What’s the Most Massive Object You’ve Ever Hauled?

I was eager to respond to this inquiry with a particularly remarkable instance, but I am struggling to recall precisely the largest item I’ve ever had on a trailer. I’ve towed various boats and a handful of cars on different trailers in my personal life. However, I believe my maximum weight threshold would have been at one of the numerous heavy-duty truck towing demonstrations I’ve attended during my years of reviewing automobiles.

I am quite certain I transported something akin to 30,000 pounds on a gooseneck hitch around Ford’s proving grounds in Romeo, Michigan last year. Yet my preferred corporate-sponsored towing exhibition is still the “Toyota Tundra tows a space ship” feat from way back in 2012. Do you remember when Toyota pulled the Space Shuttle Endeavor around LA?

Regarding my own extensive towing journey, I believe that hauling my Scout Traveler (weighing about 5,000 pounds) on a U-Haul rental trailer (approximately 2,000 pounds) hitched to a rental truck from California to New York in 2022 marks my most significant towing endeavor thus far. Navigating the Vail Pass with that configuration was quite challenging—we were at full throttle merely observing the speed decrease as we ascended the Rocky Mountains. By the time we reached the downhill section, we had slowed to about 25 mph in the right lane with flashers activated; the poor rental truck’s transmission was likely operating at an extremely high temperature.