Overweight Toyhauler Dilemma!!

[AdvSeekers]

We finally got around to weighing our toyhauler and it confirmed that we are indeed overweight. The scale says we weigh 14,660 lbs. total with all of our belongings on board. The trailer is a 2010 Keystone Fuzion 302 that has an empty weight of 11,195 and a payload of 5164 that includes the hitch weight of 2365. (Just realized through our recent research that Keystone does that with their weights, which means that we were erroneously assuming that we could haul 5164 lbs. of cargo.)

Unfortunately, we aren't really able to lose much weight off of our total without getting rid of a motorcycle or two which would defeat the purpose of living on the road for us! According to my calculations we are hauling around roughly 3500 lbs. of motorcycles, tools, gear, food, dishes, TVs, etc.

We're not really sure where to go from here, but neither of us are excited about living on the road full-time with an overweight or nearly overweight trailer, since that will surely cause problems down the road.

What are our options? Can we modify our current trailer to be able to carry more weight, or would we be better off upgrading to a larger, more capable setup? I'd hate to spend a bunch of money upgrading our current setup only to end up still not having enough trailer in the long run.

Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[Gemstone]

"Our weight problem is a direct result of hauling 3 motorcycles, 2 bicycles, riding gear, spares, tools, etc. in order to do our hobbies".....

While it may not be a solution to everyone with too much "stuff", you might consider doing what we did to accommodate everything we just "needed" to have. A 20' cargo trailer, pulled by a second vehicle fits 2 scooters, extra clothes, tools, spare tires, full size grill, 2 kayaks, 2 bicycles, folding chairs, hobby stuff, cabinets for storage, etc.
This way we did not have to sacrifice creature comforts of a nice RV for those of a more spartan TH.
Just something to consider...

Regards
Gemstone

[AdvSeekers]

valhalla360 wrote:
I'm still confused by the numbers given.

Maybe call around and find a scale (lot of truck stops have them) that can give you an axle by axle weight including the truck.

I suspect the crude numbers from the scale you used are telling far from the whole story.

If you are only over by 300#, I would seriously consider trimming the load by 300# before completely redoing the undercarriage.

As soon as we get back on the road we are planning on going to a better scale that can give us a better idea of how much weight is distributed where. The plan on the trailer at this point is to put 4 new tires on it- load range G, rated at 3750 apiece and installing the Mor/Ryde system with an extra cross member to brace the frame.

After finding out the initial plan of converting to 7k axles and upgrading to 17.5" wheels and tires was going to cost way too much, we decided to give the plan above a try. If we have problems in the future that make us wish we had done the expensive plan we may just end up getting a heavier duty trailer instead.

I agree with your final statement 100%- we are planning on losing some weight for sure. I need to go through my stuff in the garage and weed out some of the less necessary stuff (yet again!) and we've also thought to get rid of some of the amenities in the trailer that we won't use. First on the chopping block is the Happi-jac bunk beds in the garage, and we may lose the Cummins Onan in favor of a lighter solar setup in the future as well.

[valhalla360]

I'm still confused by the numbers given.

Maybe call around and find a scale (lot of truck stops have them) that can give you an axle by axle weight including the truck.

I suspect the crude numbers from the scale you used are telling far from the whole story.

If you are only over by 300#, I would seriously consider trimming the load by 300# before completely redoing the undercarriage.

[AH64ID]

Fulltimer50 wrote:
I gotta ask: How do you know you have 6k Axles? Dexter 6k axles have 6 lugs and 15" wheels. If you have 16" wheels and 8 lugs you have at least 7K axles.

Dexter does make a 6K 8 Lug axle, and not just because it's on the OP's trailer. It's on their website as well.

I do believe that 6K's, even with 6 lug, with have 16" tires. I haven't found any 15's that will support 3K a piece. Maybe they come with under rated tires??

[AdvSeekers]

traveylin wrote:
For a real toy hauler you might consider a 2013 Peterbuilt 587, with a 2014 Dorsey E-van behind. No weight limitations.

pops

If money were no object, I'd love to have an overkill setup like that! Although, I could see having a rig that size limiting what campgrounds and parks I could stay in.

[AdvSeekers]

Fulltimer50 wrote:
I gotta ask: How do you know you have 6k Axles? Dexter 6k axles have 6 lugs and 15" wheels. If you have 16" wheels and 8 lugs you have at least 7K axles.

It's stamped on the axles as well as on the GVWR sticker on the side of the unit.

[Fulltimer50]

I gotta ask: How do you know you have 6k Axles? Dexter 6k axles have 6 lugs and 15" wheels. If you have 16" wheels and 8 lugs you have at least 7K axles.

[AH64ID]

AdvSeekers wrote:
The wheels are rated at 3200 lbs. apiece, but the max psi is 85 which is going to limit us on upgrading tires. The Maxxis tires have a max load of 3420. Also, it looks like the bore size for the wheel is going to limit us on what heavier duty wheel we can get, so now it looks like we might as well do axles to get the smaller bore hub so we can get a 17.5" wheel, so we can get a higher rated tire! I feel like I'm running in circles on this!

