Gooseneck towing capacity

[Flys4Food]

Hi all... just wondering if anyone can help me with the "Real" towing capacity of my '08 2500 6. 7 quad cab short bed srw 3. 73 gear. I'm in the market for a goosneck horse trailer with living quarters and need to know the size limit I can purchase. The ones I'm looking at have an empty weight of around 13,000 #. Add two horses, saddles, water, full fuel and personal junk and I'm around 16,000#. The capacity of this truck is stated somewhere around 13,500. I have a B&W hitch, Ride Rite bags and 265x70-17 E rated B. F. Goodrich tires. I guess what worries me most is a blowout at highway speeds but I have no problem upgrading tires to get the weight up

Truck is stock with 21,000 miles on it and it hasn't even burped since I've purchased it new. Looking into new air intake, DPF back exhaust and a programmer that shows at least Trans temp, EGT, and Boost.



Thanks for your input

 

[AH64ID]

Well by the confines of the GVWR/GCWR you can have a trailer with a pin weight of 2,000lbs (minus passengers) and a total weight of about 13K lbs...

Now that will put you close to the limit of your OEM tires. So you may need to look into tires like the Toyo 285/70/17 (3750lbs per tire) or the 285/75/17 (3970lbs per tire)...

So if your just looking for what the truck can safely handle consider this. . The axles and brakes are the same as a DRW 3500. So with your air-bags your limited to what your tires can handle... So some 285/70/17's would allow you to safely increase your payload by about 2000lbs (the 2500 isn't rated to tire capacity, but the 3500 SRW is). .

So truck weight is 7000 stock, with 4200 on the front and 2800 on the rear. So you can add 1000lbs to the front (GAWR) and the rear (with appropriate tires) could go up to 7900 lbs on the rear axle, which is about 5K lbs of payload. . more than your going to need. Even just maxing out the OE tires your at about 3500lbs of payload (which is 1500 lbs more than "rated")...

Just adhere to your tires and you will be safe and fine, thou maybe not within the confines of the MFGR ratings.

 

[Flys4Food]

Nice Picture... I flew OH-58's

How do I know what the tire is rated for... mine says E but is the max weight of each tire molded on it? Are the Toyo's a highway tread or off road?



Thanks

 

[HBarlow]

All standard tires approved for car, light truck, or trailer use should have the tire capacity molded into the sidewall. The spec will say something like: "3475 pounds at 80 psi" which is the maximum inflation pressure of that tire.

Keep in mind that you usually cannot just purchase larger tires with a higher rated weight carrying capacity without also changing the wheels. Factory wheels and tires each have a weight rating and are usually fairly closely matched.

I agree with what AH64 wrote above. The weight limits of your truck's (or trailer's) axles, wheels, and tires are "hard" limits that cannot be exceeded legally or for safety.

Be very careful when deciding on a trailer. Don't just take a salesman's word or read the brochure and believe it. You should consider the axle and tire ratings of the trailers as well as how much ball weight that trailer, when heavily loaded, will transfer to your truck. The gooseneck trailers I have towed or seen have the axles set back toward the rear of the trailer. I've never owned or pulled a loaded living quarters stock trailer, only new and empty ones, but my guess is they transfer a very large percentage of their weight to the tow vehicle when loaded.

 

[LBARTLETT]

but my guess is they transfer a very large percentage of their weight to the tow vehicle when loaded.

Harvey's 100% correct, I've owned several from a 2 horse to a 5 horse living quarters, from 6' to 13' shortwalls, presently a 4 horse, if you aren't full of horses leave the front stall empty, when we haul 2 we use the middle 2 stalls with the horses right over the axles, when we haul 3 we use the back 3 stalls,



just try to put your horses over the axles

 

[Flys4Food]

That's great advice... thanks

 

[jelag]

We own and 04 dually that we towed a 20K lb trailer for over 275k miles with no problems, but had commercial plates, class A CDL... . we stopped as we just felt that someday we'd have a real issue the the fools pulling in front of us... the stopping distance was just more than we liked... and on a slick surface it was more than a little un nerving. .

I don't think I'd be afraid of your load... BTW we almost have that much weight on our 08 5500

 

[RSaffell]

Hello. I have the same question as F4F but a little different. How do you determine the pin weight of the trailer? I also am looking for a 3 horse trailer with living quarters. I have a 2006 2500 with 49000 miles, quad cab, swb and 4x4. I have seen goosenecks with *empty weights of around 9000 lbs. By adding 2 horses, tack and misc and hay I see a grand total of around 13500 lbs which, I THINK, is the max for this truck. Am I on the right track here or way off. Oh yeah... add a smarty.

Thanks for the help.

 

[HBarlow]

In my experience the empty weight of a trailer not very useful information. It is only used by your local registration and tax office. Only the transporter who hauled it from manufacturer to dealer ever pulls it empty. If you are buying one to haul horses and tack I would plan on it weighing in at or near GVWR.

