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1056 lbs.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
I always figures 1/2" ply at 50# a sheet, roughly.
At 2 sheets per inch, that's 100# per inch. Multiply that by 24" and you got 2,400#.
Just a rough guess, though.
There are only three kinds of people; people who can count and people who can't
Think I need to look for my little black book (that I can't remember the name of OR where it is) and see what it sez.
50# sheet seems way high, you must be thinking of the sheets with none of the voide they fill the center layers with?
Got a trailer loaded all wrong, the ply is all on the tongue now as the 525# of windows that were on the rear of it are gone. Those I know were 52.5# each.
I'll bet Calvin is right, seems righter than 2400. I know I've had that much in the back of my truck and it wasn't 2400#
Joe H
Edited 6/29/2003 8:16:11 PM ET by JoeH
Joe,
I agree with Boss. My Pocket Reference lists plywood as having a lbs./cu. ft. at 38.4. So a sheet of 1/2" weighs 51.2. For 2' worth, 2457.6 lbs.
I'd say you're about 185.
Jon Blakemore
Yup.
That's what my ref says too.
My ref is old. I bought it after I started business for myself. But I don't think the weight of plywood could have changed all that much, if at all. A good heart embiggins even the smallest person.
Quittin' Time
Jeff, My Pocket Ref is like new cuz I can never find the damn thing. That black cover is no help either. I need a pink one.
Next time I see it I'm gonna check the weight of a square of tincan shingles. I'll be it's in there some place.
So the next question is, should I reload the trailer, or put something heavy back on the rear of it? The ply is mostly ahead of center and I gotta haul it 450 miles.
Joe H
Just move half the load back.
Whatever you do, don't drive it tounge heavy like that.
It's dangerous, and it is very bad for the trailer.
It is bad, in fact, just to leave it sitting in that condition. But not nearly as bad as driving 450 miles with the load banging on the tounge with every bump.
I'll bet the weight of a square of tincan shingles is probably just about the same as your load of plywood.
; ) A good heart embiggins even the smallest person.
Quittin' Time
Jeff, there's no moving half of it. It's all gotta come off to move the stack. It's a 12' trailer and the ply is stacked right to the front & centered. There was a stack of 10 3' x 6' behind it, but they are gone now.
Sooooooooo, not enough room behind to stack half, and no way to shift the stack. I didn't load it this way, but I think I will be the unloader and reloader now. Bummer he sez....
Joe H
PS: all the more reason to go with the beer can or plastic shingles! :)
LOL
You know, you are right. I had already figured that one out.
There is also the consideration of availability.
Beer cans would be lighter. They would last longer. and I have a whole forum full of beer drinkers here, who could cut the ends out of their cans, (With ordinary scissors, no less.), pile them flat in a box, and send them to me.
; )
Check out the tin can thread in a bit. I'm about to write an update...
A good heart embiggins even the smallest person.
Quittin' Time
P.S.
I think there is as much plastic as aluminum in the modern beer can. So, I'd be getting both at once...
; ) A good heart embiggins even the smallest person.
Quittin' Time
Hmmmm sounds like I need to get one of those pocket refs. Ive seen them at Austins. You going there this Thurs for the BBQ and talk to the vendors???
Darkworks: No Guns No Butter squilla and the bling bling.
No way 1/2" plywood weighs 50 lbs/sheet. I'd bet the farm on it.
16 oz to the pound.
2,000 pounds to the ton.
The bottom sheet is much heavier than the top sheet.
5X10 (roughly, actually metric) 1.8 cm thick baltic birch weighs 57.3 kg.
57.3 kg = 126 # , ah've weighed 'em on an advp. scale too, only person I ever saw carry one like the rest of us carry 4x8 1/2" was Nathan.....
A marine grade birch 1/2 ply would thus weigh: (32 sq ft/50)*(0.5/(1.8/2.54)*126= close to 57#.
Course, like the man said, 4 ply with cottonwood core and big gaps ain't 13 ply marine grade birch , so ya 'prolly gotta subtract more than 10#.
Jim, Maybe I oughta weigh one and find out. Sure seems heavy, two sheets a hundred pounds? 3/4" particle board is 100# I think, and I KNOW that's heavy.
