Load Capacity of Your Vehicle ?

[pitbullnga]

due to the sheer weight of my 4wd f-350 i run 6-ply 33-12.50's which is a little overkill but i can easily throw about 4000 lbs in the bed and pull at least 15,000 lb trailer. i do not have a trailer now to pull so my BOV will have to do the job. i have beefed up the rear end and all the extras that i can. dressed up and washed the weight is at 11,000 lbs without a load on her. the most i have pushed the envelope to at this point in the bed is 3500 lbs loaded in the bed and the ole girl handled it just fine.

Great idea for a thread by the way!

[mitunnelrat]

So the importance of this was just driven home for me a few minutes ago. I've been enduring the evil glare of a hippie chick, who seriously dislikes EBR's and their support gear, to adjust my 1st and 2nd line gear to accommodate the MOLLE II ruck I'm using now. While I was doing that I decided to step on the scale, and after a few calculations I learned the combined body weight of the 3 of us here, my BOB (as I wish to see it completed), and my fighting load is going to eat 500-600 (I can't get a specific weight from the hippie chick. Asking just brought on further glaring) pounds of the 1200. This is all before I toss in any ammo cans, food totes, water, fuel... or any add-ons I'm planning for the car. Since I also need to factor in two dogs, which will eat storage space I'm now thinking an enclosed trailer is a higher priority than an M85.

[RedJohn]

An M85 is an overkill. You can kill 2 birds with one stone by dropping it, unless price is not a factor in the decision.

[mitunnelrat]

Cost actually wasn't a factor in this one, since I plan on buying both anyway. I'm just switching the order of purchase.

I agree the M85 is overkill for a lot of things, but my original thinking was to use it for odd jobs like hauling firewood to sell. Its multi-fuel engine and increased payload over a standard pickup would decrease my overhead, since the fuel would be cheaper and I'd be making fewer trips, and I figured it would give me that much more to apply to preps, which would include a trailer.

Now that I know my daily driver will be maxed out and easily overloaded though, I'm looking at things a bit differently. First, the size of an M85 is too large to keep at my current home, but the trailer I want is not. Second, I can securely pre load a trailer, something I wouldn't do with the open bed of an M85, especially so with it being off site from me. The trailer now looks like a better choice under my current living and transportation considerations.

ETA: This is the trailer type I'm looking at. It appears from its info that I should be able to put the same rims and tires as my Bravada on it, assuming the lug pattern matches. I'll have to see.

[bacpacker]

Nice lookin trailer MIT. If you get one like this that will handle the weight and your vehicle can tow the weight. You should be able to take most anything you need to. With the added benifit that the trailer can stay loaded. A big plus there.

[mitunnelrat]

One of the things I saw with that trailer is

Axles: Tandem - Spring Suspension (7,000 lb. GVWR)

That's 2,000 pounds more than my vehicle can handle, so I'll never max it out if I pay attention to what I'm doing. I'm trying to convince my fiance we'll get a better value from a trailer like this over a camper now. Wish me luck!

[RedJohn]

I agree the M85 is overkill for a lot of things, but my original thinking was to use it for odd jobs like hauling firewood to sell.

Apologies to you. First, I made an error in denomination. When you said M85, the Barrett M82 popped in my head. I was thinking .50BMG vs Trailer. Pfff, I was wrong on this one.
What is an M85 in your designation?

[mitunnelrat]

I actually made a huge mistake myself here. Its the M35 2.5 ton 6x6. So you're response was correct based on the false information I provided until now!

[RedJohn]

Yeah, I see the difference. This is too funny!

[mitunnelrat]

lol... It will be. Just as soon as I get over being embarrassed over being a dunce!