Any truth to this

To many people just want to know how much can the truck pull. Does anyone ever ask how much weight can the truck stop in a panic stop.

I worked for ford on the assembly line for 10.5 years. Then I bought an 18 wheeler and trucked coast to coast and border to border. I also owned a fifth wheel and drove my wife to all the places I saw with my big truck.

With all my experience my thoughts are all fifth wheels should be pulled by a dully at a minimum. A class 8 truck singled out would be better.

Before you say that is over kill,get 3 million miles over the road like I did with many types of trailers and all kinds of weather then you will understand why I say that. I also pulled my fifth wheel with a F250 99.5 4x4 7.3 and moved up to a 2006 F350 dully 6.0L. The dully was better but not the best as far as I was concerned. With all those miles I never had an accident. On the job or off the job. I got my license in 1958.

OK lecture is over. Thanks

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
No matter how many times it's stated on here or elsewhere, some people will still believe that those little stickers have some legal meaning. :R No matter how many times it is stated on here or elsewhere, some will believe that the truck brakes are meant to stop the trailer. :R

So ... when highway patrol cites someone for being over-weight, what is the basis? What do they use to judge the truck or trailer is too heavy?

transamz9 wrote:

Cummins12V98 wrote:
"Well, according to Ford, you can tow a fifth wheel to 16,300 pounds with a SRW. According to Redwood, their rigs are GVWR of 16,500"

Sure it can "TOW" that weight but can it "CARRY" 4,075# pin weight plus any other weight like hitch, cargo, humans???????

Open your eyes folks, the real question can it safely "CARRY" the load?????????

I would put that on my 3500 srw and not bat an eye. Can I do it safely? Sure I can. People seem to not understand that towing safely is the driver, not the equipment.

I know some people that if pulling a popup with a Kenworth, will manage to put it in a ditch or over a bank.

I also know some people that can pull a 30ft TT with a Chevy Luv and tow coast to coast with no problems at all.


No matter how many times it's stated on here or elsewhere, some people will still believe that those little stickers have some legal meaning. :R No matter how many times it is stated on here or elsewhere, some will believe that the truck brakes are meant to stop the trailer. :R

dodge guy wrote:
Yes it is true. Manufacturers do underrate the axles for that exact reason. If they rated them to the point where there could be a failure if maxed out, there would be failures of a lot of rear axles.

This is the answer. Just like anything else, the ratings are a compromise. You have an engineer that knows the true rating, you have a advertiser that wants the highest rating, and you have a lawyer/accountant who want the lowest rating to ensure the least failures possible.

If you left it to the advertiser, all trucks could pull 50K lbs!
If you left it to the attorney or accountant, your F350 would be rated to tow 2000 lbs.
If you left it to the engineer you would have some ding dong try to push the limits and sue when it broke prematurely.

Therein lies the compromise. The total weight rating is the lowest of all involved parts. Sure the manufacturer might rate the axle at 15K lbs... but that is the limit of the axle. Then you have to look at the brake ratings. Then you have to look at the wheel and tire ratings, then you have to look at the suspension ratings.

Then you have to consider the duty cycle. Ford isn't going to max out all their ratings and have a higher than acceptable failure rating. They want the Super Duty trucks to last for a long time... especially when they market them commercially.

I would guess that 20% margin of error is quite possibly true. But at the end of the day what matters is what you are registered for and what is safe. I have no doubt that these modern trucks are quite capable of towing to their max limits for a long time. Personally I wouldn't push the limits. I was over the limits of my Tundra with my new trailer. I could probably tow just fine for the next 5 years (until it was 10 years old and ready to be swapped out) and never have a failure or a problem. I didn't want to take that risk, especially with my bride and our 2 precious children in the truck.

Any truth to this;
"I have a 2015 F350 SRW, 2 wheel drive. A little bit ago I was talking to a guy that has the exact same truck hauling a huge Redwood fifthwheel. When I asked him about the limits of the truck and the weights of his fifthwheel, he said that he retired from Ford, and they reduce the number they put on the placard for the RAWR by about 20 percent. Said they (engineers) know that drivers are going to push the limits of the truck, so they just wanted to give them a little fudge factor.

Actually Ford reduces the RAWR on the F350 SRW more than 20 percent.
As Bedlam tells us "Ford's Sterling 10.5" axle has a 9750 lb rating".

Ford uses the 10.5" Sterling in the F250 and F350 SRW trucks with RAWRs from 6100/6290/6730/7000 lbs all depending on suspension/tires and wheel selections.

GM and Dodge/Ram does much the same with the 11.5" AAM rear axles rated at around 10k-11k lbs range that is used under the 2500/3500 SRW trucks.
Both have used RAWR numbers from 6000/6010/6200/6500/7000 lbs.
Both have rated the AAM 11.5 axle for their 3500 DRW trucks up in the 9350-9375 lb range.

AAM upgraded the 11.5" axle for the newer DRW Ram to a 11.8" axle with a 9750 RAWR.

donn0128 wrote:
Retired from where? The assembly line or certification engineering? Makes a lot of difference. Sounds like he was blowing a lot of smoke trying to justify what he was doing.
You only need to read tire load raring, look up RAWR to see that falsehood.

So true. I had a friend that when asked a question would ask if you you knew anything about the subject. If you said no he would say "great, I'm an expert". :B

TomHaycraft wrote:
Regardless of "fudge factors" and engineering, if Johnny Law or lawyers become involved, all that will matter are the stickers with GVWR on your truck and trailer.

As I don't have an engineering degree, I find it real simple to just go by the books. Simplifies things.

Those GVWR stickers are not law.

Yes it is true. Manufacturers do underrate the axles for that exact reason. If they rated them to the point where there could be a failure if maxed out, there would be failures of a lot of rear axles.

2oldman wrote:
Go by the truck's ratings. That's all you need to know. Everything else is BS.

How true. People like to think they are better judges than the manufacturer , and exceed it

Regardless of "fudge factors" and engineering, if Johnny Law or lawyers become involved, all that will matter are the stickers with GVWR on your truck and trailer.

As I don't have an engineering degree, I find it real simple to just go by the books. Simplifies things.