horton333 wrote:
You now say you believe you went 300 miles at 1500# hitch weight, but earlier you said you thought 800# would break tires and axles "for sure"?? Anyway it's your trailer, but this has left me scratching my head.
Yes, You are right. The way i said it wasnt very good.
I thought I had the weights figured out using what the trailer mfr told me. I was wrong.
And yes I think over time overloading the hitch and vehicle rating will break something. I'm guessing the hitch will develop cracks in the welds, the rear tires could overheat because the total load on the rear axle exceeds the load rating of the tires, cant be good for wheel bearings, etc. whatever the failure mode, I think overloading by a substantial amount is a bad thing.
The hitch tongue weight rating is 600lbs, and I don't intend to exceed that rating. I think 800 is too much and worry that overage will break something over time. I didn't design the system so maybe there's enough design margin to handle 800lbs of TW, but I don't want to to find out.
