depending upon your truck configuration and year, it may be within towing specks for your truck.

 

Tymers

I agree, I pull anywhere from 15,550 to 29,000 (yes i said 29,000 lbs of round bales) and have never ever stopped at a weigh station. I do have a CDL, but i even asked one of Illinois's finest and he said you don't have to stop at weight stations unless your commercial, just have to run 55 on the interstate in IL

 

29K man you need your own commercial...
How many is that?
Many times driving by, until you stop and walk up to one, you have no idea how big they are.....huge, they are!

 

LOL, yes they are huge. They are 6X6 and weigh 1800 a piece. I put 12 on at a time and the trailer weighs roughly 7300 to 7500. Its the same deckover I haul two cars with. You have to be very careful and safe though. 29K is alot of weight.

 

Careful, I reckon...
Have you had any issues with your vehicle towing that much?
What speed do you get up to?
What are your tyre pressures, and what kind of tyres?

And you have 6x6 bales that weigh 1800lbs!!!
Is it silage? Are they full of lead?
What kind of machine do you have to get that kind of weight in a bale???

Anyway, I get around 7-8mpg with a 12000lb cattle trailer @90mph in my 7.3l
Not that those figures are much help, but hey...

 

I haven't had any issues when I tow that much. I don't do it very often. Just in the winter when I sell hay. I don't go much faster than 55. I run 80psi on the 10 plys on my trailer. Its not my baler. Its my neighbors. Its some new fancy deal he just bought. The old ones used to be 1500 pounds. The hay is 80% alfalfa / 20 %orchard grass mix roughly. I would imagine i get milege like you do though LOL.

 

Pan:

A buddy of mine owns a ranch here. He has owned lots of diesel trucks for many years. We were discussing the pros and cons of the different trucks, and his comments were from experience. He hauls hay and cattle all the time. He has haulled 25,000+ pounds with the old ford diesel without the turbo, a dodge, and now a chevy. His comments are the only problem with the old ford was lack of turbo, excellent truck in other respects. He put close to 120,000 miles on it before this deal on the dodge came up. The dodge he bought used with all kinds of power upgrades. He has resigned himself to replacing steering components every 40,000 miles, but the truck does pull the weight better than the non turboed ford (go figure). He hates the dodge for bucking snow, he said the ford was way better. He just bought a new chevy, wanted the new ford, but because of "CUSTOMER SERVICE", he chose GM. The GM dealer, has been excellent for him in all the dozens of other trucks his ranch has purchased in the past years. He believes the Ford is better, but because of Customer Service, he went to GM. But with all the trucks, They all have handled the heavy weights fine, although 45-50 is top speed on interstate with that much weight. He has found out that the passes are getting easier to pull with all that weight and the newer engines.

 

The most I towed so far is a 40x60 pole barn. It came in at just over 23000 lbs + trailer. (See gallery). The only worry I had was the tires. This was a one time deal. A friends truck broke down and I had to deliver it. The 6.0 pulled it fine at 65 MPH.

 

i dont tow, but i have a f350 srw supercab that i put over 4400lbs on my back weekly. b/c of my tool box and the lack of reach with the forklift, i cant push it all the way forward.. usually sits right on the axle...does sag a good amount but these for trucks work like a champ...i used to put this much weight on a 92 ford f25o witht he 5.8l gasser and it got the job too.

 

The ammount of GVW is irrelavant when it comes to safety, or safe towing. A trailer with 4000 pounds and no trailer brakes is much more dangerous than a 3 axle goose neck with 16,000 and the brakes rated to stop the load. Tounge weight and weight on the axles of the trailer is where the safety factor is, as is how evenly the trailer is loaded from side to side. Many people who tow have never been properly trained how to load a trailer, or even what to look for, much less took a road test in something weighing 80,000 lbs. and know what type of driving skills it takes to stop something that big in a hurry.

That being said, the company I work for just bought a F350 and had the 3.73 rearend pulled out and installed a 4.56 posi rearend with a splitter. The weight of the trailer is 16,500 (gooseneck enclosed trailer). His mileage is 24 unloaded, and 10-12 loaded. He does have a standard in the truck, and I don't know if you can put a splitter behind a automatic.

Ryan

 

I guess GVW and GCVW only matters in the court room. I have personally seen how bad of an accident is possible with an overloaded trailer and an F-350.
It is a black and white issue. Was it overweight? Yes or no are the two answers. There is no "But it has a diesel" defense. Of course it can pull it, is the mass of the tow vehicle great enough to control it? Can the suspension handle it Will the brakes stop it?

I am not trying to upset or offend anybody. It is just my opinion. Feel free to tow a million pounds with your trucks. No matter what justification you make to yourself of how the vehicle and the driver's experience helps to make it safe, it is still illegal. You have to be ready to pay the fines and the tow bills.

Can't wait to read the responses!

 

Go look at the last post in the "What is the top speed for a 6.0" thread where he posts:

Then when the engine or tranny has problems it is Ford's fault or as you mention it is in court.

 

I was refering to accidents

 

Give it time, running like that will eventually wind up in an accident.

 

Slightly different subject, but interesting. My truck is in for repairs, and service manager knows I pull up to about 13,000#'s. Our conversation on the subject, he indicated they have a 2004 truck in the shop now with 86,000 miles on it, all of it pulling large 5th wheel trailers around the country. The truck is two wheel drive dually, from Arkansas. It is a little over 1 year old, and has only been shut off to refuel and let the guy sleep. The truck is having some minor issues with cooling.