Get enough trailer for your log...

[Alex Stace]

ran across this on another forum this afternoon...
http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f29/blanch3969/work%203/2RLB020.jpg

[Brian Brown]

Looks more like he needed to get enough truck for his trailer. That looks more like a truck axel problem. It certainly didn't do that Chevy any good. Ouch!

[Jim Kountz]

What a dufus. That looks like it used to be a nice truck. He deserves everything he got for trying something like that.

[David DeCristoforo]

That doesn't look right.....

[Mark P. Brown]

1/2 ton truck 2 ton log. OOPS!!!:eek:

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Sure looks like they loaded it too far forward too! Boneheads. Wonder if it bent or broke the frame?

[Norman Hitt]

Methinks he may have Exceeded the normal 200 lb Tongue Weight, ya think?:D

[Cody Colston]

If you go to the link you will see that it's a tandem axle utility trailer but they loaded the log at the very front instead of centering it over the axles. That log looks to be a Post Oak, btw.

Also, the uneven gap between the pickup cab and the bed looks like they did indeed bend the frame.

Oh well, at least the pics are interesting. :)

[George Sanders]

Too far forward but his trailer fenders are ok!:D

[Mike Cutler]

At first I hoped this was a clever photoshop job. The link provides a few more pics to prove it's not fake.

I don't know that the trailer could have supported that weight even if properly loaded. That's a big hunk of wood. The guy that owned the truck must not have understood his GVWR numbers.
As an aside though. I helped a friend pick up some roofing material from the local 'Borg. The fork truck driver at the 'Borg was going to load all 36 squares as a single load into the back of a standard F-150, said that they do it all the time. 2900 lbs into the bed of an F-150! We split the load between both of our trucks, I have a truck with an airlift system, and he still had trouble with ~1500lbs in his truck, the F-150.
I'm really kinda glad it broke on the side of the road. No way that truck has the brakes to safely stop a load like that in a panic situation, even though I do see what may be a brake controller on the trailer.

Lesson here is to think through the whole process, and read the owners manual.

[Scott T Smith]

I would estimate that log to be around 6 tons.

If you look closely, the wheels on the trailer are held on with 5 lugs each, which means that the trailer axle's have a capacity 3,500 - 4000 lbs.

Depending upon the load range of the tires, they will be rated for 1,800 lbs to 2,300 lbs each, or around 3,600 - 4,600 lb per axle.

The empty trailer weight is probably around 1,400 lbs; thus he has a maximum net payload capacity between 5,600 lbs - 6,600 lbs.

Considering the weight of the log, the load is around 6,000 lbs beyond the trailer capacity.

Had they centered the load over the axles (as they should have), he may not have bent his truck frame but probably would have started blowing out tires within a few miles.

Even with the log centered, he would have significantly exceeded the "safety margin" on the Reese hitch in terms of vertical loading (I would estimate a tongue load of 1,500 - 2000 lbs).

6 lug wheels on the truck indicates that it's a 4WD half ton.... it's been a long time since I owned a truck that small but I think that the towing capacity is in the range of 7,500 - 10,000 lbs, depending upon how the truck is equipped, so he's a few thousand pounds beyond CGWR as well.

The interesting thing is that does not appear to the the butt log; with all of the limbs branching off of it boards milled from it would not be FAS - more like #2 common.

Some lessons are more expensive than others....

I sure hope that he did not borrow the truck and trailer from a buddy!!!

[Peter Quinn]

Perhaps he should have got one of those scales, ya know, like they use to weight fish but bigger? You suppose knowing the weight would have changed the decision to try this? I figure the person is either really really stupid, or particularly unsavy in practical matters. Either way he needs a new truck and didn't get his log home.

[Scott Kuykendall]

Here some more pictures I found or the log.
http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f29/blanch3969/work%203/
Scott

[Greg Crawford]

I've berated people about mistakes before, and then pulled the same stunt myself, so I try not to be too harsh on others. Notice, I said try.

With that being said, I wonder if this is the same guy that obviously had to get rid of this car;

[Alex Stace]

what I really dont get is why they designed the truck with a hitch plate failure point higher then the frame of the vehicle :rolleyes: