Posted 2007-09-05 10:31 PM (#67301) Subject: Do I have enough truck question with calculation example
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 544 Location: Claxton, Ga.
I thought I would give an example of my truck and trailer weights with checks that I did after researching and reading to answer the most asked question of " Is my truck safe to pull this trailer".
My truck is an 04' Dodge Quadcab dually. Here are the weight specs.
GCVWR: 23,000 lbs (This is for my truck with 4.10 gears)
Rear Axle rating: 9350 lbs.
Front Axle rating: 4740 lbs.
Tire ratings: Load Range E: Single tire setup can support 3085 lbs per tire and a dual tire setup can support 2835 lbs per tire. So the front tires can support 6170 lbs at Max cold pressure which is well over the front axle rating from Dodge.
Rear Tire Load caring ability: 4 tires in the dual setup for a total of 11,340 lbs (with tires set at max. cold psi of 80 lbs.) which is well over the rear axle weight rating from Dodge at 9350 lbs.
My trailer ratings on an 06' Exiss Event 412 ( 4 horse with 12 ft. living quaters)
2 Dexter 7,000 lb axles for a rear axle weight rating of 14,000 lbs. My trailer has load range G tires that will support 3750 lbs per tire for a total of 15,000 lbs.
Here are my weights after weighing my truck (with full tank of fuel) with no horses in the trailer but the water tank filled up.
Front axle weight from scale: 4100 lbs.
Rear axle weight from scale: 6740 lbs.
Trailer axle weight from scale: 6980 lbs.
GCVW from scale: 17,820 lbs.
So I am very close on my front axle weight of the truck and the rear axle weight I have 2610 lbs to spare. My trailer axle weight I have 7020lbs to spare but with 4 horses with an average weight of 1000 per horse it will leave 3020 lbs. to spare. My GCVW is the major concern. I only have 5180 lbs to spare and with 4 horses in the trailer that will leave only 1180 lbs to spare if the average weight of each horse is 1000 lbs per horse. So with X number and passengers I can only load up 1180 lbs of stuff. That's close. Hope this helps everyone. If I have made any mistakes let me know. I am not perfect and all this information I have learned from research online. So basicaly all the weights have to pass together.
Posted 2007-09-05 10:58 PM (#67303 - in reply to #67301) Subject: RE: Do I have enough truck question with calculation example
Expert
Posts: 3853 Location: Vermont
There is static weight and dynamic weight...static at this point is okay...However to deal with dynamic weight issues, you need to transfer more weight back to the trailer... because on a hard stop you are going to LOAD your front axle!!!
Posted 2007-09-05 11:38 PM (#67305 - in reply to #67301) Subject: RE: Do I have enough truck question with calculation example
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 544 Location: Claxton, Ga.
Yes the dynamic weight may be an issue but the ratings Dodge gives are static weight so I have to assume if I pass the static weight then the dynamic will pass also. Unfortunetly we don't have the access to the engineering criteria that Dodge went by to come up with the weights.
Posted 2007-09-06 9:21 AM (#67326 - in reply to #67301) Subject: RE: Do I have enough truck question with calculation example
Veteran
Posts: 201
No engineer here, but pulled big trailers all my life. It really bothers me that trailer dealers/and/or manuf. build these bigger trailers with undersized axles,just to save a few 100 dollars. At the mininum, you need 7200# axles and I prefer 8000# axles on trailers this large (Bigger brake pads, etc.) You have enough truck to pull it (exactly what I have)but stopping and integrity of the axles after a few years, would really bother me.
Do I have enough truck question with calculation example
