2005 Chevy Silverado 1500, 4.8 liter V8
I only have a bumper with a ball, not a frame mounted hitch. I have no choice in this matter I'm basically being kicked out of my rental home by the end of the month and switching to RV life full tim...
Forum Discussion
That is a 30-foot trailer that has an empty weight of about 5100 lbs. Fully stocked with all your household goods it will likely weigh approximately 6500 lbs. That means the tongue weight will be closer to 750 lbs. (I assume you’re not towing the trailer with absolutely nothing in it). Add the fact that without a WD hitch the front tires of your truck will be unloaded by a couple hundred pounds. Now consider the likelihood of best case vs. worst case scenario. You willing to risk it?
Can I potentially counter balance the trailer and load my things in the back of the trailer in the bunk room while moving thereby taking pressure off the hitch?
Absolutely Not!!!
valhalla360 is right, but not vigorous enough in saying "make a trailer unstable" IMHO. Understatement of the year there. Putting extra weight in the rear of the trailer all but guarantees out of control sway with a high likelihood of catastrophic sideways overturn wreckage. Don't do it. Ever.
At the same time, it is important to understand what the extra 45 lbs means. It is not like there is a switch here and 45 lbs over destroys everything. When the manufacturer sets a spec like that, they are saying they guarantee it'll handle that amount, and that is their legal limit of liability. The law simply requires a line in the sand. It does not allow for the gray-scale that is reality.
So the deal is this: the extra 45 pounds is meaningless other than that Chevy is off the hook and you are on your own should it come to a lawsuit. Your truck is marginally less safe, marginally overloaded, and marginally more likely to break. The difference is a fractional percentage. Whereas at 600 lbs, you are 99.999 percent safe (NOTHING being 100% safe), at 645 lbs, you are now 99.998 percent safe.
You are more at risk of breakage from the age of the vehicle than from the 45 extra pounds. It is an older truck. It should be treated gently for that reason alone. So if the truck successfully drags that trailer to your first camp site, it'll be fine. Would I go out and buy such a truck for such a task? No. But in your situation, I wouldn't worry about it, either.
I also wouldn't take on a 900 lb load. That's called daring fate to strike you down. With stuck out tongue and raspberries.
I have since been moved to an RV Park by someone who has a V10 Excursion. I never even had a tow package added to my pickup. Just based on it's age and how it's acting and the fact that I use it as my every day vehicle doing deliveries, made me decide against it. I feel like I would tear up the transmission or something else vital to it's operation and I'd be down to no vehicles instead of one if I tried to pull the RV with it. So the plan is to buy a used 2500 or a newer 1500 because anything newer in a 1500 has higher tolerances I've noticed.
Don't try to underload the hitch...too little hitch weight can make a trailer unstable going down the road.
I don't have much of a choice here, no money for a frame mounted hitch. Have to be out by the 28th. If I don't move it my landlord will and he'll drop it wherever one time and that'll be it. If I have to move it again I'm screwed.
Welp then I’d take er for a ride now and see how it works so you know whether to invoke the landlord haul option (weird) or at a minimum you know what you’re up against in real life not advice from folks who know it’s significantly overloading your truck and frankly some of which are paranoid by-the-book towing anyways.
You know it’s a sketchy idea. You knew that before or wouldn’t have asked. Go see how it works. And sell a video game system for a trailer hitch.
way too many variables in your scenario.Brother, I swear man, I'm trying everything I can to make money. I've got every stick of furniture I have, a couple of tvs, a small pistol, my king sized bed, a fireplace/heater, etc ... up for sale on Facebook and nothing is selling. I've got 19 days to get out and figure this out with a bad back, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar that I just got out of the ER for.
