General Question about towing and hauling

az'03Silverado · November 11, 2004

Hey Everybody, I just have a quick question for everyone to give their opinion about. I keep seeing these commercials (and, I know, they're marketing folks) for the new Nissan Titan. In the commercials, the truck is towing these gigantic trailers and doesn't even look like it has one pound on the back bumper, not even breaking a sweat. The stance is normal, has a ton of huevos, etc. But, I saw one in California on the weekend that has a simple, open, tandem axle landscaping trailer with a few tree branches in it and that truck was pushed way down in back. The bumper was low, the wheels were upwards in the wheel well, etc. What gives? Is there something special about the trucks in the commercials or what? I see similar commercials for all makes (Chevy, Dodge, Ford, etc) and then go out in the 'real world' and see trucks like that Titan in Cali.

mcreyaufmiller · November 11, 2004

When they make the commercials, they "balance the trailer" which means that a single person could pick up the tounge of the trailer by themselves. The idea here is to make it look like the trailer is weightless on the truck. In real life, we do not have time to balance our trailers, just load and go. Although a properly balanced or just a little more attention to the load weight on the trailer would make it a lot safer on the roads. When you see the commercials, look at the axles, most of the time, they look a little out of place on the trailer.

Mike

J-rod · November 11, 2004

When they make the commercials, they "balance the trailer" which means that a single person could pick up the tounge of the trailer by themselves. The idea here is to make it look like the trailer is weightless on the truck.

Heh, great point Mike! The first thing that came to my mind was that they just edited the video and stuck some enormous load on what was actually an empty trailer. I bet Mike is right though ... be alot easier hehe.

az'03Silverado · November 11, 2004

When they make the commercials, they "balance the trailer" which means that a single person could pick up the tounge of the trailer by themselves. The idea here is to make it look like the trailer is weightless on the truck. In real life, we do not have time to balance our trailers, just load and go. Although a properly balanced or just a little more attention to the load weight on the trailer would make it a lot safer on the roads. When you see the commercials, look at the axles, most of the time, they look a little out of place on the trailer.

Mike

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That makes a ton of sense, Mike. I was thinking maybe they block the rear axle against the frame so it wouldn't sag but balancing the trailer makes way more sense. Thanks for answering my stupid question.

Greg · November 11, 2004

Remember the ad with the VW Touareg towing the huge Airstream?

http://cbsnewyork.com/topstories/local_story_303155456.html

gnutruk · November 11, 2004

I think the trailer was a mock-up, constructed out of styrofoam.

gnutruk

az'03Silverado · November 12, 2004

Remember the ad with the VW Touareg towing the huge Airstream?

http://cbsnewyork.com/topstories/local_story_303155456.html

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

First of all, anyone who pays $42,000 for a Touareg thinking they're gonna pull an Airstream deserves to eat that mistake. No matter what the dealer says, JUST LOOK AT THE THING! IT'S NOT GONNA HAPPEN! Does anybody on this forum really think that our Silverados will pull an 80,000 lb. semi-truck that's outta gas like in that BS Chevy commercial?

496 CUBIC INCHES · November 12, 2004

In real life, we do not have time to balance our trailers, just load and go.

Mike

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Trying to balance your trailer is the last thing you want to do,unless you want to look in your mirror to see your trailer on its side. You need to have about 10-15% of the weight of the trailer as tongue weight. Too little tongue is a sure fire way to make the trailer sway.

If I were a betting man,I'd say they had air bags installed on the truck.

496 CUBIC INCHES · November 12, 2004

Does anybody on this forum really think that our Silverados will pull an 80,000 lb. semi-truck that's outta gas like in that BS Chevy commercial?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Even your 1500 with the 4.8 will pull the semi in that commercial. Its on wheels and is a rolling load. Really not that hard.

Look at the dudes in the worlds strongest man competition,if they can pull a 747,your truck can pull a semi.

mcreyaufmiller · November 12, 2004

Trying to balance your trailer is the last thing you want to do,unless you want to look in your mirror to see your trailer on its side. You need to have about 10-15% of the weight of the trailer as tongue weight. Too little tongue is a sure fire way to make the trailer sway.

