New member to the overloaded club, 53140 lbs!!!

[TX Gooseneck]

In my business we haul and haul and overhaul



When my dad first started this business he had an F350 that had just died on him. Deliveries needed to be made and he had no choice... . He used my regular cab 1995 hardbody nissan 4x4 to haul 1 to 2 goosenecks Talk about a site... seeing 15000lbs of trailer on a truck that weighs 4000lbs and with no brakes. He trashed my transfer case going from high to low for braking purposes!



As for the dodges, on my 91 I've had 38,xxx behind it (not incl. truck).

On the 93 I've had a total of 29,xxx

With the 2004. 5, I've only had 36,000 on there I believe I can apportion it higher than that. I really wish I had 17. 5 wheels on it.



I wish I could get a c4500 with the cummins.

 

[Doubleclutch]

I guess some of us use there trucks for things other than hauling "GROCERIES HOME".

hey CRuD- Sounds like your truck was a grocery hauler too- only in the other direction...

 

[CATCRACKER]

dude some of you need to chill. these trucks will pull 27000 all day long hell i know a guy who used his powerstroke to pull a 550 JD on a 7K trailer 75mph for 2hours. work just fine. i pull a d3 cat no problem. 27-30K no problems. now 50K..... wow is all i can say. i dont feel so bad about my 28K. now when i load up my link belt i will be at 43K

 

[SMorneau]

I don't see a big deal with pulling that much weight if speeds are kept way down and the hitch holds... But what if it doesn't? I had a friend killed many years ago by a run away trailer and he was dead even though it was a sparsely poplulated area.



As far as "doing what you have to do", maybe farming wouldn't be one of the most dangerous professions if that type of attitude were not so prevalent. Not trying to flame any farmers here I come from a long line of them and they are the best people ever. I'm certain my uncle could never imagine anything that "had to be done" bad enough to risk a life. He lost one son already to a farm accident.



By the way, I have never hauled grain, I have a BSME. and I have never been any good at "shutting up".

 

[barbwire]

Good post SMorneau

But... ... ... ... will you define the term BSME?

 

[klenger]

BS Mechanical Enigeering ?

 

[CATCRACKER]

you take a heavy risk when you do this so keep this in mind... slow and steady. but at 27K you can handle that. 53K no way. sure the truck will move it but you are putting serious wear on things i gurantee that!

 

[JSmith]

Read a good joke the other day



What do engineers use for birth control?

Their personalities



Just funnin with ya`

 

[Okie-Go]

All I can say is the old quote and bumper sticker: "Don't talk about a farmer with your belly full" What they did was work to put food on our table and theirs not to have a contest to see if it would pull the load or not. They are a long way from here in Texas where I live and I think the chances of my seeing them on one of the major highways me and my family drive on are pretty slim. I know that my truck and trailer is under the legal limit. Some people may just have a bigger trailer than they need. Folks usually just buy a bigger truck, not very many get a smaller trailer.

 

[GIT-R-DONE]

This is one reason that we have the state weights and measures officers checking vehicles on the road. Will our trucks pull 27k all day long , sure they will. The question is public safety. If someone wants to pull 100k with their truck, go for it. But to pull 50k + and take it out on the public highway, with no doubt inadequate brakes... ... . ? Its not what our trucks can tow, its how much can they tow safely?



I do understand the farmers point of view, born and raised. Most of the farmers out there know how to be safe as they have to be around all the equipment the operate on a daily basis. In order to get the crops in to make a living, you do what you have to do.



The problem with this thread is that there are other people out there reading this ( that have no commonsense or farmer know how) and thinking its ok for me to try 50k + because I read some farmer did it.



I think it would be cool to actually see how much our truck could tow/pull. Has anyone tried anything any heavier than this 53k ?

 

[SMorneau]

Yes, Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (BSME).



My point about farm safety was not meant to flame farmers. Just like industry a family farm often has a tragic accident before safety is made a priority. Luck isn't always enough.





My factory hitch broke and it had never pulled anything close to its rated load. It didn't separate from the truck but a large load might have changed that.



I agree the gigantic fifth wheels barreling down the freeway at 75+ scare me much more than slower farm activities.

 

[bmoeller]

Originally posted by CATCRACKER

you take a heavy risk when you do this so keep this in mind... slow and steady. but at 27K you can handle that. 53K no way. sure the truck will move it but you are putting serious wear on things i gurantee that!

Something to note, large farm wagons have surge brakes on 2 or 4 wheels depending on the size of the wagon gear or its intended use. When they are kept up, they work.

 

[gogriz91]

I admire farmers. My uncle is a farmer and some of the best memories from childhood are working to help him get a crop in or out of the ground. I've never worked harder and felt more rewarded than I did working with my uncle.



