My kid’s high school marching band has an enclosed 28-foot trailer used to haul the band’s equipment. The band also used to have a 20-foot trailer as well, until the local thieves stole it last weekend. In the past we have used parents’ SUV’s and pickups to pull the trailers. Late last season we got the bright idea to weigh the trailers at a truck stop and discovered they weighed more than we thought and we were exceeding the tow vehicles’ towing capacity. When the insurance money for the stolen trailer arrives, we are considering various options to replace it and hopefully solve our towing capacity issue as well.
One suggestion has been made to not buy another 20-foot trailer but instead buy a small used box truck. The thinking is to use this vehicle to tow the 28-foot trailer. We can actually fit almost everything in that trailer and would only need some additional storage room that a small box truck might provide.
My question is does something like this sound doable? Could vehicles like this be fitted with a weight-distributing hitch setup? I would hesitate on getting anything too big as parents would still be driving it and I wouldn’t want to tax the driving/towing skills of people used to towing around boats and house trailers. I’ve seen some vehicles around that I wouldn’t exactly call box trucks that I wonder if they might be able to do the job. These vehicles were an Isuzu NPR, a Chevy W5500, or a Dodge 2500 or Sprinter. These seemed a little smaller and might be easier to handle.
So, I’m looking for suggestions on what might work, as well as any websites or other ways to find used vehicles that might do the job. I live in central Ohio.
Thanks in advance for any advice.
Before beginning any discussions here, what is the loaded weight of the 28 ft trailer and the weight of the items you intend to load into the box truck? These two weights will help determine if any of the trucks listed are close to capable.
I think getting a one ton or larger truck with duals will be a better option. Depending on the weights involved, you may need to go to a higher load capacity box truck, the cost of which may lead you once again back to a two trailer solution.
The best I can do is to estimate the loaded weight of the 28-foot trailer at about 10000 pounds. There are some things that were on it last year that will be taken off this year, but some more things that were transported on the now stolen trailer that will be added in, so it is difficult to say with any certainty. Maybe another 1000 pounds of stuff in the box truck as well.
I saw online an ad for a GMC 3500 box truck with duals, 6.0L 8 cylinder engine. Under type it listed Class Five (GVW 16001-19500). Would this be something to consider. Is it possible to install the hitch equipment on something like this?
I saw online an ad for a GMC 3500 box truck with duals, 6.0L 8 cylinder engine. Under type it listed Class Five (GVW 16001-19500). Would this be something to consider. Is it possible to install the hitch equipment on something like this?
Yes and yes…