may just convert my trailer to fifth wheel

Now I would wait until we're on some land in New River as my driveway in Phoenix simply doesn't have enough length but I like this concept and would be comfortable welding it myself. Then I would be legal to tow doubles in Arizona.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMyYZjdSCXE

I'd say that if you got in an accident with a modified "trailer" like that, a good lawyer would wear you out. Also you may have a hard time getting insurance for it. If you told them it was a trailer and they insured it, they could deny coverage if something happened. I'd just trade it for a factory build 5th wheel. 

Folks run homemade and modified trailers on the highway legally and safely every day.

If that's what you want to do to your trailer, then I say go for it.

supermanotorious said:

Then I would be legal to tow doubles in Arizona.

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Is the rear frame of your trailer strong enough to tow behind?

tncamperRVer said:

I'd say that if you got in an accident with a modified "trailer" like that, a good lawyer would wear you out. Also you may have a hard time getting insurance for it. If you told them it was a trailer and they insured it, they could deny coverage if something happened. I'd just trade it for a factory build 5th wheel.

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It has the TT's lights and brakes and that is all the DoT cares about.

I wonder if the lengthening of the frame contributed to the siding buckling. ?

I'd just trade it for a factory build 5th wheel.  Really...?

I've hand built several street/race cars, many modified motorcycles, and many big trailers over the years.  In the late 60's I worked in a car shop (or Factory) that cut VWs in half removed 14" out of the chassis and installed fiberglass bodies on them.
We drove those things so hard and crazy over jumps and rocks...not one of them ever failed, no stupid law suits, nobody ever worried about that stuff...What has happened to people ?    People just put blind faith into a factory label.

  I sure trust my welding a lot more than the bubblegum welds I've seen on my 'factory' built motorhome.

A craftsman that cares,  does a much better job than some min-wage kid on an assembly line.  I'll bet almost every 'Craftsman Built' RV is better built than most 'Factory" built units are.

Build it.

I still fail to see why other than 'cause he could. It is going to add stresses the tongue was never designed for and imho the center of gravity will too far back for comfortable towing. Fifth wheels and goose necks generally have the axles positioned further back. Just my $.02 Canadian.

Roy M said:

I still fail to see why other than 'cause he could. It is going to add stresses the tongue was never designed for and imho the center of gravity will too far back for comfortable towing. Fifth wheels and goose necks generally have the axles positioned further back. Just my $.02 Canadian.

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That entire goose neck tongue was custom made, the original trailer frame begins after the tongue.

And it'd be easy to modify the frame,  or make a whole new frame,  and move the axles to get the correct 5th wheel tongue load. 

and I'd put a pair of 10k trailers axles under it.

I'd do it just for the fun of doing it.

What are you going to do with that 6 ft. tongue extension when you pull into a campground and unhitch the truck?  Looks to me like a lawsuit magnet the first time a kid on a bike runs into it.

do like everyone else...put a cone under it. 

and then tell those brats to stay out of my space !..  but then,  I guess their Dad could probably sue me for PTSD.

We need more attorneys in the world..... ???

I saw a trailer like this many years ago i thought it was a bolt on kit if not it sure looked professionally done.

Lou Schneider said:

What are you going to do with that 6 ft. tongue extension when you pull into a campground and unhitch the truck?  Looks to me like a lawsuit magnet the first time a kid on a bike runs into it.

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My truck is normally parked in front of my TT. What would happen if a kid on a bike ran into my truck? We used to have a 37' 5th wheel. What would have happened if a kid rode his/her bike under the hitch and hit their head. There was a thread about folks using occupied sites for shortcuts. What would happen if they trip on your rug or some other item on your site?

TonyDtorch said:

and move the axles to get the correct 5th wheel tongue load.  [/b]

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While you're at it don't forget to move the wheel wells too.

No space has been added inside the trailer and storage in the box has been lost. Nothing has been gained other than the ability to do 90 degree turns. :

You say you want to do this so you can double tow.  Does your state allow this with a gooseneck sitting on a ball or do you need an actual 5th wheel pin and hitch?

Arizona Revised Statute (ARS) 28-1095 states:

3. A recreational vehicle may pull two units if all of the following conditions are met:

(a) The middle unit is equipped with a fifth wheel and brakes. The middle unit may be a farm vehicle or a horse trailer and shall have a weight equal to or greater than the rear unit.

(b) If the rear unit has a gross weight of three thousand pounds or more, it is equipped with brakes.

(c) The total combined gross weight of the towed units does not exceed the manufacturer's stated gross vehicle weight of the towing unit.

http://www.azleg.gov/ars/28/01095.htm

(ARS) 41-4001

30. "Recreational vehicle" means a vehicular type unit that is:

(a) A portable camping trailer mounted on wheels and constructed with collapsible partial sidewalls that fold for towing by another vehicle and unfold for camping.

(b) A motor home designed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use and built on or permanently attached to a self-propelled motor vehicle chassis or on a chassis cab or van that is an integral part of the completed vehicle.

(c) A park trailer built on a single chassis, mounted on wheels and designed to be connected to utilities necessary for operation of installed fixtures and appliances and has a gross trailer area of not less than three hundred twenty square feet and not more than four hundred square feet when it is set up, except that it does not include fifth wheel trailers.

(d) A travel trailer mounted on wheels, designed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, camping or travel use, of a size or weight that may or may not require special highway movement permits when towed by a motorized vehicle and has a trailer area of less than three hundred twenty square feet. This subdivision includes fifth wheel trailers. If a unit requires a size or weight permit, it shall be manufactured to the standards for park trailers in a 119.5 of the American national standards institute code.

(e) A portable truck camper constructed to provide temporary living quarters for recreational, travel or camping use and consisting of a roof, floor and sides designed to be loaded onto and unloaded from the bed of a pickup truck.

http://www.azleg.gov/ars/41/04001.htm


Now if I wanted to be a smart ass I could argue that my truck is not included in the definition of a recreational vehicle, and to be literal, the law is describing a scenario where my travel trailer (the actual recreational vehicle) is pulling two trailers behind it, where the truck would be pulling a total of 3 trailers.