dangerous trailer loading

[dnewton3]

I was at Menards yesterday picking up some stuff in the materials yard.

I witnessed a person get a pallet of concrete bags (77 bags; I overheard the conversation). That would be approximately 6100 lbs of product assuming 80lbs/bag.

What is disturbing is that he had the employee load it on a small trailer, and it was placed forward of the wheels such that much of the weight transfer was also being applied to the hitch. He was driving a newer Ram 1500, which had no weight distributing hitch, and it was scary! I watched as it was loaded ...
- the "gap" in the front wheel fender arch nearly doubled from 4" to 8"; indicating that the front wheels were seriously unloaded
- the rear end sagged so badly that the hitch was only about 4-5" off the ground; meaning the rear was grossly overloaded
- I could see the force actually caused the hitch to deflect in a downward rotation; the frame of truck and hitch were giving way too much
- I seriously doubt that the trailer was rated for such a large load
People like this really put the public at risk; it's just unsafe from every angle.

Just because you have a "truck", it may not be enough truck for the job at hand.
Please - Don't be that guy.

 

[Pablo]

Could be 60# bags, so maybe under 5000 pounds BUT STILL. Crazy.

 

[joekingcorvette]

Lumber yards do not cover damage from overloading. Some people just do not understand you shouldn't overload trailers.

 

[cptbarkey]

Yeah, that was extremely dangerous. The load should have been closer and preferred somewhat half centered onto the axle. Was the trailer double axle or single? Double he might have been a little OK, but still terrible load distribution. Ram 1500's have always looked terrible towing with severe droopy butt. Hopefully he didnt have too far to go. Lowes/HD should probably teach their folks a bit on trailer loading.

 

[BrendanC]

my buddy recently did this with his 21’ silverado. when he asked my why i think it was riding so rough i told him to look at the truck sitting on bump stops and to stop and think about how much weight he had behind a half ton. 3/4 ton or better for me.

 

[DuckRyder]

Seems to be a "not enough trailer "issue not a "not enough truck" issue.

One would assume one would need dual 3500 lb axles on a trailer to have a chance of carrying this sort of load, and also that someone would not describe such a trailer as a "small trailer".

 

[4WD]

A decent person would make two trips …

 

[BrendanC]

Seems to be a "not enough trailer "issue not a "not enough truck" issue.

One would assume one would need dual 3500 lb axles on a trailer to have a chance of carrying this sort of load, and also that someone would not describe such a trailer as a "small trailer".

but then you’re tickling the max GVWR of the ram half ton. half tons just aren’t made for that kind of load. regardless of what the sticker says driving/riding in a half ton that is close to its rating is a white knuckle experience.

 

[wwillson]

Lumber yards do not cover damage from overloading.

They don't cover damage, but if the driver of the overloaded truck was involved in an accident, I wonder if the lumber yard would be attached in a lawsuit for negligence?

 

[BrendanC]

They don't cover damage, but if the driver of the overloaded truck was involved in an accident, I wonder if the lumber yard would be attached in a lawsuit for negligence?

good point, but i can see them throwing back the argument that the boys loading the supplies have no technical knowledge and that’s why they’re loading supplies.

 

[wwillson]

good point, but i can see them throwing back the argument that the boys loading the supplies have no technical knowledge and that’s why they’re loading supplies.

I can imagine the prosecuting attorney would have a heyday with that defense. "You did drive the forklift and you did count the 60lb bags of cement and you can approximate what 60x77 is in weight and you did set the pallet on this tiny trailer attached to a 1/2 ton truck and you saw how much the back of the truck sagged". Yes I did.

 

[BrendanC]

I can imagine the prosecuting attorney would have a heyday with that defense. "You did drive the forklift and you did count the 60lb bags of cement and you can approximate what 60x77 is in weight and you did set the pallet on this tiny trailer attached to a 1/2 ton truck and you saw how much the back of the truck sagged". Yes I did.

fair, atleast here in houston you’re lucky if the guy operating speaks english. probably doesn’t have a state issued ID either or proof of employment.

 

[wwillson]

fair, atleast here in houston you’re lucky if the guy operating speaks english. probably doesn’t have a state issued ID either or proof of employment.

The lawsuit isn't going after the fork truck driver's money, they are going after the Home Depot, Lowes, etc. money.

 

[DuckRyder]

but then you’re tickling the max GVWR of the ram half ton. half tons just aren’t made for that kind of load. regardless of what the sticker says driving/riding in a half ton that is close to its rating is a white knuckle experience.

I don't disagree, but searching for Ram 1500 tow ratings seems to be a decent chance it was rated to tow that kind of load.

I think loading that sort of towed load behind a half ton is much more defensible than loading it on a single axle trailer.

 

[BrendanC]

I don't disagree, but searching for Ram 1500 tow ratings seems to be a decent chance it was rated to tow that kind of load.

