Re: Trailer size


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Posted by Keith in Washington [108.162.245.67] on Monday, July 31, 2017 at 22:24:19 :

In Reply to: Re: Trailer size posted by Pw guy [172.68.54.43] on Monday, July 31, 2017 at 20:01:27 :

The rating on a trailer and vehicles are not guidelines. They are legal limits. If you exceed those limits and are involved in an accident you will be taken to the cleaners and your wallet will be empty for the rest of your life. Lawyers love it when people exceed limits and get into trouble.

Yes there are safety factors built into the weight ratings to cover the manufacture's butt. But those rating are legal ratings which you don't want to exceed.

I personally believe that a 12K trailer is a minimum. The brakes are larger and I always want the trailer brakes to stop better than the trucks as it will help reduce the chance of jackknifing. I also want the bigger 10 ply or more tires. I have lost several tires on my trailer over the years all of them due to nails reducing tire pressure and twice self destructing. The three remaining tires had the capacity to carry the load.

This is like my father putting a 10 1/2 foot camper on his single wheel truck. He was within all legal limits and weight, however he was constantly replacing the rear tires. When I bought the truck from him it had tread separated tires on the rear with plenty of tread left. I figured out the issue as soon as I put it on the scale. He was running 7K on the rear axle which was its legal rating. The tires were rated at 3600lbs each and the tire pressure was set to the max load rating. The problem was that the tires could not stand up to running at max capacity for an extended time especially in hot weather. He kept the camper on all the time. I replaced the truck with a dually with a 9K rear axle and the tires were rated at 3700 lbs each so I had over 12K in tire capacity and I have never lost a rear tire. One set went for over 90K miles on my dually that carried a bigger camper 95% of the time.

I like the extra safety cushion on my rigs. I believe the minimum tuck rating for towing a PW is 1 ton. Again better brakes and etc. I prefer a dually as I always have the camper on the truck when I tow. I want the extra weight in the truck so the truck has sufficient mass that the trailer is less likely to push the truck around.



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