O.K., I know this has been talked about before, but let me give you some numbers specific to my situation, and see what y'all think. I've got a f-250 super cab short box 4 wheel drive, I weighed it tonight and it came in @ 7720. (4660 front and 3060 rear) without me in it.(add 200lbs.) My GAWR front is 6000, and rear is 6100. So according to this I have 3040lbs available rating left on the rear axle. And 1340lbs. left on the front. My GCWR is 23,000. I'm looking @ a fifth wheel toy hauler (keystone fuzion 322 35'). It's dry weight is 11,230 and hitch weight is 2560. I think the heaviest I would load the trailer up to would be 14,000.(roughly) So..... that would keep me within all my weight ratings except for the GVWR, 9800 which only allows me to put 1880lbs on the truck after I put myself in it. (doesn't seem like much). So if the axles are rated for so much more than the vehicle, what's the weak point, brakes?, springs? And would it be safe to pull that trailer with my truck, or should I look for something smaller, or a bigger truck?

 

Well, you are in the same boat as me. Same axle ratings. except I have a crew cab So I come in a little heavier.

I upgraded last winter to my current 5er.

I went down to the cat scale and got accurate weights, I assume that is what you did. But I did mine with full fuel and all the passengers I would be carrying.

I took my proposed trailer gross rating of 14K X 20%=2800 lbs.

My rear comes in at 3120. So 6100-3120= 2980.

Only thing left was the hitch.

I also knew that some of that weight would transfer over to the front.

So here is the result after I bought the trailer, loaded with everything minus water and refrigerator items.

 

Food for thought:
F250 and 350 are basicly the same in that they share the same size brakes, axles, and frames. the difference in load carrying is due to the Spring rates. The dually is another story ( Axles are different)

Once you go from the 2/350 class to the F450/550 class things get different. 4/550 the frames are bigger 8mm vs 6mm, brakes are bigger axles are bigger and tires are bigger.

If you are worried about a DOT ticket for over weight make sure your rig is registered to the combined weight of you truck and loaded trailer.

Margine is a good thing when towing large trailers Duals while not required do add a margine of safety and stability, and wheel base is king longer is a better ride and offer a degree of control over a short WB.

Make sure your trailer brakes are adjusted correctly and working well. One panic stop with poor trailer brakes could wipe out you truck rotors.

Insurance will only go by the VIN GVW or CGVW is an accident happens if your over weight you could be on out of pocket for your or both (All) vehicles involved.

Last thing to think about is not if you can pull the trailer is what happens if you have an emergancy situation.... this is where margin and smart driving come into play.

Like I said food for thought.

 

Senix, have you put on many towing miles? How's the truck handling all that weight? (ride comfort, stopping etc.)

 

also senix, yes CAT scales

 

Be sure your tires can handle the load, check the pressure frequently. I added air-bags which help keep the load level. As with me, it is likely you will always be aware of adding weight because of the borderline situation regarding overloading. But a lot of 350 and larger trucks are overloaded because drivers throw caution to the wind when it comes to loading their rigs, imagining they don't have to worry about weight.

Be careful about speed and driving ahead of your situation. You don't want to be the one responsible for an accident.

 

23 GCWR is a stout number but 3/4 tons are NEVER able to meet it without going over their GVWR. There is no doubt that an F250 has the frame, brakes, tires, powertrain and axles capable of running at 23k GCWR but the truck simply cannot do it while staying within it's GVWR of 9.8k/10k. As you say, there is very little real world payload left over on STOCK F250 that has passengers and fuel. Also, the F250 seems very prone to sagging in the rear when loaded up with say bales of hay. Airbags will sort this out but this is masking rather than curing the symptoms and the ratings are still being exceeded.

Now, to make clear, people like yourself and Senix are MORE than capable of safely navigating your rigs down the road within the 23k GCWR even at 1,000lbs or so over your GVWR. So long as you're within your axles and tires and drive at an appropriate speed no catastrophic failure will happen.

That said, I would still always recommend an F350 SRW as the 11,500 GVWR allows the truck to operate at its max GCWR without exceeding it's GVWR. As "MD05" stated above, that can be vital when dealing with at-fault accidents on public highways.

However, the vast majority of driver's who tow have very little mechanical knowledge. You know the type, fly by you at downhill 70 in a 55 with a 40mph cross wind. No amount of truck can make up for that.

 

Truck handles it quite well. I have towed this 5er all summer. Grand total I suppose of about 5-6K towing miles. Summer trip out to Colo and back, Pocono mtns in pa and va beach, va..couple other spots.

Going to colo I was actually right at the 23K limit for that one as I took some stuff out to my daughter as well.

The tall trailer stuff though will only net me about 7-9 mpgs, but the truck will pull it all day long.

Trip out west with temps just over 100F I was still pulling along at 65 mph (trailer tire limit). Motor was running are 210 and tranny 190 ish.

Big hills eng temp would climb to 225. Clutch fan kicks in at 220 and cools it down pretty good.

Tranny hit 220 couple of times but just briefly, accord to Mark that is ok for a short time.

EGT's were pretty good. Even on the long grades out of Maryland to Ohio (2-3 miles at 6-9%) I was only pulling about 1350F. Usually was staying around 900-1000.

Just set the truck on cruise and away we go.

Did do airbags to give just a little more side to side stability but you could do without if desired.

 

thanks for the info senix, 7-9mpg is all i get with my current trailer so thats no surprise to me.

 

yes, i agree, a little common sense goes a long way!

 

One other tip, I upped my truck registration to 12K.

 

I've discussed this so many times I didn't bother reading all the replies so in order not to duplicate others I'll just send a picture. The 5er weighs about 16.5K. The only thing i did was make sure the rear tires were 10 ply rated at more weight than the rear axle had on it. and I added air shocks on the rear. I also did a bunch of stuff to keep everything running cool and had gages to monitor tranny, and differential temps. It towed great and handled well. But in some tight spots it does push you around a little. To combat that I added a set of rickson wheels and 19.5 inch commercial grade 14 ply tires. (second picture) That made it a lot more stable. But honesty compels me to admit that after about 18 months I went to a DRW truck. It's a lot more stable and easier on my 68 year old nerves. But I sure miss that 7.3L.

 

That was a good looking 7.3 Stanley. My favorite color too!

 

thanks for all the replies everyone. it seems i should be fine with the set up i mentioned, although next truck will probably be a 1 ton. (though that won't happen for 3-4 more years.)

 

Back at cha. I see that red Crew in your sig. I didn't mention it but I think a long wheel base also adds considerably to the stability of a truck towing a heavy trailer. Problem with 5th wheels is when you get there you have to drive what you towed with. The 7.3 was less stable pulling that big trailer, but driving this DRW in tourist traffic is a Giant PITA. Plus, I think that 7.3 will still be running when the 6.4 has gone to the bone yard.