Pin weight of 3400

[exav8tr]

Ken, Was your brother in a commercial rig or a rec vehicle? Here in Alaska, we have no weight restriction on our license. I plan on keeping my Alaska license for some time....

Thanks for your reply.

Steve, As always, thanks for your input. You know, I have owned a truck since l969 and in the early days we just loaded it until the bed sank to the axles and no one bothered us. Hauled quite a few 75lb concrete landscaping blocks a few years ago and just made sure they were loaded over the rear wheels. I think our country has become quite litigious in the last 20 years or so. I wish we could all just get along and help each other as we do on this forum.

[Wrenchtraveller]

Steve, you are right about the pin putting a slight amount of weight on the front axle and mine is around 40 pounds also . I put my hitch on myself and it is exactly 2" forward of the axle centre.

I ageee 100% on Steve's comments on liability but my insurance company can afford better lawyers than I can and the world is changing and becoming more anal about weight regulations. Two years ago at work we threw out thousands of dollars worth of proven lifting devices because they were not engineered.
The lawyers can smell a cash cow with overloaded vehicles and we will be hearing more of this all the time. OJ Simpson showed the world how low a lawyer can go and I don't want to risk being over my weight specs. I feel real good staying within my specs and when I see the posters that choose to go over one rating ( usually the GVWR ) but feeling so good that they are within the other rating ( combined rating ) I have to ask myself what are they trying to prove?
They should be just as comfortable being over their combined rating and even the coach's GVWR.
Heck, what is the fuss all about, just load that puppy up and feel good about it.

[Cat320]

Here's a bit of trivia regarding how to determine the weight that goes on the front axle: Take the number of inches the pin is mounted forward of the rear axle, divide that number by the wheelbase, then multiply by the total pin weight.

Example: 2" forward, 137" wheelbase, 2000 pw. 2/137 x 2000 = 29 lbs.

As far as being over weight is concerned, I carry an umbrella policy to protect against somebody suing me for just about anything. One reason I bought the dually is an attempt to avoid being a litigant, which seems to be getting more difficult all the time in our society.

This has been published before on here by another member, but the newer folks might appreciate it:

From Trailer Life 2007 "Guide To Towing", page 14:

"The GVWR figures are neither guidelines nor estimates; they are limits, and there are numerous valid reasons the manufacturers arrived at the figures given. If you think these figures are "close enough" or have a fudge-factor percentage built in, think again. Your warranty coverage--and your safety--may be at risk".

[indy roadrunner]

Bert - as info here is a quote from you on a post dated 1/22 in regards to Trailer Life Tow Guide.
"These guides are not worth the paper upon which they are printed. There are way too many variables to be accurate. You could have many capacities for the dually, because every model has a different capacity. Examples: reg cab, ex cab, crew cab, 2 wd, 4 wd...you can have any combination of the first three with the last two. All have different capacities due to different weights".

[Cat320]

quote:Originally posted by indy roadrunner

Bert - as info here is a quote from you on a post dated 1/22 in regards to Trailer Life Tow Guide.
"These guides are not worth the paper upon which they are printed. There are way too many variables to be accurate. You could have many capacities for the dually, because every model has a different capacity. Examples: reg cab, ex cab, crew cab, 2 wd, 4 wd...you can have any combination of the first three with the last two. All have different capacities due to different weights".

That is exactly correct.

I have that guide in front of me now. It gives tow ratings only...they are pretty much worthless. The quote from today's earlier post refers to GVWR, not tow ratings. It comes from the section of the guide that is entitled "Selecting the Right Vehicle For You. That is one of the major misunderstandings of this entire subject...folks look at a 13,000 tow rating and think they can 'tow' it. They do not look at what the cargo capacity is, which, with lots of diesels is the limiting factor in whether or not a truck is capable of handling the 5er.