I need a way to transport 2 crawlers with a motorhome. The only option that I have found is a stacker and I don't want to spend $25K on a trailer at this time. So I've searched and found where someone has built open stacker trailer.
Does anyone have any additional information or thoughts on other trailers like this.http://i139.photobucket.com/albums/q308/Pusher71/000_0172.jpg

Basically its a standard trailer with a 4 post lift attached to it.

I was thinking of something similar but at the front of the trailer have a ramp that is hinged. At the back of the ramp have a set of rams like on a commercial car hauler that lifts the back of the ramp. I think it would make the overall trailer weight lighter and be lower.

Any Thoughts?

That sure does look tall. Like high enough to clip a overpass.

Sounds like your idea of a front tilt would be lighter and lower.

I would be concerned about the weight there. What do those rides weigh?

Keep it under 13'6", plan your route, and pay close attention to overpass signs.

- Lee

I agree that the trailer shown is to tall. Some of the roads we travel have low bridges(13'2") so I would like to keep it under 13'. That is the magic number I'm always looking for. The motorhome is 12'10".

One of the rigs weighs around 2,500 lbs and the other weighs around 4,000 lbs. The 4,000lb rig is getting ready to have a make over to shave some weight. The motorhome has a tow/hitch rating of 10,000lbs. So that gives me 3500 lbs for the trailer with my current rigs. I don't see myself ever having a rig that is any heavier than those. I think it can be built within that range.

Here is one similar to what I'm talking about but the section that lifts would have to be taller. It's a cool trailer but looks road hard and put up wet.
http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=341731&stc=1&d=1197734434

y don't you just get a two car trailer that is what i use with my motor home when we go out of town. that way you don't have to worry about the height

The 4-post lift ideas not really a bad idea.


Put on the trailer (braced like the picture), then when your done hauling, put it in the garage/shop. Dual purpose. Sure it might be a little heavy, but I'm assuming your not going to do it all the time.


How long of a trailer can you get away with with the MH and still be legal (I'm assuming thats why your thinking stacker rather than longer bumper pull). Since [I'm assuming] they are buggys/crawlers, you might even be able to drive on ontop of the other a little to save some trailer room.

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.flbusman.com/CIMG1566.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.flbusman.com/photo.htm&usg=__0tr6Vxd_WG9xJM1AA6XE70LG2KM=&h=2448&w=3264&sz=2057&hl=en&start=73&tbnid=t8mdmzXs1M3KcM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dstacker%2Btrailer%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D 18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D72

I think I know what your think though, but I was bored as still couldn't find a picture of it. Basicaly its a mostly standard length flat bed, you drive one car on it, strap it down then the front tilts up and you nose the other rig up underneith the ass end of the first. Kind of redneck sometimes, but works. Mostly see it as haulk haulers.

possibly if you had pics of the 2 rigs you wanted to carry. Do you have a max length in mind ?

just what i want to see while driving down the highway: a 4 post car lift bolted to a trailer with one car on the trailer deck, and another 6 feet above that going 70mph down the road, just missing bridges, being towed by some yahoo in a motorhome:shaking:

y don't you just get a two car trailer that is what i use with my motor home when we go out of town. that way you don't have to worry about the height

I have thought of that. The problem is overall length. 40' motorhome + 25' trailer + 5' trailer tongue and your over the legal limit in most states. If you go by your home state it's all good. South Carolina does not have a length limit. The problem is both Georgia and North Carolina have a 60' limit.

just what i want to see while driving down the highway: a 4 post car lift bolted to a trailer with one car on the trailer deck, and another 6 feet above that going 70mph down the road, just missing bridges, being towed by some yahoo in a motorhome:shaking:

I'm not interested in Bolting a 4 post garage lift to a trailer. Any redneck can n$%%@r rig that. I'm more interested in either purchasing or building a custom hauler that is designed to fit my needs, doesn't break the bank, and safe. Since you are so full of opinions:shaking:, what is your suggestion?

