Am I over my max weight on trailer?

[stormer]

Originally Posted by ependydad

In all of that, did you re-do your truck-only weigh?

And some owners of 3/4 ton trucks ignore the GVWR and instead look at the GAWRs. But that'll start a holy war discussion on the site (which there have been hundreds, if not thousands already).

LOL! yeah, probably. Seems everyone stumbles upon a hot button question at least once or twice. haha!

I did ask a deputy sheriff here in Texas yesterday and showed him the weights. He said as long as the rear axle doesn't exceed the gawr when trailer is hitched, I am good to go. (and I am not exceeding the combined gwr) But I am still going to schedule the hitch to be adjusted. I am positive I can shift more weight to the front axle and trailer axle.

Long story short, yeah, I'm not going to ditch a truck I just got in Feb. And I am not going to ditch a trailer that is 1.5 years old. It tows like a dream and most importantly can "stop". I don't tow faster than 60 mph and am generally 5 mph under posted speeds below 60 mph.

James

[babock]

Originally Posted by stormer

Long story short, yeah, I'm not going to ditch a truck I just got in Feb. And I am not going to ditch a trailer that is 1.5 years old. It tows like a dream and most importantly can "stop". I don't tow faster than 60 mph and am generally 5 mph under posted speeds below 60 mph.

James

Have you gone through your trailer and removed anything you haven't used in the last 6 months or a year? One thing we are very careful of is filling storage just because we have it. Probably half my storage is empty. It's amazing how fast the weight creeps up over time.

[stormer]

Originally Posted by babock

Have you gone through your trailer and removed anything you haven't used in the last 6 months or a year? One thing we are very careful of is filling storage just because we have it. Probably half my storage is empty. It's amazing how fast the weight creeps up over time.

a new year's resolution. lol!

[jbrobson]

Great thread. I have the same trailer same year with a gas 2018 chevy HD. Hard to believe an ultralight half-ton towable is too heavy for a 3/4 ton truck. I'm stationary until March but will be weighing my rig next chance I get. I've noticed the rockwoods both 5ers and TTs seem to have limited cargo carrying capacities compared to other brands of trailers. I think they use the same components on a 34 foot trailer that they do on a 26 foot trailer that weighs considerably less.

[stormer]

Originally Posted by Cummins0867

The short answer:
1. Can someone tell me how much cargo I am carrying in my truck? You are 320lbs under the Gross Vehicle weight Rating GVWR
2. Can someone tell me how much cargo I am carrying in my trailer? About 500lbs once hooked to the truck.
3. Am I over my trailer max? If so how much? (I think I am) No, your under by 955lbs.

Truck
Your first weight ticket shows 5200 steer axle and 4080 on the drive axle combined of 9280. Your truck GVWR is 9600lbs so your under by 320lbs. This is without towing your trailer.

Trailer
Your trailer Dry weight sticker shows 7306lbs this along with the max cargo weight of 1549lbs is a gross trailer weight of 8855. According to the weigh ticket it shows your trailer axle at 7860 which means that your under by 995lbs on your trailer. It does not matter how much is on each axle its both axles combined. Your weakest point is your tires and if you added E rated tires to the trailer and run them at 80psi your good to go. As it’s the combined of all 4 tires and they are at least 3000lbs a piece which gives you 12K in capacity which is well over your trailer capacity.

Truck and trailer combined:
Once you hook your trailer up to the truck you have to go by your trucks GCWR Gross Combined Weight Rating GCWR. For your model truck with a 3:73 axle ratio your max gross combined weight rating is 20000lbs See page 9 on the Ram Bodybuilder. Many will say that you are ok all the way around because you are under the GCWR of 20K. But if you take your trucks axles weight combined on your second weigh ticket its 10640lbs weight is over the vehicles GVWR of 9600 by 1040lbs (this is the trailer tongue weight that is no longer on the trailer it’s on the truck). Ram says you must meet all weight ratings all the time. If you get pulled over by public safety they will say as long as you meet the GCWR you are good to go.

You posted a pdf for 2500. Do you happen to have the 3500 spec sheet for ram as well for the 2012? Evidently, now you can no longer do a vin lookup on ram's website for these older trucks. sigh.

Thanks.

James

[emm-dee]

Originally Posted by stormer

You posted a pdf for 2500. Do you happen to have the 3500 spec sheet for ram as well for the 2012? Evidently, now you can no longer do a vin lookup on ram's website for these older trucks. sigh.

Thanks.

