Towing Heavy with my M1008

[jgb680]

About 5000lbs. of rock plus a 3500lb. trailer



4000lb. excavator plus a 3500lb. trailer


This was the first time I have ever towed anything heavy with my M1008 , it really did better than I thought.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Nice.

What did you do for a hitch?

 

[jgb680]

I removed the pintle hitch and bolted the Curt 14082 hitch to the frame. It handled the weight really well. I also have a Curt trailer brake controller on the truck

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

No mods to the Curt hitch? I was under the impression that there was some modification needed with these trucks. Or did removing the pintle take care of that?

 

[biggestc69]

For the horsepower ratings on these trucks they really do tow well. First and second gear you really dont even notice the load. But third gear and hills if you dont have a running start, with mine anyway, you will drop 10 or 15 mph depending on the hill. I live in Kansas, which is 95% flat. I live in the Flint Hills and there are a few decent hills around. If you hit the bottom going 55 the momentum from the loads like what you have been hauling will help push you up and over. This is all depending on the hill of course, and I'm sure in Tennesse your hills are alot steeper and longer than ours.

 

[jgb680]

I did not have to modify the curt hitch, but I did have to remove the pintle hitch and cut off part of the mounts for the rear towing shackles. You also have to drill holes in the frame. In my driveway with two people, a cutting torch, a cutoff wheel, and a drill it took about 4 hours to install. Even with a high powered drill, drilling the holes in the frame took the longest.

 

[jgb680]

For the horsepower ratings on these trucks they really do tow well. First and second gear you really dont even notice the load. But third gear and hills if you dont have a running start, with mine anyway, you will drop 10 or 15 mph depending on the hill. I live in Kansas, which is 95% flat. I live in the Flint Hills and there are a few decent hills around. If you hit the bottom going 55 the momentum from the loads like what you have been hauling will help push you up and over. This is all depending on the hill of course, and I'm sure in Tennesse your hills are alot steeper and longer than ours.


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I was really happy with how the truck handled the load. Slow on hills but it wasn't too bad. I was worried, after I had heard some people talk about how bad the trucks tow.

 

[biggestc69]

I too used that model Curt hitch. With it it mounts to the bottom of the frame instead of on the inside if I remember correctly. Like jgb680 said there is some cutting and drilling involved but it beats fabbing up brackets and all that. If you type in Curt 14082 in the search thread there are a couple good write ups that I looked at when I did my install.