2012 27dbud

[Big Mike]

Took our trailer on its maiden voyage last weekend and had a great time! BUT... About ten miles from our destination (only a 90mile trip) we had a brake that decided to lock up everytime I touched the brakes (I turned the controller way down and it stopped)... After jacking up the wheel it acted like the brake was overadjusted. I backed the adjuster off a bit and got us home. I did ruin a tire before I noticed the problem. Now after this I started checking everything out and found a few things that concern me.

First- the dry weight of our rig is 5973 and the cargo cap is 1740-that's 7713.
Second- the tires have printed on them that they are to be mounted on 5.5" rims but our rims are 15x5s... An the tires are rated at 1820 a piece- that's 7280, 433lbs less than the so called capacity.
Third- the axles are rated for 3500. 7000 is a bit shy of 7713....

What's up with this? Anyone ever notice this on your trailer? What can I do to keep my family safe when I'm dragging this thing around? I was always taught to "over build" stuff like this.

[kb9cfv]

Hey Big Mike. Yes I noticed this as well. While under the rig putting wire lume on the brake wires i glanced over and realized I have 3500 pound axles as well on my new 29bhxl. it is listed as 700ish more than that, so I'm glad my scale weight was just under 5500 with 1/2 tank of water. I had checked the tire rating and figured they are only 68% of max load (wew!) but are no where close to the ratings Forest River published. Looking back at the specs on my Traillite we just traded in, i think it was the same. The chassis probably can handle those numbers but what carries it is another story.

[buzzmonster]

I believe the answer is that the tongue weight is 10 to 15% of the trailer weight and is not carried by the axles therefore to keep the math simple if you have a 10% tongue weight and two 3500 lb axles then you max weight would be (3500x2)x1.1 which would be the 7700 lb.

But I do agree with you on our Roo the GVWR is greater than the max weight stamped on the trailer hitch ...... We are under the weight but I guess all these trailers are built to the minimum price and so the extra $$$ cannot be justified. We as consumers are probably partly to blame as we want the min $$$$, but our next trailer we will look at the construction and components much more closely and be willing to pay a little more for a bigger margin

[Big Mike]

But we are using a weight distribution hitch which actually throws most of that tongue weight back on the axles doesn't it?

[buzzmonster]

yes that is true about the WDH, it is about 30% I think from memory in our case, you raise a very good point, that looks like it would limit the amount that these trailers can carry. Hmmm I will be interested to see what other on here with more experience than me think.

I firmly believe that most who have a trailer don't have much of a clue what they actually weigh and what the limits are. It is only the few that routinely run over scales, and then think about what that means. I have to think that a lot of folks are over and don't even know it.

[Big Mike]

Yea, that's why I'm worried about the tire wear after only 300 miles... Thank you guys for your help!