weight regs, this time its my fault

[rob10858]

as some of y'all probably have realized this is an ongoing problem with our trucks. id warned about warnings turning into tickets last year, and today got a total of twelve [12] citations . the biggest problem was with our 550 fords that had a gvwr of 17500 lbs on the inner door panel [vs 10100 on our 3500 rams] . combined with our 12000 lbd rating of our 5th wheels that put them at over 26001 lbs which made them commercial. again, this doesnt apply to private use and rv's. but this again makes me wary of so called heavy duty pickups. our dodges handle the same weights as our fords quite well without the heavier truck gvwr. this is obviuously a selling point that you fleet guys should ignore. as a small interstate contracting co we never gross over 26000 lbs across the scales, but the combination of truck and trailor , on paper, can cause a major problem. as the head man at the weigh station told me today, your gross combined vehicle rating on your truck should cover everything, truck trailor and load. the gvwr of truck and trailor should not be over 26000 llbs. the reason that we avoid the commercial rating is simple, first we are not for hire we sell a service not our trucks for hauling someone elses goods. im not paying for app tags, fuel permits, and double taxation on fuel, from these permits. most of you will probably say get rid of the psds, and im going to. next up duramaxes, i have to have a full cab. whew, i think ill go lay down and worry about the headaches that these things will give me.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

"whew, i think ill go lay down and worry about the headaches that these things will give me. "





Impossible to say how you will make out with the GM stuff if you DO go that way - but it will sure be nice to get the REAL scoop on their durability and performance from someone NOT closely associated with GM or DM LTD, and thus, FAR more impartial and honest in appraisals...

 

[rob10858]

it is pretty much a done deal, one dually with the dmax and allison and one with the six speed in the gas version. i hope ive covered myself by splitting the difference. believe me, i hope that they both turnout to be good tow vehicles [i never thought that our ram v-10's would have lasted and performed as well as they have] ive given ford and chevy many chances over the years and out of about 10 different combinations, only one of these has done its job. those arent good odds, but we'll see.

 

[illflem]

Packman, don't the fuel costs on your gassers cut into the profit a quite a bit?

 

[rob10858]

yes they do, almost double the expense in fuel, and they require more maintainence. the trouble that we have is sometimes we have to take what we can get when one of our trucks is down for the count, and has to be replaced vs just phasing them out and reordering. 2wd one tons [have to be white quad or crew cab ] can sometimes be hard to find and can take months to order, especially when you have rear end and trans requirements. thats how we got our first few gassers, and some of my guys are v8 and v10 nuts. these last two 2001. 5's have changed alot of minds though.