blt2ski
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Re: 2018 Ram 2500
You could do that here. Your door sticker would not change. I can go from a say 265 width single to a mid 300 width tire with the same ply, load rating etc, the wider tire would have a higher carrying capacity, up the springs if need be, and get more capacity too. One does many times have to change out the rim, deal with back spacing etc too. Nothing illegal about. I've done it, been pulled over etc, not tickets because of it. Many large truck firms are changing out their duals to super singles for various and sundry reasons. One ie single is about 100-150 lbs heavier weight per side of an axle than a single aluminum rimmed setup. That gives ea truck with 4 tandem dual axles another 800-1200 lbs of payload, The drivers use less HP to turn the drivers, as the tires are lighter! Better MPGs. Granted a tenth or two. 9.8 to 9.9 with a fleet of 300-500 trucks driving 100K miles a year. adds up to a few dollars. Along with the potential for fewer overload tickets per axle This is harder to do per say with what is a completed vehicle, ie a pickup vs a cab and chassis that semi's are. It does come down to 25/35 series trucks too. You can add drop axels, heavier springs, change out the tire size etc. At the end it is up to the final body manufacture to certify the upgraded GVW of that vehicle. Think of the type C van body, Type A MH that got to the RV manufacture as a chassy only. These RV's you see with Tag axles are aftermarket add-ons from the chassis manufacture. Totally legal to do. I know of a topsoil, bark, rock supplier, that put drop axles on the 3 axel dump trucks. IE a steer and tandem rear. it was not so they could carry more weight per say. It lowered the number of times being stopped, weighed at scales with too much weight on the front axle. They were under their total paid for gvw, but over the amount they could have on the front axel. It happened with the rear, the front was 70-80% of the overweight tickets. My Navistar, I went to a slightly wider higher capacity tire, I went from a max of 19200 on the rear to 20K, front from 9600 to 12K lbs. Believe it or not, my 05 and 89 DW trucks, also had an approx max 32K I could put on those axels the way the laws read based on tire tread widths. Not that I would recommend one putting 20 on the rear, and 12 on the front axle of a 35 series truck. My Navistar is 16.5 on the rear and 8000 on the front. Me running down the road at the usually max loads of 24-25K with a paid for license of 26000, was not an issue. Original per Navistar was 18000 due to tires. 12000 rear 6000 front. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the above it legal in Canada too. I do know some states do not allow drop axles for additional weight capacity in the ways I've described. OR another some dump and cement trucks are using, is a drop axle that is raised off the main road but dropped so it is behind the chassis of the truck. If a typical tandem rear, single steer axel truck has 2-3 single drop axle between the tandem, and steer, along with the rear drop axle, you can add a few lbs to what you are carrying etc. Also, lifting a vehicle can be done too. Problems here, is most states have max height rule/law/regulation for head lights. The lifting is not the problem per say, but you get red tagged pulled off the road or equal to your head lights being too high! Too tall heavy of tires will affect how quick you can stop! You fail the field test of stopping with in x feet. Red tagged, not getting off the road without a tow, on a role deck or low boy trailer! If one thing you think will get someone in trouble, but doesn't, there is probably a rule that will knock them off the road while part of the weight, lifting etc was the cause, it is NOT THE EFFECT of how they got taken off of the road! I should point out too, for those of us old enough to remember the first Ford Monster trucks, they were not lifted compared to some of todays NEW trucks, that much higher! Todays versions are not even real pickups per say.0Views0likes0CommentsRe: 2018 Ram 2500
rmdbauer, After all the giberoush below. GO find yourself a 5W with dual 5K axles, empty weight if you can in the 7-8000 lbs range. Also make sure it has the smooth fiberglass walls, no front bedroom slide. You can load this to around 11-12000 lbs, 2500 or so on the hitch, the rest on the axles. you will then be below all your manufacture performance ratings. You are beyond warranty time, so you are the warranty check book be yours to pay it under or over your ratings. The fiberglass walled versions will be 400-800 lbs heavier than a corrugated aluminum wall version, but due to better aerodynamics, easier to pull overall, get you better mpgs etc. NO you will not be the fastest rig on the road! You will have to spend $80-100K on a TV with one of them thar 400/1000 diesel crew cab pickumups to get what one person says you need to pull a 12K trailer. I had the ability with my 2000 2500 reg cab C2500, other than the motor that came with it. If I would have had a 454, 4.56 gears GCW is 20000 lbs, vs 13500 with the 350 and 4.10 gears. This 2500 had all of 400 lbs less payload than my 05 DW Crew cab dmax diesel per the payload on the door label! BIG trucks vs smaller trucks do not mean better in all ways! Enjoy RV'ing! Marty16Views0likes1CommentRe: 2018 Ram 2500