Either way, I'm gonna have to rearrange this. Ugh, sounds like a bunch of work.
Joe H
Ron, Austin HW in Santa Ana? Details? Joe H
Per your real concern, if your truck can take the tongue weight, leave it forward.
Will always remember the first time (when yound and dumb) pulled a 15,000 # crawler on a trailer behind 3/4 T PU and had CG too far back, trailer started to wander like crazy at 55 MPH - had to pull off, pull tractor 2 ft forward and load the tounge, then drove it 150 mi with no problems.
Always pull 'em now with max tongue weight.
Guess since I have no clue what the tongue weight is I oughta take a test drive and see what's up with it.
Was that crawler something you found? One of the early ArtFinds followed you home? I need a Bobcat or the like to follow me home.
Joe H
It seems that somewhere I saw a suggestion that the tongue wight should be 10% of the total weight. Can you slide the whole load wback slowly with come along and a good strap? Seems a shame to move all just to get back a little.
Dan
Can't you just put something heavy back on the end of the trailer to take the place of the windows? Maybe some coal, or creek rock, red dog, or sumpin?
So you unload 2500 lbs, and then reload 2500 pounds....then unload 2500 lbs at the other end....think of it as building character. Ya know if I wasn't on this pesky other coast I'd be right there for ya buddy....cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, N.S
Yeah, sure.
To cheer him on.
; )
Hey, are we going to see you at quakefest ? Come oooooon... you know you wanna... A good heart embiggins even the smallest person.
Quittin' Time
a Bobcat or the like to follow me home
You probably don't want to rent one of the new Cat Skid steers, then--way too nice. haven't decided whether tires or the rubber tracks are better, but the handling & controls have got both Melrose & JD beat.
And, yes, I have got to stop volunteering to either knock things over or move piles of stuff . . .
Most Class III ball mounts are rated for a maximum of 600 lbs tongue weight. As Junkhound stated, it is probably better to go a little heavy than a little light or else you might find you're taking both lanes of the interestate at once with your trailer in one and you in the other...
How much can a bobcat lift? Last really full trailer load (6 cords of alder) the neighbor could not lift the tongue with his bobcat loader, figured over 3K# tongue weight, at 20K load, only a little over your 10% rule of thumb <G>
What class is this attachment? 3" receiver, goes forward 4 feet and ties into dump mechanism? Test proofed with 6T tongue weight, did sag the springs a little for 1T rear end.
That is some nice detail on that trailer.Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
This explains all my missing wrenches.
I know Art, (Junkhound), personaly, and I am extremely loath to go against any advice of this sort that he might give. I don't know you so well, but from what I have gathered over time, you know your stuff too.
But I am going to have to say that I hope like heck, that Joe doesn't take youse's advice.
The load we are talking about is not just a bit over 600 pounds. We are talking about a ton. More than 3 times the load limit on the tongue.
The load is stacked with all of it forward of center. And centered on the tongue. That is a huge amount of overload on that tongue. It is going to beat the shyte out of the tongue of the trailer, and the towbar on the truck, every time a bump is hit, or he runs for a few miles in the swaybacks caused by semis on the highway.
It will also ride the springs of the truck.
I am no closer to this trailer than either of you. But I think that if all 3 of us were there, we would probably all agree that the better part of common sense would say to move the load back a bit. Center it over the axle.
(Especialy since with three of us there to help, the job would be done in about 5 minutes. LOL)
Joe, pick out the first three guys to walk by, and pay them ten bucks apiece to help you to move the load...
20 or 30 bucks to local teenagers is going to cost a lot less than the potential damage to the trailer, and/or your truck. Compare it also to the possible damage if the trailer gets away from you because of this...
Yesterday, on my way to town to get water, I stopped at the scene of an accident. A dualy had lost a wheel, and the wheel had gone down the road to take out an oncoming truck dragging a big rv. The truck and rv were both about 90 feet down a ravine, upside down. This was caused just by a tire that got loose.
Don't take chances and figure that the odds are in your favor. Make sure they are in your favor.
A good heart embiggins even the smallest person.
Quittin' Time
Never got a chance to meet Joe last time in Pittsburgh, so don't know his truck, that's why I posted the previous attachment as to 'beefiness'.