Most folks can't do what farmers do. There's a lot of risk. 10 minutes worth of hail ruin 4 months of effort, and you still have to feed your family every day. There are fewer and fewer independent farmers which is a shame. It's the same way in ranching, and that's a shame too.



It kills me when DC does their ads showing their trucks being used to drag race and pump up underdeveloped egos of today's truckbuyer. If they wanted to impress me they'd leave their urban sprawl and head out to the northern Plains to visit some farms and ranches in the Dakotas and Montana. You'll really see a truck get used there.



Hey, if you're out there and it's got to get to the gin or town, then it's got to get there. I wouldn't make a habit of routinely overexceeding the capabilities of the truck because over time the frame could weaken or something could fail but hey, that's always the risk.



Keep it up, 'cause I appreciate it and I know where the food comes from before it got to the grocery store. Heed the warning of SMorneau too, 'cause one of your kids is probably your successor, and you don't want to loose them in something that could have been easily prevented.

 

[100 Proof]

I just finished reading this whole thread and after noodling on this a bit I've come to the conclusion that..... both sides are right. Yes, work trucks are regularly overloaded and that is not, "technically" speaking, right. (Maybe legal would be a better term than right. ) On the other hand, these loads are typically pulled at very reduced speeds that do mitigate the risk. I might also add that they are typically pulled down rural roads that, in the case of farmers, were built BY farmers to be "Farm to Market" roads. Some I've driven on are even called that to this day. As the cities expanded, some of these became highways, but, that doesn't change the original intent or need.



Now, it so happens that I've got one of those BSME thingys hanging on my wall too. I did not get it right after high school, I was 30 years old. Before I got the degree, I worked as a mechanic. I did my fair share of what you might call klugeing, jury rigging, whatever. After I got the engineering degree, I became more aware of how these field repairs and constructions might fail. Having said that, I still do them when that's what it takes to get the job done.



In college, I learned that the most basic equation in mechanical engineering is Force = Mass X Acceleration. In your cases, the Mass is huge. The "scientific" reason you are able to pull so heavy is that the Accelerations are low. The mechanical engineer in me says that if you speed up and slow down gradually, you should be fine. Keeping the speeds down is what will give you that luxury. I suspect you already figured all that out without a college degree. You might recognize what I'm calling engineering as pain old "horse sense" or something similar.



So at the end of the day, I salute the farmers, oil field workers, loggers, and others who do what it takes to get the job done. I salute your ingenuity and courage to do what it takes even though you KNOW you are potentially putting yourself at risk. I know things can, and do, go wrong. I think the fact that we don't read about huge numbers of agricultural accidents is testimony to the prudent judgment of the folks who have to get the crops in when the storm is coming.



Good Job Guys! (and spirited wives),



100 Proof

 

[ndurbin]

From my expriences it's usually not the farmers you have to worry about being safe when towing heavy. It's soccer mom in her overly large gas hog 4x4 SUV smacking the kids around in the backseat or the 16 yr. old that thinks he's the next sequel to fast and the furious that you have to watch out for. Most people don't realize flying around a heavliy loaded truck or a tractor pulling an implement down the highway can't stop or manuever on a dime.



Most of the time farmers well only tow these heavy loads when it has to be done, ie: harvest time. And if you've never exprienced a harvest of one kind or another on a farm you'll never understand why somethings are done. Farmers get a different mindset when harvest time rolls around. It's much like the rush you get in when you get your paycheck on friday at 5 and the bank closes at 5:30 and your job is 45 min away from your bank. For farmer's it's all about getting the grain in the bin, which is their "paycheck".



Don't cuss the farmer with your mouth full.



Just my . 02 worth.

Nathan

 

[Loren]

First off, nobody here is cussing the farmer. Some of us are merely pointing out that hauling 53,000 pounds with a 6500 pound pickup is maybe not the safest thing under the sun, especially with no brakes on the trailers.



Let’s imagine a similar scenario...

I’m an airline pilot. The plane I fly is rated to take off at a weight of 205,000 pounds. Some of you guys seem to think it would be just fine if I tried to take off at a weight of 500,000 pounds (150% overloaded) because I need to make a living; and because airplanes, especially the one I fly, are overdesigned; and because my passengers need to get where they are going; and because it’s really unlikely that anything bad will happen. Is that right? Do I understand the logic correctly?



After all, I’ve been flying for about 35 years now and have never had an engine fail on takeoff. And of the two times engines HAVE quit on me, I was able to restart one of them. And I have landed safely every time I took off. So it must be okay to overload an airplane by 150% because I’m a REALLLY careful, safe pilot, and both the engines will certainly continue to run throughout the entire flight, and the brakes will work when we get where we’re going, and we have backup hydraulic and electrical systems. Right?



