Community Forums

TXiceman · 06-10-2006, 04:08 AM

Rusty is and engineer like myself and we live and depend on numbers. If you can't get a real weight on your truck, use the curb weight and add for options, cargo, passengers, and cargo to estimate your laden vehicel weight.

Just remember that the towing rating from a manufacturer is a maximum, based on a base model vehicle with no cargo, no options, no hitch and only a 150# driver. Every ppound you add over this base model vehicle reduces the tow rating accordingly. For these reasons, I recommend that you use 80% of the manufacturers tow rating for a loaded trailer. If all you have is a dry trailer waeight, add 1000# to it to estimate a loaded weeekend traveler. For a long term trailer, I'd go close to the trailer GVWR for a trailer weight (2000# is nor unreasonable).

While a lot of folks pull over-loaded, you need to get the real weights and do the match. This way you will know exactly where you are and make your decision.

Next time out on a trip, watch for a Flying J or other truck stop and and spend a few minutes getting weighed.

As for tire wear and traction with a DRW, I have had neither problem. I personally would not spend the $$$ for a 4-wheel drive unless you plan to be off of hard packed surfaces.

Ken

RKamperRV · 06-12-2006, 04:28 PM

I use my 4WD every time I take the trailer out of my yard or back it in again. I put the truck i 4WD - LO and let it walk the trailer in at idle. It is much easier backing and certainly saves the grass. I also use 4WD frequently in the winter in snow and ice. It also helps in campgrounds with loose gravel roads and/or sites. It's been worth the extra $$ for me.

Hitchhiker · 06-12-2006, 05:05 PM

I use my 4x4 to park the rig too, just like Rick does. Wouldn't want a truck without it.

Aviator · 06-12-2006, 07:23 PM

Rkamperrv,
Check with your local PSP. They might have the scales out one day and let ya run up on them. Buy'm a donut and they just might.

The staties are mostly nice guys and if ya tell them what your up to, they will most likely let you know when the DOT guy is in town. Can't hurt to ask.

Best of luck.

Diesel Don · 06-14-2006, 05:36 AM

Pre 2005 SRW 1 ton trucks were all 9900 GVWR.
In 05 Ford really increased the GVWR on all their trucks and they went model and engine specific to compensate for the heavier weights of diesels and 4x4s. My 05 SRW F350 4x4 CC LB V10 has a GVWR of 11200

In BC Canada, the Government Weigh Scales are open to public use for free on weekends and after hours. You weigh your individual axles and total them up. I did a lot of research to get the biggest Fiver for my SRW truck and stay completely legal. Here are my weights on the way home from a 44 day trip loaded very heavy with even 400 pounds of fresh water in my RV.
Fiver is an 06 Montana 2955RL which is actually 33 feet long. I have a washer/dryer unit right over the pin and the pin weight was 2600 pounds.
The trailer axles were 9700 pounds so this put the total weight of the Fiver at 12300 pounds or 100 pounds OVER it's 12200 pound GVWR. I am not too concerned here as I could travel with less water and we had accumulted a lot of extra stuff we really did not need to have along.
The truck's GVW including pin weight and auxilary fuel tank, tools and cab occupents, Me Wifey and two big dogs was 11080, under my 11200 pound rating. My combined weight was 11080 plus the 9700 pounds equals 20780 pounds, again under my GCWR which for my truck is 21000 pounds

If my truck had 4.30 gears I would have a 23000 pound combibed rating but like all the posts above say, I would be over my GVWR if I went to a bigger fiver.

I will close with a few remarks. First my model is the smallest in the Montana line up and it would overload a 9900 GVWR SRW pickup by over 1000 pounds. You see the larger Montanas being pulled by Ford F250 and Chev 2500s all the time.

The larger model Montanas are made for duallys IMO but many will argue this point.

I just returned from a 3500 mile trip towing some 8% grades and I was real happy with the performance and fuel use of the V10.
I have towed with diesels for 11 years and loved my 95 and 00 Ford 7.3 Powerstokes but in 04 I got hung with a bad Ford PSD 6.0 and that is one engine I won't be owning again. They took it back and let me order the 05 V10. I did need the bigger GVWR so it was a win win for me.

Take care and I truly wish all you 6.0 owners the very best of luck. In 07 Ford is coming out with a 6.4 dual turbo diesel. I hope it is a great engine. I do like the Duramax and Cummins diesels very much but I learned to drive on a 55 Ford Pickup, have driven them for the last 30 years and I guess you could say I am brand loyal to the point of being stupid. Thanks for reading.

Don (W5IT) · 06-14-2006, 07:53 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> I also use 4WD frequently in the winter in snow and ice. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

What is that stuff???

Those of us that live "Way down here in da south" rarely get dat stuff.