If I were a betting man,I'd say they had air bags installed on the truck

Do not take what I said wrong, in real life, balancing the load is nothing more than "properly adjusting" or as you said, 10 - 15% tounge weight. The reality is that most of us just load and go. This causes either too much tounge weight, or too less tounge weight which are both dangerous.

Mike

Greg · November 12, 2004

Hey, if we get into a good argument about towing capacity and tongue weight, we could be just like those RV forums!

az'03Silverado · November 14, 2004

Does anybody on this forum really think that our Silverados will pull an 80,000 lb. semi-truck that's outta gas like in that BS Chevy commercial?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Even your 1500 with the 4.8 will pull the semi in that commercial. Its on wheels and is a rolling load. Really not that hard.

Look at the dudes in the worlds strongest man competition,if they can pull a 747,your truck can pull a semi.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Pull it? Sure. Pull it up a hill? No. Pull it at highway speed? Heck, no. Stop it once it's rolling? Not a chance. That was my point. The world's strongest man can't pull a 747 fast enough to make the thing fly, can he? Of course not.

Worktruck · November 15, 2004

balancing the load is nothing more than "properly adjusting" or as you said, 10 - 15% tounge weight.

I hope you mean an extra 10-15% forward weight. Actually you should have about 55-60% of the load weight forward of the axle.BTW I think Mikes right.

titan_tx · November 24, 2004

Hey Everybody, I just have a quick question for everyone to give their opinion about. I keep seeing these commercials (and, I know, they're marketing folks) for the new Nissan Titan. In the commercials, the truck is towing these gigantic trailers and doesn't even look like it has one pound on the back bumper, not even breaking a sweat. The stance is normal, has a ton of huevos, etc. But, I saw one in California on the weekend that has a simple, open, tandem axle landscaping trailer with a few tree branches in it and that truck was pushed way down in back. The bumper was low, the wheels were upwards in the wheel well, etc. What gives? Is there something special about the trucks in the commercials or what? I see similar commercials for all makes (Chevy, Dodge, Ford, etc) and then go out in the 'real world' and see trucks like that Titan in Cali.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's called one with Big Tow Package one without. I have put over 7k of weight on the rear of mine pulling and the tail of my Titan hasn't gone down past the level height.

MAybe that Titan you saw had a load in the bed as well that you couldn't see.

My friends Sierra 1500 with a Jetski goes down in the back a bit.

Shawn T · November 24, 2004

Hey Everybody, I just have a quick question for everyone to give their opinion about. I keep seeing these commercials (and, I know, they're marketing folks) for the new Nissan Titan. In the commercials, the truck is towing these gigantic trailers and doesn't even look like it has one pound on the back bumper, not even breaking a sweat. The stance is normal, has a ton of huevos, etc. But, I saw one in California on the weekend that has a simple, open, tandem axle landscaping trailer with a few tree branches in it and that truck was pushed way down in back. The bumper was low, the wheels were upwards in the wheel well, etc. What gives? Is there something special about the trucks in the commercials or what? I see similar commercials for all makes (Chevy, Dodge, Ford, etc) and then go out in the 'real world' and see trucks like that Titan in Cali.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's called one with Big Tow Package one without. I have put over 7k of weight on the rear of mine pulling and the tail of my Titan hasn't gone down past the level height.

MAybe that Titan you saw had a load in the bed as well that you couldn't see.

My friends Sierra 1500 with a Jetski goes down in the back a bit.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't know much about the Titans but I call BS. A half ton is a half ton, regardless. Whether it is a Chevy, Ford, Dodge, or Nissan it has almost identical GVWR's and load ratings. If you add the same amount of tongue weight to all of these trucks they should all squat about the same. The tongue weight of 7K should be over 1K and it will sqaut my 2500 HD a few inches. Come on!