Good job editing. I wasn't sure if your wife would like your initial post!

 

It's a ford. GVWR is just to mess with the competition. I grew up watching my dad tow 18000# trailers with an F250 351 hooked up to a C6 3 speed automatic. When driving a ford, GVWR does not apply. That's for Chevy and dodge.

 

Yup...that may anecdotally be true...but does nothing when DOT or state police stop you for being illegally overweight.

 

DOT or the state police have no authority to enforce anything other than axle and tire ratings which are much more difficult to surpass than GVWR. They also don't check private rigs / RV's in any states but CA and TX and only rarely in TX.

 

Last year NH & VT were running DMV-Law Enforcement trucks and setting up near parking lots on roadsides. They were looking for the "little guys" like landscapers and dump trailers being privately operated. They were stopping most of these guys and doing "checks." I was "informed" the tractor I was towing was too large for my trailer and that it was improperly secured to the trailer. I was told I could have received a $10k fine. I believe that machine was too heavy for that trailer and so I bought a new, larger trailer and now take more care to tie down better.

These guys have roadside portable scales. They check for trailer inspection, which many people here skip - fortunately mine was inspected. I think it varies by state, how badly something looks overloaded, the officer's mood, and if there is a grant for doing this kind of work.

 

There is another side of this equation and that is liability if involved in an accident. As we are experiencing a dumbing down of the average driver the enforcement agencies are looking deeper into every factor in an accident including those who are totally not at fault, or at least so they thought. The looking for blame started several years ago against large trucks and is migrating down as the investigators get keener and insurance companies seek out any reason not to pay. Drink 2 beers and then get run into even if stopped in a legal parking space with the engine off. The accident becomes your fault. Get run into while on the road with a weight and size violation and the twerp in the Kia who was across the double solid line will take your house and everything the insurance can pay and then some. There are cases which seem to be replicating the European thought "if you were not there in the first place the accident would not have happened" regardless of fault.

Am I afraid of hauling a little over weight? No. But I recognize the attitude of the newer generations and the court system which wants to blame anyone but the active perpetrator. I accept that I could be prosecuted regardless of my skill and ability to control and handle equipment by someone who cannot even learn the very basics of safe driving and are totally devoid of common sense. When I see the verdicts and rewards coming out of the courts it makes me truly wonder "who are these peers passing judgement on us all."

 

T, RV's are exempt and again, only gawr and tire ratings can be enforced in the rare areas RV's are checked. I'm under on mine do I don't sweat it and never pull into roadside checks.

On the liability thing, I also don't worry. I'm under on the two legally enforceable specs and I don't live in fear of events more rare than getting hit by lightning. I don't wear my seatbelt either. I know, I'm a rebel... LOL...

 

My business insurance is pretty expensive - and believe me, if I had an accident that wasn't my fault but destroyed my equipment...the insurance company would come back and say I was overloading the trailer and they would not cover it. I guess I'm a bit more cautious than you Rodney. Maybe I don't need to be. What happened last summer was not a "please pull in here for a check," it was the blue light special - not optional.

 

Car insurance payment for an accident isn't affected by how much stupidity was involved. Who gets charged with the accident is impacted, but they still pay.

 

Years ago I was on interstate 90 and a driver in a car had pulled off the left shoulder into the median strip. I was in my 18 wheeler fully loaded (73,000 lb gross) passing another truck as we approached the parked car. The car jumped out into the left lane shortly before we got there and started to accelerate. I jumped on the brakes: in fact I spun 3 sets of duals (Dayton type) and shifted the load in the trailer. The azzwhole then slammed on his brakes and by then I could see him shaking his fists at his passenger just before they disappeared as I suddenly accelerated them to match my speed of about 20 at that point. The State Trooper (for whom I no longer have any respect) wrote me for following too closely and one "frayed" air line. Our insurance payed tens of thousands rather than go to court in spite of my insistence. The trooper refused to measure or document the over 100 feet of rubber left on the road by 16 skidding tires. His comment: "if there weren't any trucks on the road the world would be a safer place." So each and every day I remember this and realize that many days, even when you are right you are still considered wrong. Experiences as an OTR driver make me understand discrimination. And a realization that often times the one charged is helpless to defend him (her) self. If I hauled anything on a regular basis including a camper I would at least have a dash cam to assist in defending myself. In fact I am working on the mounting systems available for the new SD to be least obtrusive and most efficient. Now that would be an ultimate trailer tow package.

 

I understand but again, you weren't pulling an RV. They are exempt and this little sub discussion started when someone mentioned GVWR for pulling a large 5ver. I do understand pulling equipment trailers is a completely different scenario.

 

Good luck to anyone trying to figure out what my KZ weighed before a wreck reduced it to kindling and possessions scattered across the countryside. I kind'a doubt anyone would do an airliner wreck type reconstruction.

 

Watching this video from a Canada auto show, at 1:35, the narrator says the new truck will have around:
"460 HP, 890 Ft-lbs"

I'm not sure where he got his numbers, but it is interesting at least...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7Pu...0#t=100.994694

 

That's a kid with a cell phone camera. Sounds like his first time out of his parents basement in a while. I disliked that video a month or two ago.

 

My thoughts exactly.