What are the, dangers, of getting outside your tow vehicles GVWR. That seems to be the hardest thing to comply with - usually no trouble with the GCWR or the GAWR.

I see people towing 30+ foot TT's & 5'ers with 1/2 ton trucks and their butts are dragging the road - that can't be good.

For instance, the Towing comparison between 1/2 ton trucks in the recent issue of Trailer Life magazine. They say the Titan did this and that, but that truck only has a 6,400lb GVWR, whereas the Ford has a 7,200lb rating (crew, 4x4 w/ tow pkg.). What gives?

 

George, Regardless of what the sticker says, the driver makes all of the difference in the world. Ya got to know how to load your rig and have confidence to operate it. I just made a run from Durham NC to Charleston SC, with a 66 F100 3.00 rears (with disc and rear brake upgrades) no brakes on the 18' tandem axle trailer and pulled a 92 F150 super cab back, while maintaining 70 mph. and better. I keep my distance and know how to handle my rig. It wouldn't make any difference what the sticker read. I keep my Ford truck to work with, and it does a dandy job for a 38 year old truck.

I do need to get new doors because they were blown off all day long.

John

 

Brakes are one of the main reasons not to exceed the GVWR. The brakes on the truck must stop all weight loaded on the truck's axles. Exceeding the weight limits decreases braking performance, brake lining life, and risks overheating the brakes.

Tires are another good reason. Tires that are overloaded or underinflated run hotter, have a shorter lifespan and greater chance of failure. Overloaded tires also ride mushy and cause unstable handling.

Suspension. Springs sag when subjected to constant heavy loads. Shocks are less effective and wear out quicker, affecting handling. Sway bars are less effective at limiting sway, affecting handling. Weight balance is affected, the vehicle handles poorly when the back end is sagging and frontend riding high. Steering is affected, with the truck wandering all over the road from too little weight on the steer tires and wrong alignment angles due to the truck not being level. Braking is also adversely effected when not enough weight is on the front tires, which do most of the braking. Headlights end up shining in oncomming traffic's eyes due to the high angle of the frontend when overloaded.

Axles. The axles and bearings were designed for certain loads. Exceeding those loads decreases their service life, causes them to run hotter, and increases the chances for bearing failure. This also applies to the ring and pinion gears and differential inside the axle housing.

Frame/suspension hangers. These parts were designed to safely handle certain loads. Grossly exceeding them can result in failure.

I have seen pictures of a half-ton pickup that was way overloaded and had air bags installed to handle the extra weight. The frame actually cracked in half at the point where the air bag upper hanger mounted to the frame. Part of this was because of drilling through the frame to mount the bags, other part was simply too much weight behind the rear axle (slide-in camper), over too long of time/use. A one-ton longbed truck would have handled the weight without failure.

 

ROFLMAO!!

 

Glen, The point that I am trying to make is, the human factor has to come into play here. I totally agree with your comments.

I see guys around here with big duallys pulling equipment trailers with the machinary all the way to the front of the trailer and the big truck squatting. All of the weight is on the trailer tongue and truck rear axle.

Is my truck over burdened, absolutly, but the weight is on the trailer, balanced. I load with a measuring tape, when the rear bumper lowers about 2" I stop loading forward. The FE is a Clydesdale of a horse, and the 3.00 gears get me past at least 2 more gas pumps before another fillup. I learned to pull loads on brakeless trailers because there were none. Trailer brakes are something fairly new.

I'll be interested in seeing if the 92 I just brought home will pull a tow dolly. I'll save the trailer for the 66.

Yall have a great Ford trucking day,

John

 

grey77 writes:What are the, dangers, of getting outside your tow vehicles GVWR.

Killing someone when your overloaded equipment fails.

 

Good point. The brake system is designed to work up to the max GVWR. I also don't think Ford attaches a blind number to their vehicles.

