Help,

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I am trying to determine my tongue weight and tire capacity for my truck as I am trying to research my ability to tow a bulldozer with my 2003 Duramax 2500 HD. I weighed my truck and it is 7000lbs.

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The bulldozer (Cat D3) weighs 17000lbs and the gooseneck trailer weighs 6000lbs, thus I am towing a combined 23,000 (only once in a great while, not making a habit out of it.)

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I called the Highway patrol to see if this combination would give them heart failure and he said it would be heavy but manageable; however they would look at tongue weight, tire capacity, and what the vehicle manufacture rated the pick-up capacity.

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I have a pop up hitch that say’s I can tow up to 30000 and up to 7500-tongue weight.

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1. Based on this load, what would my tongue weight be?

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2. My tires are Firestone rated “E” that say not to overload 3042lbs when operated in a non-dual capacity. Does this mean I multiply the 3042 times the four tires for a weight capacity of 12168lbs? And of this 12168, the weight of the truck is subtracted. Thus the tires would have a remaining capacity of 5000lbs?

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3. Last time I checked when I bought my truck Chevy rated the truck for pulling 15,000 on a gooseneck. Has anything changed with this?

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Thanks a million for any help with these questions! Also, any input, thoughts or opinions in pulling this type of load or similar experiences would be GREATLY appreciated.

If your trailer weight is 23,000lbs, 15% tongue weight is about 3500lbs. If your truck weighs in at 7000lbs you only have 2200lbs to play with. I don't see how you could do it and if stopped not get fined. I don't doubt the truck will handle it when using a properly equiped trailer but the police will not think that way and will go by the books.

You can find the tire load ratings on the side of the tires, axle rating is on a plaqard either in the glovebox or inside the drivers door. IMHO this is too much weight for a 2500SRW, heck even for a 3500 dually. That being said there are guys out there that would tow it with their trucks, many of them have extensive towing/trailering experience and know the risks and operational requirements.:rolleyes:

If I had a load that big I would rent myself a medium duty truck that has the supsension, brakes and engine/tranny combination to handle this. Safety first, ALWAYS! JJ :)