Posted 2012-01-24 8:45 PM (#140293) Subject: HOW DO YOU KNOW
Member
Posts: 15
How do you know if you are pulling your trailer with the right sized truck? I have a 08 F450 6.4 L with 4.88 limited slip axel ratio & 14500 GVWR pulling a 4H, LQ, Bloomer Evolution with two horses weighing in at around 3200 pounds. Why do we see so many ads with a Freightliner pulling trailers are we missing something? At least with a FORD you have lots of dealerships all over the country when you break down. Can anyone advise?
Posted 2012-01-24 9:30 PM (#140294 - in reply to #140293) Subject: RE: HOW DO YOU KNOW
Expert
Posts: 2957 Location: North Carolina
The only way to know if you're within your trucks limits is to weigh your rig FULLY loaded as you typically use it.
Then you'll know if your tires, axles and hitch weights are good or you're overloaded.
Truck scales usually have three sections on their platform. position your rig so your front wheels are on one section, rear wheels on another section, finally the trailer wheels on the last section.
your total weight should be below the truck's GCVWR
Front wheels below the front axle GAWR
Rear wheels below the rear axle GAWR
Trailer weight below the combined load rating (molded into the sidewall) of all the trailer tires.
Posted 2012-01-24 10:44 PM (#140299 - in reply to #140293) Subject: RE: HOW DO YOU KNOW
Expert
Posts: 2957 Location: North Carolina
I'll add ...
This weighing will also confirm that your hitch weight is within your truck's payload rating. The axle weight ratings are what determine the payload of the truck. The rest of the truck is designed to that rating. These ratings are likely posted on the door frame.
Trailer tires should be well within their load ratings. If the trailer varies from level with torsion axles, the lower axle is carrying more of the load. So the tires are not sharing the load equally. The result is tire blow outs or increased wear rates.
Posted 2012-01-26 11:38 PM (#140327 - in reply to #140293) Subject: RE: HOW DO YOU KNOW
Veteran
Posts: 264 Location: Sumas Washington
The reason that some pull with a Freightliner or similar medium truck is because of Safety. Freight, Peterbilt, Kenworth are based on a commercial frame,axles,brakes,engine,transmission etc. It is not uncommon to see these medium duty trucks with well over 500,000 miles on them with the original engine and transmission. The shear extra weight of the larger truck makes pulling a heavy LQ GN trailer much easier on both the driver and the stock. The towing rig IF EQUIPPED CORRECTLY is not pulling its guts out just to maintain freeway speed. Your logic about the Ford dealers has one flaw in it. Not all of the many Ford dealers across the country have the knowledge or personnel to work on anything larger than a small pickup truck. You can pull into any large truck dealer with your Freightliner, Kenworth,or Peterbilt and get if fixed FAST. You have to understand that the large truck dealerships are used to getting trucks back on the road quickly as they deal with vehicles that work for a living.
Posted 2012-01-28 6:36 PM (#140364 - in reply to #140293) Subject: RE: HOW DO YOU KNOW
Member
Posts: 10
I have a freightliner and if you get into a bind where you need to stop quick there is no comparison the trailer doesn't push the truck around and you dont get that white knuckle feeling holding the steering wheel with both hands wondering if your gonna stop or not. Also the life of the truck is much easier when your on the road a lot the truck service intervals are not ever 5k like a small truck the recommended oil change is every 15k which lets you drive across the country a few times and if you have a problem all of the big truck stops have 24hour garages that you can just pull into even in the middle of the night and they get you moving pretty quickly I also found that I had a lot less fatigue with this truck then my old one which was a f550.
Posted 2012-01-30 9:58 PM (#140430 - in reply to #140293) Subject: RE: HOW DO YOU KNOW
Veteran
Posts: 188 Location: Ingalls, Ks
Original poster, that's a good question. I can tell you that my trailer is like yours just a 5 horse. I have pulled it with an F550 and M2 Freightliner. I agree with the other posters about the bigger frame truck being more stable, but I will disagree with the statement that you can pull into any truck stop and get them worked on. My local freightliner dealer pretty much told me point blank they'd rather not work on my smaller semi. They are not exactly the same as the over the road class 8 trucks, with different operating electronics. To stay brief I personally would sell the M2 and stick to my F550, but my daughter has a bigger vote and we're keeping the M2 and my F550 is for sale. Just personal preference, I like my F550, it fits into any Sonic drive in!
HOW DO YOU KNOW
