I just mounted a 1251 bronco palimino camper on my tundra. The rear axle weight was 4300 lbs. I could not figure that one out. My rear axle weight without the camper on was about 2350 lbs. My camper fully loaded (we travel light) was about 1600 lbs. If all the weight of the camper was on the rear axle that should total about 3950 lbs. I was thinking that some of the weight of the camper would be on the front axle. I checked my rear axle weight max and it was 3760. I am way over. I just went on a three hundred mile camping trip with no problems. I have air bag and am at least
4 inches above the bumpstop. Even without 40 lbs in the bags I am still
3 inches or so above. My center of gravity is about 2 inches to the rear of the axle. THe camper is all the way to the front of the cab. What i Figure is happening the overhang of the camper in back is taking weight off the front axle and putting more on the back. If I fill the air bags close to 100lbs will that shift some of the rear axle weight to the front axle.?
to much air in the bags will result in a light front end acts like a pivot point.
Also there are pics on here with a broken frame resulted from a overloaded bed.
I do not quite understand how air bags in the rear can create a light front axle. It would seem that increase the air bags pressure would lift the front end and the camper so some of the rear end weight would now shift to the front. Kind of like a teetor totter. if you know what i mean
It usually is worse if you are hauling a trailer and putting the tounge weight that far back. Tom Hole has posted before on this subject as well.
There are several posts on hauling and air bags so poke through a few of those as well.
I just mounted a 1251 bronco palimino camper on my tundra. The rear axle weight was 4300 lbs. I could not figure that one out. My rear axle weight without the camper on was about 2350 lbs. My camper fully loaded (we travel light) was about 1600 lbs. If all the weight of the camper was on the rear axle that should total about 3950 lbs. I was thinking that some of the weight of the camper would be on the front axle. I checked my rear axle weight max and it was 3760. I am way over. I just went on a three hundred mile camping trip with no problems. I have air bag and am at least
4 inches above the bumpstop. Even without 40 lbs in the bags I am still
3 inches or so above. My center of gravity is about 2 inches to the rear of the axle. THe camper is all the way to the front of the cab. What i Figure is happening the overhang of the camper in back is taking weight off the front axle and putting more on the back. If I fill the air bags close to 100lbs will that shift some of the rear axle weight to the front axle.?
You are correctly diagnosing why adding adding a 1600 lb camper increased the load on the rear axle by 2000 lbs....the weight behind the rear axle is indeed taking weight off the front axle and putting on the rear axle.
Filling the air bags will simply lift the rear of the truck up. It won't shift any weight back to the front axle. Think in terms of a teeter-totter here...raising the teeter-totter pivot (your truck's rear suspension) upwards does not make the teeter-totter tilt any differently.
As member rambrush notes, there has been at least one case where a roughly 1000 lb overweight in-bed camper eventually resulted in frame breakage on both sides of an early ('01 or '02) Tundra. The guy who had that catastrophe used overload springs to lift the rear of his truck...but raising the back of the truck only masked his problem, it didn't solve the overload.
The only way you'll be able to get that weight shifted is to actually move things around inside the camper...or at least remove as much weight behind the axle as you can (like not traveling with water in the tank(s)). Although there's no doubt that your new Tundra has a lot stronger frame than the earlier models, you really do need to be aware that traveling for thousands of miles with a 700 lb rear axle overload will greatly increase your likelihood of some kind of early failure...most likely wheel bearings or possibly a cracking frame.
__________________ Ray
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You mention that the TC was about 1600 lbs. How did you determine that? If you go to a truck stop, you can weigh both axles and see where each weighs in.
I see in the title you are asking about a 2006, but your sig shows a 2008. The 2008 has a higher rear axle capacity.
I would not drive a 2006 Tundra around with that much weight on the rear axle. It will fail. Airbags will not move the weight forward as Ray explained.
You mention that the TC was about 1600 lbs. How did you determine that? If you go to a truck stop, you can weigh both axles and see where each weighs in.
I see in the title you are asking about a 2006, but your sig shows a 2008. The 2008 has a higher rear axle capacity.
I would not drive a 2006 Tundra around with that much weight on the rear axle. It will fail. Airbags will not move the weight forward as Ray explained.
Tom
I weighed it a public scale. The 2008 does not carry any more than the 2006. The GVwr of the 2008 is 7100 lbs. That is 500 more than the 6600 of my 06 tundra, but the 08 weighs 500 lbs more than the 06 because of increased width and size and in some cases (5.7 liter ) the bigger engine. It means that the 08 has no more payload capacity as my 06. It may more towing power but that is it. Check the specs and you will see that is correct. I also do not think the frame is much stronger on the 08.
I do not quite understand how air bags in the rear can create a light front axle. It would seem that increase the air bags pressure would lift the front end and the camper so some of the rear end weight would now shift to the front. Kind of like a teetor totter. if you know what i mean
I am no quite sure how too much air in air bags can result in a light front end. Can you explain?
I weighed it a public scale. The 2008 does not carry any more than the 2006. The GVwr of the 2008 is 7100 lbs. That is 500 more than the 6600 of my 06 tundra, but the 08 weighs 500 lbs more than the 06 because of increased width and size and in some cases (5.7 liter ) the bigger engine. It means that the 08 has no more payload capacity as my 06. It may more towing power but that is it. Check the specs and you will see that is correct. I also do not think the frame is much stronger on the 08.
It may have the same or less cargo capacity, but the rear axle is rated higher, so maybe it can go higher in that regard.
Airbags will very slightly decrease weight on the rear axle when inflated. This is due to the shift in the center of gravity of the payload as it is "raised" (acutally, it is rotated around the rear axle). This might mean a shift of 10-20 lbs.
It looks like you are looking for someone to tell you it's ok. Exceeding axle limits is not ok. Easy to justify busting a GCWR or GVWR, but I haven't seen anyone on any board advocate busting a rear axle limit. Get a bigger truck if you want to haul that truck camper.
Thanks for the info tom. You are right . The salesman said I would be ok .
My gut at the time told me no. I should have known why salesman get bad raps sometimes. Now that I look back in retrospect he told me all kinds of things that were erroneous. First he told me that I would not have to remove the tailgate on my truck. I did. Then he told me that 60 percent of the campers weight would transfer to the front axle and 40 percent to the rear. I asked him if he mounted the same model camper on the exact truck
(double cab) and he said yes on about 10-12 of them. I asked him if he would give me the number of any of the customers so I could get some feedback on their experience. No reply. He was the nicest guy and I trusted him. My mistake. Can you recommend a 3/4 ton or should I go to the newer Toyota Tundra?
I'm not sure you'd be in any better shape with the new Tundra. Based on the weight chits, the rear axle is carrying 2600 lbs on an empty 2007 Tundra. That leaves 1570 lbs before you hit the rear axle limit. Add your camper and you're at the limit. Add anything else and your getting into the scary area you're in now with the 2006.
I can't recommend a 3/4 ton as I have not owned one. I keep looking at them to replace my Tundra, but they never really offer anything more than an oil burning engine that I want. If it were me, I'd be getting a 1 ton Silverado, but that ain't happening any time soon. 45,000 miles of care free driving in a really nice truck has me spoiled.
There's probably some engineer on this site who can explain it better, in the three pictures I've attached, the pen's weight never changes, but when the sunglasses move forward, eventually it makes them tip up. That is basically what is happening with your truck.
The solution is to get more of the weight forward of your rear axle.
__________________
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Last edited by Hickleberry; 08-31-2009 at 11:13 PM.
06 dc tundra 4wd+rear axle weight
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