I cringe everytime I see a 1/2 ton pickup pulling a skid loader. All I can think is poor pickup.


The most important things to question yourself about when it comes to towing:

1. Can I stop this thing? Either with adequate trailer brakes or vehicle or both (should be both). Going down a steap grade with out brakes is something I haven't had to experience yet, and I don't want to. One of the reasons I want to add an exhaust brake to my pickup.

2. Can I handle the weight? Can my suspension handle the load, either from a nasty crosswind from throwing the tow vehicle around or from the weight pushing forward in an emergency braking situation.

3. Is my running gear up to the task? Least important will your vehicle survive the tow? Will my tranny get fried, (why I only buy manual transmissions), do I have enough power to pull the hills. Are my tires up to spec to support the additional weight and stress?


I have a 24' enclosed car trailer that is a bumper mount, with torsion bars. They do help alot. They control some of the side to side sway when passing semi's, or a bad crosswind, but they also work well to tranfer more of the trailer weight onto the tow vehicle by leveling things out. Properly set up it makes a world of difference. Still not as nice as a 5th wheel though, but 6000lbs doesn't really justify that in this case. Just my opinion but even a 1/2 ton pickup wouldn't be adequate for that trailer. Fully loaded that's pushing the limits harder than I like to. My next pickup will be a 1 ton, more than likely a dually.