Load Planning-More or Less weight in truck bed while towing

howdy

Will be moving an almost full Uhaul 6x12 cargo trailer and truck next week. Two day trip, about 1K miles. Truck has the tow package and the trailer is the standard Uhaul with surge brakes. Truck and trailer empty weight is 6100 pounds. Probably only about 3000 pounds of total junk to be moved with the truck and trailer.

I have the option of maxing out the truck's capacity(5350 GVWR) and going a hair light on the trailer or going a bit heavy on the trailer and maybe only putting 500ish pounds of stuff in the truck.

***Are there any advantages or disadvantages to either scenario? ***

I won't have a whole lot of time to shift loads around as I have to rent, load, weigh, do some last minute junk, and depart in a short period of time. I want to get things mostly right from the get go.


Thanks

 

I'd probably go more in the trailer. If it's tongue heavy then that will add weight to the truck.

 

Thanks. I'm figuring it would work like that.

I already had over 1K pounds in the bed of the truck forward of the wheel wells. I'm going to cut that in half this weekend.

 

I'd personally rather go a bit heavy in the truck(shy of max)than have the trailer weight pushing the rear end around. Subtract the loaded tongue weight from your gvwr. We might be saying the same thing but from different perspectives. Either way, you're going to be well up there and will need to drive carefully to avoid having problems.

 

I can see that with the trailer pushing the lighter truck around.

Acknowledge the heavy weight and careful driving. I think when all is said and done, I'll be over 9K total pounds with crappy surge brakes on the trailer. At least the route I'm going is decent. Indy to Louisiana.

I'll post up the total weight on Monday for curiosity.

 

When getting your weight total, check weight on rear axle. Easy to be under GCWR (truck + trailer) and still overload rear axle...

 

I just moved in June and I have a 2015 with tow package. I towed the 6x12 Uhaul slammed packed and about 150 lbs in the bed. It did fine!!!! I couldn't believe how easy it pulled it. I have also towed a car with the car trailer by Uhaul (about 6129 lbs with car and trailer) and that did great too! I don't care what ppl say, my trucks pulls way more than I expected with ease. Not saying that I would tow a 24' camper!

 

It's not the pulling that you can have problems with, toungue weight should assure decent traction. It's the stopping and turning where the cart wants to drive the horse. Dividing the load reduces the leverage the trailer can exert and proportionately increases the trucks ability to track. When braking in a turn the trailer can either cause oversteer or understeer depending on how well the trailer brakes match the trucks. If you go easy on the turns and slow up gradually then that won't matter.

 

I always take off slow and brake slow even when I don't tow, so I didn't see a lot of difference.

 

The transmission will run hotter even if it doesn't feel to much different. If you don't know how much hotter it's a good idea to take it easy if you plan on keeping it awhile. I think it's just important to respect the load and keep in mind that a light truck will tend to stop quicker than a heavy trailer. Balancing the loads to the extent possible without overloading the truck or rear axle is prudence. It would be nice if others had similar respect for trailered vehicles.

 

Agreed, and I plan on checking the temp via ODBII periodically. With over 113K on the vehicle already, I need it to last another 2-5 years.
Concur on the rest. I think I have the truck's load figured out with aprox 750 pounds of PAX + cargo, so we'll see what shifting I need to do once I load the trailer.

 

When I load stuff up, I am estimating the weight of the cargo and the tongue weight. Is there any way to weigh the trailer after it has been loaded?

 

Some construction material vendors(gravel, rock, dirt, sand, etc.,) have truck scales they use to weigh before/after filling and some dumps pay by weight difference before and after. See if there's one local and ask if you can drive over the scale.

 

Since since it's a matter of driving safety I would like to think that a highway patrol scale would be another place you could request a weight measurement. They'd rather see you set up correctly than peel you and some other unfortunates apart down the road.

 

i would put more weight in the truck IMO. someone else said it earlier, you dont want the trailer to push or sway you around. plus all your braking force is on your truck.

 

Trailers have brakes too but if it's a rental then they're an unknown quantity in terms of how well they work. A truck can haul way more than it can carry so the trailers is going to be heavy no matter what and the gvwr pits an upper limit on truck payload including tongue weight. A little thought on how the loads are distributed in each can also help. You don't want it lifting up on the hitch but unlike loading the truck bed you don't want all the weight forward either.

 

Most truck stops have CAT scales which cost $11. Nice and easy solution, but they prefer you don't unhook anything there. Concur with the recommendation of sand/gravel yards, scrap yards, dumps, some RV places, etc for weight.

Edit: CAT has an App as well. How to and locators here: https://catscale.com/

 

Empty Weight 6080
Full Weight 10820
4740 pounds. Ouch.


Has a guestimated 950 pounds including me in the truck forward of the wheel wells. The rest in the slightly overlfilled trailer. Handled fine at speed, brakes decently, corners fine, and sits OK for all the crap in it. All driving will be during the day, so I don't need to worry about the headlights pointing up.

I think I'll be taking my time on this trip.

Mediocre iphone pic.

 

Sounds like you're doing your best to keep the shiny side up. Good luck on the drive, now you just need to watch out for the other guy.

 

Made it with no issues. 944 miles of horrific fuel mileage and wishing I was back in one of my Cummins Dodges. Of course, I'm sure going the speed limit the whole time instead of slowing down didn't help the mileage much.

That 6x12 uhaul trailer is absurdly stable. Real forgiving to bumps, ruts, and just about anything.

Now I just need to find a place to live so I can unload it once-not into a storage unit and then load up to move into a house.