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?

[rhagfo]

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.

Getting a couple hundred pounds off the pin will not likely affect handling, but could effect the ride. Might lead to increased chucking due to the lighter pin.

As to making the TV unstable, REALLY :R, not likely it is a 5er. If you are within GRAWR, should not be an issue, that is your choice!

We have a 2001 Ram 2500 CTD, talk about low pay load! We got dealer to agree to allow us to hook the 5er up before signing papers, if I had excessive squat the deal was off! Well hardly any squat and even loaded, first trip to scale was a bit of a surprise, only exceeding GVWR, all others well within!

[diplomatdon]

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.

[Slownsy]

Yes and that makes for a unstable tov.
Frank.

[diplomatdon]

The OP stated that the truck GVWR was going to be several 100# over with passenger and dog in truck, not over GCVWR. With over 40 years of legally loading trucks of all sizes and combinations, it is all about where and how the trailer is loaded. To take weight off the hitch/truck move weight in the trailer from the front to the rear. If necessary add several hundred # to the rear and that will remove several hundred # from the truck/hitch. Very simply put it is the teeter totter principle. Heavy person on one end lifts lighter person on other end.

[TXiceman]

You really need to get individual wheel weight on the truck and trailer to see exactly where your load sets.

Ken

[JIMNLIN]

berniross wrote:
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?

Truck makers may choose any GVWR they want up to the sum of the FAWR/RAWR. Example is your truck has a 6200 RAWR and maybe a 4800 FAWR = 11000 lbs which includes brakes/tires/wheels and spring packs.

Its more important to weigh front and rear axles separately than a single gross weight. That way you know if a axle/tire/wheel/spring pack is overloaded.
Pay attention to the trucks rear suspension weights as its carrying most if not all of a trailer hitch weight/everything in the bed and a percent of folks in the cab.

[RCMAN46]

I tow a 5th wheel with a 05 2500HD Duramax.

I have not been able to get more than 40,000 out of a set of tires.

The truck is towing about 95% of the miles put on it.

I suspect those that claim more mileage out of a set of tires are not towing anywhere near 95 % of the time.

I am at 9880 lbs which is 780 lbs over my GVWR. I just made sure the second set of tires were able to handle the rear axle weight.

I rotate about every 7,000 miles and have noted the rear tires do wear significantly more than the fronts.

[goducks10]

ChooChooMan74 wrote:
Overloaded by just the wife and dog in a 2500 truck? I wouldn't sweat it. Worst case, leave the wife home :W Happy Camping

:B

[ChooChooMan74]

Overloaded by just the wife and dog in a 2500 truck? I wouldn't sweat it. Worst case, leave the wife home :W Happy Camping

[laknox]

berniross wrote:
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?

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

[WE-C-USA]

Berniross, I've been running my rig since new. The MAX that I've ever got was 35,000. My current tires have 25k, with fairly good tread but, I'm still on the fence about putting another 5+k, on them during a fall trip to Oregon.
More than likely I'll buy new before the trip.

[IdaD]

justafordguy wrote:
The 10K gvwr limit on your 2012 2500 is more for registration and manufactures warranty purposes than actual capabilities. Make sure your registration is right for your actual weight and that your rear tires and wheels can handle the weight and you will be good to go.

Pretty much this. On diesel 3/4 tons you need to watch your tire and axle ratings. And honestly if you bag it or put Timbrens on there's no reason you can't go up to the equivalent SRW 1 ton axle rating as long as the tires are good for it - the components are all the same except for the rear suspension/springs. GVWR on a class 2 truck is maxed at 10k and that can lead to some artificially low payload ratings.

[berniross]

Thanks to all who responded to my post, I am feeling more educated all of the time.

Actually the trailer pulls well and rides perfectly level. The main reason I brought it up was that I wore out the truck tires at 35K miles, and that seemed early. The rear tires definitely wore notedly more than the front. I will admit to not rotating frequently enough.

Thanks again.

[goducks10]

Bag it and go for it. Running a few 100lbs over GVWR won't hurt a thing. Not that I'm in the right or anything but I'm running 200lbs over my 9600 GVWR and can't tell a thing. I too have a 2500 albeit a Ram. Only difference is spring pack. I'm well under my RAWR, tow rating and GCVWR. If you are too then bags would be the ideal way to go. I honestly sometimes forget the 5er is back there, especially when on a long trip down the freeway. If being over by a couple 100lbs means something drastic will happen then I'm still waiting to feel it. Been running 3 years this way and wouldn't change a thing.
Just curious, why do you think you need bags or something? Is the rear sagging real bad?

[justafordguy]

The 10K gvwr limit on your 2012 2500 is more for registration and manufactures warranty purposes than actual capabilities. Make sure your registration is right for your actual weight and that your rear tires and wheels can handle the weight and you will be good to go.