How many of you would climb aboard my overloaded, 500,000 pound plane with your wives and children?



----



I can’t believe the heat NVR FNSH is getting for injecting some reason into this thread. I notice that the comments belittling his BSME (Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering) are from people who never got one. I notice that Rusty, who also thinks this wasn’t the safest act, is an engineer too. So is SMorneau, who has also chimed in on the side of safety and reason. My degree is in civil engineering. I guess we engineers are all idiots because we don’t support overloading a mechanical device by 150%.



If I design a bridge to carry a 100,000 pound load and add a safety factor of 100% that bridge will support 200,000 pounds. If all my calculations were perfect, a 200,001 pound load would cause the bridge to fail. That’s only a 100% overload from the posted limit of 100,000 pounds. This truck was overloaded by at least 150%!



By the way, bridges are NOT designed with a 100% safety factor. The fact that you can get away with this with your truck, and maybe even on a bridge, only proves how imprecise engineering calculations are.



I know I should probably take Merrick’s advice and keep my opinions to myself, because I know they will not be popular. This means that the next few posts will be insults. Do not expect me to respond to those.



The best comment in this entire thread is from dberry. At least he has maintained a sense of humor.



Loren

 

[Loren]

With the hopes of re-injecting some humor into this thread:



You may be an engineer if...



1) Dilbert is your hero.



2) your ideal evening consists of fast-forwarding through the latest sci-fi movie looking for technical inaccuracies.



3) you have a habit of destroying things in order to see how they work.



4) you have ever owned a calculator with no equal key and know what RPN stands for.



5) your father sat two inches in front of your family's first color TV with a magnifying glass to see how they made the colors, and you grew up thinking that was normal.



6) your wristwatch has more buttons than a telephone.



7) you know the direction the water swirls when you flush.



8) you have ever saved the power cord from a broken appliance.



9) the salespeople at Circuit City can't answer any of your questions.



10) the thought that a CD could ever refer to finance or music never enters your mind.



11) you know what "http" stands for.



12) you've ever tried to repair a five-dollar radio.



13) your three-year-old son asks why the sky is blue and you try to explain atmospheric absorption theory.

 

[100 Proof]

You really know how to hurt a guy. :{

A few of those hit pretty close to home.



100 Proof:-laf

 

[Jeremiah]

Get a life!

Originally posted by NVR FNSH

You are joking, right? How in the heck did you not grossly exceed every rating - rear axle, front axle, tires, GCWR etc - on the truck? I don't care how careful you were that was idiotic. Get a truck rated for the f'ing job before you end up killing somebody.



Brian

Get a life, pal, these are work trucks, not vehicles you are likely to encounter on your way to the local grocery store or flower shop. They probabaly run 4-5 miles down the highway before they get to the grain elevator and what's the chances you'll run into them out there? And if that bothers you, get a VW convertible to make your trips to the DQ.

 

[Jeremiah]

Former ASMEL + Instrument and glider

Originally posted by Loren

First off, nobody here is cussing the farmer. Some of us are merely pointing out that hauling 53,000 pounds with a 6500 pound pickup is maybe not the safest thing under the sun, especially with no brakes on the trailers.



Let’s imagine a similar scenario...

I’m an airline pilot. The plane I fly is rated to take off at a weight of 205,000 pounds. Some of you guys seem to think it would be just fine if I tried to take off at a weight of 500,000 pounds (150% overloaded) because I need to make a living; and because airplanes, especially the one I fly, are overdesigned; and because my passengers need to get where they are going; and because it’s really unlikely that anything bad will happen. Is that right? Do I understand the logic correctly?



After all, I’ve been flying for about 35 years now and have never had an engine fail on takeoff. And of the two times engines HAVE quit on me, I was able to restart one of them. And I have landed safely every time I took off. So it must be okay to overload an airplane by 150% because I’m a REALLLY careful, safe pilot, and both the engines will certainly continue to run throughout the entire flight, and the brakes will work when we get where we’re going, and we have backup hydraulic and electrical systems. Right?



How many of you would climb aboard my overloaded, 500,000 pound plane with your wives and children?



----



Sorry, Charlie, you analogy doesn't work. I've flown a few thousand hours myself, very few of them overloaded because of the FARs I flew under. OTOH, I've driven a few hours in an overloaded condition because I could s l o w down and t a k e l o ts o f t i m e to figure out what I wanted to do.



You're mixing apples and oranges in comparing trucks to planes.