Thinking about buying a gooseneck dump trailer with tandem 10,000 lbs axles with dual wheels. Will be hauling about 8 tons (16k lbs) of dirt and gravel. I have about a mile up uphill pull at one spot. Will my truck handle this load?

 

That's a fair chunk of load, right there. Are you going to be hauling 8 tons, or will the trailer and the load combined be 8 tons. If the trailer and load will be 8 tons, you will be over your Gross Combined Vehicle Weight by 3,500 to 4000 pounds. If only the load will be 8 tons, then you will be over quite a bit more. Your Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating is 20,000. Your truck weights 7500-8000, so you can do the math.

The bigger question is how much of that weight will be on the truck's rear axle. If you overload the rear axle too much, the truck will squat and be harder to control. You need to balance that load properly, so that you have 1500-2000 pounds on the hitch.

Now, mind you, you will be technically overloaded. I know nothing of the legality in your state, nor if you are planning to do this commercially or privately. But it's my opinion that if your weight is balanced properly, and you have very good brakes on the trailer, that your truck will handle it.

 

Yes, I understand it may not be legal but I will mostly be hauling gravel from the pit in the country about 7 miles to my place. I'm not sure how these dump gooseneck trailers have the axles positioned. I haven't purchased a trailer yet and plan to buy new probably. My choices are a trailer with tandem 7,000 lb axles 14ft long, or buy one 16ft long with dually tire 10,000 lb axles. As far as the 2 trailer capacities, the first would only haul about 6 tons and the 2nd one probably about 8 tons. Of course the dually tire trailer would hold even the 6 ton load alot better but would be approximately $4,000 cheaper.

This truck is relatively new to me and I haven't had a chance to really load it down yet and get a feel for what it will haul. I don't mind working it, I bought it to use but I don't want to be unsafe on the extreme side. I just don't want to buy too small a trailer for my truck and wish i'd bought the dually one and vica versa.

 

I think it would pull it ok, my 5er weigh's about 18k and pulls with no problem. I have known guy's that never worry about the weight they pull and are fine. I am not one of them tho, if your truck is overloaded and there is an accident it can be very bad. There was a guy that pulled a big toy hauler and was in an accident where someone was killed and he lost everything-2 houses from the law suit etc. because his truck was way overloaded. I would go with the smaller trailer and make two trip's and not risk it.

 

Just curious - are you buying this trailer just to haul a few loads of gravel to your property or is this something that will be on-going? Are you starting a hauling business? If the trailer is only going to be for occasional use, it might not make financial sense. I mean, for what you're going to pay for a trailer like that (especially new) you could have the gravel delivered (a lot) before you ever come close to breaking even. Plus, you don't have to worry about the wear and tear on your truck.
Anyway, it's your money to spend either way - just a thought.

 

CJ50
Any way you slice it, your definitely pushing the envelope. A couple of things stand out. For a trailer and a load like your talking about your should be using a 350 dually or a 450. A 250 isn't going to be able to control that load, especially if some ******* in a sub compact pulls out in front of you. You'd squash a car like that like a pop can. Think of it in terms of insurance....When there's a claim they will look at ways to get out of paying the claim.
Good luck, I hope you don't damage your truck...I got a soft spot for 250 diesels

 

i agree will all the others: the truck might be able to handle it, but not legally. I would go with either having it delivered or getting the smaller trailer: you said $4K less and that would pay for a lot of gas to recover for the 2nd trip

 

Well, I'm not doing this as a business for sure. Have a lake place we built a home, accumulated 27 acres so far and have alot of gravel roads to put in and maintain. I purchased an old dump truck but it's becoming more of a liability to keep up. My old truck I used to pull my 25ft gooseneck for my tractor gave out on me and bought this F-250 diesel. I'm looking for long term payback with this investment and maybe not even as much payback as convenience and just plain ole......."i want it"....lol Again, i'm only 7 miles from a gravel pit where I can buy gravel cheap if I haul it. The dump truck guys around there are few and far between and get 100-125 per load to haul it plus the gravel. As much as I need since I already have the truck, the trailer will pay for itself eventually. I don't want to be grossly overweight and surely not dangerous. That's what brought me to wondering just how much this truck will haul. I've been around trucks and hauling all my life but not this small. I realize the dually F350 would haul it better but so would an IH 4300......haha I was hoping some of you would have some experience particularly with this size truck pulling a gooseneck.......I appreciate all of your comments for sure though.

