I would imagine some of the better trucks out there with the bigger engines or custom sleepers would also weigh more.

Is the weight of the truck itself a concern when purchasing a truck? I have been looking at manufacturer's websites and I don't see them publishing the weight of their trucks. On our student trip we were in a bottom of the line freightliner with nothing in it and we got a load of paper rolls that weighed 46,500 pounds that put us at the limit. How could someone in a fancier truck even haul stuff like that? It seems that bigger stronger and heavier engines kind of defeat the purpose, since you can't pull as much weight with them. What am I missing about this?

My truck and trailer weighs 29.9 empty and full of fuel. A little under that, but that is the number I bank on. That is why I can pull 50.100 lbs.

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My childhood dream of becoming a truck driver turned into a nightmare!

Hop frog

You are pretty much right with your assesments. One of the smartest purchases a guy could make is to buy a short hooded single bunk truck with a smaller 370 hp motor and very very few options. And/or perhaps pay a little more for some lightweight options such as aluminum wheels thereby saving even more weight. The problem, if you want to call it that, is that now he must live in that underpowered rig with an itty bitty coffin sleeper. Not to metion he'll have trouble selling it and or take a big hit if trading it in.

Plus it really depends on what type of freight the guy will be hauling. A guy will max out in weight hauling beer, cheese, meat etc, in refers. Same with tankers. On the other hand, if one is hualing paper tissues or ### wipe he'll be under 25,000 pounds even with a 53 footer.

my truck and trailer weights in at 30,1xx

i haul fiberglass bath tubs and far as i know right now the heaviest ive been with tubs is 38k
avg. 4k-6k which i love because with a 430hp detroit, mountians are moles hills

occ. we haul heavier stuff like Wed, ive got to back haul some wood that we use to support the tubs in shipping, so that will run me right up there also with fiberglass resin can get heavy and whirlpool pumps arnt light either

There are some types of trucking where the weight of the truck is a concern. Liquids and bulk product haulers often try to keep the weight of the truck down because the customer wants the largest quantity possible for the delivery price. Flatbed companies may specify that they want to have the truck be capable of hauling 50k on the deck, so the truck and trailer would be limited to under 30k.

One of the rules that I tend to follow is to try to go across scales at the minimum weight possible. If you weigh 79,500, you are of much more interest to the scale operator than if you weigh 77,500. The higher your gross weight is, the more likelyhood that your axles weights could be off a bit.

In rough general terms, with a van, the trailer weighs about 15k, the cargo weighs in at 44k, and that leaves you with a "budget" of 21k for the truck.

If you are hauling a standard 80k combination, unless you spend all your time running through the mountains, you can easily get by with a smaller engine. The Cummins ISM and Cat C-13 models are now available well up into the 430 hp range, and they have decent torque numbers. But either of those engines will knock about 800 pounds off the gross weight of your truck. Add in aluminum wheels, stick with the simpler and lighter 10 speed trans, and spec a truck wisely, and you can have decent performance with lighter weight.

As an example of this, you can buy a Mack with up to a 460 hp engine and pay no weight penalties. Same engine as the 355 hp, just some minor changes to it, but no real weight gain.

With the empty trailer sitting behind it, full fuel, all my gear on the truck, and me in the seat, I clock in at 28,000 lbs, pulling a 40 foot pneumatic tanker.