Phred
Veteran Member
Stopped to get gas the other day at a station that was just off the local express way.
While filling up I was admiring the 1 ton diesel in the next pump row. Realtively new 1 ton very nice with a trailer hauling what appeared to be a new diesel 3/4 ton.
But as I stopped drouling over these trucks I noticed something was not right. The front end of the 1 ton was raised up a good bit, and the front of the trailer was almost scrapping the ground!
The 3/4 ton probably wieghted in at around 8K lbs. The trailer was a tag with what appeared to be two 5K or two 7K axels. Tires were 8 bolt.
The trailer was connected to the truck with what looked like the head of a weigh distributing hitch into a 2" reciever. The arms of the hitch which should be connected to the trailer were not present.
As I look at this it became clear that something was major wrong with this setup. As I looked at it the owner walked up and starting swearing about cheap trailers that are no good... etc... etc...
He then pointed to the tung of the trailer which was almost split in half /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif! The really bad news was it was cracked just past the coupler, which was a bulldog 2" ball, but beyond the surge brakes and the safety chains /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif.
So if it completely broke free the brakes, coupler, and chains would have been left connected to the hitch and the trailer and truck in tow would have been free!
The scary part is he just happened to stop for diesel. A few more miles and a major accident would occur.
When I left he was off to find a welder to fix the trailer. If I was a welder I would not get with in 100 yds of this mess. Looks like an accident waiting to happen.
Later as I thought about this it appears that the cause(s) of the problem where:
1) If he had actually used the weight distributing hitch it would help since the arms would connect back to the trailer behind the cracked area and better distribute the load.
2) Tongue weight!!!!!
Think about it. How much weight does it take to jack up the front end of a 1 ton dually 4wd diesel. I hate to think about how much weight he had on that receiver hitch.
3) The trailer was just barely long enough for the 3/4 ton diesel truck. So he had it pulled on with front of the truck up front on the trailer. All the weight of these trucks is up front. So probably the better part of 8K lbs up in front of the two axels.
So be careful. Load the trailer carefully and don't exceed the limits of tongue weight or axel weight.
If you think its close weigh the truck and trailer togheter at a scale. Many truck stops have them.
Just think what would happen if you where following this guy when the trailer broke......
Fred
While filling up I was admiring the 1 ton diesel in the next pump row. Realtively new 1 ton very nice with a trailer hauling what appeared to be a new diesel 3/4 ton.
But as I stopped drouling over these trucks I noticed something was not right. The front end of the 1 ton was raised up a good bit, and the front of the trailer was almost scrapping the ground!
The 3/4 ton probably wieghted in at around 8K lbs. The trailer was a tag with what appeared to be two 5K or two 7K axels. Tires were 8 bolt.
The trailer was connected to the truck with what looked like the head of a weigh distributing hitch into a 2" reciever. The arms of the hitch which should be connected to the trailer were not present.
As I look at this it became clear that something was major wrong with this setup. As I looked at it the owner walked up and starting swearing about cheap trailers that are no good... etc... etc...
He then pointed to the tung of the trailer which was almost split in half /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif! The really bad news was it was cracked just past the coupler, which was a bulldog 2" ball, but beyond the surge brakes and the safety chains /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif.
So if it completely broke free the brakes, coupler, and chains would have been left connected to the hitch and the trailer and truck in tow would have been free!
The scary part is he just happened to stop for diesel. A few more miles and a major accident would occur.
When I left he was off to find a welder to fix the trailer. If I was a welder I would not get with in 100 yds of this mess. Looks like an accident waiting to happen.
Later as I thought about this it appears that the cause(s) of the problem where:
1) If he had actually used the weight distributing hitch it would help since the arms would connect back to the trailer behind the cracked area and better distribute the load.
2) Tongue weight!!!!!
Think about it. How much weight does it take to jack up the front end of a 1 ton dually 4wd diesel. I hate to think about how much weight he had on that receiver hitch.
3) The trailer was just barely long enough for the 3/4 ton diesel truck. So he had it pulled on with front of the truck up front on the trailer. All the weight of these trucks is up front. So probably the better part of 8K lbs up in front of the two axels.
So be careful. Load the trailer carefully and don't exceed the limits of tongue weight or axel weight.
If you think its close weigh the truck and trailer togheter at a scale. Many truck stops have them.
Just think what would happen if you where following this guy when the trailer broke......
Fred
