Max weight

[Mad Cow]

I have a 3/4 ton Chevy, but I did pull a set of gravity grain wagons with my step dad's 2001 Chevy 1/2 ton. I guess the wagons total cumulative weight was somewhere around 23,000 lb. Pulled them for about 43 miles. The engine was the 5.3 vortec.

I have pulled similar with my 3/4 ton with a 6.0 and 4.10. I did with my '98 3/4 with a 454 and 4.10.

Keep in mind, while that is a lot of weight, there is only about 100 lb on the hitch via the draw bar. We have done some pretty wild things with pickup trucks out here in the corn patch of Iowa. My step dad was so adept at putting a pickup thru some of the worse stuff to ever do to a pickup.

[spydernut]

Use the Trailer Life Towing Guides used by many RV Dealers. Look them up:
Trailer Towing Guides | How to tow safely | Trailer Life

Be Safe!

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by spydernut

Use the Trailer Life Towing Guides used by many RV Dealers. Look them up:
Trailer Towing Guides | How to tow safely | Trailer Life

Be Safe!

I much rather use the manufacturers towing guides, than TL's.
Theirs list all the variations and configuration.
I know TL's Towing Guide Ford section, doesn't come close to Ford's Towing Guide specs.

[RZ406]

Can someone answer a question for me on why some people buy a trailer with a dry weight the same as the maximum tow capacity of their tow vehicle? They think that if they put a WDH on the trailer that they can haul a lot more than the max the vehicle can tow. A weight distribution hitch doesn't make it so you can bring every thing out of the house when you go on vacation. It just spreads the weight evenly through out both the TV and the trailer to keep things safe and level.

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by RZ406

Can someone answer a question for me on why some people buy a trailer with a dry weight the same as the maximum tow capacity of their tow vehicle? They think that if they put a WDH on the trailer that they can haul a lot more than the max the vehicle can tow. A weight distribution hitch doesn't make it so you can bring every thing out of the house when you go on vacation. It just spreads the weight evenly through out both the TV and the trailer to keep things safe and level.

i think a large number of people pay NO attention to weight or tow numbers. they just don't care.

[Larry0071]

Originally Posted by bikendan

i think a large number of people pay NO attention to weight or tow numbers. they just don't care.

BINGO! Winner, Winner! Chicken Dinner!

Most people I know who own and use trucks use the "If it fits, it ships" mentality. If they can hitch to it, if they can pull it... they do not have thoughts about silly ratings and scales. They have a truck and have a job to get done. They aren't going to buy a new truck every time a new recommended limit is exceeded. Nope. Hook it and floor it.

I am a middle ground person, I'll go rogue and break the weight limit when it needs to be done, but I really try not to be in that situation if it is avoidable. Last year I needed a New Holland C232 track skid steer at my house, my buddy who owns it is 4 miles away and he was out on a job. I ran over with my Ram and used his 14K gross trailer of unknown weight and loaded a 10,600 LB C232 on it and brought it home. My truck towed it with no issues, it didn't "feel" over loaded by way of power or brakes.

Interesting enough, I notice the camper behind me much more, at half the weight of that skid steer than the skid steer. The camper is very "active" with air pressures and flows pushing the camper and truck suddenly at times while when hauling a machine or a Jeep you never get this. A camper at half the weight seems to be many times more "white knuckle inducing" than a heavy or overloaded normal equipment hauler.

I do always enjoy reading all of the various opinions in these trailer/truck towing threads. There are folks who have so many degrees of opinion, and honestly it has an effect of influencing and reshaping my opinion. I guess that to some extent I am becoming more alert to the legality, problems and solutions to towing various loads using various attachment devices that I did not realize existed.

I'm also considering doing a 3/4 ton next time. Not because my truck sucks at it's job, but because my trucks payload rating puts me really close or over that taboo legality line. My truck tows, handles and brakes like a beast. But I have this nagging thing in the back of my mind about this whole legality thing.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Originally Posted by bikendan

i think a large number of people pay NO attention to weight or tow numbers. they just don't care.

Guess you caught me. I spend my time camping...not number crunching. Now that the TT is up for sale, not really an issue for me anymore. Got a 10' utility trailer and a Polaris 400HO to tow around. Already had it on the new Colorado and damn that truck did a great job.

[Bobaloo]

Ask this guy.

[Old Bill]

Originally Posted by rp53

OK guys i know a lot of you tow with a 1500-150 series truck, what is the max weight you would tow with your Chevy, ford, gmc, dodge
what is your engine size and your gearing

Here is my setup. It handles, pulls and stops safely and effortlessly.

