Wheel lift to tow trailers

[Disposalguy]

I am not in the towing business but need some information. I am building a truck for the film and telivision business to tow trailers, generators and washroom trailers.. most trailers are in the 10-12k weight range but occasionally I will tow 18-19,000pd trailers that can have a tongue weight up to 1800 pounds using a wheel lift could give a bunch of placement options and speed for picking up and dropping.

 

What is your experience or recommendations for a wheel lift.

I will be using a dodge 5500 or Hino 5 ton chassis 

[Whit Finks]

You're using a wrecker right?? Hino if so with the weights you're talking about. 

[Andy]

You have to check with the wheel lift specs most actual tow capacity is a lot less than you might think. I tried to find this in writing just now but couldn’t but I was told by a fairly reputable source but an MPL40 wrecker body’s tow hitch rating is only 8000. I may be wrong. But id want to know before you gear up for this. 
 

theres also the GCVW rating of the vehicle. Sadly a 3/4 truck often has the highest tow capacity as far as legal, unless you move into a higher gvw weight truck and have a CDL which I assume you do not have or you would not be asking this question. The reason a 3/4 truck will have a higher actual tow capacity is that the truck weight is much less. I would like to have a Chevy 6500 its tow rating is less than a 3500. It seems to be why so many car haulers use 3500 series trucks instead of heavier units. Whole thing backwards in my opinion. And it’s damned near impossible to get a truck that isn’t de rated. I gave up for now. And yet another bit of information I found out. I parked next to a 2WD 6500 crew cab Chevy with a 12 foot frame. So we talked. Loaded it pulls trailers great. No trailer the things dangerous as all get out on wet pavement he suggested a tool box loaded with at least 1000 pounds near the rear axle. Now your trucks lost yet another 1000 pounds on its gvw. 
 

now a private party non commercial owner can get away with certain things in some states but for commercial applications that is a different scenario. And that means if the trucks in a business name you might not get away with some of the things a guy towing a 45 foot travel trailer would in a normal truck. A 19,000 pound trailer hooked to a truck that weighs minimum of 12,000 to 15,000 pounds is way out of specs for a 26,000 gvw registered  and rated truck. I tow vehicles and cargo away from weigh stations to a parking lot 20 miles away often enough to tell you the fines and headaches you’ll run into are not a lot of fun. It seems weigh stations like to write tickets and down your rig until it’s under max weight so they’re stuck calling a tow company to reduce their weight. I’ve moved a number of cars and heavy pallets from the weigh stations. And some states like Washington the state patrol carry scales and can pull you  over any where so you do not have to cross a scale to have to donate to the policeman’s ball and my retirement fund.