Stir crazy, Yes, I can get a fine for being overloaded per say. It will not be because I am over a manufacture limit! It will be because I have not bought enough tonnage. IE in my 1500's case, If I had bought gotten a 6000 gvw plate vs the 8000 I chose, went down the road at 7200 lbs per GM's warranty weight rating, I am 1200 lbs overweight per my paid for registration. "GENERALLY SPEAKING" I would not get an actual ticket. Probably a 10 day up my registration by 2000 lbs to 8000. We buy tonnage here in Wa state by 2000 lbs increments. I had this happen in my dump truck one. Cost to me, $15-20 IIRC. Approximate cost per ton I pay for my trucks. Personal or commercial use. I've seen a person or two in Oregon say they got weighed and had to buy a new truck with correct tonnage to pull there RV. I would swag probably they had not BOUGHT enough tonnage for the truck/trailer combo they had to pull their RV. All they really had to do was pay more tonnage on their current truck/trailer combo. BUT the story goes they had too small of a truck! A vehicle with a gcwr of 12K with a V6 vs a V8 at 15000. The V6 rig at 15000 is no less or safer than the V8. OTHER THAN it can pull grades faster! Or it might be able to pull a steeper grade in 1st grade with-out stalling. Then again, as I have had rigs with BIGGER Motors get out pulled by rigs I've owned with smaller motor, due to lower overall gears in axel and transmissions, allowing them to pull a steeper grade without stalling. Above hence why a GCWR is a performance rating. WHAT is the spec that this rating meets? What I want the truck to do, vs you, vs an engineer at the manufacture? OR how much does the manufacture want to limit their warranty pay out for parts that break. I only know of one jurisdiction that truly enforces the manufactures weight ratings, that is British Columbia. IF a US state only enforces the manufactures ratings, then as I've noted many times, that state is not enforcing the "Federal Bridge Laws" which is the truck weight law in our country. That states federal dollars for road maintenance and new roads can be withheld. This is the engineer spec that LEO/CVEO enforce. What the roads are designed to carry per axle. A state can go higher, ie Wa st if you have a dually you can put 600 lbs per inch width of tire on that vehicle up to 20K lbs per. singles it is 500 lbs. If a state enforces less than 500 lbs, they are going against the minimum std of the FBL. A state can allow more. More damage to the roads can occur. With ALL the above said for who knows how many times I have posted this, an leo/cveo can get you off the road if you are a menace to society. Generally speaking, it can be because of weight only. Brakes are over loaded and do not meet a field test, ie stop on a level from 10 mph in X feet. Battery on the towed rig has a 11.5V or less to activate the trailer brakes. Trailer brakes so not hold the Truck at a stop or at least have all the tires locked up when starting up. I do not know of a law that says the truck has to stop the trailer! These are things that can stop most of us, as we have some time or electric braking system. Surge has other field tests to see if the brakes work etc for the trailer or some laws state "Towed vehicle" meaning a literal trailer or a towed car. I can give more examples etc of what can get you off the road. Literally being overweight as most of us would think of being overweight is few and far between. Even with semi commercial vehicles. Marty0Views0likes2CommentsRe: 2018 Ram 2500
You realize the current tow ratings only have a 35mph without overheating the motors on a 5% grade! Less than minimum speeds in two states I mentioned. Yes faster than you went, but still under minimum speeds. I've been there with 3500's, even my navistar goes over i90 snoqualmie at 30 mph at 20-22K lbs. THen again, I have a whopping 175hp /335 lbs of torque, Yet it can pull a 30% grade at 30K! My 05 dmax can do 55-60 over I90 at 20-22K lbs, but cant pull but 20K at a 27% grade. Twice the HP, twice the torque, yet one spec is better on both, the other less than the other. Reality, more to towing than just the GVW of the rig. Also one has to know what the thing is setup to do. Those late 70 to mid 80 Toyotas were decent trucks for there size etc. I out hauled more full size 15 series rigs by lbs than I can quote with my 76 Wish I still had it. BUT, again, if you would have been pulled over, weight would not have been the key to your problems. Stopping, asset dragging, swaying by more than 12-18' per side etc, to the point you are considered unsafe, those regs will hurt you, and get you off the road. The weight laws are there to protect the publics owner ship of the roads. Along with collecting the tax to cover you damaging the roads. Even if you are over the axel limits I mentioned, LEO's can still let you run down the road, after you pay the piper for being over the limits. This also assumes you have a safe rig etc. Weight laws go back to wagon roads in the early 1800's. THere