How to determine an axles beef?

I bought my trailer used, and the previous owner said it was a 10klb gvw. I'm not sure of that, I'm afraid it may be a 7klb.

How can I tell if the axles are 5000 or 3500 by looking at them?

Thanks!

 

How many lugs hold the wheels on? What size are the brakes?

 

There are 5 lugs holding the 15" wheels on

I'll have to measure the brakes next time I go outside.

 

I bet its got 3500 lbd axles then.

 

Damn, thats what I thought. I'm pushing it for sure w/ a 5200lb truck + spare tire & tools. Minus the tounge weight and it's right there

Thanks for the info!

 

Assuming the tires are still the originals, look at the weight rating on the side wall. The manufacturer wouldn't have put a pair of 1750 tires on a 5k axle, and they wouldn't put 2 2500lb tires on a 3500lb axle. The trailer GVW will be the lower of the coupler or approximately 110% of the tire capacity. This assumes 10% of your GVW will end up on the hitch ball. My Jayco TT uses this setup. The 4 tires only add up to 95% of the GVW of the trailer. When I emailed JAyco to ask about this, their explaination was that 100% or the GVW should/would never be on the tires. When the originals wear out, I'll probably step up to the next size just for a comfort/safety factor.

Hope that helps.

Dan

 

Thanks for the input, Dan.

Since posting this I've discovered that my tires were rated at 1700lbs or so each, and were pretty worn out. Hell, one was flat the last time I went to use the trailer. I broke down and bought some 10ply 225 tires rated at 2500lbs each for the safety/comfort level of running my tires at 75% of their rating instead of 100%. Because the old tires were rated so low, and there was only 5 lugs, I feel that my axles are 3500lbs.

My trailer loaded is in the 8,000lb range, and assuming a 10% tongue weight, just above the rated weight. I feel 10 times more comfortable running those heavier tires with 8k vs running the lighter tires at 100% of their capacity.

-Mike

 

I believe that these trailers are all underrated. It is probably a safety thing for the manufacturer. We have an 8000gvw trailer w/ 2 3500lb cambered axles with brakes on both axles. I have put about 8000-9000 lbs of lumber on the rack and the trailer handled it fine. The suspension didnt even seem to be maxed out and the tires looked fine. total weight was like 10500-11500 with the trailer and lumber.

 

I wouldn't go by the lugs. Our Warrior has 5 lug wheels and each axle is rated at 5200.

 

You can count the lugs to get an idea but I have a 5200lb. axle with 8 lugs. The only way to know for certain is to find the tag on the axle.

 

What type of hitch ya town it with mt mike???

 

On the '98 it was the stock Dodge hitch.... and on my '05 it'll be the stock dodge.

I'm looking at getting a weight distro hitch before next year.

 

Right on , the factory on mine is only rated 500 tounge and 5000 weight without WD . I 'm getting the same trailer and load give or take a few pounds and some say the factory class 4 is " good enough" but I think I,ll drop the extra $500 for a reese titan for the piese of mind. Tounge weight will deff more than 500 maybe close to 1000. I,m guessing you never had a pob with your stock hitch , Cracking, bending etc.....????

 

We have towed 10-14k lbs on the stock hitches many times, chevy ford and dodge. Never had a problem and never had a WD hitch. I wouldnt waste my money for the big ugly Resee Titan unless I had a Slide in camper with an extended bar. But thats just my opinion.

 

Never a problem w/ the one on the 98. Havn't towed yet with the CTD, but I'm not worried about the stock hitch on the '05.

-Mike