What does a Bobcat weigh? Saw a Nissan towing one!

[JHardwick]

I was pulling onto a 4-lane today from a fuel station and a Nissan went by towing a Bobcat. I had a model 65 Massey Diesel on me, but I just wonder what the weight difference was? He seemed to be tooling along just fine when I caught and passed him a mile or so up the road. Now, he had the advantage of putting as much weight on the truck as he wanted because a skid loader is pretty short, but it looked like a fine load to me, no squat, no sag!



I hate this Massey with a front end loader, I've had it on three trailers and I can never get the weight where I want it. I've backed it on and I've pulled it on, the weight is just awkward. Anyway, he had the load setting just right, but he still had to pull the weight!

 

[Coolslice]

I think the smaller ones are around 5500 lbs and they go on up to over 7k. . I'm no expert by any means, but thats what it seems like I have read.

 

[rbattelle]

That's interesting. So far I've never seen a Nissan (or Toyota) towing or hauling anything except the driver.



-Ryan

 

[bmoeller]

I've seen a Mazda B2000 sized Nissan pickup pulling a goseneck flatbed trailer.

 

[Vaughn MacKenzie]

Which is worse. . . a Nissan pulling a Bobcat, or a 12-valve Dodge Cummins dually towing a huge friggin' D5N Caterpillar? That puppy alone is in the neighborhood of 30,000 lbs, not to mention the massive triple-dually axle gooseneck trailer it was loaded on. Passed him near Whitecourt Alberta, cruising along at 65mph (PS: don't tell Gary K7GLD)



Vaughn

 

[Boonieman]

I think the bigger ones (Like Case or Cat skid loaders) can go over 8000#. Was this a Nissan Titan, or the smaller Frontier? I had a 94 Nissan 4X4 that would haul as much firewood as you could load on it and it would be perfectly level. No squat whatsoever. It had a heck of a set of overloads on it, and overall was the most trouble-free vehicle I ever owned. My brother was pulling a Cat skid loadedr using my trailer last month and broke the driver's side rear axle on his truck. He has a 2004 2500 4X4 Ram with a Hemi. I looked in the glovebox later and it has 10. 5's in the back. It was weird looking under the truck seeing the driveshaft spinning and the truck not moving. He still didnt get stranded. He put it in 4 wheel drive and drove about 10 more miles pulling that thing. No telling what kind of stress that put on the transfer case and I sure wouldn't pull a stunt like that, but he sure did it.

 

[JHardwick]

No no no guys, it was that Titan thingy or something Boonieman mentioned. It was a fullsize, I only saw the Nissan

 

[Tim]

Whatever it weighs, I'd be willing to bet that the combined weight of trailer and bobcat is more than any Nissan or Toyota is rated to tow.



I can count on one hand how many times I've seen a Nissan or Toyota with a trailer, though.

 

[cummins_crewcab]

At Home Depot a month or so ago I saw a Nissan Titan at the lumber door with a 20k 30' gooseneck on the back loaded with around 2 units of 7/16" OSB and 6 pallet loads of cinder block... That thing was sagggggggggggging to the bump stops. All the items on the trailer were loaded forward of the dually trailer axles as well. Didn't get to see him pull away or try and race him on the highway though :-laf

 

[JHardwick]

Jason,



He had his load looking pretty good, but it's still dead weight even balanced a perfect 60-40. Just kinda shocked me is all.

 

[Elite1]

JH, It depends on which model Bobcat he was hauling. They make em real small and then some of the newer models are quite large. I own 2 Bobcats which I would say are medium sized and also probably the most common you see out there.

My Bobcat # 743 is 60"w x 76"h, 4730 lbs.

My Bobcat # 763,is 66"w x 77"h, 5370 lbs.



The newer # T-190, weighs in at 7244 lbs. (I would like to get this one someday)



Regards, Marty

 

[JHardwick]

Marty,



I'm not sure which model it was, it had a form fitted canvas over it, but it was at least as large as the average sized Bobcat that I've seen.



Lets just say it was 5K, plus the trailer ... ... ... . it just kinda shocked me. It may have taken him 5 miles to get to speed, I dunno, he was running at speed when I entered the highway.



At any rate, he was sitting back smokin a cigarette when I passed him. I was trying to set up a pull on the next hill with my 65 Massey in tow, but he was having nothing to do with that.



Why do we Dodge Boys always think of racing ... ... ... ... . even/especially with a load :-laf

 

[Elite1]

How much does your 65 Massey Ferguson weigh?

Early one morning I was climbing a very steep grade where I live, with my empty equipment trailer in tow. A newer model Dodge 1500 Hemi 4x4 with big wheels and a big lift, passed me so I got into it and so did he we looked at each other and smiled as I passed & beat him up the grade... him empty and me pulling a trailer! That was fun...

 

[BrianJ]

Whatever it weighs, I'd be willing to bet that the combined weight of trailer and bobcat is more than any Nissan or Toyota is rated to tow.



I can count on one hand how many times I've seen a Nissan or Toyota with a trailer, though.

