Braking when over weight
Hey guy's. I posted a couple other threads here about weights and most responses were of the mind set that yes im over weight but it looks like you should be ok. Sooo how will this affect my breaking?...
Forum Discussion
Cummins12V98 wrote:ScottG wrote:Cummins12V98 wrote:
Truck stops truck, RV stops RV.
That's internet urban legend stuff.
I have read literature from both Ram and Ford that describe how when combined weight rating rises, so must the trucks service brakes because it's part of the overall braking performance of the entire load.
My truck will stop the 14k it's rated for it will also stop the 15,750# the axles are rated for. Would I trust it to stop much more than that ? HE!! NO
It's not a matter of trust, it's just safe engineering (and good conversation BTW).
Imagine you've got a heavy trailer in tow and you have a panic stop. The massive weight transfer at that moment will have the front of the truck doing most of the braking for both rigs. The weight of both truck and trailer will push down and try to force the front wheels of the truck to keep turning while the brakes fight it back.
The front brakes of the truck will have tremendous impact on stopping the entire combination.
I've had to do this and the trailer unloads so much that it's wheels locked up when they never had before. In turn, the front of my truck with it's strong 14" discs would not even activate the anti-locks (the backs did activate).
I think we can all agree that more brake is better.
