Suspension advice needed

[berniross]

Recently weighed my truck and fifth wheel and discovered that the truck weighs 10,000 pounds with the trailer attached. That was without my wife and dog. That happens to be the GVWR also, so I am a bit overloaded. Will going to heavy duty shocks give me a little more capacity? What about air bags? Any other solutions?

[diplomatdon]

Slownsy, it was nice to see you apologized to W5CI. He understood the principle to what was being said. I know he doesn't have sliding axles, just as many other trailers don't. This doesn't mean you can't adjust the axle weight by moving the load. Your fifth wheel in the truck adjusts forward and back so you can adjust weight on the steering axle or the rear axle. Same principle with the trailer, move weight from in front of the axles to behind the axles will lighten the weight on the hitch, therefore lightening the GVW of the truck which was what he wanted to know. Similar to hauling a car on a tandem trailer, too much weight on the hitch, back up to the several inches until appropriate weight is achieved. Easiest way to understand is the teeter totter principle. Think about it. As far as weather he looks after his tires, air pressure whatever has nothing to do with his GVW issue. He was just looking to get legal with his wife, dog, himself and personal items in the truck. What I suggested will work and won't cost more than a little effort and scale ticket to get it right.

[Slownsy]

W5CR no I am sorry I didn't know his FW had those great fixtures, silly me again.
Frank.

[W5CI]

Slownsy have you never heard of sliding the Axels on semi trailers or Moving the fifth wheel to get the correct weight distribution on your axels. Mercy

[W5CI]

I would never say that my wife and dog would put my truck over Gross, that is Dangerous talk,just sayin

[Slownsy]

diplomatdon you may have many tousend of miles driving big rigs but you also states doing so legally and safely, I don't belive it a good idear to tell someone to ad weight out over rear of axles as you talk about Semitrailer not FW, you don't know the ratings of tiers, and he admits to not looking after them, ? Do hi checks his psi, and for ading larger tiers on rims that may not be right sies or rating. Maybe if he goes faster he will take som of the weight of the rear tiers. I forgot when he stops it all comes forward, silly me. Have a god day.
Frank.

[rhagfo]

Me Again wrote:

rhagfo wrote:


Looks like he bought the TV before the 5er, the TV is more than capable of towing the 5er, he is just close to the low Class2 10,000# limit, maybe Texas has a higher registration cost for over 10,000# GVWR.
I truly believe that GVWR is a number the engineers and marketing personal pull out of the air!!

Russ as you know, not every one needs a dually or wants one. In Ken's case "2013 HitchHiker 38RLRSB Champagne" he needs one whether he wants it or not.

Depending on the year and make, the 250/2500 and 350/3500 had very little differences. To take a 10 or 20K hit to change from a 250/2500 to a 350/3500 SRW does not make economic sense in a lot of cases.

Given all of that in makes NO sense to buy a 250/2500 if one has a 5th wheel or plans to buy one. Like you I had the 2001.5 2500 RAM built like a 3500 SRW before I purchase the larger 5th wheel. If they would have offered a 3500 SRW in 2001, I would have bought that.

However the doom and gloom of 250/2500 towing over GVWR has no standing in Federal Bridge Weight laws and states that license tonnage.

This is a learning process, snowbird parks have for years been full of 250/2500 towing very large 5th wheels. This is slowly changing as trucks age out. Few changed them out early for a near identical truck with different door emblems and placard. Chris

Yes, Ken needs a DRW, but the OP is a different case. His 5er is actually lighter than mine!

Technical Specifications:
2013 Crossroads Cruiser SK 305
Length 32' 10"
Dry Weight 9,090#
Payload Capacity 3,215#
GVWR 12,305#
Hitch Weight 1,905#

Easily towed/CARRIED with a 2500 of 2012 vintage!

My dry weight is 9,820# and a GVWR of 12,360# towed at just over 11,000#.

[Me_Again]

laknox wrote:


Hmmm, 3 sets on my truck and not a word from the installers about this, and I =know= they'd be trying to sell me wheels if it was a real issue. :h

Lyle

LT265/75R16E have a rim min/max of 7-8", and the rims GM used to OEM LT245/75R16E are 6.5" wide. Maybe you need a better tire shop.

http://rimringz.com/pages.php?pageid=53

[laknox]

Me Again wrote:

laknox wrote:


Unless the wife, dog and miscellaneous "stuff" you carry while towing bump this up to 10.5k, or more, you're probably pretty good to go. DO check to be sure you're not exceeding your axle and/or tire ratings, though; =especially= tires. An easy "fix" if you are. Simply change tire size and/or rating. My '02 D'max came with OEM 245 E tires. Going to a 265 E tire gave me almost 900 more lbs' tire capacity, and actually puts me just over the RAWR for my truck.

Lyle

Some mistakenly believe that the GM wheels that come with 245 tires are ok to mount 265 on! That rim is to narrow for 265 tires, causing the tire to really roll in at the bead. 265's belong on 8-8.25 rims for their best performance and handling. LT265/75R16E's with 3415 weight rating are great tires when installed on the correct rims. Chris

Hmmm, 3 sets on my truck and not a word from the installers about this, and I =know= they'd be trying to sell me wheels if it was a real issue. :h

Lyle

[Me_Again]

rhagfo wrote:


Looks like he bought the TV before the 5er, the TV is more than capable of towing the 5er, he is just close to the low Class2 10,000# limit, maybe Texas has a higher registration cost for over 10,000# GVWR.
I truly believe that GVWR is a number the engineers and marketing personal pull out of the air!!

