Too much weight?

[dgramenz]

Hey guys, I have a question. I'm thinking of buying a flatbed gooseneck trailer (about 25 foot) to haul water and chemicals to a sprayer. Altogether, I'm estimating the weight of 1,500 gallons of water, a pump, chemical tanks, and the trailer at about 20,000. Do you think I can pull this around safely? It would be short distances, probably all within about 10 miles of home. I know the truck can pull that kind of weight because I've pulled over 20,000 pounds of wheat with it, but that didn't put any weight on the truck. Is this out my 250's league? Thanks

[Logan]

Um, I think if you try and pull that kinda weight, you need to do a few things. You could go to a spring shop and get some leafs added to your rear leaf pack to beef it up, you could also go with a firestone airbag set up. You need to beable to stop that kinda weight too. Remember, Safety First. An exhaust brake of some sort might be in order too.


Just to make clear what you are asking, You have a 20k tralier, plus 8500 gallons of water? Plus, pump and other smaller stuff. Or, total 20k?


If you have all that, you are going to be well over 25,001 lbs, and you will need class A CDLs. If you get pulled, you would be sorry.

Good luck, keep us posted.

[dgramenz]

I'm estimating the total weight to be about 20,000 pounds, including the 1,500 gallons of water, tanks, pumps, and the trailer itself. I already have a Class A CDL, but that shouldn't even be an issue in this case. Thanks for the advice

[vitalidle]

Thats alot of weight, but the engine will pull it fine. If its just around the farm and your not traveling up and down steep grades you should be okay. Try it out and if the trailer squats the truck out too much do what Brrs says and use the air bags. Just be safe no 1

[720Deere]

You didn't say whether you had an auto or a 6 speed. With a 4R100, I would be afraid of pulling that much weight. Then again if it is just local and you are traveling at low speeds (<35 mph) you could probably get by. Just make sure that trailer has excellent brakes!

[dgramenz]

Yeah, I've got the auto. Actually, I hope to be able to pull it close to normal highway speeds. I was thinking Banks Transcommand or Transloc or whatever they call those might help. Thanks for all the advice so far

[Fordinator]

One other thing that not been touched on is the tongue weight. On a properly loaded Gooseneck the tongue weight should be 15 to 20% of the total weight of the trailer.

This really makes a differance in the stability of the trailer if you don't have the weight up front.

[CHenry]

Originally Posted by Fordinator

On a properly loaded Gooseneck the tongue weight should be 15 to 20% of the total weight of the trailer.

Actually 10% is good - a 20k lb trailer/load should have 2000 lbs on the pin. Your F-250 is rated for around 2900 lbs over the rear axel so as long as you load the trailer right and don't have too much weight in front of the trailer axels, you will not have a need for airbags or beefed up suspension. Trailer breaks is all you will need IMO since your only pulling it short distance locally.

[MrJohnWayne]

I agree with Clay. IMO you need to make sure about the total weight though. 1500 gallan tank is going to weigh 12000+ pounds full + trailer weight etc..

[johnroach100]

I know you were just asking about the mechanics of what you want to do but since the CDL thing was brought up, here's something I didn't know until a friend found out the hard way ($7800 fine). If a commercial vehicle grosses more than 10,000 lbs., truck and trailer, they most likely need to be registered with the DOT. He has several trucks so they got him for a lot. It doesn't cost anything if you're not for hire so I went ahead and did it.