Can you deduct tongue weight if you are over axle capacity?

[Industrial Toys]

I didn't quite know how to word this.

I want to carry four thousand pounds in a single 3500# axle (Torflex) trailer. If the load is toward the front and I have good tongue weight and upgraded tires, will this work? It is a very sturdy trailer, not your typical lightly constructed cheapie. Also brand new.

It's a one time trip, but a long one, like sixteen hours, one way loaded!

Towing with 08 GMC 2500 Maxipad 6.6.

Thanks

 

[Diamondpilot]

Dont do it.

I have a 6x10 trailer with a 3.5K axle. It weighs 780# empty. So 3500-780=2720# for payload. Even if you add back in 350# for the 10% you are carrying on the ball this just puts you back to around 3000#

You will be overloading your trailer by 20%. What usually happens with overloaded trailers is the first dip in a road or bump like going from asphalt to concrete on a overpass bends the spindle on the axle.

My suggestion is to put half the load in your Maxipads bed or rent a proper trailer!

 

[BrokeFarmerJohn]

You need to deduct the trailer weight off the axel rating, so if the trailer weighs 1000lbs you can only haul a load of 2500lbs.

That's my understanding on that, and I don't think you can deduct tongue weight on a regular trailer, if it was a gooseneck trailer or 5th wheel that would be a more compelling argument to a police officer lol.

I would say your 3500lb single axle isn't nearly heavy enough.

 

[Industrial Toys]

I have an ugly double axle dump trailer albeit with a valid safety, and several offers to borrow tandem trailers. The problem is I don't have a yellow safety sticker on my truck and doing so would require the E-Brake to work. Another expensive GM abortion along with those retarded disk brakes. That and who knows what front end work to safety. For one trip. But, it's looking like that might be my best option.

Thanks

As far as the axles. Wouldn't you think a 3500lb axle would actually be able to carry much more if you figure in the Dynamic forces it can encounter in normal use?

I was more wondering IF it would work, not so much the legality. If I get stopped, I may well have a host of issues anyway. I'm guessing, betting, that a single axle trailer wouldn't get a second look, unless of course, the axles are nicely bowed!

 

[CobyRupert]

So if it's calculated based on the weight IN the trailer and not on the axles, how do they know how much weight is in the trailer if you get stopped?
Do they measure the tongue weight?

 

[Industrial Toys]

Some agencies have portable scales. The trick is NOT to get stopped.

As far as my load, it's a small PTO chipper. Unfortunately, aside from the discharge chute, not much easily comes apart. Oh, it does have it's own axle without suspension, and I "almost" thought about towing it. I could see it breaking into a speed wobble, the first black top I hit!

 

[CobyRupert]

Some agencies have portable scales. The trick is NOT to get stopped.

If stopped, do they disconnect the trailer and weigh the tongue?

 

[Industrial Toys]

I don't know, but I'm guessing if they want to weigh you, they weigh the truck too and don't care where the weight is.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Also, in about 90% of the states all trailers over 3,000# must have working brakes. I'm guessing your single axle trailer does not have them so that's another consideration.

As for your question asking if there is a safety margin built into axles. The answer is yes. But what you are asking it to do falls well outside that envelope. That 4000# chipper plus the weight of the trailer itself puts you 1500# over its weight. That's about 40%

 

[RandyT]

Some states if not all require trailer brakes on trailers over 3000 lbs. So even if you are within the limits of the trailer you are still in violation because of no trailer brakes.

Your 3500 lbs trailer axle will have a weight rating set by the axle manufacturer of 3750 lbs. On some single axle trailer the center bow of the axle will hit the floor of the trailer before you reach the maximum payload of the axle so the trailer itself will cause the axle to bow more than it should with the weight that is on it.