That may be true but the time to over think would be prior to buying a new trailer of finding out later I should have done xyz.

 

It's always been my understanding the DOT only cares about the rated axle and tire load limits.
If you drop the rear U joint on the SUV you can just bungy or wire it up to the frame and leave the front in the trans tailshaft to avoid fluid loss.

 

When pulling your trailer, IF the boyz from DOT were to want to look at you, they are more likely going to look at how much weight you are licensed for if you are pulling a 10K trailer with an SUV on it rather that what your axle weight rating are. It is pretty easy to look at the trailer hubs and know what the rating is, just by looking at the bolt pattern. They already KNOW how much typical trailers and SUV’s weigh.

RV’s don’t even count when it comes to DOT. They want nothing to do with them……..they have enough to do.

 

I just bought this trailer.

 

I think you will be happy with that trailer. Looking at the specs it looked pretty solid.

I can’t imagine that you will get any hassle from motor carrier, even with the looks of your truck.

do a quick check on the speed rating for your trailer tires and make sure you stay below that rated speed. I’d give everything a once over and make sure it is good to go. Hate to find out that one of the bearings didn’t get greased or something silly like that.

 

Brand new! 14ply tires. Dual jacks. 10 inch Ibeam. Trailer could be rated for 17k. 5600lb empty.

 

Looks great


what is the speed rating on your brand new trailer tires? It’s worth checking to make sure you don’t drive faster than the tires are rated for.

many are now coming with 75 mph or 81mph ratings, but many are still carrying speed ratings of 65 mph.

 

I thank you for your question. I have been looking into it and placed a call to the trailer company who in turn called their tire people. I got a picture of the tire and am trying to decipher it. My guess is the answer is 62mph. Speed rating J. These are the tires: 215/75R17.5 Gladiator QR40 (H) Highway

 

The guy I am buying 450 from just had it weighed. With full tank of fuel and him in it 11,180. If my trailer is 5600 empty and Yukon is 6050 empty, that leaves me about 3000 pounds. There will be 4 of us and I know we will have cargo. We are going away for a couple weeks and coming home with 3 new 4 month old Doberman puppies. I am sure all the cargo will weigh less than the 3,000 pounds but we will not have lots of room for error. I guess the main concern will be to make sure the trailer is under 10k. I would guess that where the Yukon is positioned on the trailer as well as what is in the Yukon will be the deciding factors. I don't plan on pulling off at weigh stations but I do want to know how this all works and what my weight is and where it is. I would hope to find a place to get weighed that is not a DOT weigh station.

 

i came up with the same information regarding speed ratings.

there is probably some headroom on that rating at loads less than maximum, but strictly speaking anything over 62mph is taking a risk.

 

look around for CAT scales at truck stops. You can weigh and reweigh until your heart is content.

It’s hard to imagine that you are going to have problems with being overweight.

I would haul that load with our F250 and wouldn’t bat an eye at it. You are in much better shape with the 450.

i have a unique appreciation for your pursuit of information and trying to do it within the letter of the law, and I appreciate that for what it is - but with that in mind - relax, you’ll be fine. You will not be turning any heads by hauling a Yukon on a trailer with a flatbed dually.

 

My experience in life is that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. That is just my luck. If I think something can be a problem and ignore it I end up having the problem. Getting away with hauling an overloaded trailer or truck is not the issue. If I do everything as best as I can and have an accident, then it was truly an accident and probably defensible in court. If I knowingly drive an unsafe overloaded vehicle and lose a wheel or break an axle component that ends up in an accident, I would probably live to regret it. When it comes to liability one best not be ignorant. I appreciate your input. I have towed the chit out of my 7k car trailer and have been overloaded more times than I wanted to be. That is why I am buying a bigger truck and trailer. Without knowledge one would not know that bigger is not better. A couple years ago I would have thought nothing about buying a 10 ton equipment trailer. I would not have known that you need a massive truck to tow it and you cannot legally tow it empty without that massive truck. Since you have been so kind to this point, would you provide a link if you can or just give me the real answer to this question because I am not finding it. What is the GCVR of a 2006 F-450. I mean how much can it haul with a CDL driver. What is its all out capacity? I have been looking for the past hour and I can't find it. Truck is crew cab 4x4.

 

How can a vehicle with a Max GCVW of 26 have a 5th wheel Max rating of 24,800?

 

I reached out to the seller since I couldn't find the answer and he told me GCVW=33,000 pounds. 4.88 Gears with Limited slip.

 

So it looks like you’ve partly answered most of your own questions with the charts above.

f450 maxes out at 30k GCWR, where f550 goes up to 33k. So the partial answer about your maximum trailer weight question is “it can’t” at least not in your configuration. In order to tow a 24,800 lbs trailer, the truck would have to weigh a maximum of 5,200 lbs. which may be possible for a cab/chassis short wheel base f550 in that era, but yours is certainly not going to haul that much without going over the GCWR.

IMO, the GCWR is a manufacturer’s recommendation to avoid warranty claims. If you go over your GCWR, they can deny a warranty claim. But other than it being a recommendation by the OEM, it really has no legal bearing. It could be argued in court, but as it stands it is not a matter of legal vs illegal, strictly speaking.

To remain under your GCWR, your max towing is 18,820.

to stay under your 10,000 GVW limit on the trailer, your max towing is 10,000. With the dead load on your trailer, you are limited to 4,400 which is abysmal. Quite frankly, your car trailer can carry more because of its lower GVW. This is why I don’t like those single wheel trailers, they just can’t carry much because Of their own dead weight.

bur again, some of this is location specific. Here you could load up with a 26,000 lbs trailer with no special license and be fine so long as you don’t go overweight based on tire size, you aren’t going to get hassled. Unless your headlights are pointing to the sky, they won’t bother you.

every year we haul hay with our f250 and a combined weight around 30k. And no one cares.