were no manufacture specs like we have today. Hence axle limits, and lbs per inch width of the tire. Thats how horse carts were measured to be over or under weight! Same as today. States can allow over 500 lbs per inch of tire, here a DW rig gets 600 vs singles at 500. At the end of the day, no one is suggesting the OP run down the road at any legal maximum weight. Most if not all of us, have said 14K for that drivetrain is too much. A SW 35 vs a 2500, usually has no difference, Ford it is or was a 2" block between the axle and springs. Some SW trucks today, have more carrying capacity than a DW. Most DW in reality, more than a SW from a pickup standpoint. But there are SW setups that carry more than DW setups. Just not popular. There is not a one size fits all in this game. Marty0Views0likes4CommentsRe: 2018 Ram 2500
I'm going to point out another fallacy regarding you get manufactures ratings. ALL them 18 wheelers you see going down the road. Most have drive and trailer axles good to 25K lbs. Yet in a tandem situation, ie axles closer than about 8-9', you get 34K between them, or 17K per axel. If between about 8 and 12', you get 18500 per axle, and space enough apart, you get the 20K per axle. Hence why you see some flatbeds with the trailer axel spread way apart. No tare added to the trailer weight, yet you can put an extra 3000 lbs per axle load on them! You limit is still less than the manufactures ratings! There are some vehicles that do get up to 25K per axle. Bus chassis for example, which can include in the RV world some Type A motor homes. BUT< to reiterate, to get these load limits, you will need enough paid tax/registration to go down the road legally speaking. You can also get an overweight ticket, still being under your paid for registration. If your paid for registration if say 32000 lbs, Your at 30000 lbs. BUT, your rear axle is at 21000, you will potentially get an overweight ticket of 1000 lbs. If your a real asset about this, even if not, the LEO can make you move the load around, such that you have 20K or less on that axel. So in the case of one sod farmer driver I know, he had to get his forklift off the trailer and move the pallets around, so his drive axles were under the 34000. He was legal in Canada where he was coming from, but illegal here in Wa St. I can name other examples how things get enforced too from multiple classes with CVEO's from the WSP. Mostly on under 26K gvw be it combined or solo rig examples. ALL of these CVEO referred to manufactures ratings a "Warranty/performance" ratings. One literally said he could not care if you want to put a 100,000 lbs properly loaded trailer behind a toyota 4 banger pickup, destroy in 100 miles driving down the road. All he cared about was weights on the axle, stopping ability, and could it go the proper speed down the road! I will swag, most states have weight police following similar laws rules etc. Marty0Views0likes7CommentsRe: 2018 Ram 2500
Slackware, Grit and I live in one of them states where manufactures ratings are not something we follow. My 1500 is registered at 8000 lbs, as is my sons GM 1500, and other sons Toyota Tundra . None of these have an 8000 lb manufacture rating. ALL weigh about 5000-5400 lbs empty. LEGAL registration is tare x 1.5 to next higher ton! or close to it any how. 5400 x 1.5 is 8100. Hence all three of us pay for, and are legal to 8000 lbs. I can legally go to 500 lbs per inch width of tire to 20K per axel. WIth my 11" tires, I get 5500 per corner, 11000 per axel total of 22000 gvw. Now that I have said the above, the enforcement officers that enforce weightlaws, are enforcing the engineers max point load for the road bed! NOTHING to do with manufactures warranty weight ratings! I've been pulled over at 150% of Navistars rating for my dump truck. I have yet to get an over-weight ticket! Because I am under the FEDERAL BRIDGE LAWS, which is the point load rating I mention above. IF ANY state does not allow you to drive at up to or equal to these laws, there federal funding for roads can and will be withheld! Your point of 48 states follows the manufactures rating is completely incorrect. If I go to Wa states weight laws, RCW 45 and 46 if you want to know where to look! It is very clear you get maximum weight per axel tire etc to no effect this state from collecting federal road taxes per the Federal Bridge Law. Bridge by the way, means spreading the load on ANY type road bed so damage is not occurring to that roadbed, be it on terra firma, soft terrain, or a bridge! There is an Illinois retired CVEO that posts on here that will tell you, you don't know the weight laws. Illinois does not follow manufactures ratings, Montana does not follow manufactures ratings. Pickups get a choice of 7500 or 15000 max legal gvw for the vehicle. Where you will get in major trouble, is braking if you go down the road at max weight law specs. You will not stop within the field test spec. SO, you get a failed braking ticket, you will have to have your rig towed or put on a trailer, flatbed or equal to a place that can fix your brakes to stop said load. You can't legally drive your rig down the road, until inspected at least in Wa st, by the