Pick-up + 5th wheel camper + trailer/motorcycle

[Venturous Randy]

The other day I saw a pick-up pulling a big 5th wheel camper and connected to the camper, he was pulling a trailer with a Harley on it. This is the first time I have seen this and was wondering if it was legal?

I know that it is common to see the tandem trailers being pulled by a truck, but not sure about this set-up. With all the rear view cameras and monitors available, at least the MC trailer could be seen.

RandyA

[Gary N.]

Every State is different. Usually goes by overall length and 65' is common. I used to have a site bookmarked with State by State rules. I'll see if I can find it again.

On a side note. In April when I was in Texas an RV rally came to our park and some of the 5th wheel trailers had bike lifts on the back bumper just like you sometimes see on motor homes. Apparently the owner of that 5th wheel company is also a biker and he designed the 5th wheel frame to handle the extra load of the hydraulic lift and the bike. I think they were called "New Horizon".

[dacheedah]

Illinois allows it, 60' max length, shortest trailer must be in back, all must be properly plated. If your trailer plate is expired they can put the entire weight on your tow vehicle and write you for overweight. Doesn't happen much with recreational but it does happen.

[creole]

Oklahma law States, this to be legal but the primary tow trailer must be either a fifth wheel or goose neck type hitch. Then as posted above must be less than 65 feet for overall length. We do this all the time with our boat behind our fifth wheel. We are not legal length, but its never been a problem. Just have to not go anywhere you might have to back up. It can be done but it is a real pain......we did it by accident in the rain and probably would have been faster to unhooked the boat and rehitch. By the way the previous owner built a hitch on our camper to haul his Harley. We didn't get the rack, but thought about building one for our bike in the future.

[Gary N.]

Found it. Here's the laws, State by State.

http://towingworld.com/towinglaws.cfm

[dacheedah]

Illinois allows it, 60' max length, shortest trailer must be in back, all must be properly plated. If your trailer plate is expired they can put the entire weight on your tow vehicle and write you for overweight. Doesn't happen much with recreational but it does happen.

 

4 got the 5th wheel part, sorry

[Venturous Randy]

Now it makes me wonder if I could mount a trailer hitch on my 4X8 trailer I haul my bike on and hook my little camper on to it that I usually haul with the bike.

RandyA

[Snaggletooth]

I was doing the OTR thing years back and ws pulling into a scale in Iowa. Seemed to be a bit of a traffic jam with a couple of Troopers and the scale boys were all outside.

 

They had what looked like a Blue Bird Tour bus, pulling a 28 ft camper and then a 16 ft boat behind that.

 

I don't think that was going over too well with anyone.

 

Ya see all kinds of weird stuff out there.

[GilliganJ]

A Couple of years ago while driving south of Salt Lake City, UT saw an older crew cab pickup (with about 5 kids) pulling a LARGE 5th wheel trailer with a LARGE boat on its own trailer bringing up the rear he was going uphill on the I-15 at maybe 10 mph!

[Handyman]

I pull a 5th wheel with a flatbed trailer loaded with a motorcycle. Never have had a cop give me a second look. In the 90's and early 2000's I pulled a 5th wheel with a pickup behind the 5th wheel. Never had a problem.

I have a friend with a bumper pull camper. He put a trailer with a trike behind it. The first hill he went down, he said he swapped ends three times before he got to the bottom.

The 5th wheel I have now is only 20+ ft. mc trailer is 10 ft. The 5th wheel I had back then was 32 ft.

 

 

Richard

[MiCarl]

Up North during Salmon season we see a lot of 5th wheel campers with the boat hitched up behind. That apparently is perfectly legal.

 

Saw a guy once with a tow behind travel trailer and a boat. He was on the side of the road with the State Police. I suspect that set up was not legal.

[Freebird]

Years ago when I lived in Texas and did a lot of deer hunting, I used to pull a camper behind my truck with an 8 ft. utility trailer behind the camper to carry my ATV when going to our deer lease. It was no problem unless I needed to back up. Tried to make sure I never had to.

[Wizard765]

This was a few years ago but we went camping like this. Minivan pulling a small fiberglass camper with a sailboat behind it and a canoe on the roof of the Minivan as well as Bicycles on a rack behind the van.. quite a load. In this picture we are parked in front of a Tim Horton's coffee shop where an OPP is having a break.. Guess it's legal in Ontario..

[eazyduzzit]

About 30 years ago I built a rail buggy, and I had a couple of friends who had them too. We went camping one weekend and took our buggies with us. I was driving a shorted F100 pickup, pulling the buggy with a tow bar. One of the roads I was on was very curvy and I was taking part of both lanes on many of the curves.

When I got to the place we were camping, one of my friends was already there. He was in a full size Winnebago, pulling a dune buggy with a runabout boat behind the dune buggy. I asked, and he said yes, that he had came across the same curvy road that I had. Years later people started calling that road the "Dragon".

[cowpuc]

A Couple of years ago while driving south of Salt Lake City, UT saw an older crew cab pickup (with about 5 kids) pulling a LARGE 5th wheel trailer with a LARGE boat on its own trailer bringing up the rear he was going uphill on the I-15 at maybe 10 mph!

 

Yea, years ago my daughter and I stopped in Salina Utah on one of our cross country bike trips, some kids on quads come cruisining into town - passed a cop and pulled in to get gas. I asked if that was legal there, kid smiled and said - you aint from Utah are you.. Than a guy pulls in with a hitch mounted 28 foot camping trailer and a speed boat behind it, or course I, being from Michigan had never seen that before either.. I asked him the same question and got about the same response I had gotten from the kids, yep - we pretty much do what we want out here..

Now adays it is legal to piggy back up to fifth wheel here but I have been told that you have to have a special license to do so and max length is 70 feet..

[Yamamike]

If I'm not mistaken, here in Ontario the first trailer has to be a 5th wheel.

[bj66]

Years ago when I was a kid, we had a 1 ton chevy supercab dually. We pulled a 32 foot Kountry Aire 5th wheel camper and a 18 foot Sylvan boat. That outfit was long, but it was legal. The 454 gas motor was thirsty with that set up......I still see alot of boats behind 5th wheels. Here in SD the Missouri River is a great walleye fishery, and you see a lot of boats etc. heading west through here going to the river.

[Gary N.]

Has anyone else ever seen someone pulling two 5th wheel campers down the road? I assume it's dealers bringing them from the factory. They hook the first one up to the pickup like normal and then attach a special hitch to the rear axle and bumper of the first trailer to haul the second one. This special hitch has its own set of wheels to carry the tongue weight of the second 5th wheel.