Over weight? Does it bother you?

[specta]

From spending time in here lots of people have said that they were over weight with the camper.

I'm over weight.

Does it worry you? Does it keep you from going where you want to go?

How much "cushion" do you think the truck and tire manufactures build into their products?

5%? 10%? 15%? 20%?

I have no worries about the capability of my truck or tires nor do I believe that I'm unsafe.

How about you?

[Kayteg1]

I bought my 1st 12' TC with F250 and even I bought new tires (with highest ratings I could find) for the trip, the scales show that camper overloaded rear tires by about 15%.
I made 2500 miles trip home just fine (in heavy winter) but even I removed rear generator, moved battery to front mount and such, the vision of tire blow with high COG made me buying dually 2 months later.
It is just not worth it.

[mellow]

It bothered me enough to upgrade to a DRW for mine. Now I can enjoy the ride. I also have kids and a wife with me, if it was just me it might be different.

[jimh406]

I’ve never been over GVWR for my F450 that is 14500. The F450 turns much tighter than even a SC F350 SRW. Of course, the brakes are much better as well.

I was overweight a few years ago. I found the Atkins diet to be helpful. 😉

Coincidentally, it corresponded with buying a SRW. At the time that I was looking, the generally school of thought was 10% wasn’t a big deal. I’d basically agree with that. Still, I added 19.5s for more room for error for the tires. I owned a SRW because a DRW simply wouldn’t work for my DD at the time. The parking garages just didn’t have enough room for a DRW/CC.

Later, I traded for a DRW/CC because even the SRW/SC was too big when I changed jobs. I will say the DW was more bothered by the SRW than the DRW. That’s pretty amazing considering that we carry absolutely everything we want including towing a TT for one trip with the additional people. DW drives and drove both.

I never felt comfortable doing that with the SRW. Instead, we carried the minimum which included minimum water and allways dumpted our tanks as soon as possible. A full or nearly full Black tank was really impactful on handling for the SRW. The DRW doesn’t care.

[twodownzero]

My truck camper exceeded the manufacturer's rated capacity of my vehicle.

I sold it to someone else and bought a fifth wheel that doesn't.

I don't think it matters by what definition you're overloaded. If you're over payload, GVWR, GCWR, tire ratings, the rating for either axle, etc., you're overloaded.

While there is probably a significant engineering factor for the vehicles themselves, for tires, I wouldn't expect there to be any. Truck tires are engineered to carry their full capacity for their usable life. I have not and would not ever overload a tire by even a single pound. That is seriously dangerous on a level way beyond overloading the truck itself by a few pounds.

Modern vehicles have tons of power compared to the ones from yesterday. When I started RVing the trucks were slow compared to now so it was easy to know when a truck was overloaded. Nowadays it's way less obvious handling and braking characteristics that are going to be the weak point, because the drivetrains themselves can certainly accelerate a very unsafe load to a really unsafe speed.

[specta]

JimK-NY wrote:
I was 30% over the GVWR for my first rig. I used it full time for a couple of years and several months a year for 5 more years. I had a Ram 2500 with a rating just under 10K pounds. The equivalent 3500 differed by wheel size and had one more spring in the rear. I improved the handling and capability of my truck with airbags and Supersprings. Eventually I also upgraded wheels and tires to 19.5s.

I really had no concern about the weight for the axles and truck in general. Tires were a different situation. In hindsight I should have upgraded tires immediately. Instead I ran through a couple of sets of tires and went 60K miles in the range of 5-10% over the tire ratings.

Just a couple more comments when it comes to tires. LT tires are rated differently than passenger tires. An LT tire is rated to carry the maximum load for the life of the tire. There is a considerable margin built in to the rating. The rating does include a safety margin BUT...... Tire performance is highly dependent on maintaining proper pressure. I always checked my TPMS to be sure the tires were properly inflated. Low pressure will cause a rapid build up of heat and quickly damages a tire. Secondly, tire performance is highly dependent on how the tires are used. Many RVs sit for long periods of time with little or no use. That is extremely hard on the tires. Dry rot occurs rapidly when a tire is NOT being used. I almost learned this the hard way. After 4 years under the bed of the truck, I put my spare into rotation. It looked fine when I put it on the truck. It sat in the driveway for a few weeks while I was preparing for a trip. In that time the dry rot became evident and the whole tire was covered with deep cracks.

Again, I no longer push the load rating for tires. In addition I am fanatic about tire pressure and I will not use a tire that might have dry rot due to age or lack of use.

Thanks. I'm a stickler on tire air pressure too.
I use my truck all the time so it really never sits for more than a few days at a time.

[JIMNLIN]

Over weight? Does it bother you?

Describe overweight on a rv forum and we have numbers and opinions all over the place. Examples;....
1. truck mfg glove box tc weight
2. truck mfg yellow tire placard payload sticker weight
3. trucks gvwr minus empty gross weight
4. a payload number on the vehicle mfg brochure
5. over a fawr or rawr
6. over tire or a wheel rating.
7. tow ratings
8. a states registered gross weight.....if required as not all states have that requirement

Myself having hauled heavy GN/5th wheel trailers in a eight state area living with dot regs.... I will not exceed a steer...drive ....or trailer axle ratings. RVers keep bring up the liability card when a gvwr is exceeded.
Over on the commercial side its not a legal or civil court issue. Same trucks on both sides.
A fawr or rawr can be the lessor of a tire...wheel...brakes...spring pack...axle assys capacities.

When I had TCs I used the same criteria.

[billtex]

stumper92 wrote:
With my previous truck I was over my GVWR by a good bit. However, I was under my axle weight, and tire ratings. I was not a fan of it but did not feel unsafe. My biggest concern was liability should I get into an accident. I believe if you stay within your axle and tire limits, and drive like you have some sense, you are safe.

This.

[JimK-NY]

I was 30% over the GVWR for my first rig. I used it full time for a couple of years and several months a year for 5 more years. I had a Ram 2500 with a rating just under 10K pounds. The equivalent 3500 differed by wheel size and had one more spring in the rear. I improved the handling and capability of my truck with airbags and Supersprings. Eventually I also upgraded wheels and tires to 19.5s.

I really had no concern about the weight for the axles and truck in general. Tires were a different situation. In hindsight I should have upgraded tires immediately. Instead I ran through a couple of sets of tires and went 60K miles in the range of 5-10% over the tire ratings.

Just a couple more comments when it comes to tires. LT tires are rated differently than passenger tires. An LT tire is rated to carry the maximum load for the life of the tire. There is a considerable margin built in to the rating. The rating does include a safety margin BUT...... Tire performance is highly dependent on maintaining proper pressure. I always checked my TPMS to be sure the tires were properly inflated. Low pressure will cause a rapid build up of heat and quickly damages a tire. Secondly, tire performance is highly dependent on how the tires are used. Many RVs sit for long periods of time with little or no use. That is extremely hard on the tires. Dry rot occurs rapidly when a tire is NOT being used. I almost learned this the hard way. After 4 years under the bed of the truck, I put my spare into rotation. It looked fine when I put it on the truck. It sat in the driveway for a few weeks while I was preparing for a trip. In that time the dry rot became evident and the whole tire was covered with deep cracks.

Again, I no longer push the load rating for tires. In addition I am fanatic about tire pressure and I will not use a tire that might have dry rot due to age or lack of use.

[stumper92]

With my previous truck I was over my GVWR by a good bit. However, I was under my axle weight, and tire ratings. I was not a fan of it but did not feel unsafe. My biggest concern was liability should I get into an accident. I believe if you stay within your axle and tire limits, and drive like you have some sense, you are safe.

[azrving]

Im over length too but I don’t worry about it, its no one else business.

[Optimistic_Para]

Details matter. How well distributed is the weight? Is the rear axle MASSIVELY overweight while the front axle is lighter with the camper on than it is without it?

Being a little overweight shortens the life span of components. You might, for example, find yourself changing brake pads and shocks more frequently.

Being a LOT overweight is dangerous.