Over gross liability?
Over gross liability?
Jknight611 |
Jan 8 2018, 03:27 AM
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#1
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Group: Members Posts: 35 Joined: 9-March 16 Member No.: 8,785 Favorite Truck Camper(s): Northstar Adventurer 8.5 Type and Brand of Truck(s) Owned: 2018 Chevolet 3500 Duramax Crew Duelly Type of Tiedowns used: Torklift with Fastguns Truck and Camper Setup: Totally stock, nothing needed |
My truck is painfully close or over the truck’s gross weight limit. It handles fine and in 30,000 miles hasn’t shown any ill effects from overloading. BUT, in the event of a traffic accident am I opening myself up to a liability nightmare? I couldn’t imagine in litigation being overweight would play out very well!
Anybody have any experience with this issue? I am torn about replacing my current truck with a 1 ton. |
emcvay |
Feb 8 2018, 08:53 AM
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#2
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Group: Members Posts: 66 Joined: 5-April 17 From: Washington Member No.: 9,497 Favorite Truck Camper(s): Arctic Fox Type and Brand of Truck(s) Owned: Ford F350 Crew cab long box 6.4l 4x4 Type of Tiedowns used: Torklift Truck and Camper Setup: 2010 F350 PS CC LB SRW with AF990 |
I see questions like this asked all over the net but the one thing I haven't seen is anyone siting a single case of a civil suit where a camper on a pickup that was over the GVW being the reason etc, for the accident and therefore a reason for compensation.
I suspect the reason is that the door sticker doesn't actually mean a whole lot. Yes I said that. The sticker police will want to argue but it matters not. Site a case. The axle on my truck is actually rated by the manufacturer at 9750lbs not the 7000lbs Ford rates it at. This is because of lawyers. The FMC rates the truck based on the 'weakest link' and since the tires are rated at 7000lbs (3500 ea) they rate the rear axle accordingly. Yes they also rate the springs etc etc but they always go by the lower number 'to be on the safe side'. So, should someone replace said weaker components then they may no longer be over their GVW by any reasonable measure. It might be mentioned that court findings are often based on whether or not a person knowingly or intentionally did one egregious act or another. So if one plopped a 12 foot camper on a 1500 and went and wrecked it's likely they would be at fault and lose the battle. Whereas, someone with a built F350 who plops a 9 footer with a sticker on the back that says 3000# who gets in an accident is not likely to be found to knowingly or intentionally doing anything wrong. Sure they might be over, but did they know that (prove it), and were they over the sticker? The real axle weight? The sum of the components? Did they put new E rated 4400# tires and wheels on? Replace the spring pack Put new better shocks on? Were they towing? If not, were they over what the manufacturer said the brakes are able to stop? All of these things come into play and many of the overweight rigs I've discussed with others are only overweight by the door sticker but not the axle or the components they've added to allow for the extra weight. Just my 2c |
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