buzzboy said:I see you gladiator guys hauling close to(if not above?) the rated towing capacity. How do they feel loaded down so much? I bought a gladiator knowing it can tow my racecar on a dolly but I think with a trailer I'd be over the tow limit.
I came in here to ask this as well. Does anyone also plow with one? Just talking my own driveway- not commercial use.
In reply to buzzboy : My Gladiator is rated to pull 6000#, my trailer weighs 2000'ish, my Ranger weighs 3250# totaling 5250# in tow. Add a couple hundred pounds in the bed, me (250#) and other passengers puts my truck right at capacity. Plus, I live at 5000+ft elevation so I'm pretty much maxing it out. Even with my F350 I never felt the need to tow at 80mph. The Gladiator tows very comfortably at 65mph and gets 14'ish mpg doing it. The 285hp and 8-speed transmission is plenty of power (more HP and twice as many gears as my 2001 F150 5.4). The factory towing package doesn't include a brake controller, I added one and HIGHLY recommend it. Overall, it's not the rock-solid towing experience that my F350 was as it's a mid-size truck and you have to get used to how the lighter truck behaves with the load behind it. I've done a handful of 4hr trips with the trailer in tow and have no reservations about going further.
I'd say borrow a trailer from a buddy, hook it to your Gladiator, load the race car and go for a drive. Hit a scale so you know what you're numbers are. But give it a try.
The U-Haul trailer was basically the worst case scenario for the Highlander. Even with the nose up attitude we managed a comfortable 900 mile round trip and 19mpg to Mid Ohio and back. Hopefully 1000lb+ less trailer and better weight distribution will work out even better, once I find a decent trailex.
In reply to John82601 :
I'm in a manual Mojave so I'm only rated at 4500lbs and 450lbs tongue. I'm towing a small U-Haul trailer tomorrow which will be my first time towing with this truck. I hope I like it! If anything I can dolly the racecar...
In reply to red_stapler :
I can't wait for the day I don't have to rent a U-Haul car trailer again. I know people like them for the general ease of grab and go.
I've always disliked them for how much they weigh, front bumper hanging over the stops, and the massive amount of tongue weight that creates.
I might sell my Honda ACTY kei truck and use the proceeds to buy my own car trailer.
I can't imagine trying to go from CT to FL in the future for a GRM challenge having to rent and drive a U-Haul that far.
1000 lbs with no trailer brakes wasn't bad, although eastern NC has no hills. I think he'll pull a racecar just fine if I have a brake controller
dan0 said:In reply to red_stapler :
I can't wait for the day I don't have to rent a U-Haul car trailer again. I know people like them for the general ease of grab and go.
I've always disliked them for how much they weigh, front bumper hanging over the stops, and the massive amount of tongue weight that creates.
Yeah, that's why I described it as the worst case scenario, I estimated I had something like 800lbs of tongue weight (I don't have a scale) for 4650lbs of trailer. A more reasonable tongue weight should tow a lot flatter.
We just moved from PA to CO. We have a 17' Boston Whaler that has been in my family since 1992 and that my wife and I restored to new during COVID, so that needed to come with us. Our usual tow vehicle, my Escalade, towed the 20' enclosed trailer with race car and stuff a few weeks ago, so we needed to find another way to tow the boat the 1750 miles. So, enter the Mercedes E400 wagon. Twin turbo V6, 380 ft/lb, huge brakes, 1500 or so weight capacity. Rated to tow 4400 or so in Europe, but nothing here. Got a curt 1 1/4" hitch rated for 2k lbs which is about what this trailer weighs, a lighting kit that doesn't actually tap into any wires, only senses them, and a euro style ball mount.
This towed the boat really well cross country, even with the 20" wheels and roof box. Got about 15 mpg (instead of 28 highway when clean and empty), with the cruise control usually set at 74.
buzzboy said:I see you gladiator guys hauling close to(if not above?) the rated towing capacity. How do they feel loaded down so much? I bought a gladiator knowing it can tow my racecar on a dolly but I think with a trailer I'd be over the tow limit.
My Rubicon is rated at 7k. Trailer weighs in at 2k. That's a lot of overhead for anything I'd want to drag behind it. I've had zero issues with anything I've had on the trailer so far. The heaviest was an automatic IS300 coming in around 3500 lbs.
EDIT to add that I 100% agree with what John said about re: brake controller. I installed the same ol' Tekonsha Prodigy P3 that I've had for years and it addresses what I'd consider to be the biggest oversight for towing with the Gladiator.
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