GT3 Nut

Is a GMC 2500 HD (Crew Cab Regular length bed) Diesel adequate for 40' Enclosed Gooseneck Featherlite? According to the GMC website the 2500HD Diesel can tow 14200lbs for a gooseneck/5th wheel trailer. If I had my RS and my Cup car along with tires/misc. it would be about 12000 - 12500lbs total based on an empty 5500lb trailer (the Featherlite dealer said the 40' I looked at weighed 5200lbs empty).
I know a 3500 Dually would be better, but I wanted to see if anyone has experience towing a big enclosed gooseneck with a 2500HD (non-dually).
I am not trying to get into a debate about the biggest tow vehicle being the best - I am a firm believer in that!

Professor Helmüt Tester

You'll need to know the 'pin weight' of the goose, loaded as you plan to, and see if it exceeds the rear axle load of the 2500. Don't forget to add about 500-1000lbs. of crap for each car, too. You know - "parts, tools, bottles, tires, stuff".

In my experience, trailer/RV salesmen are lying sacks of ****. I have hard time believing that an empty 40' goose weighs just 5200lbs...even a F-lite. Make him prove/guarantee it in the contract.

JWERION

I have a 38 ft goose and carry one car with lots of spares and tools etc and I started with a 3500 single wheel Dodge ram with a Diesel engine. It was just to un stable when loaded and I was more concerned about the trip to the track than I was about driving the race. So I purchased a new Dodge 3500 DRW and it is amazing how much more stable it is on the highway I have no concerns at 80 MPH.

jrgordonsenior

In my previous life I hauled horses from So Cal to Texas and back. Dually's spread the load and that is significant with a 40 ft. gooseneck. The heat generated from carrying that load will eventually eat up the single rear tires. There's a reason you see so many CC dually's in Texas....

GT3 Nut

All of what you guys have said is kind of what I figured, but glad to hear some real experiences too. Thanks.

Bill935K3

I ran my 40' ATC on a F-250 SRW crew-cab shortbed for a year. I added air bags to rear and had to run them at 75 PSI to get the truck reasonably level. Pulled and stopped fine, handled ok. It did melt off the rear tires at an alarming rate IE 30-35000 miles. Due to battery Golf/pit cart my percentage of front weight was higher than it should have been. My advice would be if you need to get by for a year OK you will be fine if you take it easy (you will need air bags figure parts and istall $1000) but long term you will be MUCH BETTER OFF with a duelly. Me new one is a Chevy 3500 plus cab 8' bed with Duramax. I love it. Also I run a Transfer Flow 30 gal aux tank. Makes for good fuel interval and convenence at 9-0-9.5 MPG if I keep the speeds down to 74-78,
Good luck

VB997

Matt,

Now I know you love the new cars! Congrats on the RS...I read a previous post where you were cutting back...I love it !!!

I have a loaded up early (clasic style) 2007 GMC 2500 HD Crew Cab (?? 4 door) w/ the Duramax/Allison trans...great truck and you are welcome to test drive it etc.

MJHanna

Measure the floor space in the trailer you'll be really tight for 2 cars. A 44 would be better.

Jarez Mifkin

Mine applies to a 28' tag, not a gooseneck...

I have a 28' enclosed tag that I haul my 73 911 in the back and a Gator in the front. I towed one trip two weeks ago with an 08 F-250 SD 4x4 and even with the weight distributing/load leveling hitch I was riding *** down, nose up(I do have a lot of tongue weight though with the 1300 # gator in the front) Anything over 73mph was scary. The 250 was traded on a F450 last saturday and after hooking it up it appears that all of my sagging issues have been fixed.

lowside67

Yeah I think that a 2500 might be a bit underwhelming for the job. No doubt it can pull it, but would you want to?

Jarez Mifkin

Agreed...it's all about stability.

