Overload of the Day

[skyking1]

Read the rules.
Trailers over a given weight require load equalizers & sway controls to be legally towed.
It is my opinion that truck manufacturers rate their half tons for too much trailer rating.

the salesmen are all too eager to sell a guy too much trailer as well.

 

[Truck Shop]

Outside mirrors are another problem.

 

[Willie B]

In 2000 I had a new 01 GMC 2500 van with Quigley 4x4 conversion. Bought a travel trailer, my first. 5.7 Vortec was rated about 8000 tow rating, subtract 300 for 4x4. Traoler GTW was 6000.
The salesman assured me I needed no load equalizers or sway control.
I hated it! The truck was lifted to allow room for oil pan & differential, that might have made it worse. I added load equalizer, it helped with porpoising, but cross winds were a real problem with sway.
First summer we went to Bar Harbor, On Route 2 in ME it was miserable! Every bridge, every tractor trailer would start a growing sway. I spotted a small sign on a lawn looked like a private residence, TRAILER HITCHES INSTALLED. I stopped. Guy said he could help. 20 minutes later I had a friction sway control. What a difference!

 

[Truck Shop]

The Vantage Bridge crossing the Columbia River-I have crossed that bridge at 80,000 gvw and with
constant side winds coming down the gorge my right steer on the fog line and trailer tires on the
center line. Anytime there was a RV/travel trailer ahead of me I laid back, I don't know how many
have blown over in that area but it's not uncommon. When you see smoke puffing off the travel
trailer tires from the whip you know the towing pickup is in a fight.

 

[skyking1]

i don't claim skill rather I was lucky.
4x4 are not particularly good tow rigs, but:
1) all the front end parts are new
2) It is not lifted
3) I don't have stupid tires
4) My 5th wheel is light (<9000) and does not have a 5-head, you can't quite stand up next to the bed.
The combo has excellent performance in the wind. When I picked the trailer up in Idaho in extreme January conditions, I was in a hurry to get home. I had to lay back on the corners going up I-90 because the empty cans were blowing all over the road, taking both lanes. The same thing happened the first time I ran west on 84 down the gorge in a big wind. I was rock solid and had to lay back from the empty cans.
I won't go bigger on trailer because towing big feels like work and I do that for work, not play. The truck has a 15,900 tow rating and that really sound like work to me.

 

[56wrench]

well, add an enthusiastic used truck salesperson to the mix and it only makes the problem worse for a first-time pickup truck buyer who may be unaware of towing GCWR etc. How many of them are likely to read the towing section of the factory owners manual? or understand it? or know what their load actually weighs? or adjust the gain on the brake controller if the pickup actually has one? 'Mike' says his 1/2 ton pickup will tow his 40ft fifth-wheel RV up any hill. ya, but 'Mike' , can you stop it?

 

[skyking1]

Best smoke and spark show I saw was a car hauler who caught a bad bridge joint right in front of me. Apparently they don't have much clearance either way, and he was swaying and sparking and smoking tires on the structure above.

 

[Don.S]

You cant see it very well but i saw this yesterday. Kubota 080 excavator on the back and a sv95 track loader on the front. What you cant see is the gas welder and torches and tool boxes in the truck box. All this behind a pick up.

 

[gwhammy]

I hauled my 18,000 lb. excavator and the svl95 one time about 4 miles behind the one ton Ford this spring. Never again. Truck works great with either one but grossing 46,000 or a hair more is just to much.

 

[Truck Shop]

I hauled my 18,000 lb. excavator and the svl95 one time about 4 miles behind the one ton Ford this spring. Never again. Truck works great with either one but grossing 46,000 or a hair more is just to much.

Oh no that rig will haul 60,000 GVW-trust me says the salesman.

 

[skyking1]

 

[Truck Shop]

Had to run to Pasco today 47 miles one way. The trip there was interesting-three illegal rigs on the road-two got caught by WSP, all farm rigs.
All on hyw 12. First one slowed traffic to a crawl-tractor pulling a trailer loaded with hay. Bales hanging out-over width, and stacked so high the
guy driving the tractor couldn't see behind, probably 30 cars and trucks backed up behind him. Along comes DOT and waves him over.
Second rig had Festus Haggen at the wheel complete with a lariat hanging in the rear window {going to do a little roadside roping}. Trailer he was
towing had no fenders, no lights and no license plate. One tail light worked on the pickup. The third was a wet dry/anhydrous with fold up booms
12' high for total of 24' coverage each side. Being towed along at 60 mph -now the kicker is it's the ag company I worked for 18 years ago.
Anyway it was rolling along at 60 supported by old and I mean old air craft bomber tires, the one tire on the left side was down probably on the second
layer of cord with a piece about a foot long just a flapping around. No brakes on this type of trailer and with the height of the booms you don't want
to loose a tire.

Sorry no photos-I don't take photos while driving.

 

[Tags]

That guy with the two machines should rethink where he's at in life, one wrong move and it's over for him and the passengers or god forbid someone out running errands with their kids and he can't stop.....

 

[skyking1]

Outside mirrors are another problem.

I remember I had those totally bogus slip on mirrors on my first Dodge diesel, but they worked. I can't remember where they went but I got the 3rd gen foldouts for it.

 

[Don.S]

It was about a 20 year old kid driving it for a company. In quebec you only need a heavy vehicle license if the vehicle has 3 axles or has a weight of over 4500kg. So you can get a 17 year old kid who just got a driver's license in a 550 with 30 000lbs behind it and its totally legal.

 

[terex herder]

Anyway it was rolling along at 60 supported by old and I mean old air craft bomber tires, the one tire on the left side was down probably on the second
layer of cord with a piece about a foot long just a flapping around.

Those old military aircraft tires were big for ag equipment tires back in the 1970's. 6 plys of cord showing, 24 more to go. I'm surprised anybody still runs them. They are so stiff it beat the equipment to death running down the road. Lots of spindle and lift arm problems disappeared after the equipment was switched to standard flotation tires.

 

[Truck Shop]

They bought a warehouse full of those bomber tires, and will run them till every last one is gone. Epitome of cheap.

 

[DMiller]

Wife and I had doc visits yesterday, on the trip to the offices spotted a local loading fresh round bales on a gooseneck and the guy was pulling out of that farm. Half ton SWB GMC six lug 4wd, tandem single wheel goose with 12 6x5 rounds on it. Not a strap or rope to be seen, eight on bottom 12’wide with 4 on top at the gaps of the lowers.
Turned east toward Washington MO and headed thru town at 3:30pm during what would be considered ‘rush hour’. Illinois plates.

 

[Willie B]

Wife and I had doc visits yesterday, on the trip to the offices spotted a local loading fresh round bales on a gooseneck and the guy was pulling out of that farm. Half ton SWB GMC six lug 4wd, tandem single wheel goose with 12 6x5 rounds on it. Not a strap or rope to be seen, eight on bottom 12’wide with 4 on top at the gaps of the lowers.
Turned east toward Washington MO and headed thru town at 3:30pm during what would be considered ‘rush hour’. Illinois plates.

We have an intersection where 55 MPH speed limit Route 7 4 lane meets 103 two lane 50 MPH. There is a farmer loses several round bales a year there. Why AOT looks the other way for farmers, I don't understand.

 

[Truck Shop]

Not in this state, DOT doesn't care who it is farmer or not. Insecure load is just that and a ticket is headed your way if you don't tie it down. During wheat harvest
DOT is out with jump scales and catch several everyday.