My 5th wheel says by manufacturer 16,000 GVWR
4 Goodyear tires rated 3750#, so that is 15,000 maximum
2 axles rated 7000# each is 14,000
How can the trailer be rated 16,000# GVWR with this axle tire setup? I know this may be typical for a lot of trailers, how do the manufacturers come up with their GVWR.
krmcg,
The pin weight on that rig when loaded will probably be around 3,000 pounds, so that comes off the unit's axles leaving them to support 13,000 pounds.
Ditto what is above....but....it is of concern that the axles are 7,000 lbs. I had a 5er that weighed, loaded, 7800 lbs. The axles were 3500 ea=7,000 lbs. I didn't realize that until I ended up frying a wheel bearing. I was near an axle shop, who responded to fix my hub and suggested rather strongly that I might want to weigh it at the next truck scales, which I did. Now, that 7800 lbs is what it weighed attached to the TV. I ended up changing the axles to 5,000 lb axles and never had another issue.
I suggest that even with the pin weight known and deducted, because of the low capacity axles, I would be concerned about it. I think that mfgrs should be required by law to tell the whole truth, not just snippits here and there.
Just a follow up, I weighed the trailer and the weights are listed below. For info, I borrowed a friends f350 dually to pull the trailer with, since I havn't purchased a tow vehicle yet. We are 220 pounds over trailer gvwr, but we are in the process of moving from house to trailer and wife has everything and myself stored in the trailer. Will definately be lighter when we hit the road full time.
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