Hauling a truck backwards on a bumper mount trailer?

Smart or suicide?

 

it is fine as long as you have proper load distribution and tongue weight.
if the trailer is long enough you can adjust it so that it is good as stated above there is nothing wrong with hauling it backwards.........
i haul trucks backwards down the freeway all the time with there front tires on the ground and the rears in the air..........

 

like stated above, it you can get the engine over the axles then it should be fine. weight distribution bars would be best.

 

i'm nekkid.

 

I've seen a lot of guys do that with no problems whatsoever. Like mentioned before though, just watch your weight distribution.

Rick

 

my question is, why would you think its bad?

 

I hauled two different cars on a 16' flatbed trailer. One, the car was facing backwards. The trailer wanted to walk a little bit back and forth, which I did NOT like one bit! The second car I hauled, I pulled it facing forward. MUCH better.

 

Because I've been in a truck pulling a trailer with a truck loaded backwards on it and it almost wiped out from swaying. I hear some people say "it's ok to haul like this"... and then they continue with something about "you have to watch your speed", or "it was fine up to 65 mph then it started to sway so I just went 55 mph and it did fine"...

So, I wonder, is it really ok to tow like that? Sure, they did it and got away with it, but it seems to me that it isn't safe if it ever sways, regardless of speed.

 

a shape of a truck going down the road does not matter. all that matters is that the load is distributed properly.........just move it forewards or backwards on the trailer till your wiegh tis correct.
the truck physically facing backwards has no real impact on the situation at all.................the air hitting it is not going to cause the sway. most people who say they did it and it was bad did not have proper load distrubution and tongue weight....
like this turck, doesnt matter if i puill it forewards, or backwards, it still just tongue weight..........

 

As others have said it's all about getting the weight in the right place. The other concern is loading a trailer so it doesn't damage the trailer. Look at a 45' flatbed hauling steel. They'll load half of the load over the drive tires and the other half over the trailer tires. You could get the weight spread the same by putting the load in the center of the trailer, but would break the frame over time.

 

This Im sure was operator error, but.... I have this S-10 durango that needed moved from the base to my house and it was completly dead so I asked a buddy if he would help me and he had already rented a tow dolly for me to pull his car with, so he agreed and it got worse from there.

Well we had to tow the truck from the back cause there wasnt any room infront of the truck to hook up the dolly...so we spend 20minutes getting this damn thing up on the dolly and we go to leave, we make a hard right and well the front end tried to swing out like a skier behind a boat, thank God there was a curb there and it didnt go out into traffic, so I kick out the buddy to straighten up the wheels and sit in the truck to hold the wheel so i didnt happen again, the whole time im thinking screw it lets just pull over in a parking lot and turn the truck around the right way, but I was almost home and I thought "It will be ok, Ive done this before" well we get it clear across base out the other side and we stop at a light, it turns green and I take off, well me and the traler went, the truck well... didnt. Im pretty much in the intersection now thinking OH ****! I hop out and the buddy gets out and were ****ting our selves thinking what the **** do we do, well we pushed the truck back up on the dolly but it didnt go, stopped about half way up and rolled back down, so on the second try we really gave her hell, and you know the little tire stopper thing thas supposed to stop the car well... it didnt. and now the back tires a on the far side of the tire support and almost hit my truck. So now where really freaking out thinking what the ****?!?! we say to hell with it and decide to just go, buddy hops in the truck through the window cause the door wont open now, and we take off, the rest of the trip was uneventful. Thank God.

To get the truck off the dolly whe had to completle deflate the trailer tires remove the trucks tires, and the brake rotors and dick with it to fineally get it out. Needless to say 3+ hours spent trying to get the damn dolly back,

To top it off I got some picks, enjoy

 

A. you ALWAYS lock the steering wheel with 2 things when towing with the front tires on the ground. you can use the seatbelt through the wheel preferably looped twice, factory colum lock, or bungees to the mirror or seat frame. ALWAYS use two methods in case 1 fails.
B. i dont see any wheel straps holding the tire to the dolly.
i have hauled wrecked semis before with the front tires on the ground with bent frame rails, bent tie rods, with bumpers and hoods flailing in the wind,. all they do is go down th eroad a little sideways, all you do is turn and relock the steering wheel till it goes fairly straight.

 

Well the stering wheel wouldnt lock, and I didnt even think about it swinging out like that, and it was strapped in, after it got stuck on the frame I really didint see the need to tie it down. But lessons were learned.

 

Some times you have to load vehicles on trailers backwards. As long as you get as much weight on the tounge as possible or you don't have to go far It's not that bad.

 

I towed a F250 diesel backwards on a 16ft 10k equipment trailer behind another F250. It did fine up to about 55mph then it started all over the road. I made it the 40 miles home doing 55mph.

However I wouldn't recomend it on a regular basis. It was the only way i could get such a long truck on the trailer and still be able to get the ramps up. I'm sure if it wasn't a diesel it wouldnt have been as bad.

If at all possible I'd avoid it unless you can still get the load balanced.

 

Also it help with braking when your load is over your axles

 

Had to load my plow truck backwards once when a rear axle came loose and started to walk out of the tube. Talk about no fun! Jacked up the truck, slid the axle back in, backed the tailer up to it so I could back it strait on and loaded it. The trailer was a 16+2 bumper pull car trailer behind my short box 1/2 ton Chevy. The plow truck is a 76 3/4 ton Chevy with a good 800-900 lbs of weight in the back. Oh and did I mention the plow was still on the truck? On top of that, It was snowing like mad. It wasnt any fun, but I didnt really have any other options at the time.

 

I decided to vote "never," just because I don't like reduced hitch weight.

 

I've done it both ways. And like every one said IF you can get the motor of the vehicle over the axles you'll be OK. But it's much easier to get weight distribution right with the vehicle on the trailer the other way. This has some variables because of the lenght of the trailer your using and the lenght of the vehicle your putting on the trailer. If your trailer is just long enought to hold the truck you'll probably need to get it on motor end first.

 

as long as you can get proper tounge weight, sure why not
i have done it a bunch of times