Unsafe towing... Heavy tractor on broken "7k" landscape trailer

[crazyal]

So the real question is did he make it home? I guess you'll never hear the "remember that time I traded tractors and thought uncle Ben's trailer was up for the trip?" story.

 

[cowski]

my 7000 lb trailer is tongue rated for 1000 lbs this adds up to 8000 lb legal load.

 

[grsthegreat]

my 7000 lb trailer is tongue rated for 1000 lbs this adds up to 8000 lb legal load.

?? never heard that they add tongue weight rating to trailer GW rating.

 

[wfd2]

The cinder block under the Bush Hog is going to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

[Verticaltrx]

?? never heard that they add tongue weight rating to trailer GW rating.

Depends on the trailer manufacturer and how it is built. Hudson trailers builds theirs with a very stout tongue on them. The sell a '3.5 ton' trailer that has 3500lb axles but is rated to haul a 7000lb load. This is with 2000lbs tongue weight (weight of the trailer), so really the axles aren't being overloaded. The GVWR of their 3.5 ton trailer is 8950lbs or something like that with 3500lb axles. With that said, about the only thing that can handle that much tongue weight is a medium duty truck which is way overkill for a trailer that size. So it is a bit of a marketing game.


I agree with Diamondpilot on how the JD tractor was treated. Hope it works out well, but I'd NEVER want to own anything that guy had.

 

[cowski]

a lot of trailers have the tongue weight listed on the trailer.one other trailer i have is 20,000 axle plus 4000 tongue makes 24,000 gvw.

 

[j t huskins]

The cinder block under the Bush Hog is going to be the straw that broke the camel's back.

Or you might call it the solid object that crashed through an unsuspecting motorist windshield while the driver of the tow vehicle drives on never having to answer for his negligence.

 

[aczlan]

So the real question is did he make it home?

Yes, he did.

Aaron Z

 

[grsthegreat]

a lot of trailers have the tongue weight listed on the trailer.one other trailer i have is 20,000 axle plus 4000 tongue makes 24,000 gvw.

That makes no sense at all. The trailer tongue weight is a proportion of the GVW (like 1/6 th of the total weight) as it relates to the total weight. In other words a 7,000# GVW may have a 1000# weight at the hitch cause of the way the weight is distributed to the tongue, but it doesn't add to the GVW. The GVW is on the sticker plastered on the trailer. Thats the TOTAL ALLOWED WEIGHT including trailer and load. All a weight distributing hitch does is allow more weight to be distributed back to the axles off of the ball.

 

[Verticaltrx]

That makes no sense at all. The trailer tongue weight is a proportion of the GVW (like 1/6 th of the total weight) as it relates to the total weight. In other words a 7,000# GVW may have a 1000# weight at the hitch cause of the way the weight is distributed to the tongue, but it doesn't add to the GVW. The GVW is on the sticker plastered on the trailer. Thats the TOTAL ALLOWED WEIGHT including trailer and load. All a weight distributing hitch does is allow more weight to be distributed back to the axles off of the ball.

It is more common to see this type of rating on gooseneck, fifth wheel or pintle hitch trailers which are capable of carrying several thousand pounds on the hitch. In that case you can move your load forward to load the tow rig heavier and take weight off the trailer axles. Trailers like this also often have the axles pushed further back to make it possible to distribute more weight to the hitch, thereby increasing the load capacity.