GT3 Nut

Cutting back - I am always going back and forth on my decisions.
Anyway, I have a loaded 2005 GMC 2500HD Crew now. I don't drive it much - one of my guys drives it everyday. But since it is MINE and I already have it, thats why I asked how it would do. I am not ready right now to buy a 40-44 ft. Gooseneck and another truck.
For now I am going to get the Cup car down to VIR and rent one of the garages in the Raceplex so I can leave it there and just bring the RS when I feel like it.

M758

As other mentioned PIN WEIGHT is the limit.

2500 series trucks can to alot, but you can easily over load the bed on 5er or gooseneck. I have a 2500 dodge and its rated fro 13,500 towing, but when looking at 5er's with living quarters the issue was always pin load. The payload is just not what a 3500 series is. So while a 3500 may have a similar "tow" rating the payload is greater allowing for more pin load. DRW's also have greater payload over most SRW 3500's as well.

For a 40' gooseneck I would not consider anything less than 3500 dually. I would strongly look at the F450 as you never really know how much stuff spares weigh and you can get ALOT of spares in a 40 trailer.

I did some estimates on my 2500 dodge and open trailer with my 944 and was shocked.
Trailer & 2450lbs 944 = figure 5000 to 6000lbs. However tongue load is influenced by 8 tires and 4 canopy dead weights.

So I figure 30lbs a tire/wheel = 240lbs, Plust 40lbs each blocks = 120

So on the end is some 380lbs.

Then figure all my gear in the bed.

Tool box = 120lbs
Spare gearbox = 130lbs
Trailer spare tire = 45lbs
Race gas (16 gallons at 7lbs a gallon) = 142lbs
Floor Jack & Stands = 50lbs
Spare parts box = 50lbs
Misc pit area stuff = 30lbs
Misc tools and stuiff not listed = 10lbs
Cooler full of ice (for summer events) = 55lbs
Driver = 150lbs
3 more Passengers = 150lbs each = 450lbs
So that is alone 1232 lbs before I even considered the trailer. If I guess that 100% of the weight of crap is on the tongue that comes to about 1612lbs for the truck. This is not even counting the impact of the car on the trailer. The truck can take it with out skipping a beat, but consider all I have a shell with some tools and spares and an open trailer with a 944. I think it will very easy to overload the pin on the 2500. Point is if you carry stuff the weight can add up FAST.

BTW... I have had that 2500 for a few years now. I was considering look at living quarter trailers, but along the way I looked closely at tow ratings, pin loads and tongue loads. Found that while my 2500 is great truck once you get to a trailer large enough to live in the trucks seem to get really small. I could not find a LQ trailer that I would feel comfortable putting the car in and pulling behind that Dodge. I could go with the LQ style where you pull the car out to sleep, but I am not I even want to deal with that.

Janni

I pull a 40' Featherlight with a Dodge 3500.

Featherlite used to (and perhaps still does) measure their gooseneck trailers on "floor space" and not overall length. So - our 40' is 48' overall. Other manufacturers often use overall length making direct comparisons difficult.

You DO NOT want to have a single rear wheel truck. Not only for stability, but you WILL be overloading the TIRES. The rear axle is usually rated for 11,500 pounds so that's OK, but check your max load rating on your tires - they are probably about 2800 each for an E Load Range tire.

The trailer pulls well - even with 2 cars - but more importantly it STOPS well. The diesel exhaust brake is a WONDERFUL thing coupled with the manual transmission - as we can hold an extended grade and actually have to get on the gas - but we NEVER touch the service brakes - so no danger of overheating. Our old truck went over 100K miles without needing new pads.

Go through the truck scales periodically at the truck stops and make sure each axle is not overloaded and find out your total weight. We've been almost 25K pounds before - certainly over the rating for the truck - but no axle was overloaded and the rating on the truck does not take into account the upgrades that we have done - i.e. air springs and the exhaust brake. We're back down to about 18K pounds overall - with just one car and ALL the other stuff. You'll also be interested to see how the gooseneck affects your FRONT axle weight.

Be safe!

pat056

What a great thread. I've learned a lot!!