The truck GVWR is 9,500 and the 5er GVWR is 11,000.
This fully loaded with all gear, water, propane, etc. I did not have an opportunity to weigh just the truck.
This new truck sits up really high and my 5er is not quite level front to back. The 500 lb difference in trailer axle weights has me concerned. With my last truck the trailer sat level and my scale results always showed the axles within 100 lb of each other.
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I think I would try to get the trailer leveled out a bit. Can you not lower the 5th wheel in the truck or raise the pin box on the trailer - depending on sidewall clearance?
Another option would be to "flip" the axles to raise the trailer.
If not, then I would watch the temperatures of those rear axle tires closely when traveling and keep a close eye on the tread condition. Higher weights mean more heat and heat kills tires. Although you are well under your trailers GVWR, I think I would also be running the trailer tires at max sidewall pressure to help keep them cool.
Barney
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BarneyS wrote: I think I would try to get the trailer leveled out a bit. Can you not lower the 5th wheel in the truck or raise the pin box on the trailer - depending on sidewall clearance?
Another option would be to "flip" the axles to raise the trailer.
If not, then I would watch the temperatures of those rear axle tires closely when traveling and keep a close eye on the tread condition. Higher weights mean more heat and heat kills tires. Although you are well under your trailers GVWR, I think I would also be running the trailer tires at max sidewall pressure to help keep them cool.
Barney
I have already adjusted the pin to help. It started off really nose high. I adjusted the hitch until I had the minimum bed rail clearance and it still left it a bit nose high. The axles are already flipped.
I do have one of those IR temp guns. That will make easy work of watching my temps when I travel. We do lots of weekend trips that are within 150 miles so it's rare that I will go very long without being able to take a quick temp reading.
5ertime wrote: Check you GCWR - on my 2011 2500hd long bed is 16000
You are right. I had to check 3 different towing guides before I found one that listed the GCWR.
16000 gcwr - 9400 tow rating = 6600 available as weight of TV.
On the bright side.... I'm only over by 300 which I can easily trim off. By comparing some of my old weigh tickets I can see that there was a time when we traveled with the same trailer and much less weight. She keeps adding in more stuff and never taking any out. I should have no problem trimming off 300.
If your trailer axles are already flipped and you've already adjusted both the hitch and the pin box to give the minimum bed rail to trailer clearance that you can live with (about 6" is common), then the way to correct the problem would be to take the trailer to a local welding shop and have them build a square or rectangular tube sub-frame that welds under the trailer frame above the axles and spaces the spring mounts down by an amount appropriate to the amount of lift needed to level the trailer with the truck.
SoCalDesertRider wrote: then the way to correct the problem would be to take the trailer to a local welding shop and have them build a square or rectangular tube sub-frame that welds under the trailer frame above the axles and spaces the spring mounts down by an amount appropriate to the amount of lift needed to level the trailer with the truck.
This may be the next step. I have a local shop that specializes in trailer repair and modifications. They tend to have good prices and are very experienced.
On another note....I'm over 300 lbs on my GCWR. I have lots of extras and duplicates of things stored in the 5er. I could drop an easy 100 lbs without noticing anything missing. The remainder of the weight loss will come from draining some of the fresh water tank which is located at the very end of the 5er. I went from carrying 10 gallons of emergency use water to filling up the 58 gallon tank before trips. This extra weight isn't needed except for rare occassions. We almost always go places with a water fill station somewhere on site. If I carry 20 gallons instead of 58 gallons that will reduce the weight by 260ish lbs. Since this is all the way to the rear I imagine that the rear axle carries most of that. That should go a long way to evening up the weights between the 2 axles..... or am I missing something?
Yes, if your water tank is at the rear of the trailer and you quit filling it for the trip, the overall weight of the trailer axles will decrease and the rear axle will decrease more than the front. The pin weight placed on the truck will increase a bit too with less weight behind the trailer axles.
I would worry about the nose high issue WAY before I worried about the GCWR issue. The nose high, rear axel having more wt on it will cause an issue before the 300 lbs over gcwr will. Hence why LEO's do not ticket one for being over a manufacture gcwr, they only worry about axel wts, which you are under all of them.
A tire blow out due to the rear axel load would be worst than being over gcwr! Then losing control of the rig, a death occurring etc. Also being nose high, the potential for sway increases, which also will cause an issue before the GCWR issue will. If swaying more than IIRC 12" center to side in either direction, that is WHERE an LEO can pull you off the road etc, ticket you, and not let you back on the road.
If the 500+ lbs was side to side, and you were pulled over and weighed, that would also get you impounded on the side of the road, WAY before being over gcwr will.
Probably the best fix to your issue as mentioned, block between the axle and the springs. Also do not rule out new springs with a bit more arch, along with blocks.
Marty
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