what are people thinking

Russ Spence

Russ Spence

Commercial Pressure Wash Expert
I just saw a guy on the boards that has a 16 foot trailer pulled with a 2wd half ton f150. Now that in itself is one thing but it has a 525 gallon tank, a 225 gallon tank a 100 gallon tank and a couple of small 30 gallon tanks plus a hot water washer, full ladder rack, a generator and 3500 pound capacity axles?

Plus the washer and the generator as well as the 225 gallon tank are all mounted on the tounge end up in front of the trailer?

Ok lets do th math
525 gallon = 4000 pounds or so
225 gallon = 1600 to 1800 pounds
100 gallon = 700 to 800 pounds
30 gallon x 2 = 400 to 500 pounds
Pressure pro washer 600 pounds
Ladder rack (cheap built) 200 pounds

Best case 7500 pounds + the weight of the trailer and thats scary to think of that going down the road and trying to stop in an emergency in my oponion if they are full of even half full. I assume the water tank is the large one but what if the 225 gallon tank is full of chems or something and all that weight is on the tounge!

Just does not make since :nono:
 
Russ Spence said:
I just saw a guy on the boards that has a 16 foot trailer pulled with a 2wd half ton f150. Now that in itself is one thing but it has a 525 gallon tank, a 225 gallon tank a 100 gallon tank and a couple of small 30 gallon tanks plus a hot water washer, full ladder rack, a generator and 3500 pound capacity axles?

Plus the washer and the generator as well as the 225 gallon tank are all mounted on the tounge end up in front of the trailer?

Ok lets do th math
525 gallon = 4000 pounds or so
225 gallon = 1600 to 1800 pounds
100 gallon = 700 to 800 pounds
30 gallon x 2 = 400 to 500 pounds
Pressure pro washer 600 pounds
Ladder rack (cheap built) 200 pounds

Best case 7500 pounds + the weight of the trailer and thats scary to think of that going down the road and trying to stop in an emergency in my oponion if they are full of even half full. I assume the water tank is the large one but what if the 225 gallon tank is full of chems or something and all that weight is on the tounge!

Just does not make since :nono:
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Just walk up and say; Here's Your Sign( stupid). Sounds like something someone from Maplesville would do
 
People are idiots. They are spreading like wild fire.

Hopefully it's there own ass when they crash and not an innocent person.
 
People always forget about the weight of the trailer itself when doing the math.

I have bent 2 axles in the past 3 years from having too much weight on the trailer but mostly from hitting a pothole from what the repair guy told me as I don't haul the 325 gallon tank full anymore.

The next trailer will have either 5200 or 6000 pound axles so I don't have to worry about axles anymore and I can put a little bit more equipment and water supply onto the trailer.

I know that I had more than 7000 pounds on the trailer a lot of times but since then I have removed most of the stuff that I don't use all the time and it made a difference on how the trailer pulls and also on the truck fuel mileage.

Sometimes people forget that the hot water skid weighs from 600 to 900 pounds but add in water in the coil, fuel in the gas and diesel tank and that can easily be another 150 to 300 pounds so when I am figuring out what is on the trailer I just go by 1000 pounds for the hot water skid (Hotsy).

Fuel containers, hoses, water in the hoses, buckets of chemicals, surface cleaners, etc.... it all adds up.

The trailer guy told me to leave at least 1000 pounds off the trailer's max weight capacity so when you hit potholes or bumps it will help to keep from bending axles if you don't have it loaded down so much.

My truck does have the towing package but I also have trailer brakes on both axles just in case. A few years ago I had to replace the brakes in the truck, that is when I found out that the trailer brakes were not working, they seem to last only about a year or so. Hopefully with brakes on 2 axles, I think I should get 2 or more years out of those brakes.
 
I see overweight setups all the time, but there is usually a lot of shrubbery involved.:neo:
 
I had a competitor when I still owned my excavation business. He pulled a Cat 420D model with a 3/4 ton pick-up.

Suppose you can pull the weight, getting it stopped, especially in an emergency, there inlays the problem.

They should have common sense check points, would thin the heard by half.
 
not to disagree but don't larger trailers like that have trailer brakes on them?
 
bigchaz said:
not to disagree but don't larger trailers like that have trailer brakes on them?
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I have a 16 ft dual axle trailer and it does not have brakes. I will be adding brakes or buying a new trailer in the very near future. I rarely travel with water and even with an empty tank and 2 hot water machines my van can be difficult to stop. I make sure I never tailgate or put myself in a position where I need to slam on the brakes. It can be very dangerous if you are not careful
 
Yep, see that, and other horror stories. I always order 10,000 lb axles, and double brakes. I also have a 3/4 ton. It is amazing what some people will do, trying to save a few pennies, or what they will let their wives talk them into, because she doesn't understand. That is a huge bugaboo of mine.
 
lol My first setup was a s10 pickup with a 300 gallon water tank. Now that was scary
 
I must admit my first setup was incredibly unsafe, 3-330 gallon totes on a 14ft trailer hauling full tanks everyday when I left the house doing car lots. The trailer was the cheapest new 14ft I could get so it had no brakes and 3500lb axles.
990 gallons of water is a minimum of 8,000lbs without the tanks weight, machines, and hose reels. Add in the trailer itself and your talking 10k easily all pulled behind a 2000 Ford Explorer, at least it had the 5.0 in the explorer but still struggled keeping that in motion.
I still use that trailer today however it shows lots of wear as you could imagine.
 
Matthew Norman said:
People are idiots. They are spreading like wild fire.

Hopefully it's there own ass when they crash and not an innocent person.
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Worse then wild fire....at least with wild fire we can deal with it and find the solution, BUT with this there is selective inspection and regulation problem. The DOT guys ONLY know of the 26,001 lbs rules, in other words the just want the big rigs, and leave all the real problems behind. WHY? The big rig guys will pay the fine, the little guy will not.

I have always call for strict and but evenly fair govt regulation, it is a tool that we all need to be using, whether it is the overloaded trailer or the guy dumping and not following the rules.

Some say that this is not the way to go as they feel too much govt interference is against their principles, well i say so be it, cut the completion anyway you can, let us all play on an even playing Field with the SAME rules enforced for all.

I see ugly kitchens all the time, but when i made a speech not long ago, some questioned my intentions to notify govt guys about the deplorable conditions, some even said that this was the exact way that government takes control of our lives, but does it really? NO of course not, just like the cop that :keeps us safe from bad drivers" other agency's are in place to keep us as the public safe from less then acceptable food preparation conditions.

I think that as a collective group we need to come together and put plan or outline together to make our officials aware, and aware DEEPLY about the responsibilities that they are responsible for.

We need to face the facts, whether it is a truck overloaded or a dirty food prep area, we as professionals, workers, consumers and members of society need to come together to take action and put down the wrong.
 
My friend told me about the driver education class he took to get the points off for a ticket. The instructor goes on and on about the crashing and dangers and death and mayhem and horrible drivers and blah blah blah blah and he finishes and my friend says 'So how is your licensing scheme working out again?'

We have govt in EVERYTHING and we still have ALL the problems that they supposedly were/are going to save us from. IT DOESN'T WORK and IT MAKES IT WORSE.
 
I agree it is incredibly dangerous make sure to over build your equipment. I never trust ratings and try to have them exceed my specs by at least 10% for safety.
 
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