Before you go spending a ton of money I would weight the axles....

[traveylin]

For a real toy hauler you might consider a 2013 Peterbuilt 587, with a 2014 Dorsey E-van behind. No weight limitations.

pops

[AdvSeekers]

ah64id wrote:

Interesting, I would have thought a Sep 09 brochure was the MY2010 brochure.

I don't think you need new wheels, those 16's should be rated for at least 3400lbs, and possibly 3750. The Maxxis may not be the best tire, but it is rated at 3450lbs, more than enough. A good 235/80/16 will be enough.

If you are upgrading wheels thou I would go with 17.5" ones and LRF or LRG tires.

Get it weighed so you know if you are working the suspension/axles too hard or not.

The wheels are rated at 3200 lbs. apiece, but the max psi is 85 which is going to limit us on upgrading tires. The Maxxis tires have a max load of 3420. Also, it looks like the bore size for the wheel is going to limit us on what heavier duty wheel we can get, so now it looks like we might as well do axles to get the smaller bore hub so we can get a 17.5" wheel, so we can get a higher rated tire! I feel like I'm running in circles on this!

[AH64ID]

AdvSeekers wrote:

I guess we should have bought an '09 instead of a '10. It's hard to believe that a manufacturer would go backwards on something like axles, but ours are most definitely 6k.

Our current wheels and tires are the stock 16" wheels with Maxxis 8008 in 235/80/16. The tires are actually what started our whole problem. The belts in both tires on the right side are separating, causing the tread to bulge out. We're on borrowed time with these tires, hence the importance of figuring this problem out ASAP.

The shop that is going to do our work is planning on installing the Mor/Ryde SRE system.

At this point, I am leaning towards just doing the Mor/Ryde and wheels and tires. Hopefully that will be enough to give us some peace of mind and if we end up having problems with the 6k axles, we can upgrade those later on.

Interesting, I would have thought a Sep 09 brochure was the MY2010 brochure.

I don't think you need new wheels, those 16's should be rated for at least 3400lbs, and possibly 3750. The Maxxis may not be the best tire, but it is rated at 3450lbs, more than enough. A good 235/80/16 will be enough.

If you are upgrading wheels thou I would go with 17.5" ones and LRF or LRG tires.

Get it weighed so you know if you are working the suspension/axles too hard or not.

[Fulltimer50]

Remember that most anything you do to "Beef up" the trailer will add weight as well. You can beef up the tires and axles which will help but you cant change the frame.

[AdvSeekers]

ah64id wrote:

AdvSeekers wrote:
The shop called about 7pm tonight and I have some options to think about. I think the plan from here is to swap out the 6k axles for 7k axles, install the Mor-Ride system, and do new wheels and tires. I originally wanted to upgrade to electric over hydraulic disc brakes, but I think that is going to add too much to the cost for now.

Hopefully we'll have this issue addressed before it has a chance to become a real problem.

Thanks to those that had some helpful feedback and I'll let you know how it all ends up.

They may be 6K axle, but the 09 brochure shows them at 7K. Are the 8 lug or 6 lug? What does the sticker say?

Just want to verify first.

What is the weight rating of your current wheels and tires? They should be LRE 235/85/16 right?

Are you talking about the Mor/Ryde independent setup, or the CRE or SRE system?

I guess we should have bought an '09 instead of a '10. It's hard to believe that a manufacturer would go backwards on something like axles, but ours are most definitely 6k.

Our current wheels and tires are the stock 16" wheels with Maxxis 8008 in 235/80/16. The tires are actually what started our whole problem. The belts in both tires on the right side are separating, causing the tread to bulge out. We're on borrowed time with these tires, hence the importance of figuring this problem out ASAP.

The shop that is going to do our work is planning on installing the Mor/Ryde SRE system.

At this point, I am leaning towards just doing the Mor/Ryde and wheels and tires. Hopefully that will be enough to give us some peace of mind and if we end up having problems with the 6k axles, we can upgrade those later on.

[AdvSeekers]

FireGuard wrote:
Has anyone determined how much overweight the trailer is?
I'm sure it will be pretty expensive to change axles and wheels/tires.
If not that much overweight, I don't think I would worry about it.
Also, how often do you change campsites? If you have tools or small heavy items, throw them in the rear of the truck while driving and transfer back to the TH when set up.

According to the GVWR sticker, it appears that we are only a little over 300 lbs. overweight. It isn't much, but I would prefer to have a bit more wiggle room and ideally we would be a bit underweight.

As for the cost, I am weighing (no pun intended) my options right now. I've completely given up on the disc brake conversion because that was going to make this ordeal cost enough to start considering trading our current trailer in!

I had the same idea about putting some more weight in the truck, so I'll give that a try. I've got some tool boxes that are pretty heavy, despite not taking up much space, so I could probably find some room for them elsewhere pretty easily.