If your TV is maxed out - How far can you drive?

[JRS___B]

My question is, if I buy a fiver that is as much, or maybe a little more, than what my TV is supposed to handle, can I still gently tow that fiver a short distance if the need arose?

What I have in mind in particular is if I buy a fiver that really calls for a dually if it is going to be taken out on the road, but I neither have a dually nor intend to to take the new fiver out on the road, could I, "in a pinch", drag that ne fiver for up to 200 miles from campground A to campground B with a SRW?

Or should I just hire someone to move it?

[Allworth]

I'm sure I'll catch He== from the DRW fanatics for this, but THERE IS NO MAGIC IN DRW!!

You have twice as many tires, so you have twice the TIRE load limit. You have not changed the rear axle weight rating and therefore once the total load bearing capacity of the 4 tires becomes more than the load bearing capacity of the axle, the rest is wasted. Stability is a whole 'nother question and I have some Engineering opinions on that, too, but for another day.

The rest of a 3500 truck is a 3500 truck.

To the OP,

Load it up. Hook it up. Run it across a set of CAT scales and find out what your actual weights are.

[B_O__Plenty]

My rig was weighed. I am about 400# under my maximum combined gross weight when fully loaded. That's what my truck was designed for. I have about 17,000 towing miles on it. No problems of any kind..

[Alley_Fox]

How far???...'til it breaks...!

[JRS___B]

lillyputz - \

Running empty, 110 psi sounds like a hard ride and maybe even decreased traction on wet pavement.

What would you run them at when you are not towing?

[lillyputz]

On my 3500 single axel, QD/Cab, L/B Dodge. I went with the Toyo M608Z 245/70R 19.5 M&S tires. The rims are rated at 4500LBS and the tires are rated at 4540LBS at 110 PSI.

Lillyputz

[JRS___B]

donn0128 - Hey, I was 18 years old. Give me credit for even asking the foreman if I was going to fall through the fourth floor onto the third floor.

The load ratings of the floor were painted everywhere, so I figured it was kind of important.

The tires on my truck are LT265/70R 17. If I am correctly reading the fine print for a SRW application, the number is 3,195 pounds at 80 psi.

So I would not think tires will be the weak link if I graduated to a 16,000 pound fiver, or so, and just eased it down the road.

Based on everything I have read on this forum, at 17,000 pounds a person should skip the math exercise and just make the dually commitment. I have no problem with that logic either.

[pronstar]

donn0128 wrote:
I just do not understand the sort of logic that says it's OK to load up a truck as long as you don't exceed the limits of the highest rated component ignoring the limits placed on the complete vehicle by it's assembler? What sort of illogical logic it that???

In all of the examples cited above, the MFR's rating is based on the lowest rated component, not the highest. The ratings are for how the vehicle leaves the factory.

If the MFR's rating is based on the limit of the tires, and you upgrade the tires, then it's perfectly logical that the rating increases.

If the rating was based on the highest rated component, as you suggest, then the RAWR would be 10,120 lbs, which is what AAM rates the rear axle at. And no one is suggesting this is what we should do.

If "the complete vehicle" had any other changes, then your argument would make sense. But literally nothing else changes on these trucks.

[donn0128]

JRS based on that logic it is OK to cross a bridge with say a 5 ton load limit as long as your load does not exceed 10 tons? That sort of logic is one of the reasons given for the I5 bridge collapse over the Skagit river in WA state a couple of months ago. I just do not understand the sort of logic that says it's OK to load up a truck as long as you don't exceed the limits of the highest rated component ignoring the limits placed on the complete vehicle by it's assembler? What sort of illogical logic it that???

[JIMNLIN]

From your profile you may have a 3500 SRW Dodge/Cummins. The engine/tranny and the rear axle is the same as the 3500 DRW truck. The truck won't have any issue pulling a big heavy trailer.

As Bob and chuck mentions as long as your under the trucks axle/tire load rating your good to go and in particular the trucks 6200-6500 RAWR.

