Will this truck be big enough?

My buddy has a 05 GMC 8500 dump. It has a 20 ton pintle and airbrakes w/air hook-up for the trailer. The GVWR is listed as 52,000 lbs. There is no listed cGVWR. I want to use it to haul my 33,000lb. Hundai H-140 excavator on a 20 ton tag with air brakes.

The motor is a 300HP cat with Allison auto trans. Would this combo work and or be legal?

Thanks for the help.

truck

Lots of opinions out there, but I wouldn't want to do it, I dont think you have enough truck to handle that load.
Im just guessing, but Im thinking the truck weighs about 18-20,000 lb
trailer about 3-4000 lb,
excavator 32,000 lb.
Im thinking you are at your max, or over.
A full size tandem dump truck, would have its hands full with this load, and its done everyday, I know. A friend of mine, hauls his 42,000 lb excavator on his 20 ton trailer. He says he doesnt feel safe, but he doesnt have a lowboy
You didnt ask this question and it may not be an issue, but in my area, to do this you need a class A CDL
If its over 55,000 lb, you need a federal permit (2290)
The truck, will always been under a strain and if you have to pull any hills, you might be in trouble.
These 8500's are nice trucks, but not for hauling that kind of load

Good luck

Good advice, it isn't quite enough truck. But of course we did it for years with an 8500 and the 150. Local hauls slow and careful and always with really good brakes. If you go ahead please change the pintle hitch. If it's a typical tandem tag the vertical tongue load to get legal with an excavator will be brutal. No way a 20 ton hitch is strong enough.

That is a class 8 truck, a full size tandem just like regular Peterbilt or Kenworth dump truck, it is just underpowered.

It looks like the truck must have 40,000 lb tandem suspension and 12,000 lb front suspension by the GVWR you posted.

Not sure what you mean by a 20 ton pintle, tongue or gross weight. We have Premier 2300 air hitchs on our trucks, rated at 20,000 tongue weight and 100,000 gross trailer weight.

GVWR on class 8 trucks is summed up by the suspensions it came with from the factory, like I metioned for his truck above. Example of our 2006 Kenworth T800, has a 20,000 lb front suspension with 425 tires, and 46,000 lb tandems, door sticker says 66,000 GVWR. Our Peterbilt has 12,000 lb front suspension and 38,000 tandems, door sticker says 50,000 GVWR. We have added 1 lift axle to the Peterbilt and 2 lift axles to the Kenworth. Both trucks have 475 hp, a Detroit for the Pete and a Cat for the KW, also 13 spd in the Pete and 18 spd in the KW.

Before we got the KW we used the Pete to pull our tri-axle Trailmax with 40,000 plus loads, and no problems. And this truck has a original GVWR less than what he has posted. But a lot more power.


Now will the truck do it and would I do it. The truck can handle it as long as that hitch is rated for it and the frame supporting the hitch. The truck frame is probably just as strong if not stronger than the frame on our Pete, since they are not going to mount 40,000 lb tandems on a light frame. But it is not going to be fun with that motor and I wonder about the transmission. Which Allison is it?

And yes it would be legal as long as the axles, tires are not overloaded and you have the truck registered for enough weight to cover the trailer. And you won't be overweight on anything as long as the dump box is empty, just make sure the machine is loaded enough forward to not overload the trailer axles and to get some weight on the tongue.

Thanks for the reply's. The trailer is a newer Econoline with a 48,000 GVWR. the trailer weighs 8K lbs. leaving 40K lbs. to handle the 33K machine so it is legal. Driver has a class A CDL so that's not a issue. The trailer tongue is rated for 8k lbs. I've attached a pic of the pintle. Not sure how to determine it' actual weight rating.

The truck has a Cat C8 motor (300hp) with an Allison automatic. I'm not sure which Allison it is. I'll try to find out.

It's actually a 56K GVWR (16k front, 2-20K rears). So the weight for both the truck and trailer is legal, just not sure the motor/trans will have enough grunt. It pulls the trailer with a 18K lb. backhoe without any real problems. Just not sure what the additional 15K lbs. from the excavator will be like.

I guess there's only one way to find out...

I have no idea what the rules are in New Jersey. In Illinois we would have to carry 8000 lbs on the tongue with your rig. We have to carry 15000 lbs on the tongue with a 150. That's why I brought up the pintle hitch. We run 50 ton New Holland hitches and they are maxed out for tongue load. That's why I thought a 20 ton wouldn't do.

As far as enough horsepower our 8500 had all of 210. That's were the slow came from. Today we do it with 300 HP but it's only from job to job and it does OK.

I really have to ask. I'm not a trucker but i have a dodge ram 2500 rated for 8800 gvwr and a tandem dually gooseneck rated for 25600#.

I know this is a complicated issue, but to be legal i have to ask. Where do you go to find out what you can carry(in ontario) What do i do for a license, cvor???, vehicle registration??

I have tried to figure all this out in the past but really cant sort through it all. I know most operators only run a portion of the paperwork they are supposed to because of the complexity and the cost.

Thanks for your help

I think you'd have no problem moving that machine with that truck. You are going to have 5 axles to stop the combination. I know people that move 160 size shovels behind 6 wheeler dump trucks with a 20 ton trailer all the time. Where i used to work they had an International 4900 6 wheeler dump w/ a DT466 with an allison auto that would pull a 20 ton and move everything from a 303 Cat mini to the 314 and 315 excavators.

If anything i would look into upgrading the pintle hitch. Look into ones that lock the eye of the trailer when the brakes are released, it prevents any slop.

watglen said:

I really have to ask. I'm not a trucker but i have a dodge ram 2500 rated for 8800 gvwr and a tandem dually gooseneck rated for 25600#.

I know this is a complicated issue, but to be legal i have to ask. Where do you go to find out what you can carry(in ontario) What do i do for a license, cvor???, vehicle registration??

I have tried to figure all this out in the past but really cant sort through it all. I know most operators only run a portion of the paperwork they are supposed to because of the complexity and the cost.

Thanks for your help

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I think your biggest issue would be insurance a lot of insurers won't go over the manufacturers GCW The liscencing would be based on tire size. here in the west on the smaller trucks they go by the weight rating on the side wall
the trailer's GVW is total weigh on the trailer. And as far as I am concerned your truck doesn't have NEAR enough brake to pull that size of a trailer
:Banghead