Bought a trailer for my Kiota ck20 today

[RobertN]

You will run into problems with this truck being that it has the small V8 and 3.55's. I am a big Ford fan, own 4 currently, one being a 2007 F-150 Super Crew 4x4 with the 5.4 and 3.73 gears. It has a 9,300# tow rating. I looked up your truck and its max tow rating is quite a bit lower. 6,400# and as low as 6,100# depending on the bed/cab configuration. Again its your engine/rear end ratio hurts your truck. You will be over the legal tow limit with that trailer.

Will you get caught? Probably not. But if you get pulled over by a sharp officer he will see your trailer is rated for 7,000#, over you rating, and ticket you. Remember, its what the trailer is capable of towing, not what you have on it.

Chris

I don't understand what the issue is here?

We have a 16' flatbed dual axle with brakes, 7000lb rated. His Kioti is very similar size/weight as my Kubota B8200. He's looking at about 1600lb for the trailer, and 22-2400lb for the CK20 with loader and scraper. That's only 4000lbs.

We have a similar size Dodge, Ram1500 with 4.7l, auto short bed quad cab, 3.5 gears, 2wd. Our truck pulls it no problem. We live in the foothills; it's not a speed demon up the hills, but it pulls fine. And, with a brake controller, it stops fine too.

If it was doing daily towing, a lower gear set would be nice. But, for the size of tractor and trailer, that is a fine combination.

I usually tow with our other truck, my Ram2500 4x4 diesel. It does tow nicer, has more power, brakes, and GCWR. But, the 1500 tows the load mentioned above just fine.

I have loaded my trailer to max capacity hauling a Bobcat(They are heavier than they look...); I would not have wanted to tow that with the 1500. I've hauled a Kubota L35, on a heavier rated trailer, easily with the 2500; those both would have been too heavy for the 1500 truck.

I would look closely at all the components on the tow rig; GCWR, hitch rating with and w/o weight distributing hitch(lots of hitches are only rated for 5000lbs, even ones on 3/4 tons), the spec for your actual ball and receiver piece.

re: tow specs, if you look, the best tow config is a 2wd shortbed standard cab. As you add a long bed, xcab, 4x4 etc, the tow rating goes down...

Just remember when towing, go slow, take it easy, give room to stop, especially if you are new to towing. Go 55 instead of 65 or 70( here in California max towing speed for any vehicle is 55mph).

 

[Diamondpilot]

The problem is in my state and many others you can not tow a trailer that has weight limit higher than your vehicles tow limit, even empty. In his case his truck has a 6,900# tow limit and he is using a 7,000# trailer. Even if he was towing it empty he could get fined. Will that ever happen? Probably no. But the chance is there and if he is ever in a accident the lawyers would look for a way not to pay out. As you stated his load will be around the 6,000# mark but he is still technically illegal. I am as guilty as the next guy because I do this all the time for my Marine Business. I tow as much as 25,000# with my 2006 F-350 diesel. I just take my chances although I do apply for permits due to the width of some the boats I tow are as much as 13.5' wide and they have never questioned me on the tow vehicle.

If you live in California I am sure you have a similar rule. They seem to have rule for how you take a leak..


Chris

 

[Builder]

The problem is in my state and many others you can not tow a trailer that has weight limit higher than your vehicles tow limit, even empty. In his case his truck has a 6,900# tow limit and he is using a 7,000# trailer. Even if he was towing it empty he could get fined. Will that ever happen? Probably no. But the chance is there and if he is ever in a accident the lawyers would look for a way not to pay out. As you stated his load will be around the 6,000# mark but he is still technically illegal. I am as guilty as the next guy because I do this all the time for my Marine Business. I tow as much as 25,000# with my 2006 F-350 diesel. I just take my chances although I do apply for permits due to the width of some the boats I tow are as much as 13.5' wide and they have never questioned me on the tow vehicle.

If you live in California I am sure you have a similar rule. They seem to have rule for how you take a leak..


Chris

You guys worry too much.

He's not gonna get fined even with a 7K trailer, unless his truck with the trailer, adds to an amout greater than the GCWR registered for the 2. The towing vehicle goes by actual weight and the trailer goes by registered weight. So lets's say his GCWR is 12,200 and his truck when he's pulled over weighs 5,000lbs and the trailer weighs a full 7,000lbs. He would then total at 12,000 lbs which is OK since he's 200lbs under the max GCWR of 12,200lbs. The only thing I can see him possibly getting hit for is pulling a trailer plated for 100 more lbs than his trucks' max trailer tow rating. Since that's not published or generally a "known" fact, I'd doubt anyone would look into it. It's not printed anywhere on the truck.........so if he puts a 7K or larger trailer hitch on the truck, he shouldn't have any trouble.

Registration weights are usually in 1,000lb or more increments. He should register his combo weight for 13,000lbs, not 12,000lbs so he's well within the upper limits. He might not even need to do that since IIRC, in my state, as long as the trailer is under 10K, you can tow it without adding 1 extra pound to the towing vehicle's GVWR. IOW, there's no need to add extra weight to your registration unless the trailer is over 10,000lbs.