Many 3500 SRW Dodge owners over on the truck camper forum carry 3000-4000+ lb campers. They upgrade to higher rated tires and wheels and add air bags or other aftermarket rear suspension help.

Truck makers set the trucks GAWR which is well below the axle manufacturer ratings. The AAM is rated up to 11k lbs according to many sources. Dodge gives it a 6200-6500 rating for the SRW and a 9350 RAWR for the DRW so your not going to make it sweat any.

IMO your biggest concern is having enough tire/wheel/spring capacity and in particular wheel and tire from a safety standpoint regardless of how far you pull it.

[JRS___B]

donno0128 - I know there is a difference between static load and dynamic load.

But what I am thinking in regard to pulling a fiver is that it is the reverse of normal situations.

When I worked in a warehouse, many, many years ago, there was a loading limit per square foot for the floor of the warehouse. When I operated my electric forklift carrying a pallet of 55 gallon drums, and the drums were full of small steel parts or fittings, based on the combined weight of the forklift and the load itself, I exceeded the floor's limit for certain. But I was told that as okay because it as a dynamic load, not a static load. So in this case a static load was more stressful than a dynamic load.

But with a fiver, when I lift my front jacks the truck barely drops at all. So the static load is no problem. But if I am going 65 mph, and bounce through a lane shift as part of road construction, I tend to knock the dust off the helper springs. So in this case the dynamic load seems to be more stressful than the static load.

That is why I wondered if I could baby it along and not do any harm.

[pronstar]

donn0128 wrote:

Why?
Axle ratings are for one single component of the entire package. The axle rating is placed on the single item by its manufacturer. The assembler of the vehicle then determines what the complete package can carry. Regardless of what an individual part can handle. There is also a difference between static and dynamic loading.

Generally speaking, the rest of the truck doesn't get lower-rated components.

For example, generally speaking the RAWR on a DRW 1-ton "Brand X" will be more than the RAWR of a SRW 3/4-ton. Let's assume both have the tow package with the same rear-gear ratio.

With the exception of dual rear wheels and tires, and an overload leaf, EVERYTHING on these trucks are the same. Same axle. Same brakes. Same everything.

The RAWR for the DRW truck is higher due to the weight the rear wheels/tires & overload leafs are designed to hold, and nothing else.

If I add an overload leaf (or airbags) to the SRW in the above example, and I'm below my wheel/tire rating, then I would absolutely have no issue towing with it.

[donn0128]

Buckeye Chuck wrote:

Bob/Olallawa wrote:
If you are not over the gross weight of the trucks axles hook up and go. The truck will let you know if you are indeed too heavy for it to handle the load.

Agree with above statement. The axel ratings and the tire ratings are the most important ratings and from what I understand are the only ones that are enforced by state troopers. I am by no means an expert but if you are at the max of the other ratings or slightly over but well under the axel and tire ratings I wouldn't worry about the trips you described.

-BC-

Why?
Axle ratings are for one single component of the entire package. The axle rating is placed on the single item by its manufacturer. The assembler of the vehicle then determines what the complete package can carry. Regardless of what an individual part can handle. There is also a difference between static and dynamic loading.

[Buckeye_Chuck]

Bob/Olallawa wrote:
If you are not over the gross weight of the trucks axles hook up and go. The truck will let you know if you are indeed too heavy for it to handle the load.

Agree with above statement. The axel ratings and the tire ratings are the most important ratings and from what I understand are the only ones that are enforced by state troopers. I am by no means an expert but if you are at the max of the other ratings or slightly over but well under the axel and tire ratings I wouldn't worry about the trips you described.

-BC-

[Bob_Olallawa]

If you are not over the gross weight of the trucks axles hook up and go. The truck will let you know if you are indeed too heavy for it to handle the load.

[joebedford]

If it's a 1-ton SRW: sure. If it's a half-ton: no