clueless on towing heavier items

How is it impossible? I've towed around the 3,000# mark and my trailer doesn't have brakes either. You certainly have to pay attention but the truck will stop a 3k lb trailer.

 

Of course it is not impossible. You need to consider the circumstances when doing this. I tow 4500 pound loads with my non-tow-package truck all the time, with no trailer brakes. IN MY YARD, WITH SPEEDS ALMOST NEVER EXCEEDING 2 MPH. I would do the same thing in my dead-end-street neighborhood, and possibly go as high as 15 MPH. I wound NEVER take it on a public highway.

Towing an overweight trailer with no brakes can be very dangerous. Emergency braking, on even the slightest of curves, is the worst-case scenario. If the road is at all slippery, you can jackknife, just like a big rig. It is an incredibly foolish thing to do.

You can do anything you want, ONCE. If you survive it, it tends to embolden you to repeat the foolishness. After a while, you accept the risk as normal. And then you die, all because you thought that since nothing happened once, the incredibly stupid thing that you were doing would be safe every time. Cleansing of the gene pool, I say, and shining examples of stupidity for everyone to learn from.

Mike

P.S. A quote from Richard Feynman, Nobel Prize winning physicist, on the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster:

"We have also found that certification criteria used in Flight Readiness Reviews often develop a gradually decreasing strictness. The argument that the same risk was flown before without failure is often accepted as an argument for the safety of accepting it again. Because of this, obvious weaknesses are accepted again and again, sometimes without a sufficiently serious attempt to remedy them, or to delay a flight because of their continued presence."

 

Yes of course it will stop it probably will stop 10,000# how much time and distance do you have? It will not stop "just fine" the stopping distance will suck big time!! How well do you think it will stop with 3000# of stone in the bed it's the same thing. It's not fine print in the Toyota manual "max weight 1000# with out trailer brakes" and I'll bet a full size says the same thing.

 

Ah, I didn't realize which part you were saying wasn't possible. You're right, with 3,000 lbs behind you, it takes a bit more distance to get the load stopped or you'll find yourself really standing on the pedal. I did it once and it was a fairly short trip to pick up building materials for my house, I wouldn't want to make a habit of it but the aftermarket pads and rotors I have on the truck did 'ok' all things considered.

 

Lot's of good comments above. The car makers must follow certain standard procedures to conduct their testing and I don't know what they all are but I've heard they can use a flat level road and some standard towed weight that I doubt is a high profile travel trailer. They are interested in getting the highest number possible within the rules to publish in the brochure and help sell the vehicles, especially trucks. Then they tell you in the owners manual how to calculate the real capacity for your own set of conditions. All they care about is getting you past the 3/36 warranty period then you are on your own. Their opinion after that is your vehicle is old, worn out and you should come trade for a new one.

Someone already mentioned increased wind resistance above that of the test load increases the apparent weight of the trailer (from the drive train's viewpoint) and every degree of incline increases the apparent weight of both trailer and the truck as far as the drive train and brakes are concerned.

 

Stand on them all you want it does not take a "bit" more it takes a lot more the brake sweep area is just not there to stop that much weight in a timely manor remember your basically stopping a truck and a midsize car with brakes designed to stop a truck. Bigger trucks (garbage trucks etc.) seldom leave skid marks when loaded in a panic stop because there is not enough breaking force to lock the brakes.