brooks829

I was wondering how much weight could I pull with a gooseneck trailer. I am looking a pulling a 14000 GVW gooseneck to haul a small dozer. Has anyone ever hauled more say a 20000gvw trailer with a 17000lbs load? My truck is set up with some very heavy springs but I'm not sure if it will handle pulling a 19000 load. Any suggestions?



'97 2500 4wd; 5 speed. Truck is hopped up a little.

CTD NUT

When you are getting into the 14,000 GTW gooseneck or 5ver, it is getting on the heavy side for a SRW.........I know that there are some guys that are towing that much with a SRW, but I think most here would agree that when you are in around the 15,000 lb range on a gooseneck, you should be using a DRW.........Many guys here are pulling well over 15,000 lb GTW goosenecks or 5vers but they use DRW's because of the high pin weights on the rear axle.......

signature600

Yup, what he said...That's why I've got training wheels.

Our trailer weighs ~6500-7000 lbs empty, then you put a 13000lb tractor on it, and she gets pretty heavy really fast. Depending on how the trailer is setup (where the axles are), and how you load it (put the load forward, on the truck, or towards the rear, more on the trailer) you can get away with a SRW, as long as you've got the brakes.

HTH,
Chris

Hannibal

GVWR and GCVWR are not written laws, they're not the breaking point and they're not the "limit". They are what the manufacturer has determined through extensive testing that your truck will safely and reliably tow for it's expected life span. If you exceed your GVWR or GCVWR, you haven't broken the law. You have exceeded the manufacturers recommended maximun load and will likely void your warranty if something breaks under load. If you crash, it will be "not maintaining control of your vehicle" or whatever moving violation you commited. There's no ticket that I'm aware of for exceeding your GVWR or GCVWR. Civil court might go after it if your accident victim feels your weight contributed to the accident but the moving violation charge would outway the why charge anyhow. Is it worth the risk? I'm over by about 900 lbs with my 2500 Ram. It itsn't because the truck can't handle it. It's because the motor doesn't make enough low end torque to launch from a stop on a 7% grade towing our 5th wheel's weight in 100*F+ temperatures without creating unacceptable heat and unacceptable acceleration. Other than that, it tows 900 lbs over as well as my previous Cummins powered identical truck that was rated to tow 14,300 lbs.
Going over the "rating" (not the limit) is swinging the odds against you where being under the rating is keeping the odds in your favor. I won't exceed tire and axle ratings for interstate travel but around town I have come close. I've had 3300 lbs of elevator test weights in the back of my truck. They just make it ride nice and sit lower but not bottomed out. After the hurricanes I saw a lot of trucks loaded with tree stumps obviously way over their ratings. Squashed tires and bottomed out suspension. I only saw one broken truck. It was an old F-350 dually waaayyyy overloaded with tree stumps. The hub was broken off with the wheels still bolted to it.
I can't recommend or ok anything. I'm pretty low on the totem pole of society. But that's how I feel about it.

rebal

the trucks have the power but can you stop it fast enough? my father in law rvs full time with a 1st gen and has a scale weight of 22450 with a 1 ton drw just my .02

Hannibal

Stopping is the chance you take. We have trailer brakes like 18 wheelers have trailer brakes. If the trailer brakes on our trailers fail, like if the trailer brakes fail on a loaded 18 wheeler, we're likely to roll through a red light with our foot stuck in the radiator trying to stop. If the trailer's brakes are set up right and working properly, you shouldn't feel the trailer trying to push you through intersections no matter how much it weighs.

Fronty Owner

Does the trucks GCVWR not fall under the rules of the DOT like it does for commercial trucks?
And as far as not exceeding your rating, I have a bent Class 3 reciever on my fronty from unloading a car hauler and the car rolling when the binders were disconnected.

Wolff

When I was hauling cattle my truck and trailer weight was 17,500 lbs empty. I would on average haul between 18k to 20k in the trailer. I was running vacuum over hydraulic brakes on the trailer. They are way better than electric. My truck was an 01 3500 4x4 QC drw HO CTD with 6 speed and my trailer was a gooseneck brand 36' long inside 6.5" wide inside bull trailer with triple 8,000 lbs. axles and vacuum over hydraulic brakes. If you are worried about stopping and want something that is much better than electric brakes look into the vacuum over hydraulic systems. They cost about $600 to setup on a 02 or later and around $1200-1400 on a 03 or newer because of the need for a auxillary vacuum pump.

59FORD

IF you were to be stopped or checked by the DOT for whatever reason and you were carring a
heavy load ie: cattle, dozer, cars, etc. and they were to weigh you there are 3 thing they will
look at first. The sticker on the door post, weight rating on the tires and the rating of the wheels.
IF you exceed these ratings you are in violation of federal laws, plain and simple. If you are over
26000# go to last line.

Remember, you have a license plate on the truck, all states have some kind on limit on that
plate be it commercial or not.

When push comes to shove you will be the one bent over pulling up your socks.

bruce03

I use my 03 dually and a tandem axle gooseneck rated for 20,000lbs to haul my dozer around. The trailer has electric brakes, never had a problem getting it stopped. I chain it down with the dozer on the back half of the trailer over the axles. Get it too far forward and the ride is way too rough no matter what kind of road you're on. A srw truck should handle it but I wouldn't do it on a regular basis.

pmtg

in Minnesota, if you at 26000 #s on just a vehicle then you only need a class D license and a DOT physical card (physical card is needed past a certain weight, forget what that is). if you were to split that load to a combination (trailer) with the same exact weight you will need a CDL!

26000 #s in a dump truck only, no problem.

26000 #s with a dump truck pulling a trailer, CDL.

even if you are not loaded to 26000 #s, if the truck and trailor are licensed to that amount you need a CDL.

Pat