 

We went truck & TT shoping this weekend and all I hear over and over againg from both types of dealers was, "Yeah, it can pull it, it's got 9,200lbs of towing capacity". But when I mentioned that we would be right at or over the GVWR the would start "crawfishing" - backing away with a lot of Hums, and Uughs.

Driving around the Baton Rouge area we noticed many people pulling hughe TT's with F150 sized trucks that were loaded to the gills - overloaded I'm sure. It's kinda scary once you start noticing this things.

Looks like we'll have to find a smaller camper and just live with it, or happen upon an awesome deal on an F250 V10 or Diesel.

Thanks for the info,

 

Would they be any less dead, or more deader if you killed someone and everything was within sticker ratings?

John

 

Ok, let me word this another way; addressed to the people that have done it both ways - overloaded and now have a capable Tow Vehicle.

In your experience, how does being "over loaded" - exceeding the GVWR, effect the driving / handleing of your tow vehicle, and do you think it increases the risk of causing a wreck ???

Is the only damage being done - from being over loaded, to your vehicles drive system like the axles, bearings, differential, transmission, etc., since that's where the excess loading is being transferred to ???

 

I never see that out here, just the opposite. People buy one-ton trucks to haul a couple of jet skis, status symbol. One regional difference has to be the terrain. You simply cannot not go anywhere outside the city without crossing mountain passes and that kills any idea of towing a 30 footer with a half-ton.

BTW, 6400 is a healthy GVW for a half tonner. That 7200 is really the traditional 3/4 ton GVW. Ford has dropped the non-superduty F250, so an F-150 now can be optioned up to what is essentially a 3/4 ton.

Jim

 

When running way to heavy, especially with a trailer, the vehicle is a real stress to drive, talk about white knuckle rides!!! I made the mistake of loading 39 bundles of shingles in my poor half ton I used to have, and it was all the way down on the rubber bumpers. Talk about a long ride!!! Normally 2 hours, I think I got home in 3, it was so hard a ride, and I was concerned about hurting the old truck being that heavy. Won't make that mistake again!!!! Heavy on the tail is another story... it makes the front dance on bumps, and the steering feels way loose, wanders, and then there's the stopping part...

 

> Is the only damage being done from being over loaded, to your vehicles drive
> system like the axles, bearings, differential, transmission, etc., since
> that's where the excess loading is being transferred to ???

I would think that is enough, but, it effects your brakes (to me the most important single issue), your cable parking brake is unlikely to stop you at all, and it really stresses your frame.

 

Dead is dead, but I would think a person that exceeded his/her gvwr and killed someone would be more likely to end up in court on the wrong end of a lawsuit.

I'm not trying to pick a fight with anyone, just trying to make a point with my first post.

 

An overloaded truck can be stressful to the driver to drive in.

My F250 handles my 8,000# travel trailer just fine and I am fairly relaxed when I tow. My old Datsun with a trailer full of motorcycles was a white knuckle, tail wagging the dog experience. I usually arrived worn out.

I once loaded my old Datsun truck with a bunch of rocks. I had my mom in the front with me. The truck seemed a bit light in steering but I didn't know better. We were going maybe 35mph and hit a double dip in the road. The front of the truck lifted off twice, maybe a foot. What fun, almost lost mom to a coronary and messed upholstry. In any case, the truck seemed to pull fine, I even think I wasn't over loaded. But The load was improperly distributed, and someone could have got killed.

The weak link as mentioned is brakes. Planning way ahead and long spaces between cars helps, but accidents usually happen when syou don't expect something, like some putz pulling in right in front of you and then standing on his brakes. If you were in a grossly overloaded truck, you might not be able to stop. If you just got thru a long downhill run, the brakes may be toast(been there done that, way too exciting). If you do have an accident, and the police do some elementary investigation, you may be found at fault.

The load ratings are based upon a multi billion dollar company's best efforts to find a compromise between load, performance, safety and durability. When you exceed the rating, something in the equation goes down. When things wear out under warranty, the manufacturer often eats it, so they set ratings to keep claims down.

Good Luck, drive safe,
Jim Henderson