Posted by Keith in Washington on Monday, March 06, 2006 at 1:59PM :
In Reply to: What is the curb weight of a FFPW posted by PittMan on Sunday, March 05, 2006 at 3:19PM :
My advice is the same as below. Either have it professionally hauled get a suitable trailer and truck to tow it.
Trailer should be either 10,000 or 12,000 lb capacity which will give you 8,000 to 10,000 load capacity (10K - trailer weight 2,000 = load capacity of 8,000 lbs). Make sure you have good electric brakes on the trailer and a good brake controller in the truck. I prefer a 1 ton dual truck for pulling this kind of weight as they give a lot more stability and are usually rated higer in terms of trailer towing. A gooseneck trailer would be better but a good standard trailer is also suitable.
Be sure to chain the truck down. Do not depend totally on straps. Paul in NY had some great pictures of his truck being chained down. You may think he went over board but that truck will never come loose. You do not want things coming apart in an emergency.
Do not go cheap on this. Think saftey. Over the last several years I have seen the results of poorly loaded cargo and too light of a tow vehicle. I actually watched a 3/4 ton pick up with a large trailer on it jack knife when the driver slowed down a little on a gentle down hill. The trailer jack knifed which caused the truck to roll then the trailer went over. I could see the driver haning in his seat belt when it was done. This all happend because the trailer brakes were not sufficient and it was too big of a load for the truck. I was glad that there was a cement barrier between me and the opposing freeway lane. PS it was kind of scary watching the whole thing happen right in front of me. I had my trailer on with a ff PW at the time. It made me take notice a little more.