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Author Topic: Trailers and Vehicle Weight Ratings  (Read 1918 times)

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Offline GreyMichFX4

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Trailers and Vehicle Weight Ratings
« on: April 21, 2021, 12:06:59 PM »
Sorry this is going to be a little long winded. Ok, instead of monopolizing the Shout Box with Mike and my conversation about trailers and weight ratings I figured I would start a thread. So a little background on my question if people actually read the manual and follow the vehicle weight rating because they are obviously there for a reason. I have been trailer shopping for a little over a year now and I am going buy a trailer only once unlike the mistake I made buying too small a tractor. I have been looking mainly at Gooseneck Trailers because of capacity, stability, and the fact they just tow better than a tag along. A little about what I do for a living part of my job is vehicle purchase, outfitting, and maintenance of all of our equipment at work. I make it a point that while we may not have the nicest fleet running down the road I practice making it one of the safest so I have to know what the weights are and what we can fit on truck and not paint a target on our back with the DOT. I also have a Class B CDL so even though this is for personal use I'd like to think I hold my self to a higher standard especially since my last name is on the Stationary at work and I know too many of the State Police to give them a BS excuse that I didn't know. Ok, that enough rambling.

I have always had an idea of what my truck weighed but I needed the actual number so I weighed it yesterday since I'm getting pretty close to spending the money on ordering the trailer I want. My truck with me, full tank of fuel, and 100 gallons of Diesel in the transfer tank in the bed weighs a whopping 9900 pounds. With lowest GVW Gooseneck that Diamond C makes at 15500 it puts me at 25400 pounds which is 1900 pounds over the gross combined for my truck. I was also looking at the 25900 GVW rated trailer which put my gross combined weight at 35800 pounds a massive 12300 pounds over weight and that's squarely in Class A CDL territory no matter how you look at it. I see guys dragging these trailers up and down the highway all the time and now that I know what they actually weigh combined with a full load it's a little concerning.

Do people actually read the manual and pay attention the ratings or do they just not care? I really don't need to get into a accident because someone couldn't pull their nose out of their cell phone for 15 seconds at an intersection. Because I have a sneaking suspicion any accident lawyer worth their fee will crucify me when they find out I have a CDL even if my truck and trailer are used for personal use.

Am I overthinking this and making it more complicated than it should be?
Good enough never is

Offline Kitzy

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Re: Trailers and Vehicle Weight Ratings
« Reply #1 on: April 21, 2021, 07:27:11 PM »
I did a lot of research before buying the camper.  A lot of the same reasons applied that you are concerned about.  The numbers aren’t always as straight forward as they appear. 

My truck has a gvw of 14k.  My camper is 17k.  That puts me at a combined 31k max.  That is the number they will go with if I get pulled over as far as if my license is legal.  A standard license won’t cover that but a non commercial class A will, a class b will not.  It doesn’t matter if both vehicles are under the limits far enough that I physically tip the scales at less than 26k.  They only use the max numbers. 

Then they can factor in the trucks factory specs as to what it can pull.  Bumper weight vs fifth wheel and gooseneck vary on the same vehicle.  But if you know your trucks numbers then you know what the truck can safely pull in the eyes of the law.  The other concern is tongue weight or in your case, payload as the weight in going to be in the bed.  I have a 4800lb pay load so if I’m loaded up with 2k worth of gear including people and any cargo.  That only leaves me with 2800lbs to spare for the weight the camper puts on my truck at the king pin. 

There are so many different ways the numbers have to work and they could get you on any of them if it comes down to it. I personally did my beat to make sure the truck and camper are play nicely with each other on paper.  Just my license is currently not appropriate.

But to answer your question, no, people just don’t care.  Most F250s are overweight when it comes to payload with a fifth wheel camper.  That’s why I got rid of mine.  Loved the truck, it just was t enough truck for my needs.  F250s have very low payload ratings.


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