I assume ‘Tundra’? The longest is 35 miles loaded, flat farmland type roads?

I knew a guy who would seriously over tow, he used a 2WD F-150 then even a Ford Ranger. He didn’t worry about ‘book numbers’ much. What he had in his court was being a retired logger, CDL truck driver, & spent a life training to improvise. He drove very conservatively.

Of course one could never recommend such activities. I’m getting at how experience matters. Another option is to not load to max if getting a feel for things.

Depending on the wood, dried is a fair bit lighter than green firewood. Firewood has been a ‘hot’ seller recently. The more $$ put into a hitch comes out of profits.

Clear out the truck bed, put some in there. One can offer a discount, let them pick up, they can borrow a friend’s truck.

quote:

Clear out the truck bed, put some in there.

Doing this would make the problem worse. You want less weight on the rear axle, not more. The whole point of using the trailer is because the truck can’t carry the load.

Let’s say he moves 1,000lbs of wood from the trailer to the truck bed. Let’s also assume the original 6,800 loaded trailer and 10% tongue weight.

The weight on the trailer’s axles will be 6,120lbs. The 680lb tongue weight will put 750lbs on the rear axle of the truck because the hitch ball is at least three feet behind the rear axle. There’ll also be 70lbs less in the front axle for the same reason.

Now, you move 1,000lbs from the trailer to the bed of the truck. Trailer has 5,220lbs on its axles, 580lbs on the hitch ball, which will be 640lbs on the rear axle and 60lns less on the front axle. The rear axle will have the 640lbs plus the 1,000lbs of wood, so 1,640lbs over the rear axle.

Now you are over the trucks payload rating (probably around 1,500lbs) and probably over the rating of both the rear tires and rear axle and your headlights are shining raccoons 20’ up.

24 years ago I pulled a 20 ft. Tandem axle cargo trailer with an F-250 h.d. pick up that had a WDH.

I didn't realize all the math that went in to the giant equation.
Trailer axle weight bearing
Tongue weight bearing
Rear truck axle
Front truck axle

Oy vey

The dealer told me how to hook it up and I did it.

But you know very quickly when you have done it correctly.
The difference is substantial.

Same with trailer brakes

It’ll work, but too much for sustained use. As noted above rural setting in flatlands helps.

I spent 10 years working in a fertilizer plant. I cannot imagine the number of times I pulled or carried severely over weight loads. 2 1000gal ammonia tanks behind my Bronco II is still burned in my mind took that mess 14 miles home with me one evening. Things like that teach you a lot of why not to do things like that.

Years ago when I towed, up righting and cleaning up accidents from overloaded/improper tow combinations were a fairly regular thing. Just make sure your friend is within the specifications regardless of how he chooses to do it.

One more twist to consider though: If he's selling firewood, he's considered commercial. Different states have different rules for licensing, but insurance companies are pretty consistent nationwide. Your personal auto policy will typically not cover you if you're involved in an accident while conducting business. He needs to call his insurer to see if his policy covers what he intends to do, or to obtain the proper coverage.

He has an LLC
(What ever that is)

Will ask him though

Every MFG has a towing guide that shows you the maximum weights, any required equipment on the truck and the trailer. I own Fords so I know it by heart since I tow very very heavy loads. But Toyota has the same information. You don't give a model year or a specific model (4x2?) but the Toyota towing guide says if the gross trailer weight is over 5000lb a weight distributing hitch is required. And as a minor note the trailer weight max for most models is just a bit under 5500lb. You need the weight distributing hitch. They are modestly priced and relatively easy to install, so yes if I understand the question on the hitch and no on the load but that depends on the model and year.

A small PS on all this. I have several dump trailer of various sizes and GVW's. I don't believe that a 1300lb trailer has even the remotest possibility of a 5500lb payload.

A second small PS on this that the math on this is problematic. I very occasionally move split firewood. A cord tossed in the smaller of my tandem axle trailers (not extra energy stacking it which is silly if you are going to dump it) fits just about perfectly. A cord weighs just about 6000lb of the wood I am moving (maybe a ton less if its fully dry). That trailer weighs 4000lb and with this load is at max gvw of 10K. Not a load one could move with any Tundra.