Russ as you know, not every one needs a dually or wants one. In Ken's case "2013 HitchHiker 38RLRSB Champagne" he needs one whether he wants it or not.

Depending on the year and make, the 250/2500 and 350/3500 had very little differences. To take a 10 or 20K hit to change from a 250/2500 to a 350/3500 SRW does not make economic sense in a lot of cases.

Given all of that in makes NO sense to buy a 250/2500 if one has a 5th wheel or plans to buy one. Like you I had the 2001.5 2500 RAM built like a 3500 SRW before I purchase the larger 5th wheel. If they would have offered a 3500 SRW in 2001, I would have bought that.

However the doom and gloom of 250/2500 towing over GVWR has no standing in Federal Bridge Weight laws and states that license tonnage.

This is a learning process, snowbird parks have for years been full of 250/2500 towing very large 5th wheels. This is slowly changing as trucks age out. Few changed them out early for a near identical truck with different door emblems and placard. Chris

[rhagfo]

TXiceman wrote:
I am continually amazed at the number of people that will not buy the right tool for the job. Rather than try to prop up a truck with crutches, get a truck designed to pull/carry the loaded trailer within it's published ratings.

Ken

:h

The OP signature
"2013 Crossroads Cruiser SK 305
2012 Silverado 2500 Duramax"

Looks like he bought the TV before the 5er, the TV is more than capable of towing the 5er, he is just close to the low Class2 10,000# limit, maybe Texas has a higher registration cost for over 10,000# GVWR.
I truly believe that GVWR is a number the engineers and marketing personal pull out of the air!!

Example my 2001 2500 With Camper package has the same 8,800# GVWR as a non camper package, but has 3500 springs, rear sway bar, and larger 265/75-16E tires! Still listed at 8,800# GVWR and 6,084# rear axle rating (the capacity of stock 245/75-16E tires).
Now I have per build sheet more spring and more tire (My rear axle could be rated at 6,830#), in truth the 2nd Gen 2500 with Camper package were the SRW 3500 that Dodge didn't offer, just not listed that way.
I carry a 12,360# GVWR 5er without and suspension enhancements other than Bilstein shocks just fine.
I also had the TV before the 5er, and DW and I like our 5er very well.
I still weigh it from time to time, but it is no longer a concern to me.
Others have to make that choice for themselves.

[TXiceman]

I am continually amazed at the number of people that will not buy the right tool for the job. Rather than try to prop up a truck with crutches, get a truck designed to pull/carry the loaded trailer within it's published ratings.

Ken

[Me_Again]

diplomatdon wrote:
Well Frank it seems you don't understand what I was saying. I never said take all the weight off of the hitch, just several hundred to get his GVW down to where it is legal. Several hundred lbs is not going to affect the stability. A thousand yes but not couple hundred. Over 40 years experience and over 3 million miles. I know how to shift weight without destabilizing the handling. If you disagree then explain your reasoning.

Could you provide a link to "GVW down to where it is legal" in the State of Washington or any other state. Washington will willing license a pickup at a higher load than the manufacturers GVWR. Our 8800 GVWR 2001 RAM was licensed at 12K for 14 years and was legal to that amount in this state and any other that I traveled in.

GVWR is a manufacturers number and has nothing to do with Federal bridge weight laws or tonnage that states like Washington license.

Washington takes 1.5 times tare weight and then rounds up to next even K. So the 2001 was licensed at 12K, I could have requested 14K and paid a bit more, however I would have then gone over the tire limits.

For 5th wheels the TV RGAWR/Tires is a much better number(s) to be concerned with.

Chris

[transamz9]

diplomatdon wrote:
Well Frank it seems you don't understand what I was saying. I never said take all the weight off of the hitch, just several hundred to get his GVW down to where it is legal. Several hundred lbs is not going to affect the stability. A thousand yes but not couple hundred. Over 40 years experience and over 3 million miles. I know how to shift weight without destabilizing the handling. If you disagree then explain your reasoning.

I agree with you on this. I can't really tell a difference between having just my 5th wheel on the truck or having my 5th wheel on the truck with my boat on the back of the 5th wheel. The boat puts 500# right on the very back end of the 5th wheel.It doesn't change the ride or the handling enough to even notice.

On a side note though, my 500# is added to the 5th wheel at about 6" behind the rear cap on the outside. It removes around 300# off of my pin weight. If that 500# was added to the inside say 2' in from the back wall that number would drop to only removing 160# or so from the pin. now if one could take 300 or so pounds out of the basement or front closet and move it to the rear then you might gain some room on the truck but 300# is quite a bit of stuff to store in the floor. LOL

[Me_Again]

laknox wrote:


Unless the wife, dog and miscellaneous "stuff" you carry while towing bump this up to 10.5k, or more, you're probably pretty good to go. DO check to be sure you're not exceeding your axle and/or tire ratings, though; =especially= tires. An easy "fix" if you are. Simply change tire size and/or rating. My '02 D'max came with OEM 245 E tires. Going to a 265 E tire gave me almost 900 more lbs' tire capacity, and actually puts me just over the RAWR for my truck.

Lyle

Some mistakenly believe that the GM wheels that come with 245 tires are ok to mount 265 on! That rim is to narrow for 265 tires, causing the tire to really roll in at the bead. 265's belong on 8-8.25 rims for their best performance and handling. LT265/75R16E's with 3415 weight rating are great tires when installed on the correct rims. Chris