Exceeding Rated Payload

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by Hans627

The TV is a 2013 RAM 1500 with a payload rated at 970#. My wife and I weight about 300 and the tongue weight of the AS I'm thinking of getting is about 800#. So before anything else I'm already 130# over. With the hitch, a suitcase or two and I could be 300# over payload very easily.

I'm not planning on traveling across country for months at a time but could be on the road for several weeks several times a year.

I wish I would have done a little more research and not just looked at tow capacity before buying my RAM. I really like the truck but a few more hundred pounds of payload capacity would have been nice.

Please stop worrying so much about 'payload' and check the numbers.

When buying an Airstream your allowed to put the cart in front of the horse.
Get your 'Stream, hook-up, tow, ck your weights and and proceed with due diligence...



Bob

[aftermath]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

Hans627,

Just what I would do..

Go to the scales weigh your rig loaded for camping.
Ck the front and rear TV axle weights and compare to the ratings on the driver door jamb sticker.

Do the same for the trailer.
Check the load ratings for your tires. TV & trailer.
Check the hitch receiver ratings.

If your numbers are good...go camping.

Bob

But they aren't by the poster's own admission. He is over payload capacity. So you are saying....get a bigger truck? You're not good to go?

This is a good example of a numbers guy. I like what most folks have had to say here, as long as you are not way over and your set up drives and stops nicely then a few hundred pounds isn't going to cause any real trouble.

Like all things in life, it is a matter of degree. A thousand pounds over is different than a couple hundred. You can't judge a set up based only on the specs. Congratulations to you if you stick tightly to the numbers but others are not wrong if they go over a tad.

[Lance M]

Hans-
You have asked the same question in a few different threads and you are getting the same answers from both sides of the discussion. You can ask it a hundred times and you'll get the same basic answer every time here. It is totally your decision to make. Only you can make the decision or determination of what is "safe" for you.

I think you have probably read my thread since you posted on it, but if you haven't, you should go back and read my posts with scale tickets and the calculations.

In a nutshell, I am fully comfortable exceeding the MFR's payload rating by a few hundred pounds towing my Airstream with over 1,000lbs of tongue weight.

Now, go have some fun. That is why Airstreams exist.

[SteveH]

I have a 3/4 ton because I have a heavy trailer (1200lbs tongue weight, 11,500GVW), and my weights are all under the tow vehicle's specs, both axle weights and GVW.

However, the max towing capacity of my truck is 9,550lbs, and the GCWR is 17,000, and we are at 18,500 gross combined.

Last year we towed approximately 14,000 miles with the rig, and nothing on the truck has bent, wore out, or broken, except my wallet is a little bent.

Wish I was not over on these numbers, but it would cost me A LOT of money to trade at this point.

Hope it makes it another year or two.

[Ron Gratz]

Originally Posted by Hans627

The TV is a 2013 RAM 1500 with a payload rated at 970#. My wife and I weight about 300 and the tongue weight of the AS I'm thinking of getting is about 800#. So before anything else I'm already 130# over. With the hitch, a suitcase or two and I could be 300# over payload very easily.

Is that 800# a measured loaded tongue weight, or is it a published value?
If it's the latter, you could be over by considerably more than 300#.

I think exceeding the TV's GVWR by 300# really is not a problem if there's no accident involved.
But, in case of an accident -- if a jury in a civil case can be convinced that it really is a problem, then it really is a problem.

As someone said -- it's a matter of risk acceptance.

Ron

[KJRitchie]

I haven't read of any mechanical failures on this forum or vehicle forums by going over payload. If I was reading posts here and on other forums about axle, suspension and drivetrain failures I'd be concerned.

Kelvin

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by aftermath

But they aren't by the poster's own admission. He is over payload capacity. So you are saying....get a bigger truck? You're not good to go?

This is a good example of a numbers guy. I like what most folks have had to say here, as long as you are not way over and your set up drives and stops nicely then a few hundred pounds isn't going to cause any real trouble.

Like all things in life, it is a matter of degree. A thousand pounds over is different than a couple hundred. You can't judge a set up based only on the specs. Congratulations to you if you stick tightly to the numbers but others are not wrong if they go over a tad.

Well, I guess you be smarter than I, the numbers guy.


Read all my posts instead of guessing about what I'm saying...

I'm interested to know how we advise when the OP doesn't even have a trailer yet.

Bob

[rgwatkin]

Theoretically the risk of overload is bent or broken axles. When is the last time anyone has heard of this happening on a truck. I would bet all the truck manufactures are closer to +25-50% of posted specs. They have to be with dynamic loads. The trick is no matter what your loads are don't hit holes/things at high speeds...just a good rule of thumb!

[Moflash]

There have been no accidents with light duty trucks on this forum?
It's not about breaking parts it's about control braking and general safety.Just because you can doesn't mean you should.


Sent from my iPhone using Airstream Forums

[dznf0g]

Originally Posted by rgwatkin

Theoretically the risk of overload is bent or broken axles. When is the last time anyone has heard of this happening on a truck. I would bet all the truck manufactures are closer to +25-50% of posted specs. They have to be with dynamic loads. The trick is no matter what your loads are don't hit holes/things at high speeds...just a good rule of thumb!

Dynamic loads are taken into account when the static numbers are set....and your +25 - 50% is high.

[BoldAdventure]

Originally Posted by rgwatkin

I would bet all the truck manufactures are closer to +25-50% of posted specs. They have to be with dynamic loads. The trick is no matter what your loads are don't hit holes/things at high speeds...just a good rule of thumb!

I can attest to Dodge/Ram, the axles are all rated at 3900lbs each. All Dodge Ram's are rated at 6500lbs GVWR, but the axles combined come in at 7800lbs, so that's 1000lbs of safety built in.

If you are running the stock 275/60R20 tire with the Goodyear Wrangler SR-A that Ram install's on it's truck, it has a max load of 2601lbs per tire, for 10404lbs; derated that's 9467lbs rating for the truck when aired to 44PSI per manufactures recommendations.

Folks who talk about damaging the suspension are not car or truck people and are usually talking sideways out their behinds.

Since the OP had a Ram truck and was concerned about 300# pounds, I am putting out there despite the payload police that you are not endanger of dying, or having a run away vehicle that will put everyone on the road at risk. Your axles are not going to break or bend and your tires won't explode. The truck will not be a death trap.

Now, that isn't a license to put a golf cart in the bed plus hook up the Airstream and go drive the Ike Gauntlet.

[slowmover]

We could make a short journey around any metro area in the country and find contractors and others who either regularly or constantly have an overloaded half-ton. City streets and the far lying reaches from the highways. With or without trailers.

A vacationer traveling a few thousand miles annually who has otherwise done a good job with the hitch lash up has little reason to be concerned. Watch out for tire loads by using weight scale.

As to liability, that's a joke. The law looks to axle/wheel/tire loads. Commercial users of 1T pickups regularly exceed a 20k GCWR by more than 10k. Legally. And do it over a 300k mile lifetime.

Will a heavy load handle, brake and steer differently? Yes.

Is three hundred pounds over "heavy"? No.

[Kevin245]

This thread is closed for clean up.