway in Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Texas.... where you might not see another car for 20 minutes.. I might run 55 in those conditions. I sure would not want to hit any Interstates or in traffic traffic at that speed.

I recruited my brother and his diesel F250 4x4 with a trailer and trailer brakes to haul mine home. We ran 65 with that rig. Glen

I like your stop test because I tried it with my 1985 M1008 being pulled behind my 6100 pound 2003 2wd Chevy extended cab 2500hd with a 6.0 gas engine.
What happend the back of my truck almost lifted off the ground.
After I changed my pants I bought a 6 inch drop hitch and then when I hit the brake hard it lifted the 1008 and pushed down on my ass end of the 2003 truck instead of lifting it.

I would prefer and will use a trailer any day than ever use the tow bar to pull one again with the truck I have.

 

[saddamsnightmare]

January 14th, 2010..

Might I suggest, just for laughs and giggles, that our OP consider renting say a 20 or 27' U haul or other conventional moving truck with either a dolly or a auto trailer of sufficient length and capacity? That way the M1009 is off the ground and its weight is fully capable of being controlled by the towing vehicle, otherwise the chance of a bad outcome seems to overweigh any advatages from the original proposal. Without getting into peronality types, there are a lot of folks on here that seem willing to take chances with other person's lives, which is rather cavalier, considering the negative outcome potential on our hobby or business interests....

Just my for what it's worth.

Cheers,

Kyle F. McGrogan

 

[Bunkerbuilder]

Would I do it?

He11 no.

Follow this rule and you will be safe (pending nothing else is funky).

Do not tow a load that exceeds the weight or length of the towing vehicle.

In this case the M1008 is both heavier and longer than the M1009.

At the least use another M1008 or heavier truck.

I recall a thread where a M1008 was being towed on a trailer by a pick up truck (The truck on the trailer ended up upside down on the hwy behind the towing vehicle) would like to know the weights of both the towed (M1008 and Trailer) and towing vehicle in that case, I would be willing to bet that the load exceeded the truck towing it.

 

[91W350]

U-Haul and I am sure many others rent a nice car trailer with enertia braking. The tongue basically is set up to collapse a little and as it does, it engages a master cylinder for the trailer. I rented one to pull a 1970 SS Chevelle I bought in Pa (got screwed) home with a 4Runner. I had a traffic collison occur in front of me in Ohio and I was really glad I spent the petty few extra dollars for the trailer with the enertia braking. I think it saved me a lot of Toyota parts that day. There is a low dollar option that would be much better for this application, but it would require a hitch on the M1009 as well.

I had a 1977 2wd Blazer that I pulled a 2700 pound bass boat all over the central US with. No trailer brakes and it did super. Everything was close to the ground though, the weights were less and I had swapped in heavy stabilzer bars on the front and rear suspension. It also had a fuel injected 350 out of a Corvette for power. It was quick, did a super job, but was a much different vehicle than my M1009. That Blazer would stop straight locked up empty, I cannot say that for my M1009. The nose dives and the tail wants to come around on my M1009.

 

[91W350]

Would I do it?

He11 no.

Follow this rule and you will be safe (pending nothing else is funky).

Do not tow a load that exceeds the weight or length of the towing vehicle.

In this case the M1008 is both heavier and longer than the M1009.

At the least use another M1008 or heavier truck.

I recall a thread where a M1008 was being towed on a trailer by a pick up truck would like to know the weights of both the towed (M1008 and Trailer) and towing vehicle in that case, I would be willing to bet that the load exceeded the truck towing it.

Those guys with day cab tractor pulling 53' trailers 70mph all day long are in deep doo doo by that standard. So are the guys pulling 5th wheels behind their dually pickups.

My M1008 on my brother's trailer weighed more than his Extended cab F250 pickup. It was probably longer as well. That trailer had brakes though. Glen

 

[Bunkerbuilder]

The inherent responsibility of ones actions is also what I am considering when doing something like what is suggested in the OP.

To each his own I suppose.

Those guys with day cab tractor pulling 53' trailers 70mph all day long are in deep doo doo by that standard. So are the guys pulling 5th wheels behind their dually pickups.

My M1008 on my brother's trailer weighed more than his Extended cab F250 pickup. It was probably longer as well. That trailer had brakes though. Glen

 

[91W350]

When this guy gets loaded with gravel, his trailer is longer and heavier than his truck. I doubt there is anything about his rig that is not safe though. I disagree that length is necessarily a dominating factor. With the proper set up, you can safely pull a longer and heavier load than your truck.

Towing a M1008 on a tow bar behind a M1009 is not in that category. I would do it to get a broken M1008 home or even a short recovery. I would not be hitting the roads at 55 mph. I have been on the bad end of a load outweighing a short vehicle before and in the last 25 years I have investigated many traffic accidents where the load pushed the pulling vehicle.

It is a common sense thing to a point. Like a lot of things in life, you have to weigh the potential risks against the potential benefit and make a logical decision. I am not willing to risk taking another person's life or causing grevious bodily harm by over running my equipment. Glen

 

[4bogginchevys]

Let me take this opportunity to say: I'm not starting a pissin' contest....lol, with that in mind...

If that gravel trailer didn't have brakes on it's rear axles than an extreme amount of leverage would be applied to the tractor, this leverage could not be overcome by the tractor under any circumstances! I believe leverage is ultimately the only way to control a trailer/truck in tow. Wheel base IS leverage.

 

[wldrbob]

yes and those brakes always should come on first

 

[91W350]

I agree completely, I just disagreed with the blanket statement about length and weight. Equipment makes all the difference in the world. Glen

 

[Goose2448]

The truck I have is singles and towed a 29 foot 5th wheel and it weighed about 10,000 lbs. He never had any problems. My current truck weighes 4750 lbs empty. The other truck weight a bit more with the crew cab. And it was towed on a bed mounted 5th wheel hitch. But that trailer had brakes.