stranger things have happened, but Ive been looking around for a big GN enclosed trailer....really just looking at what you get for what. A couple days ago, just walking distant from my house I see what appears to be a large gn in a guys back yard. Its obviously been there awhile, its been blocked in by junk. I leave a note inquirying about it.....he calls and hes looking at selling it. Turns out its about right for what I want. A decent deal....its been sitting for years, needs cleaning, and new tires. Its a 50 ft GN raised rear section for a dragster wing built in 1997. Its been used twice, apparently less then 100 miles on it. All the tires are rotted and exploded/flat. They are 2560lbs each on a 15 inch wheel.....seems alittle low. Anyone know of any 15 inch tires that have a 3000 lb rating.... I could see loading it to 15k total, seems like 3 k spare would be a smart thing.

The other question I have is.....what if your pulled over in a state that isn t legal for 50ft? Even if it is legal and registered from my home state? Where can I find out a list of rules for towing in all states?


what does a trailer like this weight? Its a vintage. I plan on getting two cars in it with all the accessory stuff that goes along with travel and racing....I could load 6 to 8 k in cars alone plus supplies.....?

 

guessing (educated)...but you're not going to find 15's with 3k capacity. Not standard automotive/truck tires anyway.

 

I'm guessing this is a home built trailer.....most Goosenecks this size run 16" tires with 3 axles....is there a GVW plate on the trailer !!......I had a Pace 53' enclosed the empty weight was about 8200 lbs....my 44' enclosed is 7560 lbs empty

You need to know what the axles are rated for to get a GVW this combined with the tire rating will give you something to go on for how heavy the trailer can be loaded......always weight your trailer empty so you know how to load it......I keep my empty trailer weight and empty truck weight tickets on my visor and calulate loading from these by adding fuel,passengers,gear,load,ect

15" tires with the load rating of 3000 lbs are not going to be found.....the best tire in 15" for this trailer will be S/T tires

 

On one of our big utility trailers we have a set of Kelly Springfield 15" Armor Trac trailer tires. I believe the load rating is "F".

MikeyB

 

Depending on the manufacturer of the axles, you may be able to replace the wheels with 16"ers. The clearance from the back of the hub to the outside of the trailer bed or from axle to axle may be too tight though. My guess is the trailer may still be a good buy even if you have to replace the axles and leaf springs.
Nat

 

What about the length? 50' trailer + 20' truck is 70' !!! I thought the legal limit was something like 65' in most states.

Since you broached the "legal" subject.... approx. 7000# truck + 8000# trailer + 8000# (2 4000# cars) = 23000#. This is starting to flirt with requiring a CDL and being required to stop at weigh stations, etc. Some things you might want to look into.

 

First, its not ahome built, its a Vintage. It does have a couple custom features that were ordered that way.

I think it would hold a 16" wheel / tire, but I would need a slightly lower aspect tire. It does have a GVW plate on the trailer but this is the desert, and its unreadable, faded by the sun. Thats what did the tires in....they actually exploded right were they sat.

In NV the rule is 65 ft and no cdl until 26001....I m fairly sure I can stay under the 26001, but I don t know the true trailer weight? I was guessing 6500. The owner says"it pulled easier then a 38 ft gn that his buddy has" I know that doesn t mean much but it may idicate that its a lighter trailer then some. It appears to have alot of aluminum in it but I never really noticed other trailers.

I measured my truck....and I think it would be right at 65 ft total....+ or - 6 inches probably? As close as I could get was 15 ft to my GN on the truck from the front. How strict are HWP? If it comes in at 65 ft 3 inches.....would a HWP do anything? If so what? The GN on the trailer is actually under the gn overhang......I was told that trailer lenght is measured from the hitch to the back? If not and its actually 50 total and about 49 ft from the GN to the rear I m sure I d be under 65 total......really depends on how things are measured?

If the trailer is 8000 with a gen, water tank....+7000 for cars + 2000 for accessories..........thats 17000 trailer only..... My truck is licensed at 11500....but actual is about 8500...... (98 4x4 QC)....Do I go by actual or registered GVR of 11500?

thats puts it at 25500.........thats probably on the outside.........legitamately I d probably never have 2 3500 lb cars in it......mostly a 2750 lb vette and one of a couple others at around 3360......so I d be ok....esspecially if I watched what all went inside.....

What rating is the load F?

 

Not sure what the load rating is on F but it's a 12 ply tire. The trailer capacity is 10k so I assume each tire can at least handle 2500lbs.

MikeyB

 

G is 3750

As for the weights, I always did it backwards. Set up the trailer and figure what I could haul safe and then go about finding out how to make it legal. I am 65 feet long with a 50 foot and the GN flat at the nose.