The Nissan Titan is actually a pretty stout truck for a ½ ton. If I was in the market for a ½ ton gasser I would give it a strong look. It can easily handle the weight of the average bobcat with a tow rating of 9400lbs. The 5. 6L it pretty impressive and puts out 305hp and 379 ft lbs. Not that 0-60 times indicate anything about pulling a load, but it does so in 7. 2 seconds according to the latest Motor Trend. I believe the hemi Dodge 1500 is over 8 seconds, but don’t quote me as it wasn’t provided in the current issue. The rated payload of the Titan is 1,453, which is firmly in line with other ½ tons. Nissan has always put out tremendous engines, with their 3. 0-3. 5 v6’s winning awards for as long as I can remember. It’s always in the Wards top 10 list.

 

[RAMINSPEED]

I saw a small toyota truck pulling a Fart F250 on a trailer. That wasn't the smartest thing to do.

 

[Coolslice]

The Nissan Titan is actually a pretty stout truck for a ½ ton. If I was in the market for a ½ ton gasser I would give it a strong look. It can easily handle the weight of the average bobcat with a tow rating of 9400lbs. The 5. 6L it pretty impressive and puts out 305hp and 379 ft lbs. Not that 0-60 times indicate anything about pulling a load, but it does so in 7. 2 seconds according to the latest Motor Trend. I believe the hemi Dodge 1500 is over 8 seconds, but don’t quote me as it wasn’t provided in the current issue. The rated payload of the Titan is 1,453, which is firmly in line with other ½ tons. Nissan has always put out tremendous engines, with their 3. 0-3. 5 v6’s winning awards for as long as I can remember. It’s always in the Wards top 10 list.

I don't know where you guys live, but I see Toyotas and Nissan's pulling ALL THE TIME around here. I have pulled heavy with my Toyotas several times, and my V6 Tacoma was a better puller than the Grand Cherokee we had with a 318 in it. .



I looked quite hard at the Titan before I decided to go 3/4 ton diesel. It is a serious truck in that class. I have read several articles that say they feel like the Nissan is a stronger motor than the Hemi. I can tell you that it certainly felt much stronger. . The Titan is no joke, and the next Tundra won't be either. .

 

[ilovetrains]

I was passed on the highway by a BMW X5 pulling a 24 ft toy hauler. He was running 80, and the truck only had a slight squat in the rear. Looked funny.

 

[JL penner]

Why do we Dodge Boys always think of racing ... ... ... ... . even/especially with a load :-laf

This is funny... . I was driving through the imperial valley last year pulling a 24ft gooseneck with 4 horses and a ton of tack and camping gear when an F250 pulling a travel trailer lined up next to me at a stop light. The race was on... . and the cummins prevailed!! Oo. The horses were a little "wide-eyed" when I got to the competition I was headed to, but nobody got hurt.

 

[Tim]

The Nissan Titan is actually a pretty stout truck for a ½ ton. If I was in the market for a ½ ton gasser I would give it a strong look. It can easily handle the weight of the average bobcat with a tow rating of 9400lbs. The 5. 6L it pretty impressive and puts out 305hp and 379 ft lbs. Not that 0-60 times indicate anything about pulling a load, but it does so in 7. 2 seconds according to the latest Motor Trend. I believe the hemi Dodge 1500 is over 8 seconds, but don’t quote me as it wasn’t provided in the current issue. The rated payload of the Titan is 1,453, which is firmly in line with other ½ tons. Nissan has always put out tremendous engines, with their 3. 0-3. 5 v6’s winning awards for as long as I can remember. It’s always in the Wards top 10 list.

Where do you arrive at a 9400 lb tow rating? The only proper way to find maximum towing capacity is to weigh the truck and use GCWR.



Further, as I illistrated with my 3/4 ton post, there is often times no way to get to max GCWR without busting the GVWR first. In the case of a 1/2 ton truck this is almost absolutely true--there is no way to get to max GCWR because the tongue weight of any heavy trailer will put you over the GVWR of the truck.



My truck can pull exactly 13785 lbs before it overloads the GCWR with only me in it. That said, I find it very hard to believe that a Nissan Titan could pull 9,400 lbs without being overloaded.



People that cite, "Tow ratings" without actually weighing their truck and doing the math themselves are often misguided, and overloaded. Factory tow ratings take into account ZERO options or additional equipment, and nothing in the vehicle except a 150 lb driver.



My trailer, which would be the minimum acceptable trailer in length and capacity to have a skid steer on, weighs 3,080 lbs empty. That leaves 6320 lbs for the skid steer, assuming your math is correct. That is assuming also that you have the proper weight distributing hitch, and further assuming that 1,000 + lbs of tongue weight isn't going to overload that little Nissan's GVWR.



The same would be true of nearly any 1/2 ton truck. Every truck has its strong points and weak points, and 1/2 tons are not tow vehicles.



Me personally, I wouldn't be caught dead in a Japanese truck anyway, especially a Nissan. Even a Toyota would be better. Regardless, I am done towing with 1/2 ton vehicles. That stuff is for the misinformed.



What is the GVWR of a Nissan Titan? What is a reasonable number for GVW of it, empty and full of fuel?

 

[Coolslice]

I don't really think anyone in KY pays ANY attention to the factory ratings. I know in some states they watch it pretty close, but not here. . I have seen some coal trucks and that type of vehicle being weighed, but I have NEVER heard of anyone in a pickup truck being checked and or fined for being overloaded. . That said, you guys would be surprised what some half tons can do if you are not worried about a liability sticker. . :-laf I'm not saying it's smart, but it happens. .