But there have been a FEW times the 4wd would have been nice. But "Lil Red" managed......

I noticed in one post a poster stated that the dually wears tires faster.

Well I find it is a wash.... Yes I change fronts two to one compared to the rears. But not a big deal. That is how all of the dually's I have owned seem to have done. (This is my fourth)

I got right at 40,000 miles out of the last pair of fronts. Last set of rears got right at twice that. (A little over 80,000 miles)

The good for nothing tires that came on the truck from the factory did not do near that. Only got 20 to 25 thousand out of the fronts and less than 35,000 on those rears. THEY STUNK!

Keep on Kampin and Catch Ya Later,

Don

diandtom · 06-14-2006, 03:10 PM

No more trucks without the 4wd. I have been stuck four times with this truck. The last a Nissan pulled me out. My truck has the locker, but that just digs two holes. I have had 2wd trucks before but this truck is very easy to stick. I never had this truck in snow and don't want to. The 07 Ford trucks are out but with the 6.0 diesel. From what I have heard the 07 Ford not going to be around long, replace with the 08 with the 6.4 diesel
Tom

RustyJC · 06-15-2006, 03:15 AM

I've towed with 2WD duallies since 1996 and have yet to be stuck. Go figger, I guess....

Rusty

Hitchhiker · 06-15-2006, 04:05 AM

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I have been stuck four times with this truck. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Tom,

I recall..... one time was at Timberlake CG in Whittier, NC on flat, damp grass. I think 'Sportsman' hooked up to your trailer with his 4x4 and backed it into the site for you. Who would have ever thought it'd get stuck there.

Could be because of the higher torque from the Duramax on your single rear wheels and that the engine increases the weight on the front disproportionately?

diandtom · 06-15-2006, 05:35 AM

That is right Richard. Been stuck twice in my yard.

I just went to move the fiver around to wash it and put a 2X 8 under one side to level and the truck would not push it up on the 2X8. The yard was wet but that another reason for the 4wd. Did not get stuck this time as I quit before I did.

Dave · 06-16-2006, 02:50 AM

I find it hard to believe the pay load of the 2500 with the cruiser hooked up to not be exceeded. I say this as in 01 I looked at a 4x4 2500 crew cab short box with the D/A. The truck was 7095 pounds with me in it and a full tank on fuel. I weigh 175 pounds.

I figured with the wife in it that put the truck at 7220. That leaves a payload of 1980. Then I added 100 pounds for the hitch head in the reciever. That leaves 1880. Add three kids at 360 total leaves 1520. The tongue weight of my TT is 1200 pounds leaving a margine of 320 pounds, not enough for a tool box, bikes and fire wood. I needed a 1 ton for a 12000 pound travel trailer.

Now lets look at a long bed 2500 crew cab 4x4. It will weigh at least as much as a short box empty so it will be at least 6900 pounds with just a full tank of fuel. 9200 minus 6900 is 2300 pounds of remaining pay load. Lets say man weighs 175 and wife is 125 and we put both in the truck you have 2000 pounds of pay load left. Now we still have not put a fith wheel hitch in. That is at least 100 pounds. So now we have a paylaod of 1900 pounds.

I would say a 12000 pound fiver with a 2400 pound pin wieght has overloaded this truck. I used conservitave weights for the man and woman. I also did not put a tool box or any other accesories in the truck. With the fiver empty it has a pin weight of 1775. That means it is 125 pounds under the max payload of the truck before anything is put in the RV.

It is way easy to over load a 2500 truck. It is not the towing capacity that gets overloaded. It is the GVWR that gets overloaded.

CD · 06-19-2006, 07:01 AM

I see a lot of very good advice in the previous posts. The one thing I didn't see was tire pressure issues. On the SRW PUs you usually need max. pressure, especially for 5ers. to carry the load. With the dually you can run much lower pressure. I run 55psi and the ride is much better than the 3/4 tons I have had. If you are running max pressure unloaded there is the problem of wearing the center of the tread too fast. Our dually got 63K on the duals and 66k on the front (replaced the front due to weather checking not tread wear.

Jumbo Jet · 06-19-2006, 03:51 PM

I have a 2500 and run max pressure all the time. I regularly check the tire wear and do not see the middle wearing any faster than the outsides.

I do rotate my tires approx. every 6,000 miles.

And I don't get too overly concerned about 500-700lbs. over the truck ratings, as long as the weight is not over the tire ratings. This is based on a few million miles of experience.

TXiceman · 06-19-2006, 04:57 PM

Well, I guess I have been real luck on my 2 DRW trucks without 4-wheel drive. I have never been stuck or even close to it and no problem with tire life.

I do know that the DRW is very stable and I have never had handling problems, but have seen a number of SRW truck pulling similar trailers and they are fighting the trailer at times.

Ken