Towing with a Tundra - FYI

[RayH]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( </font><font color="blueclass=small">( The key there is that you are considered commercial. Im talking private vehicles )</font>

Depending on what state your in, your private truck may be a commercial vehicle. Under Missouri law every pickup is a commerial vehicle. )</font>

Do you have to carry a fire extenguisher and flares or triangles in your pickup? Do you have a DOT number?

 

[Farmwithjunk]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( [quote (Over legal width by 3/4". No VISABLE DOT #. No on-board fire extinguisher.) (I'm considered commercial----Farm)

)</font>

The key there is that you are considered commercial. Im talking private vehicles. )</font>

Commercial or noncommercial, you still have to follow a lot of the same rules. Legal width is legal width, no matter what.

Commercial vehicles have a few laws exclusive to them, but DOT can enforce ALL laws pertaining to ANY vehicle on the road, right on down to the family sedan.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I stand by what Ive said, If youve got a private or personal vehicle and your load is tied down safely and you are towing it safely, the officials dont care if its 1000lbs over weight. )</font>

Oh, but the DO care! Here's to hoping you never get caught 1000 lbs overweight.

The fine will ruin your Christmas cheer----!

 

[Dargo]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Now, here's a business school, MBA grad response .... WHY TAKE THE CHANCE. It only takes one incident and you'll be facing a stack of legal papers 10' tall. )</font>

Yes, and also if you are in an accident of any type, guess who is at fault? Somebody runs into you, it's not your fault, but since you are running illegally you are now at fault. You get tickets, fines, your insurance will go up (if they don't drop you) and you get to spend lots of time on the matter just because you didn't think it would happen to you. As said, why take the chance? Any attorney worth his salt would own you (and everything you own) if there is any accident. If you have nothing, it may not be an issue; otherwise...

 

[Propertymaint]

I don't know, 8,000 lbs behind a 1/2 ton truck is a lot. It may have done fine for the ride home but there were a lot of good legal points made here, I don't think I would want to get stopped by a state trooper with that set up. I tow about 8,000 (total with trailer included) regularly with my 3/4 ton chevy, in my opinion the extra weight of the tow vehicle makes the difference. Most, not all, 3/4 ton trucks come thru with full floating axels to handle the repeated loads better than the 1/2 ton trucks as well as the heavier transmissions, cooling etc. I actually wanted to upgrade to a one ton dually but couldn't afford it at this time so I did a dually conversion to my 3/4 ton. I make sure I stay within the legal weight limits of the truck but it sure is a lot more stable especially during windy conditions and the daily motorist cut offs. I will agree the Toyota will pull the load and maybe stop in a straight line fine but I don't think I would want to do any evasive manuevers with that much weight on a 1/2 ton truck, although I have seen a lot worse out there. Just my opinion.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

An interesting point was also raised that you MIGHT get away with towing a load well over legal limits UNTIL such a time as you're involved in an accident of some sort, then, even if you weren't at fault, the blame gets shifted your way because you're "illegal".

Over-weight or over-sized loads are not exclusive to commercial vehicles. And the consiquenses aren't pleasant. BTDT, got the hefty fine.

 

[TheKid]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Do you have to carry a fire extenguisher and flares or triangles in your pickup? Do you have a DOT number?
)</font>

As long as you are not for hire you don't need any of the above items.

 

[gobbler]

Just for grins, I ran some numbers because I had a feeling that 1000lbs overweight was a bit conservative.

From the Toyota website, I chose the middle of the line SR5 Access Cab w/ a V8, 2WD.

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating of truck 6300
Curb weight 4510
Available payload 1790

Now, let be realistic. The 4510 curb weight is more than likely more because the manufacturers’ rating doesn’t include many popular options such as 4wd. I would guess that your truck weighs in at around 5000lbs. Now, do the math, your payload drops from an estimated 1790 to 1300lbs and you haven’t even got in the seat. So, subtract another 200lbs or so for yourself and other miscellaneous items. So what you’re really left with is about 1000lbs of payload, not bad, but we haven’t hooked up the trailer yet. Subtract another 800lbs for the tongue weight (and it should be about 10-15% of trailer weight for many reasons) and you still have 200lbs of payload left. Oh wait, we need a tank of fuel, another 200lbs. Suddenly we have nothing left of our 6300lb GVWR.

That might not seem too bad until we look at Gross Combined Weight. Toyota rates it at 11,800lbs. So add the 6300lb truck and the 8000lb trailer and you’re looking at a estimate of 14,300lbs, a whopping 2500lbs over weight.

GCWR is where most ½ trucks fall short. There just isn’t enough available payload to play with. Just for comparison, my ¾ ton Duramax has about 2700lbs of payload, and even after loading the wife and kids, and the pin weight of our 5th wheel, I’ve still got about 800lbs of payload left and well under the GCWR.

 

[RobertN]

The time the officials care is when you have been involved with an accident, your fault or not. Or when you are pulled over for a ticket(like here in Ca where Interstates have 70mph limit for cars, but 55mph limit for anything hauling a trailer).

 

[daTeacha]

As you guys continue to hash this over, have you ever seen a farm pickup hauling two or maybe three fully loaded 4 wheel hay wagons? The wagons have no brakes, BTW.

Or how about a tractor pulling 40 or 50k gallons of liquid manure down a state highway. Do you really think the tractor brakes will stop that thing in a hurry?

I think we're talking about a situation wherein one or several of us apparently intelligent and thinking individuals makes a conscious decision to overload their vehicle for a short distance for one reason or another. Being intelligent individuals with, one presumes, a greater than average familiarity with vehicles and their capabilities, I think it's fair to say that said individuals will be exercising great caution while engaged in the aforementioned endeavor.

We're not talking about the Beverly Hillbillies hauling all their personal belongings across the country in a vehicle that wouldn't pass inspection before it was loaded, much less after. The original post was just a statement of what a Tundra could do if pressed, not a recommendation that we all buy one as primary tow vehicle. Ditto my comments about my Dakota. I don't recommend anyone repeat it, but the job got done. If you don't feel comfortable about such things, don't do it. But also, please don't preach to those who have, on rare occasion, carefully pushed their vehicles a bit beyond the limits stated in their manuals.