How much weight is too much?

[Bob3Putt]

I have a 2011 RAM 5.7 Megacab which has a rated towing capacity of 11,150 lbs. I have been pulling a 10,950 lb Cedar Creek trailer for 7 years with it. Fully loaded the gross weight of my trailer is around 11,400 lbs. I have had no problems pulling it from New York to Seattle and up and down every steep pass in 5 states. I feel like the tow guides are a little conservitive and you can probably get away with pulling a somewhat heavier trailer than the truck is rated for. But now I am looking at getting a new 11,500 lb trailer. Fully loaded that would make it around 11,900 lbs. So I am wondering just how much weight I can safely pull. Am I safe in pulling 11,900 lbs with a truck rated for 11,150 lbs or is the extra 600 lbs going to be too much for my truck?

[Cummins12V98]

4x4ord wrote:
I've had as much as 11000 lbs on the pin on my SRW F350. The other day I used it to tow a piece of equipment that weighed over 36000 lbs and it seemed safe enough to me so long as I stayed under 50 mph.... it didnt have brakes. I go by you can do what you want as long as it seems safe to you.

Curious how did the rear tires look with 7k pushing down on each of them?

[ppine]

11,500 do I hear 12,000
Okay thank you. anybody for 12,500?

The engineers, designers and builders of modern vehicles know a lot more about them than you do.

[JIMNLIN]

boy..this one was rizzed from the long dead. Looks to beat the dead horse one more time. 🙂

[Lantley]

4x4ord wrote:
I've had as much as 11000 lbs on the pin on my SRW F350. The other day I used it to tow a piece of equipment that weighed over 36000 lbs and it seemed safe enough to me so long as I stayed under 50 mph.... it didnt have brakes. I go by you can do what you want as long as it seems safe to you.

Unfortunately there would be total chaos if we all went by that standard!:h

[Grit_dog]

^^
You're about 1 year and 3,746 "How much can I tow?" threads late to the party....

[4x4ord]

I've had as much as 11000 lbs on the pin on my SRW F350. The other day I used it to tow a piece of equipment that weighed over 36000 lbs and it seemed safe enough to me so long as I stayed under 50 mph.... it didnt have brakes. I go by you can do what you want as long as it seems safe to you.

[Lwiddis]

“and you can probably get away with pulling...”

Probably.

[blt2ski]

JRscooby,
Your question, 're gcwr being less than gvwr has been in my brain since said truck out pulled a rig with double the gcwr. I soon learned as I think mentioned earlier, or on a different thread, depending how speced, a truck may have a gvwr equal to gvwr. Then depending on if the truck drivers is setup for local vs over the road duty, the drive train may have different setups depending on how being used. The 3500 was great on a freeway, horrible for local steep slow speeds on hills. 2500, excellent for slower speed, steep local roads.
More than one way to look at how a rig can be speced for same weight.
Marty

[JRscooby]

blt2ski wrote:

I actually get a max 8000 lbs a gvw as my registered plate c
Is paid in 2000 lb increments. I can carry 8000 less truck which was 4600, my 2000 ref cab 2500 is 4800. 3400 for 81, 3200 payload for 2000. GCWR per Washington state patrol means gross combined warranty rating. I can run run down the road at 110,000 like you can with a tractor! I'm not going to recommend mind you. I could hook a 105,000 lb trailer and be legal. Performance would suck. Max . Speed would be under 10, maybe 20 mph. Moving a house, or trailer down the road would. Their is as I am sure you know, more to this than just licensing.
If I wanted to run down the road at 8600, I would need a 10k registration, I would be good to 10,000 gvw on the truck, giving me 5200 lbs of payload. Smart or dumb, up to you. I would be legal! I've been pulled over in my Navistar dump truck at 150% of door sticker, I was 1200 over licensed weight, got a 10 day up registration 2000lbs. Sent on my way. Manufactures door stickers mean squat to patrol. Only licensed weight, per federal bridge laws in US.
With this said, an LEO can and will get you off the road , if you are unsafe etc. Doubt it will be width, unless you are way over road bed . Engineer design limits.
Marty

Trying real hard to stand under this. I don't think I said anything about license weight. My only thought is that if the GCVWR is less that GVWR somebody messed up with the numbers.