Since you are so full of opinions:shaking:, what is your suggestion?

well, sunshine, if it were me, i would just get a longer, flat trailer. you cant always have your cake and eat it too. why is it you cant tow a two-car flat deck trailer behind your motorhome? length & license issues? i have a class a, so i can tow anything i want too. honestly, other than that, i really dont what to tell ya; i guess if ya want to drive a big motorhome, and tow two cars on a trailer behind it, you should get the required license (stupid or not?), or find some way to carry one car on top of the other, as you are doing.

though i dont have the regs in front of me, i know several guys who have 40 foot motorhomes and tow trailers longer than 20', maybe not much more like 24' or something, but i have never heard any of them say anything about getting hassled on the road and they drive all over the country wheeling and riding dirt bikes...

What about the Renegade or Optima type toterhomes and motorhomes, quite a few of them are longer than 60' overall and they are all over the place down here.. not saying you are wrong, but maybe you are too concerned about a potentially small detail...

its just 2 of you that go? if theres a third or 4th rig in your wheelin group,sounds like someone needs to step up and get a big goose to pull behind a pickup so you only have to haul w rig behind your motor home ;)

well, sunshine, if it were me, i would just get a longer, flat trailer. you cant always have your cake and eat it too. why is it you cant tow a two-car flat deck trailer behind your motorhome? length & license issues? i have a class a, so i can tow anything i want too. honestly, other than that, i really dont what to tell ya; i guess if ya want to drive a big motorhome, and tow two cars on a trailer behind it, you should get the required license (stupid or not?), or find some way to carry one car on top of the other, as you are doing.

Length is the issue. The motorhome is a class A diesel pusher. As long as I'm in South Carolina(home state) everything is good. The problem is for me to go anywhere I have to travel through Georgia or North Carolina. Georgia has a limit of 65' and North Carolina has a limit of 60'. With a long flat trailer large enough to get two rigs on, you will be pushing 70+ feet with a 40' motorhome.

Can I get a different class of license to get around those limits? I don't know. I have a license to be able to drive that motorhome, but the license is what dictates weight, not length. Maximum combined I'm at around 44K lbs. If it's as easy as getting a new license, I can make that happen, I've already had to do that to go over the 26K limit. It would definitely be the easiest route.

Here is 2 spreadsheets with the limits on them

http://www.boatwheels.biz/towinglaws.pdf

http://www.wideworldrv.com/tsl/tsl.php

For those of you that pull a 2 car trailer with a motorhome, What is your total length and have you had any problems? If your length is over the legal limit, what did you do to get around it?

its just 2 of you that go? if theres a third or 4th rig in your wheelin group,sounds like someone needs to step up and get a big goose to pull behind a pickup so you only have to haul w rig behind your motor home ;)

I used to be that guy. I decided that I wanted to be a little more comfortable and now I have this problem. Everybody in our group has some sort of camping apparatus, weather it be a trailer with a camper mounted to it or a motorhome.

I could tell the wife that she will have to drive hers to the trail:laughing:

Length is the issue. The motorhome is a class A diesel pusher. As long as I'm in South Carolina(home state) everything is good. The problem is for me to go anywhere I have to travel through Georgia or North Carolina. Georgia has a limit of 65' and North Carolina has a limit of 60'. With a long flat trailer large enough to get two rigs on, you will be pushing 70+ feet with a 40' motorhome.