 

DChamberlan,

After doing your math, I have approximately 12,000lbs of tow rating to play with.....If I bought the smaller rated trailer with tandem 7,000 lb axles, rated at 14,000 total and if the trailer say weights approx 2,000 then I could haul approx 10,000 lbs of gravel on it and be probably ok, especially no farther than i'm hauling it. With the price difference in trailers, that may be the best option......ie: best value trailer to match with this truck and not overload it.

 

I think you're best best would be to get the smaller trailer. I'm assuming that they weight you in and out when you get the gravel, so if you are concerned about the weight issues, just make sure they only load you with enough weight to put you at your near max and make more trips. If you are only 7 miles away, more trips are not going to cost you that much more.

If your truck is like mine, it should weigh between 7500-8000 pounds. Your GCWR is 20,000, so yes, you can tow about 12,000 and be inside the ratings.

Again if your truck is like mine, you should be rated for a little over 6000 on the rear axle and you should have about 3200 on there already, so you have about 2800 available on the rear.

Since you will be going over scales regularly, you should get a handle pretty quick on keeping it withing those ratings, or within your comfort zone. I'm sure the scaler's would be willing to help you as well, by letting you weigh each axle at a time, to make sure you're OK per axle.

 

I'd also suggest the smaller trailer.

Also, just because the TRAILER can haul the load doesn't mean you have to fill it to the max You can always load it halfway.

We too are looking at a dump trailer for use... but for us maintaining our 32 acres worth of roads just doesn't make sense to purchase a $6k trailer to save 2-4 loads of gravel per year, even when added to the amount of manure we haul out in garbage dumpsters. Its just not cost effective. It'd take 10 years to pay it back.

 

You can pull it with a 250. I'm puling 16.5 but I've had to spend a good bit on upgrades to get it comfortable. Check my sig for details. If you're not commerical nobody cares how much you tow. I say that with the provision that the load is safe and the truck doesn't have the back bumper dragging the ground. main thing is rear axle weight. you gotta go to the scale and make sure you're not exceeding the tire capacity or they will blow out at the most inopportune time. as for accidents, I've thought about it for years and can't think of any accident where you would be at fault with a heavy trailer and not at fault without it. having said that i will also say this, don't tailgate when towing. I worry most about my tranny but I'm at 145K and so far so good. I also worry about the rear differential and the 373 gears. Wish I had 410 and I may switch to that, just hate to buy two differentials. The best suggestions I could give you would be air bags and rickson tires and wheels. you will be amazed the difference they make. Good luck.

 

Thanks for all of the comments. I think common sense and "the feel" of your load has alot to say as well as using weight ratings for a basis and legal concerns. Tractors, backhoes, trailers and other equipment of the sorts to me are a long term investment that if taken care of properly can last a lifetime and produce invaluable service and convenience if you have a rural homestead or lifestyle. It sometimes isn't mostly a cost-effective financial decision as much as a long term return on service and convenience as well as a hobby. As far as strictly financial, I may never use my tractor and implements enough to offset the cost.......I could very well save money by hiring a tractor out everytime I needed one. It becomes a balance of cost vs benefit analysis that we all have to perform. This is why i'm analyzing the $7,000 trailer vs. the $11,000 dual wheel tandem axle trailer in sync with my F-250. I don't want to buy too little of a trailer for the truck and decide I could have hauled 2 or 3 more tons if I had bought the heavier one but I also don't want to spend an un-needed $4,000. From what i'm hearing from most of you is that I can probably do the job with either, if I choose the heavier trailer and load it down then i'll probably be a bit overweight for the truck, and if I choose the lighter trailer then I'll be a bit undercapacity for my truck.

 

I think you would be better off with the bigger trailer if you can afford it. Just because it is bigger doesn't mean you need to load to full capacity, but it has bigger brakes and more tires and will handle the loads so much better. If you are looking at this as a long term investment the bigger trailer will hold up better over time with the heavier axles with less maintenance.

 

Even the smaller trailer won't "underutilize" the truck It can use it to its capacity, but not over.