Sorry, didn't look at previous pix first, the reflective licence plate really fooled the auto flash (Kodak DC500), here's another fixed up. (Another story, the state made us buy new reflective plaes, had to remove my plate that still said 1963!)
Jeff has likely also had personal experiences towing that are contrary to mine, but can't say I've ever thought I had too much tongue loading.
After trying ONE time to haul a D2 that was too far back on the trailer, I'm a firm beliver in as much tongue as the vehicle will handle. Granted, the attachment pix of 8" Channel welded to the frame with 4 inch channel reinforcements, etc. is way past anything you'd buy from JC Whitney as a class III, etc.
Casey's 600 lbs was tongue rating, so Joe would only be putting 250 to 300# on the tongue at the 10% guideline. So, if Joe and a buddy can't lift the tongue, I'd concur with Jeff on moving the load back just a little.
Own position_ unless the front steering starts to feel 'loose', I'm gonna stay with as heavy of tongue weights as the suspension will handle.
P>S> In favor of Jeffs' position, hauling a 20-30,000# trailer with a 10,000# truck will get your wife to tell you "I'm not riding in that truck with you again with that trailer"!.
I totaly agree.
Better to have a bit heavy tongue load than too light. Absolutely.
Truth be known, I don't center weights, either. I move a load slightly forward. But I would not pull a trailer with all the weight on the tongue, either. Been there, tore the t-shirt. Had to get a different truck with a better tow package. Still had to reload the trailer right on the side of the highway.
(Try picking up a sheet of plywood, and put it back on the trailer when a semi roars past, not 7 feet away. The plywood first wants to throw you under the wheels of the truck, then wants to set you sailing the other way.)
The rule of thumb of two men being able to lift the tongue is right on with what I feel would be ideal for a load of this size. If they can pick the tongue up off the ground and put it on the ball, but just barely able to do so... that is about perfect.
A good heart embiggins even the smallest person.
Quittin' Time
Luka -
Sorry if I made it sound like he could just leave it overloaded on the tongue, because I certainly do not think that he should. I guess I should have elaborated on my comment about "better a little too much than a little too little". I was referring to the previous post where the writer commented on fishtailing with a trailer that was loaded too light on the tongue. I should have said something to the effect that it is better to have the tongue weight closer to 600 lbs than to have it around 100 lbs. Unfortunately, it is very hard to accurately judge the tongue weight and just eyeballing a load of mixed goods doesn't necessarily get you close - I have often thought it would be nice to have a tongue with a built in scale for balancing the load. Hate to say how many trailers I have seen on I-84 charging along at 65mph and over fishtailing madly..
So, yes, over 600 lbs on a standard Class III is not a good thing, but going close to zero lbs ain't a good thing either.
Totaly agreed. See my response to Art.
: ) A good heart embiggins even the smallest person.
Quittin' Time
I'm definitely not going to go as it is. It was loaded for a short trip only, and it was a mixed load with 10 3x6 double hung windows piled on the back. That stack was the width of the trailer and a bit over 500 pounds.
Not balanced, but size wise it fit. Now the windows aren't there and the ply is.
Guess it will give me something to do, the last thing I want to do is leave my ply on the side of the road.
Saw a whole load of it up somewhere on the Alcan Hwy. Looked like it slid off a trailer and the driver had just left it. Must have been a full 40' trailer, there was a bunch of it just off the road. We were about 100' above it so I had a good view, but no chance of salvaging it.
Joe H
Don't know if this has been beat to death too much already, but I thought I'd put my 2 cents worth in.
I think the tongue weight should be based more on the towing vehicle than the trailer.
If you have a one ton truck, you can handle more tongue weight than if you're pulling with a small pickup.
If you have no brakes on the trailer, a bit more tongue weight is better - Gives you more weight on the braking vehicle if you have to hit 'em hard. If you can't take the heat, don't tickle the dragon.
Well, now I know the name of the little book I couldn't remember the name of. Now if I knew where I put it..............
I'm nowhere near 185 either.
Joe H
I ballpark wood at 40#/cu ft.
Not accurate for sure, considering variety of species and wetness, but it roughly guesses out OK.
So 2' x 4' x 8' = 64 cu ft times 40 is 2560#.
So far the voting says you have over a ton.
Excellence is its own reward!