Biggest load I have ever had on my trailer

[Bspring]

A friend of mine asked me to help him with a few trees that came down at his house. He didn't have a saw and could not afford to have them removed. I told him that it would be several months before I could do it but if he could wait I would get them. I knew that I needed a bigger saw and I just got one last week so I gave him a call and spent most of the morning out at his place. I didn't know how much weight I had on the trailer until I started to move it. I was doing all the cutting while everyone else was loading the trailer so they packed it tight for me. The truck really had to put out to get that load home.

 

[thewoodlands]

A friend of mine asked me to help him with a few trees that came down at his house. He didn't have a saw and could not afford to have them removed. I told him that it would be several months before I could do it but if he could wait I would get them. I knew that I needed a bigger saw and I just got one last week so I gave him a call and spent most of the morning out at his place. I didn't know how much weight I had on the trailer until I started to move it. I was doing all the cutting while everyone else was loading the trailer so they packed it tight for me. The truck really had to put out to get that load home.

Nice looking load of wood, what type is it bspring?




Zap

 

[raybonz]

Nice load of firewood! Looks like a suspension and tranny tester for sure!

Ray

 

[Woody Stover]

Ya, those big rounds weigh a ton...ton and a half if they're green.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Now that took some work loading that!

 

[jeff_t]

Nice.

I did this on Monday. All red oak, and one 12"ish cherry. I had to stop by the farm and tweak the fender back where it should be cause it was rubbing on a tire. I had to pull on the scale while I was there. Just a bit under 19k. Never again. The truck was fine, but the trailer made me nervous. Luckily, I only had to go about five miles.

 

[Bspring]

All the big rounds were white oak. The loose stuff at the end was water oak. I sat my saw down by the trunk after cutting a slice off of it and walked away for some water. When I came back it looked like a cow had taken a dump on my saw. I have never seen so much mud poor out of a tree. It was thick black slime. Nasty stuff.

Jeff_T how long is your trailer and what is it rated for? That would give me an idea of the weight I was pulling. Mine is 18'.

 

[jeff_t]

All the big rounds were white oak. The loose stuff at the end was water oak. I sat my saw down by the trunk after cutting a slice off of it and walked away for some water. When I came back it looked like a cow had taken a dump on my saw. I have never seen so much mud poor out of a tree. It was thick black slime. Nasty stuff.

Jeff_T how long is your trailer and what is it rated for? That would give me an idea of the weight I was pulling. Mine is 18'.

The bed is 16' and it's got 3500lb axles. The Excursion weighs about 7200 with my stuff in it and not very much gas, the trailer weighs right around 1800, so I guess that's about 10000lbs of wood.

 

[thewoodlands]

All the big rounds were white oak. The loose stuff at the end was water oak. I sat my saw down by the trunk after cutting a slice off of it and walked away for some water. When I came back it looked like a cow had taken a dump on my saw. I have never seen so much mud poor out of a tree. It was thick black slime. Nasty stuff.

Jeff_T how long is your trailer and what is it rated for? That would give me an idea of the weight I was pulling. Mine is 18'.

Bspring, yesterday when I was bucking up a downed beech the last two rounds the water just poured out.




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[SolarAndWood]

That would give me an idea of the weight I was pulling.

I ask myself the same thing every time I figure out I am overloaded. Then I think, slow down and look out for pot holes moron.

 

[nate379]

You had 19,000lbs on a what looks to be a 3500lb axles?... Braver than I am!

Most I hauled with my truck (2500 Ram diesel) was a Case 580 backhoe, trailer and hoe weighed in about 20,000lbs.

Nice.

I did this on Monday. All red oak, and one 12"ish cherry. I had to stop by the farm and tweak the fender back where it should be cause it was rubbing on a tire. I had to pull on the scale while I was there. Just a bit under 19k. Never again. The truck was fine, but the trailer made me nervous. Luckily, I only had to go about five miles.

 

[jeff_t]

You had 19,000lbs on a what looks to be a 3500lb axles?... Braver than I am!

Most I hauled with my truck (2500 Ram diesel) was a Case 580 backhoe, trailer and hoe weighed in about 20,000lbs.

Nice.

I did this on Monday. All red oak, and one 12"ish cherry. I had to stop by the farm and tweak the fender back where it should be cause it was rubbing on a tire. I had to pull on the scale while I was there. Just a bit under 19k. Never again. The truck was fine, but the trailer made me nervous. Luckily, I only had to go about five miles.

19000 included the truck. There was also a pretty substantial amount of tongue weight. I'm guessing around 10k on the axles.

 

[nate379]

Oh I see. In that case I was sitting around 28,000lbs.

