16k trailer with 14500 payload.

[Fixastuff]

I'm shopping 16k trailers and I found a company making one with an advertised 14500 payload. It has dual 7k axles and weighs 3100lbs. How is this possible? Seems like it would have to have 8k axles and only weigh 1500lbs to make this happen. What am I missing?

 

[MTGreen]

Sounds like a nomenclature error to me. Likely the gvwr is 14.5k with axles rated 7250 each. Payload is gvwr as determined by the lowest rated component minus trailer tare weight.

 

[Fixastuff]

 

[MTGreen]

By the advertising verbiage makes me wonder if 8k axles but derated for something like tires to 14.5k gvwr versus the 16k. I would think that if you're seriously considering it would warrant a phone call before purchase

 

[Peter 315]

Are they adding tongue weight to get the 16k number?

 

[ovrszd]

Are they adding tongue weight to get the 16k number?

Payload would be defined by what we load on the trailer. No adjustment for tongue weight. Sounds better that way....

 

[Hay Dude]

I'm shopping 16k trailers and I found a company making one with an advertised 14500 payload. It has dual 7k axles and weighs 3100lbs. How is this possible? Seems like it would have to have 8k axles and only weigh 1500lbs to make this happen. What am I missing?

My guess is They are shifting load over to the truck, but they would have to also raise the GVWR.
It’s probably a combination of a misprint and/or a mistake.

I see that out of trailer sellers quite often.

I like the 17.5’s and the oil baths. Although usually 7k’s are not oil bath, but 8ks are. Nice trailer!

 

[Peter 315]

Does tongue weight increase trailer load capacity?

I thought this might have been covered somewhere already, but I can't find it. Example: A trailer with a 5880 lb payload rating (7000-1120=5880), with say 750-1,000 lbs on the tongue. Will this safely haul a 5900 lb excavator?

www.tractorbynet.com

post number 8

 

[dstig1]

Yeah you hear about it once in a while where the trailer manufacturer is gaming the stats a bit by taking out the tongue weight to "add back" some capacity to allow the axles the meet their rating. Technically the tongue weight is carried by the truck, not the trailer axles. Seems like a bad game to play, IMO, but they do it...

 

[Jerry/MT]

I'm shopping 16k trailers and I found a company making one with an advertised 14500 payload. It has dual 7k axles and weighs 3100lbs. How is this possible? Seems like it would have to have 8k axles and only weigh 1500lbs to make this happen.

Some of the load is carried by the tow vehicle. How is "payload" defined?

For my gooseneck, GVWR of the trailer= trailer weight + payload. Since it's a goose neck, 15% of the GVWR should be carried on the tow vehicle. If the trailer has 7000 lb axles, the total load on the trailer axle should be less than or equal to 14,000 lbs. Our trailer weighs about 5000 lbs empty. if the trailer GVWR =16,000 then 16000 x 0.15= 2400 lbs is carried on the tow vehicle and 16,000 -2400=-13,600 lbs the trailer axles. The payload is then 16,000 -5000 = 11,000 lbs. The tow vehicle must be rated to take the total load, called the gross combined weight rating GCWR. If vehicle axles are not rated for this then payload must be off loaded to meet the GCWR

This is my understanding of this issue.

 

[5030]

Better have good 10 ply tires on it and not China Bombs.

 

[4570Man]

My guess is They are shifting load over to the truck, but they would have to also raise the GVWR.
It’s probably a combination of a misprint and/or a mistake.

I see that out of trailer sellers quite often.

I like the 17.5’s and the oil baths. Although usually 7k’s are not oil bath, but 8ks are. Nice trailer!

My dump trailer has 8k axels with oil bath caps but the axels are actually greased not filled with oil.

 

[5030]

Speaking of China Bombs, I had to drive up to Ann Arbor this afternoon and I saw no less than 3 RV's on the side of the road with blown tires. Bet they were all 'One hung Loe' tires. Rv manufacturers like to put the cheapest tires on their trailers. All 3 had collateral damage from the blown tires too.

 

[Peter 315]

synthetic grease

 

[4570Man]

Speaking of China Bombs, I had to drive up to Ann Arbor this afternoon and I saw no less than 3 RV's on the side of the road with blown tires. Bet they were all 'One hung Loe' tires. Rv manufacturers like to put the cheapest tires on their trailers. All 3 had collateral damage from the blown tires too.

Cheap tires don’t help but rv manufacturers typically use barley adequate axels that are overloaded by the time it’s all loaded with stuff.

 

[MTGreen]

Makes me wonder what the actual profit margins are for the cardboard and staples that passes for an RV these days

 

[Bearsixty7]

Cheap tires don’t help but rv manufacturers typically use barley adequate axels that are overloaded by the time it’s all loaded with stuff.

Yep! that's why you have to know more than them and order one built correctly despite them saying the same trailer with tandem axles and 15" tires on the lot will "work just fine".

Triple 6K axles, 16" tires Load range E.

 

[aczlan]

Payload would be defined by what we load on the trailer. No adjustment for tongue weight. Sounds better that way....

Ah, but it's listed as "max capacity" not max payload.
Most likely they are assuming the "missing weight" will be tongue weight.

Aaron Z

 

[LD1]

Better have good 10 ply tires on it and not China Bombs.

Uh.....he posted the trailer specs. 17.5" wheels with 16-ply tires

 

[LD1]

Regarding the payload......yes manufactures like to play numbers games. Sometimes you have to call the MFG just to figure things out.

Some MFG's rate the GVWR of the trailer simply as the sum of axle ratings. Like 7k axles = 14k trailer. 8k axles = 16k trailer.

While other MFG's add 10%-15% because they assume the tongue weight. I have seen dual 7k axles rated at 15k for the trailer. And dual 8k axle trailers rated at 17k or 18k. Which is completely acceptable.

The tricky part is trying to assign a "payload" rating.

Again, some manufactures simply use the GVWR and deduct the trailers weight. Some try and deduct an assumed tongue weight. Again, completely acceptable. But its a dangerous game. Because you have to have a truck to handle that tongue weight....AND you have to be sure you have ENOUGH tongue weight to not overload trailer axles....and every load is gonna be unique with different amounts of tongue weight based on how people load. Which is why some MFG's dont even rate a payload.

But I will say......there is no way a trailer with a pair of only 7k axles is gonna haul 14.5k.

At the end of the day you have to do your own math.

So for the trailer given.....with a pair of 7k axles.....IF you put 14.5k on their lightest trailer of 2850lbs......your total load will be 17,350. Which means you need AT LEAST 3,350 pounds on the hitch to keep the axle pair UNDER 14k. Which is about 20% tongue weight.

And while you MAY have a truck that can handle the 3350# tongue weight.....the problem is the load will probably need shifted forward enough that you will actually overload the FRONT axle of the trailer. Like maybe 8k on the front axle and 6k on the rear and 3350 on the hitch.

What I think is more plausable is that those are NOT 7k axles and that its a typo. Most likely those are 8k axles. Especially since they list the brakes as 12-1/4 x 2-1/2" brakes. Those are typical 8k brakes and 7k brakes are 12x2.

So if that is indeed the case......Your 17350# worth of load.....put 10% on the tongue (1735#) and you are 15,615# over a pair of 8k axles. so good to go there.

But in any case....I'd call the manufacture to confirm and ask some of these questions. Confirm just what the axles are rated at? Are they indeed 8k axles. And if not....I'd walk. No way I'd want to tow a 14.5k load over anything less than 8k axles. Because there is NO way to do that without overloading at least the front trailer axle