I mean, if you're towing 25K boats around everyday, which is WAY out of spec for safe towing, then I don't think a guy pulling a 7,000 lb trailer is gonna get nailed because his unposted trailer tow max is 6,900 lbs.

I bet the reason you don't get nailed is because when you haul a boat, you look the same as an RV'er to the police. They think you're a personal user taking your boat to the water, not to sell to someone.

If you had "Bob's Marine Sales" painted on the side of your truck and a DOT number, you'd get more attention.

 

[Diamondpilot]

You are right Builder. That is why I said he will probably never get caught. I was just stating the facts since it was asked.


Chris

 

[hosejockey2002]

Thanks for stopping by. This trailer has plenty of 2x4 steel steak pockets to hook a 5/16" grab hook and maybe give it a wrap before returning it to the tractor. It's actually a flat (no beaver tail) wood deck and they call it a carhauler. Heavy steel ramps slide in under the deck from side. How does you ck go up the ramp? Does a five foot ramp get it up there w/o bottoming out the bottom of the hoe.

My backhoe does sometimes bottom out slightly when loading, but I've never had real problems loading or unloading. Sounds like you have the same type of ramps that I do. I don't have a big problem distributing the weight, but my truck has much heavier rear suspension than yours, so even with my box scraper sitting at the front of the trailer and the loader bucket over it (backhoe on the back) the truck does not sag from the tongue weight. In your instance you may need a load distributing hitch so your truck doesn't sag.

 

[hosejockey2002]

We have a 16' flatbed dual axle with brakes, 7000lb rated. His Kioti is very similar size/weight as my Kubota B8200. He's looking at about 1600lb for the trailer, and 22-2400lb for the CK20 with loader and scraper. That's only 4000lbs

Actually he'll be quite a bit heavier. The CK20 by itself is around 2000, and with his loader, backhoe and filled tires he'll be over 4000. My tractor and trailer in my signature combined- without filled tires- are running around 5500 lbs.

 

[Mike058]

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I just got a 2 5/16" ball from Walmart and happened to notice it is rated at only 3500 lbs. I take it they sell higher rated ones and I will be needing one before I go anywhere. The Ford garage installed the controller for the brakes but I have not adjusted that yet. I tested the rig empty and do see the brakes are working. Can anybody offer any tips on adjusting those rear axles so that braking is consistent with tow vehicle. There is a wheel on controller that supposedly does that. Can't do it with snow covered roads and I have those constantly as it seems antilocks on truck are one thing and rear axle braking on trailer seem to be marching to their own own drummer.

rim

The capacity is related to the diameter of the shank. Measure the diameter of the hole on the ball mount and look for a ball with a shank that fits. A 1/2" flex handle with appropriate socket and large pipe wrench work real well for tightening the nut. As far as adjusting the brakes, figure out which wheel controls the current to the brakes. If you have two wheels (one on each side of the controller) one is for compensating for how far off level the controller is sitting. Check the instructions that came with it. Once you know which wheel controls the current, learn what way to turn it, to send more current (whoa) and less current (giddy up). I've always had Voyagers and the wheel on the left side controls the current. It's kind of like reins of a horse. Pull the edge of the wheel back, and you get more current. Push it forward, you get less. That makes a lot more sense if you can see the controller. Hopefully you'll see what I'm talking about when you start to adjust yours. It'll need to be readjusted for when the tractor's on the trailer and off. The necessary setting for a loaded trailer will cause the wheels to lock when it's empty.

 

[rimshot]

Good morning,

I ordered a class IV ball mount and 2 5/16 trailer Ball. I got the stuff ordered online at;

USA-Trailer-Hitches.com - Trailer Hitches | Trailer Hitch Accessories | Electrical Wiring | Cargo Management | Bike Racks | Vehicle Accessories!

That is good for loads up to 6000 lbs and much better than the 3500 lb stuff I had. So that should be good enough.

OK, The CK is a fatso and weighs 2100 lbs. Currently and for the rest of the winter i have removed the backhoe and replaced it with a 60" meteor snowblower that adds another 300 lbs. I have 300 lbs of beat juice fill in rears and 600 lbs for the FEL that will probably always be on the tractor. The trailer should be 1700 lbs for a grand total of 5000 lbs GVW on a 7000lb GVWR trailer. My truck should weigh in at about 5200 lbs.

Diamond has calculated my GVCR (and I concur) at 12,200 If my math is correct I should scale about 10200 GVCR and be rated at 12200.

In the Summer when I remove the snow blower and add backhoe (900 lbs) the weight difference is about 600 lbs so GVCR becomes 10800 for a rated vehicle that can legally claim 12,200. That should be pretty close to code and work out real good.

rim

 

[asylum575]

Rim,
Good luck with the trailer. Smart move to get a heavier duty hitch.
The issue with the overweight should not be a problem, but like someone posted before, lawyers will always try to firgure a way to not pay out. I currently have a chevy 6.0 that i'm not crazy about(gas guzzler) but it's a **** strong tow vehicle. Just be careful and don't push it.

 

[ihookem]

Next time you get tires you might want to pay a little extra for E rated tires. They are a little more but much better for towing.