scmedic1614

Can someone explain towing capacity and gvwr, gcwr and what not? The only thing I've ever really towed with a truck was a 16' aluminum bass tracker and a small pop up camper.

KR Kodi

iTrader: (1)

The "max loaded trailer weight" in the "sales" brochures are BS!! That weight is determined with a zero options/no frills truck with a skinny 150 lb driver. Any truck with any normal comfort/convenience options will only be able to pull a trailer a couple thousand lbs less than the "sales" brochure or towing guide weights.


The thing that will generally determine the max weight trailer you can tow is the PAYLOAD CAPACITY of the truck. Every truck is unique based on its installed options. The payload capacity is on a sticker on the driver's side door (actually the tire sticker with yellow on it). The payload capacity is for a completely empty truck with nothing in it - except it does include a full tank of gas.


Anything added after the truck is off the assembly line (bed liner, tonneau, cap, bullbar, etc.) must be subtracted from the payload capacity listed on the sticker.


There's another sticker on the driver's side door as well - it's the "Truck Safety Certification Label", and will have the GVWR, the front and rear GAWRs, and some other info (installed rear axle code is at the bottom of the sticker).


Here are my stickers:





GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) is the most that your truck can weigh without being overloaded.


GAWR (Gross Axle Weight Rating) is the max weight each axle can carry.


GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating) is the max COMBINED weight of your rig - the truck and trailer together.


Payload Capacity is, as it states on the yellow tire sticker, "combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed xxxx lbs", which in my case means that if I load the truck with 1115 lbs of people and stuff, the truck will be right up at my GVWR.


GVWR minus payload capacity will be the empty weight of the truck (except for a full tank of gas).


WDH (Weight Distributing Hitch) will be required for any tongue weight more than 500 lbs. It redistributes some of the tongue weight forward to the front axle and back to the trailer's axle/axles.


Tongue Weight is the weight of the tongue of the trailer that will push down on the hitch receiver of your truck. Tongue weight will count as part of the "payload". It's just the same as if you put people in the cab or cargo in the bed - tongue weight pushes down on the suspension of the truck therefore counts as part of your payload.


Tongue weight should generally be between 10% to 15% of the loaded trailer's weight, with about 12% being a common number.


So....how does that all work???


In my case I've got 1115 lbs of payload capacity. My bed liner and tonneau weigh 95 lbs, so that takes me down to 1020 for people and cargo in the cab and bed.


After my wife and I load up, with her luggage and snack cooler in the cab, and about 200 lbs of tools and track support stuff in the bed (I pull a car hauler trailer to get my Vette to track events), all that amounts to maybe 600 lbs - so subtracting that from 1020 I'm left with 420 lbs for tongue weight. Divide 420 by 12% (420/.12) and that equals 3500 lbs for a max weight trailer I can pull.


One other thing that would need to be figured in if I were able to handle more than a 5000 lb trailer would be the weight of the WDH head. You attach the hitch head to the truck's hitch receiver before hooking up the trailer, so it's another weight that will go toward using up your payload. They're usually 50 lbs or more.


If you're pulling a heavy trailer, after you've done your math and think you're within all the limits, you'll need to load up your truck with what will be in it when towing, load up your trailer, take the rig to your local CAT scales to see what everything actually weighs so you know you're within the weight limit ratings of your truck.

BTW - the "sales" brochure specs say that for my truck the max loaded trailer weight I can pull is 9600 lbs. Yeah, right!!!!! You can see from the above info on my truck that 3500 to 4000 lbs is more the reality!!

.

scmedic1614

Thanks dude. That's what I was thinking But I wasn't really sure. like I said. Kinda new to the really big towing game.

brulaz

This question gets asked repeatedly in the forum.
KR Kodi's explanation is clear and precise.
(And he has repeated it many times)
How do we get it added as a sticky ??

130428

damn [MENTION=152307]KR Kodi[/MENTION], either you are a really patient guy, or you have this saved somewhere and just copy / paste it every time.
This has been talked about, stickied, argued, debated in over 100 threads, and lo and behold, there's even a goddamn towing section in this forum!!!!

scmedic1614

Thanks. I'll make sure I read through every post before I ever ask another question on here.

130428

that would be a good start

scmedic1614

Thanks to KR Kodi for his very informative answer. I apologize for not reading through every page of the's forums before asking a question. It won't happen again, trust me.

brulaz

Well, the search function *is* useful

But really, you are not alone, and Kodi's response really should be a sticky so it's easier to find.

Cheers ...

Franchi Motorsports

iTrader: (9)

Let me run this by rest of staff and see if I can get KR post stickied...