Steer axle weight
New to posting but have read a lot of stuff here for a long time. Short story. I'm a drag racer and recently sold my diesel pusher in favor of a truck conversion for hauling my race car. The pusher and tag trailer was a bit of a handful in the wind and my wife was stressed about some of our trips....lol. I decided a gooseneck style toter/trailer would provide the best possible towing. I found a sweet deal on a 2004 Columbia 15' box with a gooseneck hitch. I then picked up an old 40' gn trailer that I will be raising the roof and converting to a double stacker, two car trailer. We found towing with this beast is awesome.....even in the wind. 500 hp is just a bonus.
Now to my problem. Before starting work on the trailer I wanted a base weight to reference during the build. I took the complete rig to a local CAT scale. Empty trailer was 5600#, rear axle was 15K#.....all good. To my shock though, the steer axle was 15500#(steer axle is rated at 13800#) Half tank of fuel(100 out of 200) and no fresh water, which will add more weight. So far I have found tires to get me to about a 14500# rating and my wheels are 7400# each.
I'm not as worried about a lawful weigh due to non commercial, as I am blowing tires. This truck has nearly a 24' wheelbase, as do similar conversions, so I realize that is the issue. I'm planning on moving the gn ball 2' farther back(total of 3' behind axle) but I'm assuming that will show little gains. How common is this steer weight and should I be concerned from a safety standpoint? Sorry for the long post.
|