Pulling a travel trailer with sled on deck. Advice needed.

[Kelso]

Hello,
I have been doing a ton of reading and figured I'd post up my situation and hopefully some of you with more experience can point me in the right direction as I am relatively new to the sledding world. I have an F350 short box with a 7' sled deck and a 30' travel trailer. The deck stays on my truck full time, double duty as a functional tonneau cover/flat bed as truck is also used for work. I have minimal overhang and no clearance issues with sides in, however I am afraid to tow it with the sides out in fear of contacting the trailer while turning. Of greater concern, since we only have 1 sled for now, is the clearance of the sled track. I haven't had time to actually try towing with it yet but I backed up to the trailer with my sled and it looks like the 144 track will just clear the trailer but just barely sit above the propane tanks. I would imagine any dip would cause contact...
And that's without a spring-over (axle flip) on the trailer.

I am aware of the proper/expensive hitch systems that can safely use the extension, but that is a lot of money to replace a perfectly good classIV hitch. Otherwise the extensions seem to drop the weight rating too low for my trailer at ~7000lb.

I'm curious about lifting up the back end of the sled and setting the track on a block of 4x4 or 6x6 to get more clearance from the LP tanks. Would I need to use plywood or boards legthwise to distribute weight or prevent track damage? It only has about 6" of contact on the deck anyways. I wonder if I could secure it all well enough?
Does anyone have any other ideas?
Would a 2' extension allow me to pull the sides out without contacting during a turn if I coughed up the money for one of those systems? I imagine flirting with the gvwr and using a long extension would not make towing through the mountains in the snow any easier.

Do I need to swap to a truck camper and 2 place trailer if we want to camp with 2 sleds or quads later on?

 

[shawnmcgr]

A truck with an 8ft box solves this nicely. I've hauled 2 sleds w/162 tracks on my deck and pulled my trailer.

 

[Summitric]

2 ft works... But you will need the "expensive" style hitch extender. Oterwise sharp turns the deck will probably contact the trailer.... You will have to try it before your travels

 

[slededjr]

What Ric said. Don't buy cheap extender as they have a crap load rating.

 

[DRD]

A good extension/hitch like Torqlift might work.
I've never understood the one ton short box thing.

 

[goodngrubby]

Regardless of the track length....a sled on a shortbox deck without an extension is a wreck waiting to happen. With only 6" of track on the deck, it doesn't matter how you strap it, gravity wants to pull the sled off. A decent bump or hard stop, and away it goes. You're pulling an 8,000-10,000lb holiday trailer through the mountains in the winter? Now start altering geometry with a hitch extension, and it sounds like you're going to have your hands full behind the wheel. Team it up with a typical day of snow, sleet, and a few dozen disgruntled truckers through the mountains, and you have a combination I wouldn't want to be anywhere near. If you enjoy winter camping, I would strongly consider a truck camper and smaller trailer for the machines. Lots of guys camperize their enclosed trailers for that purpose as well. Myself personally....I'd never go sledding if I didn't have a hot tub to bail into at the end of the day.

 

[Kelso]

I was seriously looking at a new long box, dually Ram 3500 but with oil below $50/bbl it's just not going to happen. Can't be spending much money, and a short box is what I have.
Any thoughts on blocking up the track off the deck?

 

[Bnorth]

What about having the tongue on the trailer extended or buying a trailer with a longer tongue?

 

[Summitric]

Having the tongue on the trailer extended would make the most sense

 

[TylerG]

I've thought about this a few times, especially when it comes closer to spring. If my holiday trailer was better insulated I would seriously consider it, easter rides camped in a staging area somewhere.... why the heck not?

 

[Bnorth]

I've thought about this a few times, especially when it comes closer to spring. If my holiday trailer was better insulated I would seriously consider it, easter rides camped in a staging area somewhere.... why the heck not?

I just hate the thought of dragging my trailer through all that slush and salt crud.

 

[TylerG]

I just hate the thought of dragging my trailer through all that slush and salt crud.

there is that too yes.

 

[Mike270412]

Get armymags to build you a trailer.

