Your county has one too?
Posted on 12/21/2019 8:27:22 PM PST by DUMBGRUNT
No, this wasn’t a PR stunt for Chevrolet.
Just because you can do a thing, that doesn't mean you should. That's especially true when it comes to towing a 53-foot-long trailer using a standard-issue three-quarter-ton pickup.
What would you do if you saw this rig on the road? Call the Police (29%) Applaud the driver, then get out of the way. (71%)
(Excerpt) Read more at caranddriver.com ...
Alcohol?
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My first thoughts, too - that pin might be fine for a pop-up camper, but....
I just showed this to my son, who is a trucker. He saw someone else doing something similar. Not a big deal with an empty trailer.
“Give me fourty acres and I’ll turn this rig around”.
I thought the same thing, looks like he just hooks up to the trailer with a modified fifth wheel. Trailers get stranded if there are no return loads and sometimes they have to retrieved. Not to crazy about his pin system but overall I have no problem with it. I suspect the actual trailer is only 40ft.
This last summer, we traveled from NC to the UP. In every state along the way, the most aggressively and fastest driven vehicles were the new, Dodge, Ford and Chevy 4x4 pickup trucks, driven by younger men. Oh, and the ones with oversized, wide tires/wheels, stay in your own lane!
I was expecting the pickup to have some sort of modified 5th wheel, not an ordinary hitch. Looks like he did put on a tank that would run the air brakes.
It looks like it could work if the box was empty, but my biggest concern would be the pin he used on the hitch arrangement.
Well he’s got his chains hooked up, what’s the problem? /s
Yup! I see that too. And they’re only going Southbound. I get on I-85 in Tallassee going to Montgomery, and I always like to come up alongside, slow down, smile at the driver and give ‘em a thumbs up!
Your county has one too?
From the photos, the limiting factor is the allowable shear on the pin restraining the hitch block.
The pin attaching the trailer to the hitch is 3/4” diameter. The pin restraining the insertable hitch block to the frame mounted hitch block is 1/2” diameter. Thus, this 1/2” pin is the weak point.
The maximum shear stress on the 1/2” pin is developed as the trailer is transitioned from stop to moving.
Maximum Load 46,000 lbs
Maximum Gross 80,000 lbs
Steer axle Weight 12,000
80,000 - 12,000 = 68,000 lbs
68,000 / 2 = 34,000 lbs
Drive or Trailer axle max 34,000 lbs
34,000 / 8 tires = 4,250 lbs per tire
Silverado 1 axle not 2, double the road surface weight.
8,500 lbs per tire on to the road surface
That could heavily damage the highway surface.
Transportation department should send the Chevy Silverado pick up driver a bill for $10 million dollars to repair the highway damage of new cracks and pot holes.
ROFL. Damn the chains, full speed ahead.
A 53 foot trailer. A semi trailer he was towing? I wonder why he did it...
:)
Redondo Beach, Calif.
Where they put, not one, not two but three surfboards on a two-wheel bicycle!
The first time I saw one it was empty and had to ask what the racks were for.
“Imagine trying to make a turn with that.”
Imagine trying to back it up???
Maybe he hacked in the ford trailer backup assist?
“I don’t doubt that the Silverado can pull it … “
Modern pickups are so much more powerful these days. I do not know about Chevy, but I had a 2011 F150 that put out 360 HP and while hauling a 5,000 lb slide-in pickup camper and pulling our pontoon boat could safely pass other vehicles going up hill. Totally unbelievable.
Our 2018 F150 has 395 HP with a 10 speed with a manual shift option. In manual shift I can floor that thing, work through the gears like a big rig and from a dead stop at a rest area I can be doing 80 by the time I get on the interstate. That’s when hauling that 5,000 lb camper.
So you’re right, for Chevy to be competitive, they must be similar equipped.
This guy has air brakes hooked up, and if the trailer is empty I see no problem.
“I passed one of these rigs on I-10 in Florida a couple weeks ago.”
A snowbird heading south?
When I first started driving, I had a POS 1977 Plymouth Arrow.
At 72k miles, after numerous head rebuilds, points, plugs, alternators, wires, radiators, etc, the transmission let go.
This was on the highway going about 60mph.
I called my neighbor who had a wrecking business. He picked me up with his small wrecker, a typical highway sized tow truck you see these days.
On the way home, the small wrecker developed an extremely loud engine knock and we stopped. He radioed home, his wife brought the big wrecker, which was this 1950s era relic that hauled tractor/trailers without the trailer.
We hooked the little wrecker to the big wrecked and drove the 20 miles home. Of course, this was the mid 80s, so no one gave us a second look. heh.
I wish I had a picture.
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