Can Axles be Added to Trailers to Increase the Trailers' Capacities

Question:

If current trailers are coming in overweight , and no weight can be removed, can axles be added to trailer to account for and result in greater weight capacity for that trailer?

asked by: Vin

Expert Reply:

Possibly, but there are other factors that give a trailer its capacity. The axles are the main thing but the suspension, wheels and tires, and the actual construction and frame of the trailer. Adding another axle would increase the capacity but by how much would be hard to figure out unless the manufacturer can tell you just what the frame is rated for.

A lot of travel trailers will have a gross weight that exceeds the axle(s) capacity. The reason, they say, is because the tow vehicle is accepting some of that weight via the tongue weight of the trailer. So what they are saying is that the full vertical load of the trailer is not on its axles alone.

expert reply by: Michael H