 

[GRD]

My father and I have a enclosed trailer that fits two long track sleds, its tight for three, but the tongue was too short to have a third sled on the deck. We had the tongue extended a couple of feet on the enclosed. If you know a welder it is fairly reasonable. Once we did haul a 159 on the deck with a 4x4 block to raise the sled, it worked, but when turning sharp it was tight/close and we had a person outside watching.

 

[Kelso]

Regardless of the track length....a sled on a shortbox deck without an extension is a wreck waiting to happen. With only 6" of track on the deck, it doesn't matter how you strap it, gravity wants to pull the sled off. A decent bump or hard stop, and away it goes. You're pulling an 8,000-10,000lb holiday trailer through the mountains in the winter? Now start altering geometry with a hitch extension, and it sounds like you're going to have your hands full behind the wheel. Team it up with a typical day of snow, sleet, and a few dozen disgruntled truckers through the mountains, and you have a combination I wouldn't want to be anywhere near. If you enjoy winter camping, I would strongly consider a truck camper and smaller trailer for the machines. Lots of guys camperize their enclosed trailers for that purpose as well. Myself personally....I'd never go sledding if I didn't have a hot tub to bail into at the end of the day.

Does 12" really matter comparing a 7' to an 8' deck? I'm not aware of any extensions for the older Marathon decks. The weight of the machine is on the front and securely clamped down, the back end is light and strapped in place to prevent bouncing or shifting. It is not going anywhere.

As far as towing fully loaded with a 2' hitch extension through the mountains, I would like to avoid that. I'm leary about those extensions, but looking for feedback and other ideas...

The trailer tongue extension is interesting but I'm a little unsure as it is not a straight tongue like a small trailer. I have a 30' Arctic Fox 4 season trailer that is our family camping unit. Not interested in camping in an enclosed or building a trailer. I'm more trying to bring the sled camping than bring the trailer sledding if that makes sense.

 

[TylerG]

Does 12" really matter comparing a 7' to an 8' deck? I'm not aware of any extensions for the older Marathon decks. The weight of the machine is on the front and securely clamped down, the back end is light and strapped in place to prevent bouncing or shifting. It is not going anywhere.

As far as towing fully loaded with a 2' hitch extension through the mountains, I would like to avoid that. I'm leary about those extensions, but looking for feedback and other ideas...

The trailer tongue extension is interesting but I'm a little unsure as it is not a straight tongue like a small trailer. I have a 30' Arctic Fox 4 season trailer that is our family camping unit. Not interested in camping in an enclosed or building a trailer. I'm more trying to bring the sled camping than bring the trailer sledding if that makes sense.

just 1 sled on the deck or 2? could put it diagonally across the deck?

 

[Kelso]

Just one for now. The sled fits length wise with the trailer nose it's more contacting the LP bottles I am concerned about when the hitch dips. I could remove the tanks I suppose but what a pain, and then I have 2 30lb propane bottles inside the trailer which I don't like.
I will try raising the track up onto a 6x6 with a strip of plywood under the track and see if I can get that comfortably secured unless anyone has any real problems with that.

Once the Mrs. gets a sled we will be back to square one though... Maybe then we'll switch to a truck camper and enclosed.

 

[DRD]

Sell the truck, if you are watching money get a clean used unit that is actually useful.

 

[Kelso]

Right, got it.
I was confused by the fact that I got a great deal on a good truck that does what I need it to do for me to make a good living, carries my family, can pull our trailer with ease and still fits in my garage if I need. How foolish of me to let that distract me from how useless my truck is.

Sorry I thought I had grown up enough to steer clear of petty forum BS but stupid remarks get me going...

I've got an idea that should work out well. I'll post some pics this weekend once I get something put together and go grab the trailer for our camping trip next week.

And to clarify an earlier post, I have closer to a foot of track planted on the deck. Not 6" like I said.

Sell the truck, if you are watching money get a clean used unit that is actually useful.

 

[tko sled ed]

I use my extension all the time with my holiday trailer when I load my sxs and if I ever need to haul a enclosed for sledding plus 2 on the deck I would do it in a heart beat
There are different levels not sure where your from but speuce land brake in speuce grove sells them


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