The factory combined weight doesn't matter much beyond ability to accelerate or hold speed on a steep grade as long as your trailer has adequate brakes as required by law. The important number you MUST take into consideration is kingpin weight, total weight on your rear axle, and your truck's loaded weight.

The GVWR posted by law on the VIN sticker somewhere on the left front is the only useful number. Because gooseneck trailers have their axles mounted pretty far back they shift a large percentage of their loaded weight forward depending on what you carry and how it is loaded. If you transport only two horses and load them over the axles it is probably less. I would estimate that a gooseneck stock trailer may transfer as much as 25% of gross weight to the kingpin. Someone who owns one and has towed extensively may want to correct my estimates.

Be careful about believing the weight statements of a salesman or brochure.

 

[RSaffell]

Kingpin weight

Well I believe you are right in a sense. You can find out the empty weight of the trailer just by weighing it. You will be unable to determine the "Kingpin" weight unless you weigh it that way. 99. 99% of people only go by GVWR rating which means squat to me. If a trailer weighs 15 thousand and only has 10% kingpin weight as opposed to 25 % kingpin weight means a big difference. That was my question. For me to determine the empty weight of a trailer helps an awful lot. But nobody seems to know anything about that. If you know the empty weight... . and you know the weight you intend to haul... you can then GUESS the kingpin weight by using 25% or 20% or 15% depending on how you load it. But without the empty weight you don't have a "ground zero" to start from. Am I right on this or wrong? My truck has a payload of 2100 lbs... . which means a kingpin weight of 2100 lbs right? So then if I can PULL 45000 pounds... and the kingpin stays below 2100 I am ok... . right???? or not? Then the TRICK would be learning the kingpin weight of the trailor in question... . and nobody ... . knows that it seems.

 

[carson6]

my hitch is good for 30k... . but not the truck&tires

 

[jelag]

The only way I know of knowing the pin weight is to weigh the trailer loaded... We own several trailers, tow behind, gooseneck, and 5er's... . as we move the loads we change the weight on the pin... . As an example my 5er has 3100 lbs of pin weight and 9150 on the axles... with it loaded... . just moving water from the water tank to the gray water tank will move the weight around...

All my trucks have air bags to allow us to level the truck after we move the load around... we want the truck to be level and the headlights not point into the stars...

Hope this helps...

 

[HBarlow]

Well I believe you are right in a sense. You can find out the empty weight of the trailer just by weighing it. You will be unable to determine the "Kingpin" weight unless you weigh it that way. 99. 99% of people only go by GVWR rating which means squat to me. If a trailer weighs 15 thousand and only has 10% kingpin weight as opposed to 25 % kingpin weight means a big difference. That was my question. For me to determine the empty weight of a trailer helps an awful lot. But nobody seems to know anything about that. If you know the empty weight... . and you know the weight you intend to haul... you can then GUESS the kingpin weight by using 25% or 20% or 15% depending on how you load it. But without the empty weight you don't have a "ground zero" to start from. Am I right on this or wrong? My truck has a payload of 2100 lbs... . which means a kingpin weight of 2100 lbs right? So then if I can PULL 45000 pounds... and the kingpin stays below 2100 I am ok... . right???? or not? Then the TRICK would be learning the kingpin weight of the trailor in question... . and nobody ... . knows that it seems.

You are wrong. You are never going to find a trailer, even a ball hitch conventional trailer with a hitch weight of only 10% and if you altered a trailer or axle locations to provide that hitch weight you wouldn't be able to pull it. Anyone who has owned or pulled a trailer knows the importance of proper hitch weight for towing stability. Too little hitch weight causes the trailer to continually swing on the hitch.

I repeat, empty weight means nothing. It may be provided on the Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin or a simple trip to the scale will provide it but it will tell you nothing about what the trailer's kingpin will weigh loaded. You can't even guess at loaded kingpin weight using a percentage of empty weight, particularly on a gooseneck trailer. A trailer is designed for a maximum gross weight and components are selected, sized, and located based on loaded weight.

If your truck is limited to only 2100# of kingpin weight there is NO three horse trailer with living quarters that you can pull.

It appears that you don't like the answers you are receiving.

 

[Mark31]

F4F, I have a Gore (goretrailers.com, building stout horse trailers for over 45 years in Whiteville NC) three horse slant load with a 5 ft short wall. My 2500 handles it perfectly. The only time I know it's back there is when my 1300 lb gelding gets impatient and stomps and paws. (Tapping the brake lightly usually stops him!) When one goes on to living quarters and four horse loads, one has moved much beyond 2500 trucks "comfort zone". Go to some horse shows, rides, and events and see what is pulling what. Be friendly and I'm sure you'll find people that will talk trucks and trailers till the fires go out. It won't take long to separate the ones who know from the woofers. In the mean time, ole Harv has too much experience not to listen to him!! I believe Mr Gore will advise you whether you buy a trailer from him or not. Just be considerate of his time! One thing kinda unique about Gore is the warranty: The trailer warranty is good if the trailer changes hands. They value their good name. Mark