WSP! Showing your brakes are good for the load. This vs an overweight ticket is a moving violation, Overweight is a non-moving violation, it is as bad on your driving record as a parking ticket! no record on driving, not given to insurance. That failed braking system, bend over! GCWR and trailer tow rating means nothing to a CVEO! Only the amount of gvw on the axles. Along with you can move at minimum speed laws on that road. Interstates its 40 mph here. MIchigan it is 45. Altho most look the other way at least here if you have no other road to use, like over a mountain pass, you are in the right lane, flashers on etc. They don't bother you. If you're in the left lane doing 25 mph, they will move you over to the right lane! possibly give you a ticket for impeding traffic etc. As far as the OP goes, frankly, he will NEVER be over an enforced weight limit, unless he has not bought, paid enough tax for driving down the road at the weight he is. Depending upon how far over his paid for registration, red tagged until enough gvw is paid for, 10 day up the registration by 2000 lbs as I have had happen once. I was under all of the federal enforced limits. Ask yourself, is he like me going to be over 22000 lbs on his two axles? no way! RV folks are pretty conservative to staying at or under manufactures ratings. As such, Commercial/Weight enforcement officers will not be too worried about you. No money to be made pulling you over to weight you etc. I would not pull a 14K trailer for very far with the gas motor in the Ram. It will do it legally! I can go into from experience pulling with lower powered motors, with poor tranny gear and axle ratio's. Ie stalling out on steeper grades etc. NOT FUN! MY more than 02 on this subject matter! Marty0Views0likes9CommentsRe: Electric Tow Vehicles - Getting close
$4.00-$4.50 depending upon where I am in the greater Seattle, Tacoma, Everett are for regular. $4.50-$5.00 for Diesel/premium gas. Where I am at in Everett right now, $.50 less than Ballard area of Seattle I work in. I'm not going to argue about the MPG etc on the gas vs diesel. An equal power plant as one can make them, diesel will always be better MPG. With that said, I find a cost difference as it is here currently at .50 higher per gal to be just as cheap to go gas. One needs a lot of miles to payoff the $10K+ difference vs my 96 at 2200 or so higher than a BB gas. Then again, back then diesel was >.50-.75 lower than gas. I realize that east coasters get fuel for upwards of a dollar less than west coast folks. Ca is a bit higher than here yet! We need to choose fuel costs for where we are vs somewhere else. For what I'm doing, my 4.3 V6 6sp pulls every bit as well as my 6.5td, 4bbl/TBI 454's and 2bbl/TBI/Vortec 350 GM's with 3 and 4 sp trannies. I have more ponies, 285 vs 255 and lower than any of them had too. 305 lb ft of torque vs 200-385 depending upon time frame. Any way, time for dinner and heading to bed, 430 comes early!13Views0likes0CommentsRe: Electric Tow Vehicles - Getting close
Probably none of the above. Mainly the literal amount of energy needed to move the load at hand. Yes one does need to look at the overall cost IMHO of both the actual machine, and the how to get the "fuel" to the table to use. Hence why I'm not really a fan of alcohol in gas. Takes me in my last truck, from 10 literal gals of fuel to 11 gals of fuel plus a gallon or so of alcohol to go the same distance. I admit, to being on the green side of things, but this equation makes no sense to me in more than one way. The distance traveled I've mentioned is equal before stopping IMHO currently. Like all things great and small, how big is the fuel tank? Stopping for fuel as noted can be a good thing, kids/parents get a restroom break while feeding the tow rig! With four kids, one has to stop every hour or two max depending upon multiple issues. Yes one can fill at half full in less time than 30 of 35 gals. Then again, my current rig with a 26- or 27-gal tank, takes less time than the last four with 35 gal tanks......gee, I wonder why? Yes we have done the pop in, get filled with fuel, no one leaves their seats too! With 6 of us, I had a tendency to prefer rest stops or fueling vs using the RV to relieve ourselves. With a 25 gal iirc black tank, we can fill it quite quickly, vs a couple using it. Everything is variable depending upon multiple factors. While I do not like the current cost of diesel, if driving enough miles per year, it can pay for itself, at 15K it does not pay to drive a diesel. Get it over 30K, then the ROI is worth it. I'm not a drive it 2-3 year type of person, more of a 200-250K miles in 10 years, work it hard, it's not worth what some baby their truck at after 10 years and maybe 50-100K miles! At the end of the day, choose your poison! Everything has a plus or minus to it. Even my green family realizes a hybrid, battery operated vehicle at this point in time, does meet the needs of my use, and many others! My stepdad by the by, was one of the engineers that designed a car that drove on the moon back in the day! HE was a BIG proponent of different fuel types! Marty0Views0likes5Comments
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