Towing question - overweight towing ok for short distance?

I almost put this in general discussion, but it has some non-automotive elements so I'm moving it here. Lots of math-strong, technically-inclined individuals around here so I'm hoping to be able to balance out common sense and engineered capacities.

I have a small truck (1999 Tacoma ext. cab, 2.4 4cyl, 5-speed) and a utility trailer (approximately 4x8x3 with single axle and fairly heavy construction) and no trailer brakes.

I need to move about 5 cubic yards of dirt about 9 miles on surface streets (25-50mph) mostly flat.

As far as I can gather a yard of dirt is about 2,000 lbs or 1 ton. My pickup bed holds approximately 1.27 yards by my calculations (74.5x50x16 roughly). That's 2,539 lbs of dirt. Rated payload is 1,738 lbs.

The trailer by my calculations could carry up to 3.5 yards which would be 7,000 lbs. of dirt. That might exceed the trailer's capacity (tires etc) and well exceeds the Tacoma's 3,500 lbs. tow rating.

GVWR for my Tacoma is 3,455 lbs GCWR I couldn't find, but I think it's around 7,000 lbs Curb weight - 2,760 I don't know how to estimate tongue weight or how it gets factored in

My conclusions so far:

The max dirt I can haul in one trip following recommended amounts would be about 1.5 tons. I'm not sure what the best method is (all in trailer, part in trailer, etc.). I would need to make 3-4 trips.

My questions: What's safe? Stick to capacity? 2 tons?

Is it better to overload the truck bed, the trailer, or even distribution?

What else am I failing to think about? Or am I over thinking already?

Thanks to anyone still reading at this point.

delivery. Seems like the most straight forward solution.

Are you buying the dirt? I'm a pretty independent, DIY kind of guy, but I've always paid the ~$50 delivery charge to get dirt, gravel, etc. delivered. You'll beat up your own vehicle $5o worth trying to DIY.

If you have to do it yourself, overloading the pickup bed is a helluva lot safer than overloading a trailer. You can't blame anyone if the suspension gets damaged though.

I wouldn't bother with the trailer, personally. Either pay the company to deliver, which should be cheap, or just take as much as you can in your truck and mind your braking distances.

GameboyRMH wrote: If you have to do it yourself, overloading the pickup bed is a helluva lot safer than overloading a trailer. You can't blame anyone if the suspension gets damaged though.

This. I'd go for derivery.

You could do it, but if possible, I'd go for delivery as well. We get stone delivered, but we also buy it by the multiple truckload....

If you were anywhere in the world but here you wouldn't even have considered asking the question. Prior to moving to the US, the standard definition for 'should I tow' was 'can the you get over 40mph with that much weight back there' I once towed a TR7 on a heavy tandem axle trailer 240 miles with a 1.8L Cavalier. I never thought once about it and no one I knew, or passed, or was passed by including cops thought anything strange of it.

The $50 delivery fee will save you hours of work, shoveling that junk out of the bed of your truck. Just pony it up and enjoy a full day back in your weekend.

I'll echo the general chorus of people saying to get the dump truck guy to deliver the dirt to you. Well worth the backache of loading und unloading the dirt into your own truck.

That said, I took a '93 S-10 long bed to the quarry for sand once. The truck weighed IIRC 2800 lbs. When the loader got done with me it crossed the scales going back out at something like 6,500 lbs. suspension on the bump stops and tires bellied out. It was a slow drive home but no damage was done.

I towed a half ton of rock with my 72 GMC half ton. Most of the time I could not see the road, and steering was a mere suggestion.

On the other hand, I overloaded VolvoClearingHouse's Cummins and it drove like it had no idea there was anything in the bed.

I think you need to evaluate the truck. If it were me, I would probably be happy overloading the trailer and sticking to something fairly under the load in the bed.

Look up the tow and payload rating for the equivalent British/Australian model.

I don't consider a pickup overloaded will its firmly on its bump stops. However, at that point, exceeding 45mph or more than 10 under the limit really, is a poor life choose.

I would not feel unsafe doing it, but the hassle and mess would not be worth it--assuming a cheap delivery fee.

Your trailer probably has a 3500lb axle. So, lop the weight of the trailer off that rating. You at most are carrying 3000lb's in that thing.

So, 3000lbs (with 10% tongue weight so it tows ok, so 300lbs on the truck), plus 2000lbs in the bed. Do 2 trips.

I think this is safe, and doable if you max sure your tires are pumped up to max pressure. Of course, it is probably very illegal in your state, so YMMV.

At the same time, you are exceeding the engineered design of the truck and trailer. Is it really worth not spending the $50 on delivery? Any damage you cause could (would) be much more than that.

Also, cleaning dirt out of trucks/trailers SUCK if you ever want to haul stuff you don't want dirty.

Adrian_Thompson wrote: If you were anywhere in the world but here you wouldn't even have considered asking the question. Prior to moving to the US, the standard definition for 'should I tow' was 'can the you get over 40mph with that much weight back there' I once towed a TR7 on a heavy tandem axle trailer 240 miles with a 1.8L Cavalier. I never thought once about it and no one I knew, or passed, or was passed by including cops thought anything strange of it.

Even if he loaded it up to the gills, it's 1) more than a single trip, and 2) a few tons of back breaking work to move the material into/out of 2 containers more than once.

After all of that, you are still left with a pile of dirt that has to be moved.

Delivery all the way.

Hell, just the airborne dirt that's collected in my Samurai's bed means anything that sits there gets dirty.

just do it... use the truck as a truck.. i know i exceeded the load rating of my 3/4 ton truck by a rather large margin on a few occasions..

leave the trailer at home and just load what you can in the truck.. put about 55 psi in the tires to make them work, and the bump stops will prevent anything in the suspension from breaking.. then it's just a matter of taking it slow and looking far ahead as you drive.

In reply to HiTempguy:

Most typical utility 4x8s and 5x8s have a 2k axle. Real easy to check though...2k axle is 1.5-1.75 inches in diameter while a 3500 is around 2-3/8.

Put me in the camp that says "just get it delivered".

novaderrik wrote: the bump stops will prevent anything in the suspension from breaking

The bump stops will prevent some things in the suspension from breaking.

Thanks for the replies. I was over thinking this. Delivery is the answer.

I have a truck with a 22k gvw, 8k empty weight, and a 14' bed that dumps and I would gladly pay for delivery of dirt to not have to clean the bed. Gravel, maybe, but not dirt.

I once pulled into the city dump with 2400 lbs of busted up concrete in the back of a 4 cylinder Jeep Commanche.

You can pull anything with anything. You just may not be able to do it very quickly.

So this one time i had 4 tons of gravel in the bed of my truck. Then i went from stone yard to home depot and had 85 80# bags of concrete forklifted on top of the gravel. Then tied my cement mixer, tools, wheelbarrows on top. Roughly 15,000 pounds of stuff in the bed. It was a 6,800 pound dually with massive overloads, but my mudflaps were dragging and it really preferred to not stop and the clutch got angry.

When i parked in the customer's gravel driveway it sank to the rims

I highly recommend not doing it

Delivery.

If your luck is anything like mine, this is the one time the town cop will be driving around your area with nothing better to do.

oldopelguy wrote: I have a truck with a 22k gvw, 8k empty weight, and a 14' bed that dumps and I would gladly pay for delivery of dirt to not have to clean the bed. Gravel, maybe, but not dirt.

is your broom and garden hose that complicated to operate?