Starting hot shot trucking with half ton ford f150

Half ton rear axles are lighter and the shafts are semi-floating (axle shaft supports the vehicle weight as well as drives). F350s have heavier housings, bearings, gears and have full-floating axle shafts (axle shaft only transmits power, the wheel is supported by a wheel hub that is mounted on the end of the axle tube).

 

I used mine to pull my bobcat 50 miles once. Bought a transmission the next day.

 

basically what everyone has been trying to tell you is, get rid of the small truck, and go bigger.

 

Hours of service, Insurance, and all the DOT regs. Are you ready to roll thru a weigh station. I doubt it.

 

Ok, depending on hitch rating - which is about 10% of total trailer weight, which starts with a 2" on-frame Class III hitch, which is what you need to haul a 10K lb trailer.

You're at 9800 to start with. Subtract your body weight. Now you're at 9600.Tools, spares, restraints, now you're close to 9000 lbs spare capacity. (Loaded heavily to the rear of the trailer, as your hitch can only take 1000 lbs and not tear off your frame.)

That trailer weighs 2200 lbs. Now your spare capacity is 6800 lbs. Except that your rear axle weight limit is (I believe) 4800 lbs.

That is because you have a semi-independent transaxle, and not a floating rear end.

A floating rear end (work truck) has an axle that only transmits engine torque, and doesn't support any of the truck's weight.

Your axle is is mounted to the frame/body as part of it's support. Exceed that 4800lbs on it and it stops turning because the body/frame is now pressed directly on it, and your shocks are bottomed out. (Shocks, not springs.)

You can safely tow - maybe - 5000 lbs, with your truck's nose pointing up at about a 20 degree angle, and the hitch at max capacity. That would waste 10' of that trailer on either side of the load you're moving.

What about your brakes? Without trailer brakes - more weight - it's all on your truck's, which will then catch fire if you go on more than a 4 degree decline for any longer than 10 minutes. Think of it as doubling their normal load.

And no. Your truck will not haul 12000 lbs. Period. It doesn't have the hitch, rear axle, or brakes to tow half that.

Again. Marketing. You bought a sedan with a truck body.

 

Should have gotten a half ton Chevy, then you could really rake in the $$$

 

Don't mislead him or you'll just change the headline from "Ford catches fire" to "Chevy in flames."

 

Yeah, I was hoping he wouldn't take that serious, everbody knows it takes a Dodge to make any money, lol

 

Honestly, I wouldn't say that TBH.. For some of them it just looks like it's easy for them because they've been at it a while and have their set up/how they run down packed so it looks easy. Then others have shown their struggles, mostly newer guys. Even the more popular guys like HS Dave or TP if you look at their older vids they showed their struggles, it's just they made it to the other side and it's a bit easier now so their newer vids look like it's easier.

There have been a few fly by nightrer HS guys on youtube that tried to make it look easy and like they were pros, but those guys are always gone fast.. lol

It's same with Trucking though, back when I was first looking at trucking and getting my CDL, there were many guys who are no longer around on youtube from just 2 years ago, but some are still going strong.

Honestly, I think by far the worst would be the people coming in due to that stupid ### uship TV show.. Now that was just horrible..

 

And somehow Sergei is still running.