My truck doesn't get effected too much on tongue weight or anything in the bed. I hauled 275gal of diesel last week, 2300lbs if you count the tank and it dropped the truck down about 1.5". Didn't even notice the weight other than it rode smoother.

 

[Bspring]

A couple of years ago I went to rent a backhoe with this trailer. We pulled it up on the trailer and and the owner of the business looked at the trailer and said "no way". It was clearly overloaded. I asked what the backhoe weighed and was told over 8,000. What ever it was I think it was more than the wood that I had on it a few days ago. I had to pay a $75 deliver fee. I was upset that my trailer could not handle the weight but happy that their was another solution to get the backhoe to my house.

My axles are also 3500.

 

[Jags]

On that 18ft superwide with oak - you are looking at 8000-10000 pounds. That is one of the reasons I got rid of mine. I was always in the "I got more room, so why not" camp. It came home overloaded with firewood almost every time. Oh - but mine was a 9000 pounds trailer too. Yours is a 7000. Be careful.

 

[lukem]

An overloaded bumper pull trailer can make for an interesting drive home. Goose-neck or 5er isn't too bad, but those bumper pulls really get squirrely.

Although the scariest ride I've ever been on was pulling a dozer on a gooseneck up a twisty gravel road hill in a F250. I think the dozer and trailer scaled at 20K. When the driver shifted into 4wd I knew I was in for an experience. We hit the bottom of the hill in 3rd gear with it tac'd at 3,200, and were in granny gear by the time we got to the top. I was prepared to evacuate the vehicle...

 

[Bspring]

An overloaded bumper pull trailer can make for an interesting drive home. Goose-neck or 5er isn't too bad, but those bumper pulls really get squirrely.

Although the scariest ride I've ever been on was pulling a dozer on a gooseneck up a twisty gravel road hill in a F250. I think the dozer and trailer scaled at 20K. When the driver shifted into 4wd I knew I was in for an experience. We hit the bottom of the hill in 3rd gear with it tac'd at 3,200, and were in granny gear by the time we got to the top. I was prepared to evacuate the vehicle...

WOW!! No need to go to the amusement park that would give you more pucker factor than anything they could offer.

 

[nate379]

Or just drive up here, most of the roads have sharp turns, steep grades, little or no shoulder, no guardrails... and you have to deal with grandpas in Winnebagos doing 35mph in a 65

 

[Bspring]

Update on this post. I just replaced the deck and tires on this trailer. I have used it 4 times since then and one of my new tires is slick on the inside. I took it by my local trailer repair shop and got a bill for $166. Apparently I bent one of the axles. I would say lesson learned but to be honest I am not sure when I will know what too much is.

 

[joefrompa]

I appreciate reading a good "pucker up" story, but I've got to say this is scary. You can't steer or brake as expected at these loads. I get the whole "it was 5 miles in a straight line on a deserted back road" thinking - nonetheless, my one scary accident in my life was driving an overloaded ford f450 and having a kia get in front of me then slam on it's brakes.

Under normal driving conditions, I would've been fine. But it wasn't normal. I couldn't steer around him, and when I slammed on my brakes they locked up overloaded - left skids marks for about 150 feet before I hit the back end of that kia hard enough to put the bumper into the back seat.

Driver of the kia was fine, walked away. But it taught me about the laws of physics and automotives....

 

[ecocavalier02]

loads like this truck pulls it pretty good. but i always get nervous when braking. i feel like i should have a jig brake instead of electric trailer brakes.

 

[Constrictor]

Update on this post. I just replaced the deck and tires on this trailer. I have used it 4 times since then and one of my new tires is slick on the inside. I took it by my local trailer repair shop and got a bill for $166. Apparently I bent one of the axles. I would say lesson learned but to be honest I am not sure when I will know what too much is.

Did they fix the axle for this price? how can you fix a bent axle?
Ive often wondered how much wood is too much on a trailer. this is a load of red oak i cut monday. I figure around two cords per full 7x16 trailer. that possible?

 

[Jags]

Ive often wondered how much wood is too much on a trailer.

If that Oak was unseasoned, you are looking north of 10,000 on that trailer. Too much.

 

[Constrictor]

Ive often wondered how much wood is too much on a trailer.

If that Oak was unseasoned, you are looking north of 10,000 on that trailer. Too much.

yes its a freshly downed red oak via tornado. hauling 45 miles home with a 6 cyl silverado.

 

[Jags]

Ive often wondered how much wood is too much on a trailer.

If that Oak was unseasoned, you are looking north of 10,000 on that trailer. Too much.

yes its a freshly downed red oak via tornado. hauling 45 miles home with a 6 cyl silverado.

I just clenched my teeth. :grrr: