The Stovebolt Site Forums The Parking Lot Big Bolts Weight needed

Hello guys!
I looking at picking up a 1953 GMC FireBolt! I have the tag from the door. Can anyone tell me what the weight of this truck might be? I have a 10.5K trailer capacity so I want to make sure Im not overloaded.

The tag only gives the rated Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, some of the members that have/had fire trucks can probably give a good guess. My '57 2 ton grain truck weighs about 7200 lbs. empty with a 16,000 lb. GVRW

Well if gross weigh is 19500. And it has a 1000 gallon tank the that’s over 8000 lbs of water so don’t tow it full 😁
You’re already down to 11000 lbs. minus 4 person weight you now down to 10500. Minus fuel weight if it does not have a full tank. Minus a pile of equipment.

I think you would be at 10k Max.


If it has a smaller tank I don’t think you would be over 11k

Without having more info. You

Pulling that kind of weight, you also have to consider if the tow vehicle is capable of that size of load and the tags on it to be legal.
Fire trucks will always out weigh grain trucks when you consider all the extra metal in the bed and the pump that will also be mounted with it.

Mike B. will be along soon and will have some solid facts and experience to share.

Don

You'll also need to consider the terrain you'll be negotiating, and the weight and braking ability of your tow vehicle. Do you have trailer brakes? Towing somewhere flat as a pool table like Kansas and hauling the same weight down "Wolf Creek Pass" is going to require a very different tow vehicle, trailer, and brake setup. Getting moving, and "steering and stopping" safely is a whole different scenario. I had a friend who used to tow a 14 foot jon boat to his favorite fishing hole with his Harley Davidson motorcycle- - - - -at least until Officer Friendly wrote him a bunch of tickets, anyway!
Jerry

Thanks Don! I have a 2020 Silverado HD and that duramax can pull anything. I pull my 13K travel trailer everywhere. The seller was trying to tell me the that the truck weighed 19K. I used to own a full-size American LaFrance pumper that was MUCH bigger than this truck and it weighed 18K. I was just trying to get an ideal weight of this '53
Nate

Definitely not worried about my tow vehicle. If that was the case I would have never created a post about this.
Thanks

Thanks for the information. I've pulled my son's full size Cummins Diesel and I don't think this '53 could weigh more than that
Nate

Nate,

Your 2500 and 10k trailer is *probably* not sufficient for that haul.

You say your trailer is rated for 10k. Is that gross or payload capacity? If its gross, then you have to subtract the weight of the trailer itself -- which for most 10k steel trailers is about 2 to 2.5k (using my 10K steel trailer as a reference), which leaves you a payload of about 7 to 8k lbs -- meaning you'll either be right at max weight (per your estimate) or over weight. Which is not only dangerous, but could be expensive should the nice DOT gentleman invite you to cross his scale.

For what its worth, my '65 GMC firetanker (picture below) had a 1,000-gal tank. To corroborate what HCB and others said above (and below ), with no water, hose or fittings on board, it weighed right around 10K lbs.

As a professional CDL-A driver (I haul excavating equipment and am conversant with loading larger vehicles), it would be my personal opinion that even *if* that truck fits on a 10k trailer, I would strongly advise against hauling it for any distance involving hills or a major highway using a light trailer pulled by a light duty truck (any truck rated 1-ton or less i.e., 3500 or smaller). That rig is still going to be a handful even for an experienced driver -- especially if its a tag-along (on a ball or pintle hitch). That rig as a g/n might be manageable, but as a tag-along .... could be a lot of tail wagging the dog going on.

I once learned (a long time ago) that it is a bad idea to haul with too small of a tow rig. *Could* your rig manage the haul? Maybe. *Should* you try it? I wouldn't.

Stay safe. Do it right.

Thanks,
John

Nate what all this means is.

Most of the guys are always concerned about safety. So please don't take these comments as offending.
We don't have the full picture of your rig or your capabilities or the planned truck route (a 10 mile run vs 700 over mountains) so we are erroring on the side of caution.

That being said your original question of a estimate.
Based on Johns experience with multiple fire trucks of multiple years.

I would go with 10k lbs as the weight of that truck in your figuring out your plans. if that is just the truck no hoses, ladders, fittings or water.

Thanks HCB. Well put and more concise than my answer ...

Also be aware if towing a trailer over 10,000., whether rated or not, requires a CDL. Not sure how strongly this is enforced, just be aware.

Ed Pruss

Additionally, I just looked up the weight of an Advance Design ton and a half cab and chassis (no body) -- 4,290 lbs. The 6400 C&C weighs in at 4,755 lbs.

I think a fire body and pump would add much more than 2,245 lbs ...

(Info comes from the Chevrolet Truck Data Book)

Ed -- BTW, You only need the A license (either CDL or Non CDL) if the total rig is more than 26,000 with a 10k trailer. If trailer is 10k but your under 26k combined, you only need the DOT medical card. For 10K trailers, you *do* need a current DOT Medical, commercial or not.

I don't think that part is heavily enforced. But its more more thing they could write you up for....

I've found that the length of the ticket Dudley Do-Right issues is inversely proportional to how kind his wife has been to him recently!
LOL!
Jerry

No offense taken. I'd rather be safe and not tear up any vehicles or hurt anyone else. I will try to figure out a different way to get it.
Thank you for all of the advice.
Nate

Back in 1980, I towed an 18 foot backhoe trailer with three mobile home axles from central California to Nashville Tennessee with a 1970 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham with a 472 engine, with everything we owned stuffed inside a home-built box.. A truck scale in Nevada made us buy an "over-wide" permit, since the axles were a few inches over the limit. A trip across the scales during the permit process gave a gross combined vehicle weight of 16,700 pounds- - - -with a bit over 10K on the trailer axles. The old Caddy got 5 MPG for 2500+ miles. My wife was following, driving a 59 Suburban with a 1970 307 V8 engine and a SM 420 trans and towing a Datsun 510 station wagon. Both of those vehicles were crammed full clear to the roof. The Burb got 10 MPG- - - -drive 100 miles- - -gas up- - -"rinse and repeat!"
Jerry

@Hot Rod Lincoln the 500cid Cadillac V8 in my C60 school bus in front of an SM420, gets 6-7mpg depending on how heavy my foot is. The rig weighs about 15,000lbs. However I've now got the 5.57 rear gear with which to upgrade from the 6.50, and I think that will help my mileage some. The big V8 has no trouble with mountains, and it also holds me back real nicely going back down the hills. I barely have to touch my brakes.

Those engines are definitely torque monsters. Mine twisted the center out of two automatic transmission flex plates while towing heavily loaded trailers. Didn't damage the Turbo 400 either time- - - -it just quit pulling!
Jerry

My 1957 Chevrolet 10500 Fire Engine came in at 14,400 empty (GVW was 22,000). It had a 500 gpm pump and a 500 gallon tank with a second high pressure pump and was almost 25' long bumper to bumper.

I'm guessing your truck will be in the 10k range...to heavy for your trailer. If it has a bed full of hose that will add a lot to the total weight.

If you're on the east coast, look up Cosgrove's Cartage Inc (Maryland), Tim hauls fire trucks for a living. He's a good guy, if he can't do it he may know someone in your area that can.

Mike B