Overloaded truck - what advice would you give?

[ependydad]

A buddy of mine contacted me recently and asked me for input on his truck and rig setup. They live in the mountains of NC but have aspirations for potentially going fairly far on trips (down to Orlando, for one).

Mind you, I don't give unsolicited advice but I will give it when asked. I know what I told him but I'm curious what y'all would have told him.

The Truck
2013 Ram Mega Cab SRW with a diesel. His truck bad has a fuel tank in it. This is the only wildcard for me- I don't know how much fuel was in it. I do know the truck bed did not have snow in it.







And, the tires. If you can't easily see it, it says 3,640 lbs.:




The Camper

The camper is a Jayco 377RLBH (wrong forum, I know- but I like you all). It has a GVWR of 16,750 lbs. and a dry hitch weight of 2,895 lbs.


The Weighing

He took it to weigh it over the weekend. He did say the camper probably had 300-400 lbs. of snow on the roof. (That's when I verified the truck bed did not have snow in it.)

Here are the results:





Which total out to:




My Analysis

He's over on:

• GVWR (12,980 vs. 12,400),
• axle rating/GAWR (7,800 vs. 7,000),
• tire load capacity (7,800 vs. 7,280),
• GCWR (25,460 vs. 25,000)

Recommendations?

I know what I told him I'd recommend. I'm curious what you all would recommend?


.

[JohnD10]

Single axle or dually?

And why weigh without shoveling off the snow?

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by JohnD10

Single axle or dually?

And why weigh without shoveling off the snow?

Single axle. I went back and updated the post to reflect that.

As for the snow- I assume it was because he was just quickly picking it up from the dealer after some service work and swung through to weigh it.

[DieselDrax]

It’s not my truck or money so my advice would be to get a dually for a trailer that size, the towing experience is likely to be better due to the increased stability as well.

If it were my vehicles then I would get the snow off the roof, remove the aux fuel tank, see if I could rearrange how the trailer were loaded to try and get the pin weight to 20% or a little less, and then re-weigh to see if that helped enough to get back under the limits.

The tires would be my main concern. Overall they’re not MUCH over the other limits so I would at least try to make some changes to get under the limits.

[Kimber45]

He has a truck rated to town 16k pounds and his camper has a dry weight of 14k pounds. my advised would be pack light and have fun. All those other numbers just give me a head ache.

[koller1509]

That weight for the truck only seems a bit high for a srw even with a fuel tank. Other then that he is at his limits but still ok.

[Brother Les]

Get tire minders on ALL tires. Leave bed fuel tank mostly empty.

[Helmsey]

IF it were me in that situation I'd be looking for a truck with wide hips.

[ronheater70]

He's over but not enough that I would be extremely worried about it. 500 pounds or so on 16K is not a huge deal to me. You can easily shed that by packing a little less.

[510Rick]

I'm no exprt but I'd run it .

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by Brother Les

Leave bed fuel tank mostly empty.

Kind of defeats the purpose of the aux tank!

[Jesse]

I would go DRW.

[itat]

Your calculations are showing he's over on all 4 :
GVWR 580#,
RAWR 800#
Tire load capacity 680#,
GCWR 460#

You might be able to upgrade the tires but I'd be very uncomfortable with exceeding the RAWR by 800# on a 7000# axle. Time to either upgrade the truck or figure out how to shed a fair bit of weight, but I'm not sure he can shed enough off the pin or out of the truck bed to take 800# off the rear axle.

[Brother Les]

Originally Posted by ependydad

Kind of defeats the purpose of the aux tank!

From reading your post, it seemed that he had the aux tank, way before the trailer... so, with your thought of humor... then I would say..bigger truck or smaller trailer..


You posted that you did not know if there was fuel in the bed tank. If there is, run at that level. While driving, it is good to stop every 2-3 hours. My truck has a 29gal tank and I can go for above 400 miles with that. But I will stop once or twice and not have to fill up.

See what your friend says about how much fuel was in the bed tank and how much does it hold and with the numbers that you gave and then come back for a better answer.....

[Slow Moon]

1--Get LR-G Trailer Tires rated for over 4,000 LB (Sailun S637T can get most to 4,400 LB) for a better tire safety margin
2--Add NO weight to truck bed or front of 5er
3--Pack light
4--Keep speed @62 or lower
5--Monitor all tires very closely
6--If the rig drives well, have fun and share experience here.

[aircommuter]

I would clear the snow and weigh again, change tires to 295, that gives 8160 on those per pair, the axle rating changes with dual wheels but the actual axle and brakes are the same, it is just rated as a unit. That same axle is rated at 9750.

[DouglasReid]

He is not over on his axle or tire weights.

Axle rating is per axle, 7000 * 2 = 14,000. Axle weight is 12,480 as weighed. He isn't over.

He is not over on his tires either, 3640 per tire * 4 = 14560 with Axle weights at 12,480. He isn't over.

His GAWR front is 6000, actual is 5168 he is under
His GAWR Rear is 7000, actual is 7800 he is over.

