A good reason not to overload your truck!

[TCNashville]

Saw this on the FTE forum. Pic takes a second to load.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/broken...ad-a-big-truck

[Jerry713]

Originally Posted by TCNashville

Saw this on the FTE forum. Pic takes a second to load.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/broken...ad-a-big-truck

This is an example of real life education for the owner of this Ram and likely an expensive one. Clearly error on his part. Lucky he or his family didn't have to pay more for their silly judgement in error. Ram declined the warranty claim and rightfully so. Bet his insurance denies the claim too. Sorry I don't feel sorry for this guy.

[wordsmyth]

Ouch! Something about the photo is really scary. There are so many ways that could have gone tragically bad.

[RedHorse1]

Can’t figure the “why”. 3500 dually, 2500 miles and then this. Frame damaged while off-roading or on a lift in the shop, large bump, frame “modified”. . .
Whatever, looks nasty.

[pconroy]

Originally Posted by RedHorse1

Can’t figure the “why”. 3500 dually, 2500 miles

25,000mi.

The article says this: "The truck in question here is a crew-cab with four-wheel drive and the 6.7-liter Cummins diesel, meaning its payload capacity is significantly lower. It's impossible to know the exact rating of Pavel's truck without having all the details regarding the trim and options, but Ram's spec sheet shows the payload capacity for a 4x4 diesel dually as maxing out at 5,850 pounds.

You flirt with disaster when you have a camper that weighs 4,900 pounds empty, plus weeks worth of gear inside. It's important to keep in mind that payload doesn't strictly refer to bed capacity, either; it also includes weight inside the cabin like passengers, boxes, and so on. Each axle has its own listed maximum as well—a lot of this camper's weight hangs off the rear of the truck—so it's crucial to visit somewhere like a CAT scale that breaks down the load weight comprehensively. Pavel told me he hasn't taken the truck and camper combo across any scales to verify the total weight."


Sounds like he was bad at math.

[Marcm157]

I tend to agree with Mopar on this that the truck was overloaded and this was the end result. It's hard to say for certain without seeing at least pictures of the frame and knowing the specifics. At face value I think this truck owner is SOL....

[Flashdman11]

His payload reduces aft of the rear axles and his camper hangs quit a bit past the bumper, then he added a motorbike of some sort. Probably has heavy stuff close to the door also adding to the problem.

[bdreinv]

Originally Posted by TCNashville

Saw this on the FTE forum. Pic takes a second to load.
https://www.thedrive.com/news/broken...ad-a-big-truck

Agreed we have same truck tow a 2015 Eagle loaded including water we are 300 lbs over the limit. That was a fiver we are talking about?

[bstannard]

Several years ago, tow truck operators were having this same problem with Ram trucks. Started specking only Ford or GM chassis.

[Falcon67]

"Pavel told me he hasn't taken the truck and camper combo across any scales to verify the total weight."

There it is, in a nut shell. I will be doing this as son as the weather lets us outfit the new 212 for travel. Even though the trailer is well within the capacity of both our trucks. I wanna know what I'm hauling. I also test pull before we run any long distance - we're kind rural, so there's plenty of lightly used road with turns and hills to test with here. And the wind can blow like hell, so there's that. Why we have 1000s of wind turbines here.

[spoon059]

I believe I also read that he had the frame drilled to allow for some tie down system for the TC, and the frame broke at those holes.

[Marcm157]

Originally Posted by spoon059

I believe I also read that he had the frame drilled to allow for some tie down system for the TC, and the frame broke at those holes.

If this is true it clearly puts Mopar in the drivers seat as far as denial of the warranty claim...

[CampNow]

Originally Posted by Jerry713

. . . Bet his insurance denies the claim too. Sorry I don't feel sorry for this guy.

Surprisingly, his insurance company, GEICO, approved the $17k claim for a new frame. GEICO will get their $17k back many times over in positive publicity as the word gets out. He already sold the repaired truck and has plans to replace it with a new Ram 5500 chassis cab.

All said and done, this guy was very lucky--things coulda been a lot worse in many ways.

The loser here was Ram. They made the right decision to not approve a warranty repair---the truck was obviously loaded improperly (excess weight and improper COG). However, this now infamous picture of a relatively new Ram 3500 dually, snapped in half, no doubt cost Ram some customers.

IMO, the big win here is all the safety awareness created in the RV community because of this particular picture going viral.

[TxLoser]

This is like an episode of Myth Busters. So if I exceed my GVWR and have an issue, my insurance co won’t deny the claim and drop me?

[Jerry713]

Originally Posted by CampNow

Surprisingly, his insurance company, GEICO, approved the $17k claim for a new frame. GEICO will get their $17k back many times over in positive publicity as the word gets out. He already sold the repaired truck and has plans to replace it with a new Ram 5500 chassis cab.

All said and done, this guy was very lucky--things coulda been a lot worse in many ways.

The loser here was Ram. They made the right decision to not approve a warranty repair---the truck was obviously loaded improperly (excess weight and improper COG). However, this now infamous picture of a relatively new Ram 3500 dually, snapped in half, no doubt cost Ram some customers.

IMO, the big win here is all the safety awareness created in the RV community because of this particular picture going viral.

I saw this. I'm not on any of the big social media sites like Facetwit or Snaptok but I'm pretty sure he was roasted on those sites by many. I know he was on the Ram forum. Lots of folks can take a look at the pic and know he's the one at fault.

That said it has been proven that within the past few months Ram has lowered their tow capacity ratings on many of their newer heavy duty trucks. Numerous people took a snapshot of the tow ratings posting on Ram's website (that is VIN specific) when they first bought their truck and have since gone back to that site to find the tow ratings are roughly 2,000 lbs less.

Coincidence?

[Learjet]

Originally Posted by Jerry713

That said it has been proven that within the past few months Ram has lowered their tow capacity ratings on many of their newer heavy duty trucks. Numerous people took a snapshot of the tow ratings posting on Ram's website (that is VIN specific) when they first bought their truck and have since gone back to that site to find the tow ratings are roughly 2,000 lbs less.

Coincidence?

I thought I read the lowering was on the 2500 trucks and not the 3500?

IF that is true...maybe it has nothing to do with this issue.

I saw a picture of a guy who broke two F350 towing a big trailer with a large slide in camper also. Both of them in this thread...

https://blueovalforums.com/forums/in...frame-failure/

[Jerry713]

Originally Posted by Learjet

I thought I read the lowering was on the 2500 trucks and not the 3500?

IF that is true...maybe it has nothing to do with this issue.

I saw a picture of a guy who broke two F350 towing a big trailer with a large slide in camper also. Both of them in this thread...

https://blueovalforums.com/forums/in...frame-failure/

You're probably right I don't remember whether it was 2500 or 3500 or both.

The level of judgement some people have is unbelievable. I passed a car last night on a 2 lane highway (speed limit 65 mph). The car was in the same lane I was going the same direction but going a little slower (maybe 55ish mph) and moved over to the shoulder and let me pass. When I passed it I noticed they were driving on a flat tire. Car was bouncing up and down like crazy. Going at least 50 on a flat tire....

[aqharoper]

The truck would have taken the weight if it was centered more over the axle. The issue was how far the overhang off the back of the truck was plus the bike swinging around on a hitch extension like a pendulum. I have seen a few of these trucks bend there when heavy tongue and rough roads are in the mix. If someone is buying one used measure distance from bed to cab top to bottom both sides.