[JIMMY034]

blt2ski wrote:
Jimmy,
Then don't tow a trailer that weighs more than the payload available of the tow rig! Otherwise, the tow rig is ALWAYS overloaded braking wise. A rig with a higher gcwr/tow rating does not have bigger brakes than a rig with a lower rating!
If your at gvwr, you have no trailer capacity. Hence why most states require brakes on towed rigs over 1500 lbs or so. I found d having brakes on a 2000 lbs trailer behind a 3500 dually made the truck brakes last longer, stopped quicker etc. No legal reason in my state to do so! I know I was safer!

Marty
Ps
Nice to see you posting again!

Thanks, good to be back. For a while anyway LOL.

[blt2ski]

Jimmy,
Then don't tow a trailer that weighs more than the payload available of the tow rig! Otherwise, the tow rig is ALWAYS overloaded braking wise. A rig with a higher gcwr/tow rating does not have bigger brakes than a rig with a lower rating!
If your at gvwr, you have no trailer capacity. Hence why most states require brakes on towed rigs over 1500 lbs or so. I found d having brakes on a 2000 lbs trailer behind a 3500 dually made the truck brakes last longer, stopped quicker etc. No legal reason in my state to do so! I know I was safer!

Marty
Ps
Nice to see you posting again!

[JIMMY034]

blt2ski wrote:
Jimmy,
You know better than to say that! Truck brakes stop truck, trailer the trailer. Depending on field test a cveo does, trailer brakes need to stop and or hold truck too! Or you get a failed brake ticket! Sit on side of the road until you pass braking test.
At here, if the trailer is over a min 1500 lbs, or max 4500 lbs, you are required to have brakes.
Marty

What I do know is you should always make sure the truck is capable of stopping the whole rig, should the trailer brakes fail. To rely on the trailer brakes always being there is foolish, and dangerous. That's why I've always, from day one of towing, been against towing at maximum capacity. But hey, that's just me. ??

[blt2ski]

Jimmy,
You know better than to say that! Truck brakes stop truck, trailer the trailer. Depending on field test a cveo does, trailer brakes need to stop and or hold truck too! Or you get a failed brake ticket! Sit on side of the road until you pass braking test.
At here, if the trailer is over a min 1500 lbs, or max 4500 lbs, you are required to have brakes.
Marty

[JIMMY034]

I'm sure it's been said already, but I don't have time to read every reply. You can pull anything, but can you safely STOP what you're pulling?

[blt2ski]

JRscooby wrote:

mich800 wrote:

JRscooby wrote:

blt2ski wrote:
Bought an 81 gmc new, had a 292 I6, Muncie 4 sp and 4.10s. 8600 gvwr, 8500 gcwr.

This looks like a real braking issue. If you load the truck it can stop a total of 8600 lbs. But if you hook up a trailer, it unloads the front axle so it can't stop as much, so the weight is reduced to 8500...

But you cannot hook up a trailer because you are over the GCWR. That is the conundrum. The second you hook up any trailer that puts the truck at GVWR you are automatically excluded from towing that trailer.

Are you saying the MT weight is equal to the GVWR? I would think it more likely that the truck would weigh say 5800 lbs. With a GCVWR of 8500 you could tow a 2700 lb trailer. But without the trailer you could load 2800 on it's back. I'm more inclined to think the numbers are wrong.

I actually get a max 8000 lbs a gvw as my registered plate c
Is paid in 2000 lb increments. I can carry 8000 less truck which was 4600, my 2000 ref cab 2500 is 4800. 3400 for 81, 3200 payload for 2000. GCWR per Washington state patrol means gross combined warranty rating. I can run run down the road at 110,000 like you can with a tractor! I'm not going to recommend mind you. I could hook a 105,000 lb trailer and be legal. Performance would suck. Max . Speed would be under 10, maybe 20 mph. Moving a house, or trailer down the road would. Their is as I am sure you know, more to this than just licensing.
If I wanted to run down the road at 8600, I would need a 10k registration, I would be good to 10,000 gvw on the truck, giving me 5200 lbs of payload. Smart or dumb, up to you. I would be legal! I've been pulled over in my Navistar dump truck at 150% of door sticker, I was 1200 over licensed weight, got a 10 day up registration 2000lbs. Sent on my way. Manufactures door stickers mean squat to patrol. Only licensed weight, per federal bridge laws in US.
With this said, an LEO can and will get you off the road , if you are unsafe etc. Doubt it will be width, unless you are way over road bed . Engineer design limits.
Marty