Axle Weight ?

OP HERE: I crawled further under the trailer this morning and found that the axle is a Lippert with a rating of 3,100 lbs. The tires have a rating of 1,760 lbs.

Thanks for all the input.
We sure never stop learning, do we? :)

An enlightening thread...

Michelle,
That is almost certainly a lippert axle. They come with a sticker on then showing which axle it is, but this many years later, the sticker may have come off.
I would guess that axle is rated at 2800 pounds gross, although it may be 3000 or possibly ( but not likely ) a 3500.
The numbers you are seeing on that sheet you posted above, as others have said, is approx how many pounds are on the axle when the trailer is manufactured. Everything you add to the inside of the trailer adds to the weight on the axle and the tongue.
Honestly, to get all the numbers that tell the whole story, the easiest way is to make three seperate passes over a three platform scale, like a CAT scale. The actual weight on your axle is different when you apply tension to your weight distributing hitch. The only way to really know is to weigh the truck and trailer in two passes, once with no WD applied, and againe with the weight bars tensioned.

Edit, one of the weak links in this chain of parts is the two 14" tires. You likely have load range C tires, and the weight limit of the pair of them is approx 3500 pounds when they are new.

look at not only the axle rating in lbs. but also the sum of the two tire ratings in lbs. whichever is lower is the axle load limit.

and per federal regulations since 2009, axle rating must be at least = GVWR-empty tongue weight.

Now yours is a 2008, so I don't know if the new federal regs were in place at that time or not. If not, mfg played all kinds of games with axle and tongue weights with undersized components.

I would recommend you believe what the dot safety plate says instead of looking for more. The axle itself MAY be rated for more weight but axle rating takes into account other things like all running gear and tires

mitch5252 wrote:

Francesca Knowles wrote:
"Axle weight 2043, gross weight 3335"?????

This seems crazy to me- how can "axle weight" be limited to over a thousand pounds LESS than the gross weight of the trailer???? Surely that can't all be carried on the tongue (which is given as less than 400 pounds)-?

My advice is to crawl under there and look at the specs on the axle itself....should be at least a make/model on there somewhere.

I tried. Couldn't find it. Where do I look?

I don't know if there's an industry-wide standard spot, but as an example Dexters made since about 2001 have name/sn stamped on the beam near the center. With that info you can get axle capacity from mfr.

Francesca Knowles wrote:
"Axle weight 2043, gross weight 3335"?????

This seems crazy to me- how can "axle weight" be limited to over a thousand pounds LESS than the gross weight of the trailer???? Surely that can't all be carried on the tongue (which is given as less than 400 pounds)-?

My advice is to crawl under there and look at the specs on the axle itself....should be at least a make/model on there somewhere.

I tried. Couldn't find it. Where do I look?

As said above, the axle weight of 2043 is dry. It is not a limit.

"Axle weight 2043, gross weight 3335"?????

This seems crazy to me- how can "axle weight" be limited to over a thousand pounds LESS than the gross weight of the trailer???? Surely that can't all be carried on the tongue (which is given as less than 400 pounds)-?

My advice is to crawl under there and look at the specs on the axle itself....should be at least a make/model on there somewhere.

No because axle rating does NOT include weight carried by hitch.

Hitch weight will be closer to 400-500 lbs with trailer fully loaded to GVWR of 3,335#. Hitch weight is usually 15% of GVWR

Old-Biscuit wrote:
It lists a 'dry weight' of 2278#
It lists a 'hitch weight' (dry) of 235#
It lists a 'axle weight' (dry) of 2043#

Sum of dry hitch & axle equals trailer 'dry weight'
So axle weight is the weight of trailer on axles (dry)...no weight of any options, LP, water

It lists a GVWR (max weight) of 3335# so axle is probably rated at 3000# (max weight on axle)

OP HERE.

This is all so confusing...

If the GVWR is 3,335 and the axle is probably rated 3,000, isn't that "overweight" on the axle?