Over the Limit

[T and C]

Hi folks,

My Good Sam magazine for October-December 2012 arrived today. On page 34 and 35 there are two articles. At the top there is a photo of a tow vehicle, an F-150, off the road in the ditch. Behind it there is a travel trailer lying on its side.

The first article is about hitch failure, and deals mainly with care for Weight Distributing Hitches.

The other article is entitled, "Over the Limit". It is about overloading. I am going to quote the first paragraph and a little of the second:

"Overloading is the prime suspect in many hitch, tire, axle and suspension failures. The Recreational Vehicle Safety & Educational Foundation estimates that 58% of RV's and tow vehicles exceed a manufacturer's stated weight rating. Of those 60% are tow vehicles, 59% are motor homes, 55% are 5th wheels and 51% are travel trailers. Ten percent of overweight RV's exceed a tire rating without exceeding gross axle weight rating. RVSEF bases these figures on vehicles they actually weigh at seminars and rallies around the country.

Their advice? Load your rig like you would for a trip and have it weighed at a commercial scale."

We have had a lot of discussion on this forum about Marathon tires blowing out. It stands to reason that a lot of TM blowouts would be Marathons since that is what TM puts on new ones. I have suspected for a while that the real culprit is not the manufacturer, but rather overloaded 14" tires and/or over aged tires. This article seems to support that idea.

When I carried an overhead camper on my 96 F-150, I always made sure that the combined weight bearing rating of my two rear tires added up to more than the gross rear axle weight rating, and that all 4 tires together totalled up to more weight bearing capacity than the GVWR. That meant that I had to buy pricier tires, but I never had any tire trouble in years of use...and that is worth something.

On the other hand, back in the 1960's I split a rim while carrying an overhead camper on an F-100. The weight? I never gave it a thought. Obviously not a good idea to just guess and go.

Older and wiser Tom