You should still be okay going through another state as long as you conform to the laws of the state that you are registered in. Since SC allows for longer lengths, then NC and GA should not have anything to say about it. For example, here in TX your required to have an inspection and registration sticker in the front windshield, other states still put those stickers on on the LP's. There is nothing TX can do about that since the vehicle conforms to their respective state laws. One other thing you can check into is federal DOT rules and regs and see what they say about lengths, even though you may not be under them it could be helpful.

do length limits really apply? there is alot of grey area surrounding motorhomes and the liscense required to drive them,and drive them towing trailers.

im pretty inclined to think that you wont get hassled if you have things tied down properly,look safe,obey speed limit signs,and are pretty obviously non-comercial. now communist california is starting to crack down on the RV guys,but i dont think anywhere else really cares...

you could always call north carolina and georgia state highway patrols and ask "what permits or liscense do ineed to tow my 30 foot trailer with my 40 foot motor home thru your state for recreational purposes?"

if you really need to conform to a 60 foot length i dont see why you couldt build a nicer version of the trailer pictured in post 4 for youe 2 crawlers. it would would prolly be lighter and less complex than the 4 post type of lift

Recreational use rigs aren't subject to a lot of the same limitations/regs that generally were created for commercial haulers, so it (length) may not be as big of an issue in neighboring states as the regs are leading you to believe.

I sketched out a stacker trailer design, have this in mind as a way to easily get a 2nd rig onto my 20'er depending on wheel placement you could also make a pocket to drop the front end in lower.

http://jeep.yager.net/drop/yager-stack.jpg

An additional option might be to do the 'long tow dolly' I had posted up on this several months back, but basically 1 on the trailer #2 half off using a dolly type pivot box or similar.

do length limits really apply? there is alot of grey area surrounding motorhomes and the liscense required to drive them,and drive them towing trailers.

South Carolina addressed the issue of the gray area surrounding the license to drive a motorhome and came up with 2 new classes. They just never told anyone and people have had to find out the hard way:mad3:

Class E - non commercial single vehicle over 26,000 lbs

Class F - non commercial vehicle with trailer over 26,000 lbs

I sketched out a stacker trailer design, have this in mind as a way to easily get a 2nd rig onto my 20'er depending on wheel placement you could also make a pocket to drop the front end in lower.


The sketch is what I had in mind without dropping the nose down.

All this has had me doing a lot of thinking and measuring. In NC the limit is 60'. My current setup is: RV 40', trailer 18'4", trailer tongue 4', trailer hitch is about 10". This gives you 63' 2" of total length.

Maybe I'm just reading to much into it but I have talked to people pulling doubles before(dually, fifth wheel, and trailer) that have been pulled for being to long. One had to drop the trailer and have it towed, then come back to get it with a vehicle that was within limit. The others have just received either tickets or warnings.

I may just say screw it and see what happens with the long trailer.

South Carolina addressed the issue of the gray area surrounding the license to drive a motorhome and came up with 2 new classes. They just never told anyone and people have had to find out the hard way:mad3:

Class E - non commercial single vehicle over 26,000 lbs

Class F - non commercial vehicle with trailer over 26,000 lbs



The sketch is what I had in mind without dropping the nose down.

All this has had me doing a lot of thinking and measuring. In NC the limit is 60'. My current setup is: RV 40', trailer 18'4", trailer tongue 4', trailer hitch is about 10". This gives you 63' 2" of total length.

Maybe I'm just reading to much into it but I have talked to people pulling doubles before(dually, fifth wheel, and trailer) that have been pulled for being to long. One had to drop the trailer and have it towed, then come back to get it with a vehicle that was within limit. The others have just received either tickets or warnings.

I may just say screw it and see what happens with the long trailer.

Can't you apply for a over length permit. We have gotten oven lenght permits it some states when pulling the toter-home and being over the max length in that state. Pretty easy solution...

who has that pic of RV that had car trailer with car on bottom and boat on top?

Like this?

http://www.rv.com/products/images/BuiltRiteTrailer.jpg

Stolen from here:
http://www.builtrite.net/

there are length limits, but usually do not apply if you are close....
my RV international 4700 is approx 32' end to end, and pulling a 18' car hauler thats about 25', or my 25' pintle construction style trailer, thats 32' end to end. puts me about 5' over, but im not so far off as to get stopped by looking at it.
ALOT of local landscapers have dump trucks with 20' beds(putting trucks near 30') and pullignt he same style 25' construction traile rwith 8' tongue and enver get hassled........ and thats running through residential areas all the time.

who has that pic of RV that had car trailer with car on bottom and boat on top?

I have one...
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e12/KSToy1992/Trailers/Silverton054.jpg

I have one...
http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e12/KSToy1992/Trailers/Silverton054.jpg

perfect.. do you have more pics. I am considering building one and would like to see as detailed pics as possible. thanks

I may just say screw it and see what happens with the long trailer.

I work with a guy here in NC who has a tour bus as his tow/camp vehicle, and pulls a 30-foot tri-axle bumper pull behind it for boat, ATVs, his truck whatever.

I'll ask him if he's had any issues. If he's registered in NC *AND* drives here legally, then you should not have a problem. He uses this setup to go all over the country.

But maybe he's not legal, and he's just taking his chances. :)

How do you launch the boat? Sail boat lift? Ah website shows all.

Can't you apply for a over length permit. We have gotten oven lenght permits it some states when pulling the toter-home and being over the max length in that state. Pretty easy solution...

Permits? That's easy. I haven't thought of that. I should have:shaking: checked into it before for width. Thought about buying a boat that had a 10.5' beam width, bought the motorhome instead:shaking: SC will sale you a permit to be over width that is good all year. I'll have to do more checking on length permits. What states have you dealt with on this?

I work with a guy here in NC who has a tour bus as his tow/camp vehicle, and pulls a 30-foot tri-axle bumper pull behind it for boat, ATVs, his truck whatever.

I'll ask him if he's had any issues. If he's registered in NC *AND* drives here legally, then you should not have a problem. He uses this setup to go all over the country.

But maybe he's not legal, and he's just taking his chances. :)

I am interested in his total length and if he has had any problems with this setup. If so, what states?

And is he just taking his chance?

something else i just remembered, while researching some truck BS a while back, i found some info stating that a truck could be ~3' longer than normal if the last part was an 'aerodynamic aid' this is why some of the auto haulers have that large rounded white gizmo on the rear of the truck. It hindges up for loading but it buys them an extra 3' plus helps with air flow.. If you could do something similar in theory it might buy you enough room... I have the PDF docs I had downloaded you want them emailed... send me your address..

I once ran into a guy at Moab that was pulling a 35 foot enclosd trailer with a 40 foot Diesel Pusher Motorhome. His buisness was renting out Harley Motorcycles to European Tourist to ride around Utah on. I asked him if he ever had any cops hassel him because of his vehicle length. His reply was sarcastic and condecending. "Oh you guys! All you ever do is sweat out the stupidest things. Hell NO I've never been bothered about my length. And NEVER will!"

He was a genuine Rich Prick Bastard.
So, maybe if you can't dazzel them with brilliance, you can baffel the LEO's with Bullshit like this guy.

If I was a Utah Cop I'd have had his ass in jail the second that rig hit the pavement.

Most Local small town cops probably won' bother you about being a little over length. But, I know if you ever come through Texas the Texas Department of Transportation (DPS) will stop you every time they see you.
They will pull a tape measure on you even if you just look close to the limit.

Personally I have a 37 foot Class A Coach and I couldn't imagine trying to get through some towns with my 30 foot trailer behind it. Just too long to turn with.

Pulled two rigs from Florida to Tellico on a 35' deck trailer behind a 40' motorhome, no issues what so ever.

He did, she did, my neighbor's son's meter-reader heard... there's so much anecdotcal information out there, and so little discussion of what the LAW says...

If it ain't legal, it ain't legal, and you run the risk of accepting a pretty substantial ticket, and having to drop your load, or worse yet, have it impounded. I tow legal, but I run fast... I'm willing to take the risks of a speeding ticket from a CHP, but I sure don't want to get the hairy eyeball from a weigh-cop with an attitude, and I'm towing well within the margins of what's legal and what's not.

