Oh no,....it's happening!!!

[SparkDr]

Was on my way home from work last evening and came across a TT combo sitting at a gas station that grabbed my attention. It was a Chevy Tahoe towing what looked to be a 36' TT. Both were of the early 2000's vintage. Despite having a WD hitch in place, this thing was sitting ugly. The rear tires were stuffed way up in the wheel wells and the rear leaf springs (if there are any on a Tahoe) had to be laying flat or worse. And, of source, you could see the gear piled high in the back of the Tahoe as well. Wow, talk about a bumper dragger. I wish I had snapped a picture. Anyways, to get to my point, I was offended. There was a time that I would notice such things and not give them much of a second thought. After being a regular on the forums for a while now, my thoughts immediately turn to toungue weight, GVWR, etc and I think of the safety of my own family sharing the road with "train wrecks waiting to happen" like this. After a bit more thought, I started to shake my head in disbelief as I realized they've probably been doing it this way for years judging by the nearly identical ages of their towing combination. Can it be true? Am I really becoming one of the "weight police". Dear god, please no. Just shoot me now itf that is the case...

[danrclem]

I'm not an official member of the Weight Police Patrol (not yet anyway) but this site has made me more aware of what's going on around me in the towing world.

My son's friend bought a 36' 5th wheel that weighs 13,500 dry and tows it with a 2006 F-250 with a 6.4 Crew Cab diesel. I'm not sure what gears he has. I haven't saw his rig but he was complaining that the springs on his truck must have gotten weak. I'm not sure but am thinking he may be overloaded. For safety's sake I hope not though.

[Hannibal]

We just got home from Jetty Park. Other than some jerk parking his boat on "our" site rite outside our bedroom window late at night so he could load up early in the morning to go fishing, I sure saw a lot of what this site would consider to be inadequate tow vehicles. Half ton Rams, GMs and F150s towing trailers the size of ours. One of them passed us on 417 going around Orlando. He had what looked like a Safeway round bar WD hitch with a friction bar. I guess it was working ok.
Manufacturer's GCWR and GVWR's are just that. Auto manufacturers don't write law and LE doesn't enforce manufacturer's recommendations or ratings. Otherwise, nearly every minivan loaded to the hilt with passengers and stuff going to Disney World would be violating weight laws.

[BenK]

This is part of Darwinism that isn't working well enough anymore...that, that only happens 'to the other guy'...

Because it is part of the hard knock schooling that has been taken away with the better designs and safety features designed into our products these days...and...the 'sure you can'...'been doing it for years with no problems'...etc, etc, etc on these freebie forums

Because folks have it in their minds that 'it can...heck it towed the Space Shuttle' type of marketing that works so well...

[horton333]

Grit dog wrote:

Hannibal wrote:
What statute would the state police ticket such a person under?

The "your a dumb arse statute!"

I've never known a LeO that was short on enforceable or citable regulations. Have you?

While I'm not the weight cops and some overloaders are po people just moving their belongings, cops would be doing anyone else a favor who are egregiously overloaded, by giving them a wake up call.

So why does it essentially never happen to RVers ..... because the regulations some people think exist are are exceeding rare and it's just not the problem some people assume it to be.
YAWN, when will they ever learn

[Bird_Freak]

Im sorry but I don't have time to drive up to shoot you at the moment. Send me your address and I will gladly send you a bullet. Please include caliber required.

[Grit_dog]

Hannibal wrote:
What statute would the state police ticket such a person under?

The "your a dumb arse statute!"

I've never known a LeO that was short on enforceable or citable regulations. Have you?

While I'm not the weight cops and some overloaders are po people just moving their belongings, cops would be doing anyone else a favor who are egregiously overloaded, by giving them a wake up call.

[steve-n-vicki]

Tahoe can tow anything

[grampscamper]

It seems that commercial vehicles are enforced more often but I've seen on occasion non commercial vehicles pulled over for unsafe loads.

[Hannibal]

What statute would the state police ticket such a person under?

[ken56]

I have to wonder too when we all see it so clearly where is the State Police when they see something like this? Not that I wish them a ticket but.....their job is to keep the public safe, right? Still, its not my place to tattle on them so I just give a wide berth to them and hope others protect themselves from an unsafe situation also.

[burningman]

Well technically, you can...

[grampscamper]

My dealer said I could pull a 43' tri axle toy hauler with a 1/2 ton.;)

[CaptnJohn]

I've been accused of being the Weight Police in the past. Generally, I don't care what someone does as long as it does not cause me or the general public a safety hazard. I saw a Cadillac SUV holding up traffic on I-77 last fall loaded about the same. My question is if these are so easily spotted why are the real police nit taking care of the unsafe travelers?

[Grit_dog]

burningman wrote:
One day some kid was running up and down and up and down my street on a LOUD 2-cycle dirt bike. I was having thoughts of going out there and chewing him out, but at the last minute I stopped and thought "holy cow what's happened to me? I should be going out there to check out his bike and give him a beer!!"

I know right? My kids are firmly in the loud dirtbike stage along with the other kids in the hood and will graduate to loud cars soon......good thing the truck is straight piped and the car ain't quiet either!

I look at some of the postings on here as lessons I hope to remember to not be "that guy" when I lose the rest of my hair and my belly overlaps my ______!!