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Can it handle 18,000 lbs?!

6K views 46 replies 16 participants last post by  riley1131 
#1 ·
Can my 99 F350 7.3 DRW handle an 18k trailer?
 
#2 ·
I cant say how much the 7.3 will like it but my old f350 6.0 srw pulled a gooseneck that weighed a little over 20k about 300mi a week for close to a year. The motor never really had any problems pulling it but it did make the truck squat pretty good. Also this was in Illinois where everthing is pretty flat. You probably wont get anywhere very fast but the truck should carry it fine.
 
#4 ·
As long as the trailer has good breaks its not to bad. The 6.0 had tow haul which sort of had an engine brake and helped a bunch. I just always acted like I was hauling horses (slow start/ slow stop) and never had any problems.
 
#7 ·
Legally? No, you can't. Physically? Yes, it can.
 
#9 ·
I houled 3 car trailer (18 000)for 3 months to Texas and back to Chicago with little issues. It will struggle up steep hills and braking distance gets ridiculous so be carefull.
Also not sure if you have to pull over on weight stations, but if you do than remember that anything over 26000 needs a CDL. They will add gross weight of your truck and gross weight of your trailer and if that is over 26k and you don't have a CDL you will be SOL, you also may need safety inspection done on your truck and trailer. Good luck
 
#14 ·
Well you'll have to do the research on your own for legality, I towed a trailer with my 2000 f350 7.3 CCLB 4x4 from Monterey ca to Omaha ne...I tipped the cables at 25k. According to my research at thermite, since it was a private move, as long as my total vehicle weight was less than 26k I was ok. My truck was fitted with f550 springs and verified with insurance company if I was cover, gotten a written confirmation before I travel and made in, mishap free, to Omaha ne in three days via I80...I will say that steep incline had my tranny temps pegged at 2am and 25* out. Took an hour before the temps began to fall on the gauge.

God luck, take your time and don't overdrive your braking system or headlights! I won't tell you you how I know that one.


Sent from AutoGuide.com App
 
#16 ·
I will echo what another member has said, be sure that you are not over your GVWR. It does not matter what your insurance company says, if you get in an accident and end up hurting some one and you are over your GVWR you will be in a lot of trouble. You knowingly operated your vehicle in an unsafe manner. There is a reason why the manufacturer puts GVWR's on vehicles. Since I only write tickets I do not know what the penalty would be if this were to happen, but the prosecuting attorney in the jurisdiction that you were in could come after you for many different things. Also, if you get pulled over and get weighed or enter a scale and are over weight you will be cited, fined and not be allowed to continue your journey until you made your vehicle safe to operate on the roadway (unloading until you were at a safe weight). It is not uncommon around my parts for the State Troopers to call in their DOT person to bring scales to a stopped vehicle if they believe they are over weight. Although this is usually during road restrictions, it has been done to people carrying an obviously overloaded combo. Oh, we dip tanks too so no red fuel. :)
 
#17 ·
the laws are a little different everywhere you go but here if you insure a commercial trailer with it's own gvw rating it stays separate from the gvw of your truck. the weight of the trailer sitting on the back of your truck will go against your trucks gvw but the full weight of the trailer doesn't go against the truck gvw.

the law for max weight a vehicle can tow here is a approximately 300lbs/hp of the pulling vehicle. so a 250hp 7.3 would be good for 75,000 lbs by law providing that the tounge weight doesn't push your truck over it's rated gvw.
 
#18 ·
You are incorrect, we go by whats on the door post of the vehicle. If your tongue weight puts you over your GVWR (which is set by the manufacturer) or over the GAWR (gross axle weight rating) FR or RR then you are running the vehicle illegally. It is not only the engine that dictates the safety of the vehicle. The brakes are designed to stop a certain amount of weight. I do not care what state you are in if you were to injure someone in an accident and it was found out that you were overweight, then you are not only going to be sued in civil court, but there is a great chance that you will be brought up in criminal court. It is the same as operating your vehicle with bad tires, the vehicle is unsafe for travel on the public roadway. If you are within your weight ratings then you are good to go, but if you operate outside of those ratings you are in for trouble. The GVWR's that are on your door post are not suggestions or guidelines, they are limits.
 
#19 ·
that's exactly what i said. the tounge weight of the trailer goes against your gvw but the actual weight of the trailer goes against it's own gvw. you can tow a trailer virtually as heavy as you want as long as the tounge weight keeps your truck inside of it's own gvw. ford gives a max "recommended" weight rating for the trailer you can tow but this is just to keep them out of court if you legally tow a trailer heavier than that.

your insurance will only insure you for a certain gcwr which is your truck and trailer combined and you will need a different class of driver's license along with some other formalities as you hit different weight classes.

and brakes have nothing to do with anything. any trailer over 3000lbs has to have it's own braking system.
 