I think loading that sort of towed load behind a half ton is much more defensible than loading it on a single axle trailer.

what it says it can tow and what it should tow are two very different things. ram loves their coil springs and ford loves its plastic overload leaf.

 

[Tman220]

I went to college in Grand Forks, ND and worked in the lumber yard at Menards during the 2009 recession. At that time the exchange rate with the Canadian dollar was pretty much 1:1 with our dollar, I can't tell you how many Canadians would come down with single axle snowmobile trailer (GVWR 2200 lbs MAX) and purchase an entire lift of green treater lumber and want it loaded on their trailer. A lift of green treated lumber as soaked as most of them were weighed probably in the neighborhood of 4000 lbs, maybe more, judging by how the forklifts handled.

I was allowed as a employee/asst manager to let people know the weight they wanted loaded, but we weren't allowed to strap anything down or anything like that to help avoid any liability. Liability for the trailer and the load on it is firmly placed on the driver pulling the load. It's their responsibility to know their load, their trailer, their tow vehicle. Why should it be anyone else's responsibility?

Grand Forks to winnipeg is about 150 miles, I wonder how many of those brainiacs made it home? I know I saw many trailers leave the lumber yards with axles already starting to bend. Also saw many vehicles leave there with axles firmly on the bump stops. As a whole, the general DIY'ers I came across had no clue how much lumber, sheetrock, and concrete actually weigh.

 

[wwillson]

I don't disagree, but searching for Ram 1500 tow ratings seems to be a decent chance it was rated to tow that kind of load.

I think loading that sort of towed load behind a half ton is much more defensible than loading it on a single axle trailer.

I googled for Ram 1500 tow ratings and found the max trailer weight is around 11,000 pounds and the max payload is around 2,000 pounds. Let's say the bags of cement weighed around 5,000 pound and the trailer was loaded so that 2/3 of the weight of the cement was on the tongue of the trailer, then 3,300 pounds of the concrete plus the tongue weight of the trailer was on the hitch of the truck. Let's estimate the total trailer tongue weight to be 3,600 pound. 3,600 - 2,000 = 1,600 pound over max payload just from the tongue, this doesn't include passengers, fuel, what's in the back of the truck, etc. The total trailer weight is < 11,000 pounds, but the way the trailer was loaded caused the truck to be way over payload.

 

[dnewton3]

I'm fairly sure they were 80lb bags. I say this because I actually used some of the 60lb bags a few days prior, and those which he had loaded looked larger and had different packaging. The load was probably 6120 pounds (plus the pallet weight).

It was a tandem axle trailer. Even if the axles were 3500# rated, I doubt the trailer had the max GVWR to take on 6200 lbs. The GVWR includes the weight of the trailer itself; probably 1500 lbs or more. So the "weight" of the trailer was around 7700 lbs total. It did NOT look like a trailer rated for 8000+ lbs of GVWR. I have towed a lot of various trailers in my days (RVs; utility; box; etc). I fully understand the mechanics of safe towing relative to capacity, load placement, tongue weight, etc ...

Further, the Ram 1500 truck simply isn't capable of safely carrying that load with no weight distributing hitch. While the truck might be rated to "tow" that much, it certainly does not have a hitch or frame rated for (what amounts to) 5000"ish" lbs of tongue weight without a WD hitch. The trailer was fairly short, meaning that the load was placed ahead of the trailer axles, making it very close to the tongue.

I'm not even sure he had trailer brakes. I was a bit far away to see. I could clearly see there was no WD hitch, but the size/gauge of the wiring was difficult to discern from my distance. I pray he had trailer brakes that worked well.

Oh - and when he "strapped" it down, he used two of those puny HF type ratchet straps; probably rated for 500 lbs or less. As if those would actually prevent the load from shifting or being ejected should an evasive maneuver be needed.

I should have got a picture of the loaded rig; you'd all be of the same opinion. It was downright dangerous.


What they should have done is place the load on the trailer from the back, as far as the fork truck could extend it forward. Then use the push method (add another empty pallet) and shove the load forward until it is directly over the axles. I'm not sure if the load would have been over the GVWR, but at least the tongue weight would have been better managed for the truck.

 

[b_b]

I googled for Ram 1500 tow ratings and found the max trailer weight is around 11,000 pounds and the max payload is around 2,000 pounds. Let's say the bags of cement weighed around 5,000 pound and the trailer was loaded so that 2/3 of the weight of the cement was on the tongue of the trailer, then 3,300 pounds of the concrete plus the tongue weight of the trailer was on the hitch of the truck. Let's estimate the total trailer tongue weight to be 3,600 pound. 3,600 - 2,000 = 1,600 pound over max payload just from the tongue, this doesn't include passengers, fuel, what's in the back of the truck, etc. The total trailer weight is < 11,000 pounds, but the way the trailer was loaded caused the truck to be way over payload.

all fluids are accounted for in the payload of a vehicle.

 

[wwillson]

all fluids are accounted for in the payload of a vehicle.

Even fuel? I didn't think so.