[AT] tri-axle trailer question

[Cecil E Monson]

> Cecil the other factor is the axle rating on the rear of your dump truck. You should be able to find that out with the build code you mentioned.  The DMV folks will get a little testy with you if you are hauling more weight on the rear of the truck (load weight + tongue weight) than the axle is rated for.
> 
> I have pulled a trailer that weighed 13,000 pounds with my 1/2 ton pickup but I was illegal and only doing it because I had almost no other choice under the circumstances.  I suspect doing so had something to do with having to replace my rear end last month when both carrier bearings went out.
> 
> Charlie 


	Charlie, I remember the first time I went to the local sand
and gravel pit to get a load of pea stone for my driveway with my new
Chevvie half ton pickup. Geez, I had forgotten about this years ago.
The guy running the machine at the gravel pit asked me how much I
wanted and I told him something like, "Oh, I don't know. A full load
I guess."  I didn't realize it was sort of a joke with those that work
there. He filled the rear of my pickup until the thing squatted like a
hen looking for a rooster and said, "Now take it easy going home".  It
was my first experience with overload and I can tell you it made my
knees shake when I made the turn coming up out of the quarry. The front
wheels turned as though there was nothing there and the truck kept going
straight until I touched the brakes. Geez, I made it home all right but
if the truck hadn't been new with new tires, I don't think I would have
made it.

	Ever since that day I've been leery about trailers that were
too heavy for the tow vehicle. The way I figure the capacity of the rear
of my truck is to take the capacity of the tires that is in embossed
letters on the sides of the tires and multiply by the number of them
on the vehicle. The tires on my dump truck are new load range "E" tires
and are rated on the tire at 2680# each - times 4 equals 10,700# that I
know the truck can carry. Over that and I am on my own. My truck weighs
7800# on most scales and with half of that on the rear, it should give
me the ability to haul about 7000# safely in the rear or on the hitch
plus whatever is in the box. It appears to me that my pintle hitch is
rated at 16000# capacity with a 3000# vertical load capability. But it
still seems like an awful lot to put on the rear. My pintle hook is on
there with 4 bolts also and that is a lot to ask of 4 little 1/2" bolts.

	It would seem to me that if I towed a 6 ton load on a trailer
that weighed a ton by itself, I would be just about maxed right out for
the pintle hitch provided I didn't go over the 3000# vertical load. It
would seem to me that hitting a bump or going over a set of railroad
tracks and bouncing the trailer hitch could multiply the load on the
pintle hook and easily exceed the 3000# rated load.

Cecil
-- 
The nicest thing about telling the truth is you never have to wonder
what you said.

Cecil E Monson
Lucille Hand-Monson
Mountainville, New York   Just a little east of the North Pole

Allis Chalmers tractors and equipment

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