I guess we'll all make our own choices in the end, but it sure makes sense to me to at least know the rules of whatever state you're running through, know the penalties of breaking those rules, and assess your odds of getting caught. In the end, it is your license and your wallet you are risking, and Johnny Law ain't gonna wanna hear about "all the guys on Pirate4x4.com said they never had a problem with it."

Randii

perfect.. do you have more pics. I am considering building one and would like to see as detailed pics as possible. thanks

Sorry, that was the only one I took.

Trade the camper in for a smaller one or your could have a wedge style trailer built. Which allows for a longer deck without growing to much in overall length might have to be at a fairly steep angle to put 2 rigs on though at your length.

Solution: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.livicksgarage.com/img4sale/2_car_trailer1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.livicksgarage.com/2_car_trailer.php&usg=__zMDlDCTwoSiymVPvqW5Rum4O8kE=&h=425&w=675&sz=81&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=7kDLTPRFCoTazM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=138&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcar%2Btrailer%2Bdesign%26hl%3Den%26um %3D1

Solution: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.livicksgarage.com/img4sale/2_car_trailer1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.livicksgarage.com/2_car_trailer.php&usg=__zMDlDCTwoSiymVPvqW5Rum4O8kE=&h=425&w=675&sz=81&hl=en&start=14&um=1&tbnid=7kDLTPRFCoTazM:&tbnh=87&tbnw=138&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcar%2Btrailer%2Bdesign%26hl%3Den%26um %3D1

http://www.livicksgarage.com/img4sale/2_car_trailer1.jpg

That's exactly what I was thinking about. I'm not sure that it would need triple axles for my application. To bad it's is CA, I wouldn't dare buy something like that sight unseen.

For the rest of the crowd, what do ya think? Worth building or should I sell the wife's rig and go back to only one crawler?

If I was to build one for myself, I would make the pivot point at almost 4'. It would make the top vehicle more level but mainly for the extra storage it would give you. You could put a tool box in and be able to stand crawler spare tires up. If I wasnt so tired I would draw something up with so measurements

.02

[QUOTE=carter3;9751629]http://www.livicksgarage.com/img4sale/2_car_trailer1.jpg

any updates on these trailers? I have been looking and cant really find a lot of info about them might build one but am still unsure

That is the style I would prefer over the 4 post looking one, way lower center of gravity and if you want to just haul one rig behind a pickup into a hard to reach place, you don't have 13' of shit sticking up all the time.

If I was to build one for myself, I would make the pivot point at almost 4'. It would make the top vehicle more level but mainly for the extra storage it would give you. You could put a tool box in and be able to stand crawler spare tires up. If I wasnt so tired I would draw something up with so measurements

.02

It would also give you just enough room to squeeze two full body jeeps on. *maybe*

I'de bet you would be knocking on the door of 13' though.

I know this is an old thread, but I've got a couple of buddies that haul 2 full-bodied, 118" Scrambers inside a 24' trailer with some creative tire changing & just a bit of jacking under one rig. Might look into ways of reducing your length w/o having to 100% "stack".

I love the idea of the front hinged deck, it's something i've been considering for awhile for my ZJ and my buddies jeep. If you go this route, I drive a commercial car carrier, so I could help with whatever info you might want...

and for those who thought the 2 buggies were tall, I'd be willing to bet like 12', 13' max...I've ran loads up to 14'4"...that's tall...

few more of this style...

545572

545573

545574

bump

Might want to look at these trailer for either ideas or possible purchase.
http://www.beartrailersports.com/car-hauler-trailers.html
http://www.shadowtrailers.com/combination_trailers.htm


Guess I should also have added I have no affiliation with either manufacture, just trying to offer up some suggestions.

that's a couple of different trailer designs...

Those Bear trailers are really nice. But you would need a really long ramp to load those atvs up top.