Looking at a trailer here pretty quick, I was going to buy a 10,000 pond trailer to tow my almost 6,000 pound 4x4, but after a few mods my 4x4 should be around 4,700 - 4,900 pounds instead. I am thinking about saving some coin and going with a quality 7,000 pound trailer, do you think I am in line with the weight I will be towing?
I've always been a proponent of overkill, but I know that the ratings on trailers generally have quite a bit of safety factor built in. Personally I'd still go for the 10k trailer, but you'll probably be OK with a 7k so long as there are brakes on both axles.
You've seen mine. Paperwork says 7500, I registered as 6999 so I can get lifetime plates. With the safety margin, and figuring my gross is usually some where less than 7k, and my trailer is quite a bit better built than most "7k" trailers, I'm not worried. It's gone East Coast to West Coast, and all over the West Coast including washed out fire roads, sometimes at a pretty good clip, and no problems to report... All that said, I wish it was a bit more just for peace of mind, better tire/wheel options, and a bit more length. But I'll keep this one until I have a place to store a 30' goose neck. I found a good deal on one and let it get away, mainly because I simply have no place to store it and I'm not paying $40 (or WAY over that if it's less than a half hour away) a month to store it somewhere.
I don't see a problem with using a 7K trailer at all. Especially if you are going to shave a lot of weight off the wheeler. After you factor in a 10% tongue weight that won't be on the axles there should be enough carrying capacity.
I personally feel you'll be happier with a heavier trailer. It will have bigger brakes and better tires when you buy it instead of the little stuff the smaller trailers have. My trailer has 12" brakes I think and I know it has E rated, 235/85R16 tires. 10,000 lb trailers often have 15s, and car trailers (7k) often have even smaller, lesser rated 15s. Just to throw that into the pot...I absolutely had to have 16" tires. I could have saved $1300 buying a car trailer though. Paid $2650 for my trailer, $3k out the door. (14k GVWR, 18+2)
14k trailers are easy to find, the problem with that in CA is that you need a commercial driver's license to tow one. That's what's making it so hard for me, a 7k trailer isn't really enough but 10k GVWR trailers are hard to find used.
I really only wanted a 10k, but I bought this 14k off the lot cheaper than a new 10k would have been if I ordered it. Plate it for 8,000 lbs like I did and no towing issues there. Here, anything plated for more than 8,000 has to be inspected. Plate it for 8,000 and you're set.
I don't think CA allows you to tag a vehicle for less than the GVWR is. Same way with trucks, it is what it is, but you don't pay weight fees on pickup trucks, regardless of how big it is.
Might want to research that. It costs twice as much to plate my trailer for 14k as it did to plate it for 8k. I have no use in loading it beyond the 8k, give or take a little, so I went that route.
Just looked into it. All trailers except for "trailer coaches and park trailers" whatever those are, are registered the same. We pay a PTI fee in CA, a permanant trailer identification. It costs about $100 to register a trailer the first time, $10 every 5 years after that. Weight capacity plays no part in the cost.
Evan, you can register a lighter weight here in CA. I did it with mine. The max rating on a tag trailer is 10k and a gooseneck/5th wheel is 14k. My trailer is rated over 14k but I registered it as a 14k so I didn't need a Class A license. Only problem is, if you do this, and you for some reason get pulled over by a cop thinking your trailer is too heavy and he makes you go to a weigh station and you weigh over your gvrw then you will get a hefty fine even though your trailer cna physically handle it. I am over 14k when towing my truck on my trailer but I doubt cops care too much about that, especially since my trailer looks plenty beefy enough to tow whats on it.
IMHO, I'd get the 10k. Thats what I have, and I'm glad I do. It nice knowing I have some "cushion" in the rating.
Huh, well I highly doubt that I'll ever put more than 10k ona trailer anyways. This will make finding a trailer much easier... Is there something special that you need to do, or when you go register the trailer just ask the DMV lackey to put down 10k as the GVWR for it?
When they gave me the paper work I just wrote down 14k. The vin plate on the trailer even shows the higher gvwr but the lady just looked to make sure the vin matched the paperwork...
If you get pulled over by the CHP they look at the VIN tag. If it's over 10K and you don't have a class A its ticket time. And you can't move the trailer till someone with a class A shows up to drive it for you. If you don't have someone who has a class A to move it the CHP will have the trailer towed/ impounded.
A CDL is not needed to pull any trailer when it's not for hire. Lots of people on the road are towing LARGE 5ers with medium duty trucks and RV plates, without CDLs. It's called a commercial driver's license for a reason.
