Forum Discussion

old_guy's avatar
old_guy
Explorer
Jan 22, 2014

answer to age old question

while reading the Feb 14 edition of trailer life just inside the inside cover is the chevy truck ad. Oh yes, the question should be first, excuse me. the age old question is "Will My truck tow this?" the answer maybe as stated in the ad, "The more you have behind you, the more you have ahead of you." just seems to be the correct answer.
  • I think the correct answer would be:

    "The more you have behind you, the more you NEED ahead of you?" :B
  • 4x4ord's avatar
    4x4ord
    Explorer III
    Our Peterbilt weighs in at about 20,000 lbs. We only use it for hauling a single tri-axle trailer so the gross combined weight is a little over 100,000 lbs. Most of the professional trucking outfits wouldn't think of hauling grain without using super b's in this area. The second trailer allows an additional 40,000 lbs to the gross weight. So if a 20,000 lb class eight can haul 120,000 lbs of trailer, they should be able to design a 5500 lb 1/2 ton to haul a 25,000 lb rv.
  • 4x4ord wrote:
    Our Peterbilt weighs in at about 25000 lbs. We only use it for hauling a single tri-axle trailer so the gross combined weight is a little over 100,000 lbs. Most of the professional trucking outfits wouldn't think of hauling grain without using super b's in this area. The second trailer allows an additional 40,000 lbs to the gross weight. So if a 25,000 lb class eight can haul 115,000 lbs of trailer, they should be able to design a 5500 lb 1/2 ton to haul a 25,000 lb rv.


    WOW! How is that Pete built? I have a Pete, C-15 engine, long wheelbase, biggest sleeper, 13 speed, and it weighs 18,000 empty. Even adding a tag axle would not get it to 25k.
  • 4x4ord's avatar
    4x4ord
    Explorer III
    mpierce wrote:
    4x4ord wrote:
    Our Peterbilt weighs in at about 25000 lbs. We only use it for hauling a single tri-axle trailer so the gross combined weight is a little over 100,000 lbs. Most of the professional trucking outfits wouldn't think of hauling grain without using super b's in this area. The second trailer allows an additional 40,000 lbs to the gross weight. So if a 25,000 lb class eight can haul 115,000 lbs of trailer, they should be able to design a 5500 lb 1/2 ton to haul a 25,000 lb rv.


    WOW! How is that Pete built? I have a Pete, C-15 engine, long wheelbase, biggest sleeper, 13 speed, and it weighs 18,000 empty. Even adding a tag axle would not get it to 25k.


    Woops. I got caught. 20,500 lbs would be closer. I was just coming back on hear to edit my post. I have never actually weighed the tractor on its own but the empty weight of the truck and grain trailer is 15500 Kg. I just looked up the trailer specs and it should be around 13,700 lbs empty. So the point of my post remains the same.