I can testify to the truth in redsfan's statement. My trainer's truck ran a consistent 6.5-7.2 mpg depending on the load. His empty weight was set at 28,800# which gave him a 51,200# load capacity. I will admit to not knowing how much fuel was in the tanks to get the 28,800# empty weight.

Looks like the poll is leaning a little toward the FL's, that kind of surprises me. I thought the world was full of super truckers...lol.

Arky

 

I'd like to see you get 51,200 loaded in your trailer ,and be able to scale it legal without being over on one of the 3 sets of axles ...most likely your drives or steers . :wink: I would guess your trainers Columbia to be a 220-230 WB and bare bones on the exterior trim with either a Cummings or Detroit in it putting it's unladen weight at around 15k it probably had 90 gallon tanks but it's possible to have 110's ,so we'll say with his tanks topped off there's an extra 1500 lbs I'll say with him and a student there's and xtra 500 lbs and with all your bring alongs and his another 200 lbs ,so this would put his truck at around 17,200 a typical trailer weighs around 13k empty so there's about 30 k between the truck and empty trailer which yes leaves you 50k left until you reach 80 k gross ...But distributing this weight so your legal on all 3 sets of axles makes pulling a 50k load unlikely .

 

One thing to remember Big Jeep, these are spread axle trailers that you are talking about, so the weight is more evenly distributed. The trucks have dual 100 gal. tanks. My trainer's truck was a little heavier, with both of us and two full tanks we were a little over 29K. We hauled 2 loads of 49,500 pounds, but I don't think we ever hauled over 50K. Now in my own truck, I was under 28K with 2 full tanks and I hauled over 50K several times and was perfectly legal. You will scale loads for a while, until you are familiar with them, to be certain of this. Most times when you are hauling that much weight it will be plywood or I-beams or something that will run the entire length of the trailer so, yes, you can run 50K+ pounds and be perfectly legal on all axles. It's done all the time.

 

with a spread axle and products that are evenly distributed yes ...but without a spread axle ,and typical freight I would say you either won't be legal or will spend much time attempting to be legal with a 50+ load