Vehicle Rating

[CampingMyLifeAway]

If i take the GCWR of my vehicle (7,694 lbs) and subtract the GVWR (4,630 lbs) will that tell me how much weight i can tow ?The campers shipping weight is 2,632 lbs.

[doc73]

Simple answer yes, that would tell you how much you can tow before you hit that max GCWR. But you also need to look at your payload and your actual vehicle weight as ready to camp. The trailer will also never weight 2600lbs as you will add stuff. Even a little bit of stuff adds quickly.

[TheGerman]

Well sorta. As doc73 alluded to, you also need to account for the tongue weight of the trailer that counts towards the payload of the tow vehicle. You need some 'room' in the tow vehicle weight before hooking up the trailer to account for the tongue weight. However that weight is now part of GVWR and you still have GCWR - GVWR for the axle weight of the trailer.

Example with your numbers: There is ~ 3000 lbs difference between GCWR and GVWR. If you have a 3500 lbs trailer with 500 lbs tongue weight you'd carry 500 lbs within the GVWR and 3000 lbs count towards GCWR.

Note that this is purely a math example, seeing that the tow vehicle only has 4630 GVWR 500 lbs of tongue weight is a lot and might not leave much for occupants and cargo. The manufacturer will have max tongue weight and max trailer weight numbers published.

[Kaadk]

You can't subtract one from the other to see about towable weight. Many different factors come into play, but here's two simplified formulas to use to start with:

1) GCWR - Weight of fully loaded vehicle = total weight of trailer you can tow.
2) GVWR - Weight of fully loaded vehicle = how much of that trailer's weight can be on the tongue.

Lastly, you want the tongue weight to be within 12-15% or so of trailer weight. So, even though you may have room left in the GCVW, your GVWR might stop you.

Here's an example. Let's say you have your GVWR from above, 4630 lbs. Let's say fully loaded your vehicle weighs 4300 lbs. Leaves you with 330 lbs. In order for 330 lbs to be within 15%, the trailer would need to be under 2200 lbs.

Let's take another look at it. The trailer you want is, 2632 dry. Figure a ballpark of 1000 lbs of weight, 3632 lbs. 15% of that is 545 lbs (rounded). Take your GVWR from above, 4630 - 545 = maximum loaded vehicle weight, ready to go camping of 4085. Through in a WDH cause the tongue weights over 500 lbs, figure 75 lbs for the hitch, down to 4010 lbs.

It can be confusing, especially with low numbers like you're dealing with, but there are some online tools you can leverage to help you with all the math:

1. Towing Planner - towing capability calculators
2. Travel Trailer Weight Calculator
3. https://www.huskytow.com/towing-calculator/

I prefer the first one, because the owner of that site lays the information out in an easy to read format, but all three a good for calculating what you can really tow.

[DieselDrax]

Originally Posted by TheGerman

Example with your numbers: There is ~ 3000 lbs difference between GCWR and GVWR. If you have a 3500 lbs trailer with 500 lbs tongue weight you'd carry 500 lbs within the GVWR and 3000 lbs count towards GCWR.

I’m not sure if you meant to word it that way, but your wording seems to imply GVWR and GCWR are unrelated. GVWR is part of GCWR, if you have a 3,500LB trailer then the tongue weight counts towards tow vehicle GVWR and the entire 3,500LB also gets added to the GCWR. You don’t get to apply 500LB towards GVWR and only 3000 towards GCWR, the C is “Combined.” It’s the weight of the tow vehicle plus the weight of the trailer. I’m sure you know this but your wording wasn’t clear.

You can be over GVWR and under GCWR and vice versa, but you can’t make weight disappear.

[Airdale]

The simple answer is to add the trailer's GVWR to the tow vehicle's GVWR. If those combined weights exceed the tow vehicles official GCWR you need to lower your trailer expectations to a GVWR that will work.

Complications arise when you marry the two together and find that the trailer weight carried by tow vehicle causes the tow vehicle to exceed it's GVWR. It happens quite often with SRW tow vehicles.

[TheGerman]

Originally Posted by DieselDrax

I’m not sure if you meant to word it that way, but your wording seems to imply GVWR and GCWR are unrelated.

Yeah I rephrased it like 5 times and I guess it only made sense to me in the end . What I was trying to convey to the OP is that the trailer weight is not limited to GCWR - GVWR but a little more as tongue weight goes into the GVWR calculation.

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by CampingMyLifeAway

If i take the GCWR of my vehicle (7,694 lbs) and subtract the GVWR (4,630 lbs) will that tell me how much weight i can tow ?The campers shipping weight is 2,632 lbs.

Also keep in mind the trailers shipping weight is that little only once when it leaves the factory. Looking at the gross weight of the trailer will give you closer to the actual weight of the trailer once your gear, propane etc is added.

Also don't not forget to add the weight of the passengers, pets and any gear that is in the TV into the equation. I would weigh your TV with passengers etc. to get an idea of where to start.

Without knowing more I would guess that the trailer you are looking at will max. out or overload your TV.

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by Kaadk

You can't subtract one from the other to see about towable weight. Many different factors come into play, but here's two simplified formulas to use to start with:

1) GCWR - Weight of fully loaded vehicle = total weight of trailer you can tow.
2) GVWR - Weight of fully loaded vehicle = how much of that trailer's weight can be on the tongue.

.

I think you mean + not =

[Kaadk]

Originally Posted by Oaklevel

I think you mean + not =

No, I meant =.

You take GCWR, subtract the weight of the tow vehicle fully loaded including passengers, and that equals the remaining available weight rating, which should be the maximum weight of a loaded trailer.

[thebrakeman]

If you subtract GVWR from GCVWR, you are being ultra-conservative, and you will likely cheat yourself on towing.


GCVWR - vehicle empty weight = what I call "hauling weight". That is, it's the amount of weight you can place within and/or behind the vehicle. But note that you can't necessarily put all of that weight behind the vehicle, as there is a MAX tow rating. There are some vehicles that will allow 500 lbs or more in the vehicle, while towing at the MAX trailer rating.


So, start with GCVWR, and subtract all known weights:
7694 - empty/curb wgt of vehicle = hauling ability
hauling ability - empty camper (2640) = capacity for people and stuff in both vehicles
subtract the weight of all people, and you are left with capacity for stuff

[Airdale]

Originally Posted by thebrakeman

If you subtract GVWR from GCVWR, you are being ultra-conservative, and you will likely cheat yourself on towing.


GCVWR - vehicle empty weight = what I call "hauling weight". That is, it's the amount of weight you can place within and/or behind the vehicle. But note that you can't necessarily put all of that weight behind the vehicle, as there is a MAX tow rating. There are some vehicles that will allow 500 lbs or more in the vehicle, while towing at the MAX trailer rating.


So, start with GCVWR, and subtract all known weights:
7694 - empty/curb wgt of vehicle = hauling ability
hauling ability - empty camper (2640) = capacity for people and stuff in both vehicles
subtract the weight of all people, and you are left with capacity for stuff

Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating (GCVWR): The GCVWR is defined as the maximum weight of a loaded vehicle and its attached loaded trailer. And like the other weight ratings, the vehicle's manufacturer calculates the numbers.

However, there are options. My particular tow vehicle has a 22,500# GCWR with a 3.73 differential and auto transmission. I chose the 4.10 differential with my tow package because that option raised my GCWR to 23,500#. Our scaled weights hover around 23,000#. I could possibly get it down to 22.5K by leaving the wife’s shoes in storage, hehehe!

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by Kaadk

No, I meant =.

You take GCWR, subtract the weight of the tow vehicle fully loaded including passengers, and that equals the remaining available weight rating, which should be the maximum weight of a loaded trailer.

But that is not what you said

You said "GCWR - Weight of fully loaded vehicle = total weight of trailer you can tow. " How can the GCWR Weight of the fully loaded vehicle equal the total weight of the trailer you are towing ??

And

How " GVWR - Weight of fully loaded vehicle = how much of that trailer's weight can be on the tongue.

How can the GVWR weight of the fully loaded vehicle equal how weight is on the the tongue.

[Kaadk]

Originally Posted by Oaklevel

But that is not what you said

You said "GCWR - Weight of fully loaded vehicle = total weight of trailer you can tow. " How can the GCWR Weight of the fully loaded vehicle equal the total weight of the trailer you are towing ??

And

How " GVWR - Weight of fully loaded vehicle = how much of that trailer's weight can be on the tongue.

How can the GVWR weight of the fully loaded vehicle equal how weight is on the the tongue.

As you quoted, I stated: "GCWR - Weight of fully loaded vehicle = total weight of trailer you can tow. "

GCWR minus (that's the minus symbol) the weight of the fully loaded vehicle = total weight of the trailer you can tow. So If

GCWR = 8000
Weight of the fully loaded vehicle = 6000

You take

8000 - 6000 = 2000

You can tow up to 2000 lbs of trailer before exceeding your GCWR.

[Oaklevel]

Originally Posted by Kaadk

As you quoted, I stated: "GCWR - Weight of fully loaded vehicle = total weight of trailer you can tow. "

GCWR minus (that's the minus symbol) the weight of the fully loaded vehicle = total weight of the trailer you can tow. So If

GCWR = 8000
Weight of the fully loaded vehicle = 6000

You take

8000 - 6000 = 2000

You can tow up to 2000 lbs of trailer before exceeding your GCWR.

Sorry I took your minus symbol to be a dash. I was confused as I know that you knew better.

[Kaadk]

Originally Posted by Oaklevel

Sorry I took your minus symbol to be a dash. I was confused as I know that you knew better.

Not a problem, now that you mentioned dash, I could see how it could be interpreted as such. Hopefully our back and forth helped clear it up for others reading this.