James

Not sure how far back this goes. For different models and years just edit the address bar.

https://www.ramtrucks.com/assets/tow...ing_charts.pdf

[stormer]

Originally Posted by stormer

You posted a pdf for 2500. Do you happen to have the 3500 spec sheet for ram as well for the 2012? Evidently, now you can no longer do a vin lookup on ram's website for these older trucks. sigh.

Thanks.

James

Actually, I found it...
https://www.ramtruck.ca/en_dir/pdf/h...d_Selector.pdf

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by Cummins0867
snip

Trailer
Your trailer Dry weight sticker shows 7306lbs this along with the max cargo weight of 1549lbs is a gross trailer weight of 8855. According to the weigh ticket it shows your trailer axle at 7860 which means that your under by 995lbs on your trailer. It does not matter how much is on each axle its both axles combined.

snip


I really do not understand that answer. EACH axle has a GAWR that is not to be exceeded. It absolutely does matter how much is on each axle.

If you have two axles each with a 4,000 GAWR you can not put 5,000 on one and 3,000 on the other and expect to have no problems. Numerous individual components each have a strength limit. Tires are marked with their limit which is the limit for that INDIVIDUAL tire not for the pair of tires on an axle. Simply increasing the load capacity of the tires does NOT increase the GAWR as you have no idea of the max capacities for all the other components. Increasing load capacity for the tires simply increases the Reserve Load for the tires and lowers the probability of having a tire failure but does nothing about decreasing the potential for failure of the wheels, springs, bolts, axle, hubs, bearings spindle, brakes, shackles or any other part of the axle assy or the frame the mounts are welded to.

[Hatchee]

Originally Posted by Cummins0867

I understand what you are saying and it makes sense...kind of....but once the trailer is hitched to the truck....its the truck that is "bearing the weight"....so the weight no longer belongs to the trailer it belongs to the truck. This is where the GCWR comes in. What matters is the second weigh ticket with the trailer axle weight of 7860 comes in. If you think about it.....the tongue weight is never on the trailer......its either on the ground or on the truck (we weigh vehicles by axle weights). Whats important about tongue weight is when properly loading the trailer the weight is distributed properly. This comes into play when the trucks payload is exceeded and some weight needs to be moved to the rear of the trailer to take the weight off the rear of the truck.

I do have a question for the OP @stormer what size are your brakes? Are they 10.5" or are they 12". I ask because I would like to know what the true axle capacity is? Not whats on the sticker the 4K axle limit is due to the tire capacity of the D rated tires that are listed on the sticker.

WRONG!!! While hitching the trailer to the truck does transfer weight to the truck and off of the axles. It does NOT take it off of the trailer.

[stormer]

Originally Posted by Tireman9

Originally Posted by Cummins0867
snip

Trailer
Your trailer Dry weight sticker shows 7306lbs this along with the max cargo weight of 1549lbs is a gross trailer weight of 8855. According to the weigh ticket it shows your trailer axle at 7860 which means that your under by 995lbs on your trailer. It does not matter how much is on each axle its both axles combined.

snip


I really do not understand that answer. EACH axle has a GAWR that is not to be exceeded. It absolutely does matter how much is on each axle.

If you have two axles each with a 4,000 GAWR you can not put 5,000 on one and 3,000 on the other and expect to have no problems. Numerous individual components each have a strength limit. Tires are marked with their limit which is the limit for that INDIVIDUAL tire not for the pair of tires on an axle. Simply increasing the load capacity of the tires does NOT increase the GAWR as you have no idea of the max capacities for all the other components. Increasing load capacity for the tires simply increases the Reserve Load for the tires and lowers the probability of having a tire failure but does nothing about decreasing the potential for failure of the wheels, springs, bolts, axle, hubs, bearings spindle, brakes, shackles or any other part of the axle assy or the frame the mounts are welded to.

To be honest, if the trailer is "level" and it "is", the axles are about a couple of feet apart from each other if that. Between the tires there is about 6". I'm not too sure "how" the weight can be more on one axle or the other if the trailer is level, which it is.

The trailer is "fine" now. No fresh water in tank and it dropped it under it's GVWR.

The truck is under it's GVWR with no trailer attached.

When the trailer is hitched to the truck, that is where I am dealing with the truck's GVWR.

The GCWR is not exceeded.

The axle GAWR are not exceeded on "any" axle, truck or trailer.

According to a deputy sheriff I know, who I discussed this with, he said if I were ever pulled over by a safety inspection, they would look at the GCWR and the GAWR.

