GCWR questions

GCWR is caculated using the data plate for the power unit, in your case a dump truck and the data plate for the trailer. Typically a single axle will have up to a 65,000 GCWR with a GVWR of 33,000 pounds. Some states allow a little extra on a single axle but usually they are built with a 12,000 steer and 23,000 drive but for some reason end up with 33,000 GVWR even though the axles add up to 35,000. If there is no data plate on the dump truck you are buying then have a dealer run the VIN to determine the manufacture recomendations. In general though a single axle with a tandem (tridem if using smaller tires) axle trailer will be good up to 65,000. Either way, to answer you question, what your trailer can legally haul will be determined by a few things:

1- The empty weight of the truck and trailer
2- How much you load into your dump box if you are going to be hauling your machine and material
3- How much you have your truck and trailer registered for, again single axle power unit and tandem trailer about 65,000
4- The GVWR and axle ratings of your trailer
5- The wheelbase of your dump truck, length of the trailer, axle positioning and spacing on the trailer. This will effect what you can haul without overloading the axles

Lets do a little speculation here, a small single axle dump truck will be about 18,000 pounds tare (empty) weight and a typical tag along like an Eager Beaver will be 10,000 so you have 65,000 gross minus 28,000 tare leaving you a capacity for 37,000 pounds of payload. Now depending on the axle spread on your dump truck ans trailer, you may not be able to use all of this capacity without overloading one of your axles, usually the drive axle on the dump truck.

You will need the specifics of the truck and trailer you are purchasing to determine the exact cargo capacities, but in general you should be able to carry the 33,000 excavator on a 40 ton tag along with an empty or lightly loaded single axle dump truck.

 

The beaver tail is not completely out, but you would want a longer one, think about leverage when you are trying to figure out weight distribution. If you have a longer trailer you can park your machine on it either further forward or rearward to find the right balance point to evenly distribute the weight. Obviously the trailer axles are the fulcrum so the further forward the center of your load the more tongue weight, the further back it will load up the trailer axle and actually take weight off the hitch and drive axle. If you have enough deck length you more options. A good trailer dealer can help you pick the correct trailer for your machine and the truck you plan on pulling it with.

 

Please help me, I have a S/A dump truck 33,000 GVWR 12,000 steer 21,000 drive 14,700 empty (30 ton hook) a 22,000 GVWR pintle hitch tandem dual trailer 6,900 empty. How much can I legally carry???? Thank you in advance for any help with this.

 

At first glance you should have a payload capacity of about 30,000 between the dump truck and trailer, but if you can scale that much legally will depend on the axle spacing, wheelbase of the dump truck, weight distribution of the load and other factors. Realistically, without knowing your exact measurements you should be able to put about 7.5 tons (15,000)in your dump body without the trailer, or about 5 ton in the dump body and about 15,000 on the trailer, if it does not transfer more than a quarter of the weight to the trailer tongue. If the dump body is empty you could put a little more on the trailer and load it forward to put more weight on the dump truck drive axle, but this could result in unloading your steer axle by more than 50%, which would make steering and stopping unsafe.

 

Okay how about just on the trailer?

 

Sorry maybe I should clarify, with the dump truck empty how much weight can I carry on the trailer?