hey guys a buddy of mine and I were toying around with the idea of putting a class 5 hitch on a f150 max tow pkg.
he is a landscaper that does mainly decks and fences and hauls around a 18ft flat bed trailer on a pintle hook he never breaks 7500lbs loaded and two days ago he got a ticket at the scales for being over weight on the hitch without ld bars.

he has the idea that the class 5 hitch will give him the hitch weight rating he needs without using a wdh. hes already got a set of timbrens on the truck to help with squat. I figure as long as he stays under axle limits it should be fine. what do you guys think

 

weigh the truck. then hitch to loaded trailer and weigh the whole thing. figure you 'tongue weight' and that will answer you question.

 

when he got pulled he was towing about 6700lbs the tongue weight was 710 without a wdh so the fined him for being over weight on the hitch. he doesn't want to be bothered with a wdh so he figures the class V will give him the hitch rating he needs

 

He needs to bother with a WDH, or he needs to get an F-250 if he doesn't want to be bothered (I know a lot of people that upsize trucks simply so they can run around without WDH). Personally, I don't believe there will be a problem, there's a lot of leeway in the numbers for legality reasons. There's equal chances of 3 outcomes.

1. Everything works fine.
2. The front end unloads too much during a major maneuver causing loss of property or life to himself or others. Insurance will most likely drop him and there could be negligence charges since there is now proof he knew he was running too heavy.
3. He puts on a class V and continues running the weight, eventually, or suddenly, sucking in the back frame rails because they aren't designed to support that much lever weight off the rear.

Supporting bounding tongue weight is a lot different than pulling something.

 

yeah there are alot of variables to look at l. the thought was because he never hauls more than 7500lbs and for the most part the average load he's hauling around is between 4500-6500lbs the 100 lbs or so extra tongue weight wouldn't really phase the truck... the other option he has is just to get a gooseneck and be done with it. FYI his truck is a super cab 8ft bed with max tow and HD pkg

 

The receiver has nothing to do with whether he needs a WDH. It's the truck as a package. The stock hitch's ratings are not about what the hitch can carry but rather the setup the truck needs based on weight. The WDH is to spread the weight to the front of the truck so the rear suspension doesn't carry the entire load. Changing to a higher class hitch does nothing to spread the load so it would be a complete waste of his money. In other words, it's the truck that needs a WDH above a certain tongue/trailer weight. Not the hitch itself. The hitch itself is carrying the same weight whether you use a WDH or not. It's just getting leverage on it when the WDH is employed. So, the stock hitch is perfectly capable carrying the same weight without the WDH. The rear of the truck will sag with the rear overloaded though and loose needed weight off the steer axle without a WDH.

 

Take the rating numbers off the hitch, say it's rated for whatever you want... I agree there probably is not a problem with the current set up.

 

DOT is not that stupid.

 

Up here the dot guys are clueless.
Stopped and ticketed me a few years ago.
It was all legal.
I took pics with him standing there looking at it to show this was hiw it was as he inspected it.
He bitched that i was taking pics.
I took the ticket to court and it was thrown out.
He claimed that I was too heavy overall and too heavy on the hitch.
I was under the legal limit on both.
I've seen him since and asked him if he found a brain yet...he doesn't have a reply. I was pretty sure his big boss would not hear Bout the judges decision and that the judge actually recommended he crack a book and learn his job.
So i drove over to the scale shack and told his boss iin person after court.
They don't bother me any more.

The ticket writers trying to me their monthly quotta are often incorrect.

 

Class 4 Trailer Hitches | Rear Mount | Curtmfg.com

Class 4 is up to 1, 000 lbs hitch and 10, 000 lbs gross trailer weight.

 

sorry it's been a while crazy busy few weeks with work...

anyway here's an update my buddy just decided to go all in with a gooseneck trailer and just save the hassle it will be overkill for his current needs but as his business grows he will need it. as far as I know the trailer will be 20 feet total length with a 16ft box and 10k axles he should have it within a week or so.

the idea of the class 5 receiver really was just a cheap way out of the problem

 

Sometimes they can be. If there's no rating then there's no way to tell what if it's a class 3 or class 5.

I built the receiver on my truck. Used standard hitch material and heavy bracketry. No markings whatsoever, but i call it a class 4 hitch and I rate it at 10,000lbs.

 

In Canada being a dot employee is considered a low end job.
Most are not bright enough to hold down a job that requires any actual skills, so they do this crap job.
They stopped a fuel truck of mine today.
Made all sorts of outrageous claims that the driver was breaking some laws.
He finally got a senior person to drive out there after being there 4 hours.
He was perfectly legal and not 1 infraction.
But he missed his delivery time and all that stress.
If your an idiot like they are just stfu and go eat another donut.
Let people do their damn jobs in peace.
I am asking for a full inquiry and report into why those 2 morons are even allowed to stop or detain anyone since they don't know what they are doing.

 

Did you mean two 10k axles or two 5k axles? Not sure about the laws where you are, but here in Onterible, Canada, an F150 could not legally tow this trailer with two 10k axles. The way they see it is you have the "potential" to go over your CGVWR. Doesn't matter if it is empty, they will ticket you, because of the weight capability of the trailer being over the trucks capabilities.

 

I have no idea about other places.
But in BC the only thing that counts is the actual weight being towed.
The possibility of towing something over really doesn't matter.
I could tow a trailer with 3 20k pound axles behind a half ton, as long as the actual weight of the combined trailer and its load is not too high.
Actually they usually prefer it here....as your not loading a flimsytrailer heavily where its under a lot of stress.