So I was looking around casually perusing LQ trailers and came across a brochure that has me stumped.
The GVWR for the trailer is 16,000lbs. The “empty weight” is 14,340lbs. (I’ve seen the rating sticker on a trailer produced by this company and it does indeed state 16,000lbs). It’s a 4 horse slant. My question is how can you put more than one horse on this trailer with all your stuff like water, clothes, hay etc. Aren’t you exceeding the GVWR? Or is the manufacturer considering the “tongue weight” of 5,019lbs as an offset to the GVWR? I didn’t think it worked like that.
Wouldn’t you also be exceeding the capacity of the axles (2 8klbs axles)?
I find it hard to believe that a trailer manufacturer would produce a trailer with these specs. What am I missing?
Yeah, I am not understanding that either. Regardless of if they’re nicking off the tongue weight, that’s way too close to max capacity for me!
Umm… yeah those numbers don’t make sense!!
[quote=“PonyApocalypse19, post:1, topic:793667”]
Wouldn’t you also be exceeding the capacity of the axles (2 8klbs axles)?[/quote]
Not necessarily. A percentage of the weight is placed on the truck axles. I think the estimate for goosenecks is around 20-25% is on the truck axle.
The 16,000 GVWR is likely coming from the axle amount but you can capacity of the trailer (using a 20% tongue weight estimate) is 20,000. 16,000/(1-.2). Payload capacity of your tow vehicle becomes important for just this reason.
And this doesn’t mean that larger axles wouldn’t be good to have - although 8,000 doesn’t sound out of the norm for this size of a trailer.
I found an explanation of some sort on a manufacturer’s web site explaining Gross Axle Weight (GAW)
- The GAW is a number that indicates how much of the weight of your load will be distributed to the trailer axles. For most trailers, that’s going to be 75 to 80 percent of the total weight. If you multiply the GVW by 75 percent, you get 6,750 pounds, meaning each of your two trailer axles should be rated at just over 3,375 pounds.
using the 80% limit that would give OP’s posted trailer’s axles a total weight load of 11,472 on the pounds empty on the axles that are rated to 16,000 (combine of two 8,000 pounds rated axles)
As for the GVWR … I have no clue how one would get by that 16,000 rating or if matters
I put 6500# axles on a 2 horse with no LQs. This isn’t an area I’d want to even hit the “close” mark on. Seems really short sighted?
What’s interesting is in the brochure they have the same trailer but “stock” set up and it has 10K axles. I wouldn’t want to find out what the tolerances are on those 8k axles especially after some serious use ten years down the line.
The numbers in the OP sound strange but re: axles - I wanted to go overboard on axle rating for my trailer and the manufacturer said that wasn’t necessarily a good idea, as the heavier axles were stiffer, resulting in a bumpier ride.
Depending on the manufacturer, the 16,000# GVWR is a made up number to keep the combined GCVWR under the 26,000# limit requiring a CDL (16,000# trailer+10,000# 1-ton truck= 26,000# and no need for a CDL). I know a few horse trailer manufacturers who literally put the GVWR the customer wanted on the trailer, e.g. a 43 foot 8 horse trailer that had a GVWR of 15,000#.
This allows them to sell more trailers to more people who otherwise would not qualify to use these trailers. Sadly, it also puts people on the road with rigs they have no ability to actually control or understand, putting the rest of the driving public at risk.
Oh! Good point! Anything for a sale, I guess. Sadly, I hear more and more about people being told their truck is big enough to carry that load or yes this trailer will be ok for your truck. Some sales people only see $$$ and not the bigger picture of safety for everyone.
Thank you for pointing this out. I will remember it if I ever get a bigger trailer!
Many states allow you to plate it at whatever you want, regardless of the GVWR.
Plating does not negate the federal law of CDL requirements of 26,001# unless you plate a horse trailer as a RV or Farm vehicle within 150 miles of the farm.
if ever stop with a plate with weight limits, you are fined if actual weight is greater than the plate limit
I’m aware, but it’s a pretty rare state where you’re going to get escorted to scales.
And same for @RAyers - if they never make you weigh, it’s a tough thing to prove.
the police do have portable scales that they use
https://www.scaledynasty.com/Portable-Truck-Scales-p/ps60kww.htm
We have been through livestock inspections in route to shows, the craziest was crossing into Canada when they were more concerned about if we were intending on staying since we had furniture for a show tack room with us, most often these inspection points are looking for the obvious infractions;
We have our own microchip readers to prove the animal on the paperwork is the correct animal
As note I just do not tempt them nor do I gamble, others can go a lifetime with out an issue
I suspect you never drive through livestock inspection stations at state borders? If they suspect, they can pull you into the scales, and yes, I see portable weigh stations almost daily. I guess it is a lot more common out west where there are more livestock transports between states. Cattle rustling is still a serious crime.
I agree about the inspections. Here, if the brand card does not match the horse (all horses in the state must be brand inspected) and you are outside 75 miles of home they can seize the rig and the fine is $2,500 per horse. I had a friend have to literally drive around Arizona to avoid their inspection stations since they had a few horses with no brand cards going to Thermal.
The lesson is license plates mean nothing and the weight tag on the trailer and truck are the paramount.
You are correct, I do not!
I don’t think I see a semi/tractor trailer pulled over more than 2x per year. It’s like the cops/state police in IN/IL don’t care if they’re potentially overweight or not.