#20 ·
in the US you can not tow a trailer as heavy as you want, as he said before gross vehicle weight here is combined and they only allow 80 thousand pounds gvw for your standard 18 wheeler any more than that you have to have extra axles and or permits to do so legally. The laws don't change because you drive a smaller truck, they just allow you to haul less weight.
 
#21 ·
and yes you also have to be under " axle weight " on your pulling vehicle as well
 
#22 ·
how do you determine the weight of trailer you can tow then?

my 2003 f350 has a gvw of 9900lbs according to the sticker in the door jamb. there is also a separate rating for the front axle (~5000lbs?) and a rating for the rear which is about ~6000lbs. the truck weighs about 8000lbs+.

the law here says 150kg/1 hp which is 330lbs/1 hp. no one ever tows this much because the tounge weight will surely be above the gvw of the truck. i believe that the reasoning behind this law is due to the fact that most semi trucks are somewhere around 500hp and back when the law was put in place they were probably closer to 3-400hp in general while still towing 80,000lbs.
 
#23 ·
well here we have tag classes ie: 26000 pound tag on the vehicle towing is the max combined weight of truck and trailer, that being said you still cant be over axle, if your truck rear axle rate is 6000 pounds then you cant go over that on the rear axle, same for the front end that is where your "bumper weight" comes into play, the more bumper weight the more weight on your rear axle.
 
#24 ·
so essentially here you could tow a 16100 pound trailor as long as your axle weight doesnt exceed 6000 pounds on the rear and 5ooo on the front
 
#25 ·
here you can have a 80,000 lb gvw with a 200 hp truck as long as you can "scale" it with the axle ratings
 
#26 ·
Steve, you are misinformed. The brakes have everything to do with what a vehicle can tow. There is a reason why bigger trucks have bigger brakes LOL. There are two parts when it cones to towing, first off is getting it moving and the second part is stopping it. Yes trailers have brakes, but they do not do all of the stopping, it is shared with the pulling vehicle. You need to do some reading on the subject and I say this respectfully. You cannot pull as heavy of a trailer as you want, with any vehicle. If this were true pick ups would be trying to pull tractor trailers. What you can pull depends on your vehicles GVWR and how much tongue weight you put on the truck. I know that you have a F-350 SRW which I think has a GVWR of 9,900 lbs if I am not mistaken. If the truck weighs 8,000 lbs (including you, passengers and all of your cargo and liquids) then you can put 1900 lbs of tongue weight on the truck. Obviously this would be a bed mounted system. There is hardly any weight on the rear axle when it is unloaded so 1900 lbs should be fine, but you need to find some scales to check your axle weights. And remember a certain percentage of weight must be put on the tongue or you will be wobbling all over the road. So don't try and cheat by moving your load back on the trailer. Trust me, you don't want to be involved in a fatal accident in which you were over weight. Jail time would not be out of the question, especially if you knowingly operated an unsafe motor vehicle on a public road way. Again I am not a lawyer, but I know the law, it's my job.
 
#28 ·
brakes will in part determine the gvw of the trailer itself. if it's rated at 18000lbs gvw, the brakes are determined to be good enough for that. if the brakes on the truck are rated for 9900lbs gvw, then they are good enough for that. legally the truck and trailer are capable of stopping themselves separately so the weight you can legally tow with your truck has nothing to do with what size brakes you have, the brake system was determined at the time the gvw rating was stamped on it.

i understand the whole tounge weight part of it, i was the one that brought it up first. how do you figure out the max total weight of the trailer you can tow (not just the tounge weight)

i know of a guy with fifth wheel tridem toy hauler that is over his gvw on the truck when the toy hauler is virtually empty. as soon as he put his rzr and some jerry cans of gas in the back he is legal due to balancing out some weight off the front of the trailer.
 
#29 ·
if your tag on the vehicle is 26000 pounds and the gvw of your truck is maxed at 9900 pounds then 16100pounds is difference, now, that being said, if you keep your truck gvw less than 9900 then you can add the difference back to the trailer weight as long as you don't go over axle, ohh btw here you also have a limit you can put on the trailer avles as well depending on there rated limit, also you must remember here as well that your tires have to be rated for the appropriate weight you are hauling as well.
 
#30 ·
when you say tag, do you mean the stickers some trucks have on the side that say xxxxx lbs gvw? this is the registered max gvw of the truck according to what it's insured to tow. my truck is registered at 11,000 lbs gvw so this is the max GCVR which is the truck and trailer combined. i can increase my registered gvw anytime by paying more money for insurance. this still isn't the max the truck can legally tow.
 
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