Hitting the road without a Class A CDL

Read this carefully, YOU NEED A BIGGER TRUCK.

The weight of the truck is not important, the weight rating of the trailer matters.

You need to weigh the trailer - UNHOOKED for the truck, then subtract that from the gross weight rating and this gives you capacity.

the truck isn't made for work like this, you need a good F350 or better to haul without breakdowns.

 

He’s right. You’ll kill that F-250 in short order hauling full time. I made two trips from California to Texas with my 250 and a Big Tex 14GN gooseneck that had about 10,000 pounds of my own machinery on it. That was enough to make me realize that I was going to need a bigger truck. An F-250 is great for real short hauls like a farmer or contractor would do or for very occasional use such as a camper trailer or single car hauler. Not for constant running as a hot shotter.

 

Where are you at in MS? How long have you been driving that truck and trailer combo?

 

You are missing the GVWR tag from the trailer. Its not that its too old to have a GVWR, its that the tag was removed along the way. Just because the state doesn't require a private trailer to list the GVWR, commercial registration will require it.

With that said, here's your issue with the trailer:

It will then be inspected for tire ratings and axle ratings. Whatever they add up to for the lowest number will be your presumed GVWR. So if it's a 3-axle job, your minimum GVWR would be 21,000. If a 2-axle, depends upon the axles underneath. If dually, it will be a 20k GVWR. If single, it will be 14 or 16K GVWR, depending upon the number of lugs (6=10.4k, 8=14k or 16k). Either way, it would be legal with a pair of single-wheel axles, but illegal if its dually or three axles.

Next up, how much does it weigh? Say you get a lazy DOT cop who doesn't want to research the actual rating and goes off your weight, most wedge trailers come in at 8k+. If your truck is 7k and the trailer is 8k, that only leaves 11k capacity before you hit the magic number. 11/3= about 3650 lbs, so you'd be limited to 3 compact cars at most, two larger vehicles, or ONE 3/4 or 1ton truck. Anything more would put you operating out of class,, and that comes with fines, an OOS order, and the truck can't move until a CDL holder comes to recover it (or just the trailer). If you register the trailer at a lower rating than actual without a GVWR tag, you can get away with it for a while, but the moment that trailer is overweight (10K pin+axles), you are out of service as well (states usually have registration weight classes, so 10k, 12k, 14k, etc., not specific numbers).

Finally, forget what Ford's marketing says. Your truck cannot pull that weight reliably in a commercial setting, those capacities are listed for the weekend warrior that pulls their 5th wheel down the highway a couple times per year to a "campsite" and nothing more. You need to step up to a 350 at a minimum, a 450 would be preferable, and a 550 optimal. Each step comes with more weight and less fuel economy, but they can pull the loads you desire day in and day out with minimal problems. Using a 250 will result in axle, suspension, and transmission problems in short order.

There are no shortcuts to success here.

 

He can just weigh the truck by itself and then the combo. The difference will be the weight of the trailer. Less hassle than unhooking the trailer on the scale.