You Guys Using Trailers to Haul Coal

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coaledsweat
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Post by coaledsweat » Tue. Oct. 04, 2016 7:05 pm

Make sure it is loaded properly, we want you to get home so you can burn it. Tounge weight is the key. The video below details why.

https://youtu.be/4jk9H5AB4lM

 
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StokerDon
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Post by StokerDon » Tue. Oct. 04, 2016 7:34 pm

Nice demonstration of how a trailer effects vehicle dynamics.

-Don

 
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SWPaDon
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Post by SWPaDon » Tue. Oct. 04, 2016 8:35 pm

StokerDon wrote:Nice demonstration of how a trailer effects vehicle dynamics.

-Don
I agree and thanks for posting it.


 
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VigIIPeaBurner
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Post by VigIIPeaBurner » Tue. Oct. 04, 2016 9:04 pm

Good post. Not only tongue weight, but axle loading is at work in the video. Not overloading the design weight of you tow vehicle's hitch and axles are equally important. Class IV hitch is rated at a maximum 500 lbs tongue weight. Double when using a weight distributing hitch. For my 10k dump trailer, the empty tongue weight is ~ 250 Lbs.. Figure 10-15% of the load goes to the tongue by design if the trailer is level. That means the load should be maxed around 3,000 lbs. if you care to stay within design limits.

Using a weight distributing hitch, the rating of the spring bars can move that much weight onto the front truck axle and back to the trailer axle. A loaded 10,000 GVWR trailer could have a tongue weight of 1,000- 1,500 lbs. I've got 800 lb bars. I could load the trailer to 10,000 gross which for coal means a 4 ton haul from the breaker. Going average on the tongue weight estimate, calling it 1,200 lbs, using the bars brings tongue weight to a class IV design max of 500 lbs. (1,200 - 800 = 500). The hitch weight stays within spec and there's weight on the front axle so it brakes and steers like normal.

 
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gaw
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Post by gaw » Wed. Oct. 05, 2016 2:40 pm

Come on now we don’t drive on treadmills. :D

I got to see some of those “tail wagging the dog” in action over the years, not recently though, not sure why. My brother saw a camper loose it and crash like that, he stopped and helped out, must have left his name and number and a year later was contacted by a “slip and fall” looking for the guy who ran the camper off the road :o “who was that masked man” :?:

 
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Post by SMITTY » Wed. Oct. 05, 2016 4:21 pm

That was me on Rt.6 a couple years ago at 60 MPH. Had a F-350 van loaded up - the driveline was out of it, and in the back of the van. It had 38" swamp tires and a 12" lift - this thing was TOWERING over my truck by all of 6'. Got out on the highway, got up to 60, and the ass-end started going all over the place. I cleared the whole highway, lol. People were driving in the dirt, and slamming their brakes on - total mayhem. I just reached down and stabbed the brake controller - didn't do too much at first, but eventually got the thing under control. Guess the driveline in the back made it extremely tail-heavy.

I had to do 55 MPH all the way across the state. Was NOT a happy camper that day. Lost a ramp on 495 or the MA Pike somewhere too, then lost a strap I had to tie down a board someone gave me to unload the van. Not my day!

The second I got home I ordered a Reese 66153 anti-sway / weight distribution setup. Best $500 I ever spent! The white-knuckle rides ended the day I installed it. :D

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