"Trailering Review" I pull my boat today.

[skeeter]

OK, I pulled my boat today. Here is my review on trailering. Trailering is important to me, I like to fish, and I also have a 10ft cargo trailer I use at my store about once a week. The trailering package was a must for me. My bass/walleye boat is a deep v boat, so keep in mind its big, and tall. My boat is 18.5 feet long, and it weights about 2400 lbs with the trailer. I have been wondering what amount of (drop) I would need in a receiver hitch, as the H3 is up pretty high. I already had an ajustable one I could use to try different settings. I won't use the ajustable one for good, because they are to bulky, but it worked great to determine the best drop to use. I like a 4 in drop reciever hitch, it gives you a level pull with your trailer. The H3 suspension was great, as you can see from pics, no squating at all. Also with the suspension, it had a soild pull feel, no rocking, or bouceing, and braking was very good as well (I do not have trailer brakes). Now for the power side. As you all know by now this H3 is not a jackrabbit, so this was a concern for me. From a dead stop on level ground it got up to speed in about the same amount of time as it does with out the trailer. Yes it does sound like it is haveing to work a little harder, but it does the job. On hills the H3 will down shift in order to maintain a set speed, but once again no big suprise. I was able to maintain my speed. If you are in a lot of hills you will want to leave the H3 in 3 gear, and I would not use the cruise control either, it will try to shift into 2nd gear sometimes with the cruise on going up a hill. The cruise is fine on flat sufaces. All in all it gets the job done. It is not a power house, but I don't pull with it everyday. Don't get me wrong Im sure if I was tring to pull 4500 lbs with it, it might be a strain for it. But I would say that most of us will pull a boat, jet ski, popup camper, or a ATV trailer with it with out a whole lot of problem. I will post a few pics for you.

[skeeter]

OK, I pulled my boat today. Here is my review on trailering. Trailering is important to me, I like to fish, and I also have a 10ft cargo trailer I use at my store about once a week. The trailering package was a must for me. My bass/walleye boat is a deep v boat, so keep in mind its big, and tall. My boat is 18.5 feet long, and it weights about 2400 lbs with the trailer. I have been wondering what amount of (drop) I would need in a receiver hitch, as the H3 is up pretty high. I already had an ajustable one I could use to try different settings. I won't use the ajustable one for good, because they are to bulky, but it worked great to determine the best drop to use. I like a 4 in drop reciever hitch, it gives you a level pull with your trailer. The H3 suspension was great, as you can see from pics, no squating at all. Also with the suspension, it had a soild pull feel, no rocking, or bouceing, and braking was very good as well (I do not have trailer brakes). Now for the power side. As you all know by now this H3 is not a jackrabbit, so this was a concern for me. From a dead stop on level ground it got up to speed in about the same amount of time as it does with out the trailer. Yes it does sound like it is haveing to work a little harder, but it does the job. On hills the H3 will down shift in order to maintain a set speed, but once again no big suprise. I was able to maintain my speed. If you are in a lot of hills you will want to leave the H3 in 3 gear, and I would not use the cruise control either, it will try to shift into 2nd gear sometimes with the cruise on going up a hill. The cruise is fine on flat sufaces. All in all it gets the job done. It is not a power house, but I don't pull with it everyday. Don't get me wrong Im sure if I was tring to pull 4500 lbs with it, it might be a strain for it. But I would say that most of us will pull a boat, jet ski, popup camper, or a ATV trailer with it with out a whole lot of problem. I will post a few pics for you.

[skeeter]

an other one

[skeeter]

and an other

[skeeter]

and more

[skeeter]

more more

[killian]

Right on man! Great pics and review, good information.

[DeLeon]

Thanks for the review skeeter! That aswers a lot of the questions that I had since I will be pulling a couple of jet skies across the mountains... BTW, nice boat!

[funpilot]

So, the hitch does not come with the package? Where did you get your hitch? I have not seen one like that.

[skeeter]

You can get a hitch at any auto parts store, or walmart. You don't want to get one like the one shown in my pics. I aready had that one, I just used it to detremin how much of a drop I would need. You will be OK if you buy a hitch with a 4 inch drop. That is what I am going to buy. The one in the pics is way to bulky. I plan on taking it off when I am not trailering. I am going to buy one of those cool "Hummer" hitch plates for it too.

[oneworld]

Skeeter, good review and good news thanks for the time and the pics, good fishin to you

[MISSISSIPPIHUMMERCHICK]

Great news on pulling boats. I pull many many different trailers. I would like to stress that anytime you can pull something with trailer brakes, it's imperative to have a brake control installed in your hummer. It cuts down on your brake wear and makes the drive 100% safer when you need to stop very quickly. By the way, what is the towing limit for the H3's? I'm trying to patienly wait on a local dealer to give me the "best" deal so I can get one bought soon.

[raptorman53]

It's only 4500lbs. But, it gets the job done. Hauled about 2000lbs. of old sheet rock and other trash to the dump the other day. The truck did great.

[Lex_Ordo]

Thanks for the review Skeeter.
I just got delivery of my Canadian Military 1/4 ton trailer, to go with my H3. I wanted a USGI one but they are so few and far between at this point, not to mention the condition they are in. The M101 CDN 2 fit the bill perfectly. I had it cleaned up and repainted so it really looks fantastic now. I will be getting some pics of the whole thing put together in a few days or maybe a week.

The trailer itself is only 775lbs. so it will trail effortlesely. 1/4 ton cargo weight is what it is rated for off road, so I imagine I could really pull about 1/2 ton with out any issue or degradation of the trailer.
What' a truck w/out a trailer anyway.

Below is a pic of it just re-painted befor I took delivery of it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/Lex_Ordo/Trailer%20M101%20CDN%202/Re-Painted-Front.jpg

The Hitch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/Lex_Ordo/HU3/pintle.jpg

[RubHer Yellow Ducky]

Thanks for the review Skeeter.
I just got delivery of my Canadian Military 1/4 ton trailer, to go with my H3. I wanted a USGI one but they are so few and far between at this point, not to mention the condition they are in. The M101 CDN 2 fit the bill perfectly. I had it cleaned up and repainted so it really looks fantastic now. I will be getting some pics of the whole thing put together in a few days or maybe a week.

The trailer itself is only 775lbs. so it will trail effortlesely. 1/4 ton cargo weight is what it is rated for off road, so I imagine I could really pull about 1/2 ton with out any issue or degradation of the trailer.
What' a truck w/out a trailer anyway.

Below is a pic of it just re-painted befor I took delivery of it.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/Lex_Ordo/Trailer%20M101%20CDN%202/Re-Painted-Front.jpg

The Hitch.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v207/Lex_Ordo/HU3/pintle.jpg

I like it, does it come in yellow with black trim ??? !!!

RYD

[Urban Ops]

I towed my rock crawler out to Moab and back to Cali. with no problems. The Samurai and Big Tex trailer weigh in at 4,400 lbs. I got an average of 12 mpg and it actually pulled very well in the mountains. My last tow rig was a '02 Dodge Dakota with a 4.7 ltr. The H3 really surprised me how well it did. There are a couple pulls going up Ice House Road to the Rubicon that I had to drop the Dakota down into 1st gear to pull. With my H3 I never drop down below 2nd or 35 mph. I think you should put your tranny in 3rd anytime you tow period. Tranny's cost more to repair than you are going to save on gas.

[Lex_Ordo]

RYD,
The trailers that this guy had, were all surplus in Un-Issued condition. However, they sat around for about 12 years so some slight surface rust was evident. It probably could have been left alone the way it was, but I wanted it to look new.
The seller did ask me if I had the paint color codes for the H3, and I could have had it matched , but I wanted to keep it the Original military Olive Drab.
He seems to have a pretty good source for etting them in from Canada, so he might get more. This one was one of his last three.