That said, yes, I need to upgrade my truck if I ever want to put anything in the bed of my truck. Hard to do that when you are $7-10k upside down on your loan.

So for now, it is what it is. I'm a safe 60mph tower... when the opportunity arises to be able to step up to a 1 ton, then yes, that will happen.

Thank you all for your comments and post. It's been highly educational!


James

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by stormer

To be honest, if the trailer is "level" and it "is", the axles are about a couple of feet apart from each other if that. Between the tires there is about 6". I'm not too sure "how" the weight can be more on one axle or the other if the trailer is level, which it is.

It's the camper design. I did individual wheel weights on my rig after we went fulltime (and were running overloaded on the trailer by 300-500 pounds by a bit).

I found that 2 tires were maxed out, 1 tire was overloaded, and the last one was underloaded. There was almost a 500 pound difference between the heaviest tire and lightest tire.

See the lower-right corner of this weigh result:

[stormer]

So just a final comment on all this. Thanks again everyone. extremely helpful and educational.

I was able to secure a 2012 ram Laramie 3500 dully today at a VERY good price. Enough to make it so my original amount owed is about the same but with an excellent interest rate. So my monthly payment dropped and I got a beefy truck. The new truck only has 164k miles on it. My 2500 had 160k. So even on miles which is nothing for these engines. So now I actually have payload to play with.




James

[Kimber45]

you will look great pulling a 7k pound trailer with a dually.

[stormer]

Originally Posted by Kimber45

you will look great pulling a 7k pound trailer with a dually.

LOL! Well, it's a tad under 8900# now. But ultimately I do need more payload for things in the future. And yet, to date, I've never heard anyone say they wished they had a smaller truck. haha

[frank4711]

Congrats on the truck and the payload ...

[CurtPutnam]

Payload is like money - more is better

[psdx]

[QUOTE=stormer;2234587]

Originally Posted by Cummins0867

Pretty sure my truck is good to go. A lookup via VIN:

2012 RAM 2500 LARAMIE CREW CAB 4X4 8' BOX
6-Speed Automatic 68RFE Transmission
MAX PAYLOAD 2145.00LBS
MAX TOWING 12400.0LBS

The truck also has air bags installed on rear via dealer.

James

Your door sticker says your truck’s GVWR is 9,600 lbs and the weight slip you said was the truck by itself showed it weighed 9,280 lbs. If that’s accurate you don’t have enough remaining payload to pull anything other than a pop-up camper. Is it possible you had a bunch of extra cargo in your truck when you weighed it?

And unless I’m missing something, your load with the trailer puts your truck over 10,600 lbs which is way over your GVWR.

[stormer]

[QUOTE=psdx;2246295]

Originally Posted by stormer

Your door sticker says your truck’s GVWR is 9,600 lbs and the weight slip you said was the truck by itself showed it weighed 9,280 lbs. If that’s accurate you don’t have enough remaining payload to pull anything other than a pop-up camper. Is it possible you had a bunch of extra cargo in your truck when you weighed it?

And unless I’m missing something, your load with the trailer puts your truck over 10,600 lbs which is way over your GVWR.

You skipped the first 4 pages of this post huh? lol Read up....

[moose074]

I skipped the last 18 post. It appears you were or are in the middle of a trip. How was the trip did the truck pull, stop as designed( yes you had increased distance in stopping) if yes relax . Did your trailer sway side to side or could you feel 18 wheeler pass. If no relax even more. If you felt the White knuckle effect then consider upgrading, if not enjoy your current ride

[stormer]

Originally Posted by moose074

I skipped the last 18 post. It appears you were or are in the middle of a trip. How was the trip did the truck pull, stop as designed( yes you had increased distance in stopping) if yes relax . Did your trailer sway side to side or could you feel 18 wheeler pass. If no relax even more. If you felt the White knuckle effect then consider upgrading, if not enjoy your current ride

Moose, when I first bought this trailer I had a half ton. Yes to everything, sway when being passed, etc. Purchased this 3/4 ton and have not had any issues. In fact it wasn't until I "weighed" that I even began to "think" I had an issue. No problem towing uphills, downhills, being passed by trucks, etc. Towed like a dream compared to half ton gasser. So I throw it on scales and yeah, I needed to lighten the load in truck and trailer. I believe I am in the "zone" right now. If I ever intend to have "payload" then 1 ton will be the way to go. The hitch weight on this trailer is running 1360# so I don't have much payload left after I hitch the truck. I've got it to within 200# of gvr on truck and I'm under gvr on trailer. Well under axle gawrs and gcwr combined.

James