First of all a 3 year old should not be standing in a moving car truck or even soccer moms mini van. I make all my kids atleast sit down.
Sec. the S10 has a tow rating of 5000lbs my truck and trailer does not weigh over 5000lbs.
Third I wish I was the only person on the road, it would make my drive to and from work alot easier.
And last I will be leaving out Sat morning w/truck in tow coming to a town near you.
Pet peeve of mine. Todays' tow ratings are BOGUS. They are sales gimmicks. Most experts agree that going no higher than about 75-80% of a manufacturer's "rated" tow capacity is what everyone should do.
Just because an S10 is "rated" at 5000lbs does NOT mean it can actually TOW that much....and that's assuming the 1994 S-10 in your profile is even rated that high to begin with.
You need to do the math before you tow. A tow rating is based on the most BASE model available, with NO payload in the truck, almost NO gas in the tank, and either nobody or a 150lb weenie as driver.
Every single option that is added also takes away from both the payload of the truck and the towing capacity.
So, figure it up this way: There are 3 weights you can't exceed: GVWR, GCVWR, and gross trailer weight. Exceeding any of them puts you over even the factory's bogus limit.
Weigh your truck. Full tank, nobody in it, no gear or other cargo.
Look at your GVWR...the gross weight of the truck. Sticker in the driver's door, usually. That's the MOST it's EVER allowed to weigh. Now, add your weight, the weight of anything you're going to put in the bed, the weight of your passengers, a full tank of gas,
etc.
NOW...weigh your trailer, loaded. Also get the tongue weight.
Add the tongue weight of the trailer to the truck's weight.
Dollars to doughnuts says that if that trailer is even close to the rated tow capacity, the tongue weight puts the truck itself over its own payload. A good rule of thumb is, tongue weight should be 10% of the total trailer weight. So a 5000lb trailer has approximately 500lbs of tongue weight.
NOW...look at that door sticker again, or your owner's manual, and get the GCVWR. That's Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating. How much the total of the truck and trailer together are allowed to weigh. Add your fully loaded trailer to your fully loaded (as you drive it) truck and see what you get.
Every pound you put in the truck takes away from what it can tow. On trucks rated ridiculously highly like what you claim yours is, the towing capacity is eaten away very fast.
Basically, no truck that's rated really high like that can actually tow that much in the real world...unless you buy the absolute base model, and figure out how to run it with no gas in the tank, a midget driver, no cargo and no tongue weight.
If you regularly overload your truck and drive it like you say you do, then as others have said, I hope you are never near my family or anyone else's when your luck runs out. They have write ups in the paper every week about other idiots that do the exact same thing and kill or injure people.
What's your truck's payload, about 1200lbs, max?(if even that) So your average person is 180lbs or so. You and your buddy are 360lbs together. If you're big dude(s) that's even more to add.
20 gallons of gas is about 120lbs. So that's 480lbs towards maxing out that payload already.
4000lb trailer has probably 400lbs tongue. That counts, too.
So that's 880lbs and you haven't even loaded your tools or another person or tow up, yet. Not to mention that's 880lbs taken AWAY from your rated tow capacity, so that is down to approximately 4120lbs your truck can tow...how much does that truck/trailer weigh again, loaded?
Better go so some scales and you're going to be in for a big surprise if you are honest about all the weights.
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