Contact the company and check to see what the capacity is. They can tell you. Remember, truck GVW plus trailer GVW equals the weight for CDL in most states. If you have to assign a GW to the trailer, make sure it adds up to less than 26,000.

 

I don't know what the "standard" for measuring is either. I was currently doing some looking around at flatbed GN's. I was looking at a 25' GN which had a 20' flat deck + 5' self cleaning dovetail = 25'. Again, with my 18' flatbed bumper pull, the deck is 18' not including the tongue. Based on that, I assumed trailer length was measure by the deck length.

That's what caught my eye.... I was thinking 50' deck + 7' for the tongue + 15' from the GN hitch to the front bumper of truck = 72'.

Just what is the "standard" for trailer measurements?

 

Its real complicated, from the front of the trailer (including hitch) to the back of the trailer. The measurement of the king pin to the center of the rear axle set is only good for bridge law calculations.

The 50 foot deck plus the tongue is a 57' trailer, legal in Alabama but not many other places.

 

The way I always measured them is to go inside and start where the riser is and measure back to the rear door, then add 8 foot. This works on all makes and takes the guess work out of it. Many trailers now days come with a Kodiak front end, and they can be hard to measure out side. Every major trailer manufacturer I know of uses this method.

The trailer must have designed for a very very light load, I have never seen a trailer anywhere near that long with only two axles. Most manufactures break point for the mandatory tri-axle, is around 36'. Vintage Trailers are still doing business, they are a middle of the road trailer offered in several series. Looking at other similar length and style trailers the weight should be in the 7500lbs area. Also I did find a couple makes that offer 48' trailers as dual axle models, but all of them used 6000lb axles. If you have 15" wheels they have to be 5200lb or less axles. Assuming they are 5200 (most likely) you would have a 10,400 maximum GVWR. The trailer is going to be 7500lbs maybe more if optioned out, that would give you a grand total of a 50 foot trailer with a payload of 2900lbs. That would be pathetic at best, and render the trailer useless. You probably have that much weight in tools? I would take another look at that name plate, try and get a serial number, it is the law so it had one at some time in it's life. If nothing else, get the Title and get it off of that. Also, if it has no title, walk away, you don't need any of that. Unless the guy is just giving the trailer away (less the 5,000), I would not be interested. You could put new axles on, but the trailer can not legally exceed it's name plate rating, just like our trucks. Someone most of had a special need or they were very, very stupid, because this trailer would be of no use to 99% of all users. Also I would be very careful, and look what it is made out of, so far the thing looks to be extremely under built, and you do not need a flexing 50' trailer behind you.
Be careful and look it over, I myself would walk on this one. Good luck.

 

Generaly a #5200 axle is the heaivest that a manufacturer will put 15 inch wheels on. If that holds true, and it is a tandem, #10400 is max weight on the axles which is probably all the guy needed to haul a dragster. They tend to take up a lot of room but not weigh much.
As to the tires, Trailer life had a small article a few months back stating that Titan is now selling 15 inch tires with a vastly improved weight rating. That stuck in my mind because my fith wheel came with 15 inch wheels. I refused to take home with those, and to my suprise, the dealer agreed to change them to 16s. Well guess what, 16s dont fit either axle spacing or in the fenderwell and I am stuck with the smaller ones.
I would probably get the VIN number, call Vintage, and make my mind up from that.
Good luck!


( apparently ynot types a lot faster than I do)

 

guys.....guys.....6 flats its a triple axle......but thats pretty imformative.....sounds like it has 5200 lb axles....so gvr would be 15600. My truck is registered to 11500.....so I guess I could try and reregeter my truck to 11400?
Or try and register the trailer at 15500.

The owner has the title......I m waiting to see it. The gvr plate on the trailer is unreadable.....it been in the sun for about 7 years.

 

It's not quite that bad. Only 75% of the trailer weight goes on the trailer axles. If the axles can carry 10,400 the practical trailer weight will be 13,000 more or less. The trailer is not dropped to check the weights, but the axle/tire weights can not be exceeded. The trailer length for the legal limits is the actual length of the trailer from the front to the back. The kingpin length is not a concern on a single axle truck. If you do want to check it, you cannot exceed 42 feet from the kingpin to the centerline of the rear most axle in most states. In some states it is to the center line of the axle assemblys or in between the axles. This will not come into play on a single axle truck because the trailer axles are further foreward on the trailer. With the axles all the way to the rear the kingpin length would play out at around 48 foot of trailer for the federal bridge law.