Triple tow? D'ya think?

[woodartist]

Most Rv's are overweight, based on the ones I have seen. Years ago I forgot my daughter as I drove away with our mini van. The other 2 kids asked where she was........had to drive back. So it does happen

 

[scottydl]

Sure hope we don't get involved with the scales.  My MH and Enc trailer have both been beefed up and I know I'm over weight but never had a problem with towing nor breaking.  Guess that says something for being careful for once. 

Tow weight limits are not in place for standard everyday towing/breaking... I'm not surprised you have no trouble with that.  But what if you had to make an emergency stop or evasive manuever while overweight and barreling down the freeway at 60mph or more?  Chances are your rig would not be able to handle it (you never know until it's put to the test), and a crash could occur involving/endagering many other motorists if the road were a busy one.  Weight limits are declared for everyone's safety in such an event.

 

[Shayne]

Had that occasion come up.  Fortunately I don't get close enough to the people in front of me to allow that to happen.  I came down hard on the brakes last year in El Paso and did damage to the inside of the trailer and the car inside.  But alas no one was that close to being injured.  And that incident was my fault no one elses  Paying attention helps a bunch. I'd guess that 60 to 70% of RVs with trailers are over weight along with the same on TT and 5ers.  3 wrongs don't make a right, I know but being extra careful and caucouis certainly helps.  I don't have to travel like a bat out of hades to get where I'm going.  Poking along is just fine with me as long as I', not holding traffic up.

 

[Carl L]

Tow weight limits are not in place for standard everyday towing/breaking... I'm not surprised you have no trouble with that. But what if you had to make an emergency stop or evasive manuever while overweight and barreling down the freeway at 60mph or more? Chances are your rig would not be able to handle it (you never know until it's put to the test), and a crash could occur involving/endagering many other motorists if the road were a busy one. Weight limits are declared for everyone's safety in such an event.

Actually Scotty, they are for that and for those long, long 6-8% up grades and downgrades.  Ever wonder why highway departments have truck escape ramps on mountain grades?  Overloaded rigs with burned out brakes are not limited to 18 wheelers.

 

[Shayne]

Very True amd that's why I constantly check brakes on the RV and "Trailer after every major trip or one with with lots of hills.  In fact the last trip down from Flagstaff to PEM.  we foolowed 2 semis that had problems  and stopped to check on them and both thanked us for being so alert and turning on our flashers while trailing them at a safe distance and warning drivers behind us.  Thankfully both semis made it safely as did others that day.  I have 31K miles on our 98 and have changed brfakes twice, not cause anythikng is wrong.  but I wanted to be safe.

 

[Ron]

I listen to a guy that was very upset because the highway patrol pulled him over and invited him to pull in at the weigh station that was just a couple miles ahead of them and the cop followed him into the weigh station where he was weighed.? This guy was upset because he was weighed and he was only as he put it 7000 lbs over the GCWR of his truck.? He was upset and they only gave him a warning ticket and let him go with instructions to correct the problem.? Oh the guy was pulling a Grand Teton behind a Ford 250 and had a motorcycle on the back of the trailer along with a bunch of stuff in the pickup forward of the trailer hitch.? ?When ever you are over the rated weight limits for your vehicle you are exposing yourself to serious liabilities should you ever
become involved in an accident even if normally it would not be considered your fault.? If in an accident and they suspect you are over your weight limits it could  become percentage of contribution to the accident.?

I actually talked to a guy going through this. The tag in his rig indicated the rear axle was rated at 27,000 lbs. However, in the state he was in Mich,? the maximum allowed on any one axle was 20,000 LBS he had 24500lbs? and even showed a weigh ticket to prove he was under the rated axle weight.? Ya might call that a gotcha since as the driver he was responsible to insure he was not in violation.? He was to go to court the next week since the other party was claiming neck injuries.?

On our way back from Houston? after Christmas I saw a guy pulled over with two police vehicles and another vehicle and it looked like they were getting the scales out it also looked like they were measuring length.? In passing I would estimate his tow length to be close to 80 ft or more? 45 ft HM + 25ft? or more trailer with a SUV on the end.? I don't recall if we were still in Teas or if we were in New Mexico when we passed by.

 

[scottydl]

Actually Scotty, they are for that and for those long, long 6-8% up grades and downgrades.  Ever wonder why highway departments have truck escape ramps on mountain grades?  Overloaded rigs with burned out brakes are not limited to 18 wheelers.

Very true, I live/drive in the flatland cornfields of Illinois... so I easily forget there are places in the country with hills, let alone mountains! 

The state police frequently have "surprise" portable weigh stops set up on the rural highways around where I live.  Truckers who know the roads here will take back routes to avoid the nearby interstate weigh station, because they *know* they are driving overweight!  I chuckle to myself when I see them pulled over on an unsuspecting highway being forced to drive onto the portable scales.  Sure careful/slow driving, not tailgating, etc. can avoid a lot of problems, but there really is no excuse for driving a huge vehicle/load that you *know* is illegally overweight and will not perform as it's intended to in an emergency or on steep grades.

 

[Carl L]

Very true, I live/drive in the flatland cornfields of Illinois... so I easily forget there are places in the country with hills, let alone mountains!

 

Lot of folks do that until they come out to the West and discover that half of the country is covered with mountains that go up to 14,000 feet and with number of highways that go upward of 12,000 feet.  The entire Colorado Plateau is over 6000 feet.