Re: Dilemma!! Should I Have 1 Axle or 2??
Craze1, just tossing out what I know and rendering my opinion. I tend to be conservative and try to err on the side of overkill. My truck is rated to tow 6800 or 7700lbs. No way would I do it, but I wanted a vehicle that could easily handle a 5k lb towed load. With my family with me, I want a huge margin. I guess you could call me a scaredy cat and control freak. That and I want towing to be as relaxed a spossible so I'm not bushed by the time I get to the water.<br /><br />I towed my boat home with no brakes down the interstate across the smokey mountains. My F-150 has great brakes, but it was at its limits, and didn't give me the warm fuzzies about safety. The single axle trailer got brakes after I got it home. 'Nuff said. <br /><br />Just for reference, if you look closely in the top pic, you can see a red trailer tongue sticking out behind the 19'. That is my ~2000lb fishing boat. The Red ranger you see in the far right was my tow vehicle for it until I got the F-150. The fishing boat doesn't have brakes. The ranger is rated to tow 2000lbs (should have brakes after 1500). That truck weighs about 2800lbs. You do the math and it gets scarey. It was ok for local trips, but interstate travel was white knuckle. <br /><br />If you check, most vehicle manufacturers state that you must have brakes on the trailer above XX pounds. For example... I had a Kia salesman argue me that a Sportage would tow my 2000lb fishing boat with no problems. Sure, that vehicle is rated to tow 2k lbs (I wouldn't....), but if you read the fine print in the specs is says anything over 1000lbs requires trailer brakes. <br /><br />Also don't forget, tow ratings do not account for passengers and cargo. If you have a rating of 5k, and you have 4 adults and gear as well, well, your rating just went to 4k. Now assume that you went ahead and hooked up that 4000lb boat with no brakes to your 4000lb vehicle . You are now trying to stop 9000lbs with brakes designed to stop 5-6000. Not to mention that the weight of that boat is trying to push the rear end of your short SUV around on you and lifting up on the rear end at the same time. With trrailer brakes, the boat tends to stay behind you and not take weight off the rear of the tow vehicle as well.<br /><br />Brakes are relatively cheap, esp. if you are fresh water only like me. My truck was already wired for electric brakes. A quick trip to an RV supply store with about $300, and I had electric brakes on my trailer and a controller in the truck in a few hours, including break-away. When I replace the axles on my rebuilt trailer, I will go with brakes on both axles.<br /><br />FWIW, Tennessee requires brakes on trailers over 2000lbs, but I've never seen it enforced. Trailers with electric brakes are required to have a break-away system.