One of the major limiting factors on the axle weight ratings is the rating of the tires on those axles, so if he upgrades to larger tires with a higher weight rating it will most likely not be an issue either.

You did not mention if his FW tank was empty or full when the camper was weighed.

The pin weight can be reduced or increased by filling or draining his FW tank depending on whether it is in front of or behind the axles.

You did not tell us the total capacity of his bed mounted fuel tank. Diesel weight around 7 lb per gallon.

I dont' know about Ram trucks but on the Silverado/Duramax he only difference between the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks is the addition of one overload spring beneath the spring stack on the 1 ton and thelarger factory tires on the 1 ton.

Im sure I will get some grief from the Weight Police on here but the addition of an air bag system, like Firestone or Ride Rite will perform the same function as that overload spring. Larger tires with a higher weight rating will help as well.

I know it won't change the door numbers but it will enable him to level his truck and improve the ride.

You did not mention the max trailer weight for his truck. This is not on the door sticker but is in his Diesel Supplement for his truck. Im betting the trailer weight for his truck with a 5er behind it is not over either

[DieselDrax]

Originally Posted by DouglasReid

He is not over on his axle or tire weights.



Axle rating is per axle, 7000 * 2 = 14,000. Axle weight is 12,480 as weighed. He isn't over.



He is not over on his tires either, 3640 per tire * 4 = 14560 with Axle weights at 12,480. He isn't over.



His GAWR front is 6000, actual is 5168 he is under

His GAWR Rear is 7000, actual is 7800 he is over.



You did not mention if his FW tank was empty or full when the camper was weighed.



The pin weight can be reduced or increased by filling or draining his FW tank depending on whether it is in front of or behind the axles.



You did not tell us the total capacity of his bed mounted fuel tank. Diesel weight around 7 lb per gallon.



I dont' know about Ram trucks but on the Silverado/Duramax he only difference between the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks is the addition of one overload spring beneath the spring stack on the 1 ton. It isnt active until the rear squats enough to come in contact with that overload spring.



Im sure I will get some grief from the Weight Police on here but the addition of an air bag system, like Firestone or Ride Rite will perform the same function as that overload spring.



I know it won't change the door numbers but it will enable him to level his truck and improve the ride.

I don’t know why you’re calculating tire load based on all 4 corners having equal weight. Obviously that isn’t how you figure it out nor is it accurate.

3640 per rear tire X 2 = 7,280LB max load capacity on the rear axle. At 7800LB on the rear axle they are over the tire rating by 520LB.

The front and rear axles on the truck have different weight ratings, they both aren’t 7,000. Look at the placard in the original post. Are you thinking the weights posted are trailer axle and tire weights? Or are you just really confused?

Also, GVWR for the truck is not the sum of GAWRs. Look at the pics in the first post.

You’re overthinking things and as a result are coming up with calculations that make no sense.

Do the proper math and try again.

[B and B]

My setup is very similar with SRW but I am not over rear axle weight when fully loaded. I have no extra fuel tank. One thing he does need to check prior to shedding load is the hitch position. If he can afford to move the weight forward by remounting the head in the more forward position. This may move some weight forward. If his Fresh water tank is rear of the axle he can reduce pin weight a bit. Also get rid of the aux tank. Least costly compared to a new truck.

[ependydad]

Originally Posted by DouglasReid

He is not over on his axle or tire weights.

Axle rating is per axle, 7000 * 2 = 14,000. Axle weight is 12,480 as weighed. He isn't over.

He is not over on his tires either, 3640 per tire * 4 = 14560 with Axle weights at 12,480. He isn't over.

Sorry, I wasn't clear. The 7,000 lbs. axle is the truck's drive/rear axle. Same with tires. There is only 1 axle and 2 tires back there.

Originally Posted by DouglasReid

You did not mention if his FW tank was empty or full when the camper was weighed.

The pin weight can be reduced or increased by filling or draining his FW tank depending on whether it is in front of or behind the axles.

I don't know the answer to that, but figure it's safe to guess that it is empty. The camper spent the last 12 weeks or so at the dealer and he had them winterize it because snow came in.

Originally Posted by DouglasReid

You did not tell us the total capacity of his bed mounted fuel tank. Diesel weight around 7 lb per gallon.

No idea on this one.

Originally Posted by DouglasReid

I dont' know about Ram trucks but on the Silverado/Duramax he only difference between the 3/4 and 1 ton trucks is the addition of one overload spring beneath the spring stack on the 1 ton and thelarger factory tires on the 1 ton.

Im sure I will get some grief from the Weight Police on here but the addition of an air bag system, like Firestone or Ride Rite will perform the same function as that overload spring. Larger tires with a higher weight rating will help as well.

I know it won't change the door numbers but it will enable him to level his truck and improve the ride.

You did not mention the max trailer weight for his truck. This is not on the door sticker but is in his Diesel Supplement for his truck. Im betting the trailer weight for his truck with a 5er behind it is not over either

He did add airbags a while back to level out things for his old fifth wheel.