[Tireman9]

Originally Posted by rp53

I'm well aware of what I can tow with my Sierra but I see so many 1/2 tons towing huge TT's even 5th wheels I am just curious what others will tow. Sorry if I offended you somehow

Just because some choose to ignore what has been established with testing as a safe and reasonable limit for their TV by the vehicle mfg doesn't make it a good idea to not follow the guidelines for your particular vehicle (see above post on how to learn what you can tow safely)
One thing many forget is that you might be able to pull xxx# but when it comes to an emergency stop you might end up driving right over a small car, and its passengers, in front of you because you decided it was OK since you could eventually get up to speed on a flat road.
I bet very few, if any, have ever done even a 1/2 "Emergency stop" test with your TT fully loaded, never mind a full-on 60 mph to 0 with TV brakes locked up and ABS on 100% of the stop.
Note I am not advocating you try this as IMO I believe some of you might end up with damage or worse, injured. But please at least think about more than just being able to pull the load.


This is a bit like the folks that lower the air pressure in their tires to get smoother ride and think all is OK if the tires don't "Blowout" in the first 100 miles.

[67L48]

Originally Posted by bikendan

i think a large number of people pay NO attention to weight or tow numbers. they just don't care.

That. Also, the consequence of overloading your trailer isn't that it immediately snaps off the hitch bar or something.

I load it up. It sits there OK. I start driving away and my TV seems to pull it. I pull up to the light and I was able to stop just fine. Done and done. Onward we go!

The real consequence is cumulative and insidious. Best examples are to watch YouTube videos of overloaded cranes and semi trucks/hauling trucks. Those things feel and seem to be fine right up to the point where they don't/aren't. Things start folding up, tipping, etc.

[kraut]

Originally Posted by rp53

OK guys i know a lot of you tow with a 1500-150 series truck, what is the max weight you would tow with your Chevy, ford, gmc, dodge
what is your engine size and your gearing

Go on here and look for year, model, vehicle, 2wd or 4wd, engine etc. and it will tell you what they can tow. You have to scroll past all the ads etc. before you get to the listing. Trailer Towing Guides | How to tow safely | Trailer Life

[bikendan]

Originally Posted by kraut

Go on here and look for year, model, vehicle, 2wd or 4wd, engine etc. and it will tell you what they can tow. You have to scroll past all the ads etc. before you get to the listing. Trailer Towing Guides | How to tow safely | Trailer Life

You're better off by looking at your vehicle manufacturer's Towing Guide, if you have a Ford, Chevy/GMC or Dodge. TL's Guide has a lot of gaps in their numbers.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Originally Posted by Tireman9

Just because some choose to ignore what has been established with testing as a safe and reasonable limit for their TV by the vehicle mfg doesn't make it a good idea to not follow the guidelines for your particular vehicle (see above post on how to learn what you can tow safely)
One thing many forget is that you might be able to pull xxx# but when it comes to an emergency stop you might end up driving right over a small car, and its passengers, in front of you because you decided it was OK since you could eventually get up to speed on a flat road.
I bet very few, if any, have ever done even a 1/2 "Emergency stop" test with your TT fully loaded, never mind a full-on 60 mph to 0 with TV brakes locked up and ABS on 100% of the stop.
Note I am not advocating you try this as IMO I believe some of you might end up with damage or worse, injured. But please at least think about more than just being able to pull the load.


This is a bit like the folks that lower the air pressure in their tires to get smoother ride and think all is OK if the tires don't "Blowout" in the first 100 miles.

I bet very few, if any, have ever done even a 1/2 "Emergency stop" test with your TT fully loaded, never mind a full-on 60 mph to 0 with TV brakes locked up and ABS on 100% of the stop.




I get what you're saying, but TV brakes locked up ?? ABS 100% on ?? ABS prevents your wheels from locking up and I always test my controller to prevent the TT brakes from locking up.

[frank4711]

Originally Posted by kraut

Go on here and look for year, model, vehicle, 2wd or 4wd, engine etc. and it will tell you what they can tow. You have to scroll past all the ads etc. before you get to the listing. Trailer Towing Guides | How to tow safely | Trailer Life

Yep ... 2019 Ram 5.7 standard bed QCab 3.92 ... Max Tow 11,690 .... would never tow that much with my Ram ... my specific truck actually says 11,610 ...

[doc73]

Originally Posted by TitanMike

The vehicle door sticker is a good place to look for max weight capacities for the specific vehicle involved. No guessing on which model or equipment package the "book" is talking about.

Front and rear axles are shown separately with a combined number for the tow vehicle. Also listed is the gross combined vehicle weight which is simply the truck and trailer weights combined.

The GCWR only shows what the factory says the truck is capable of moving down the road. Doesn't necessarily mean that's what one should be driving down the highway.


Mfr of my truck states I can tow a 9300# trailer. That's OK, I feel totally comfortable towing one that weighs 3,000# less.

Do they give the gcwr? I don't think mine has anything about gcwr on mine. Just payload, axle weight, gvwr and tire related stuff depending on the stickers looked at.

[MisterVick]

Was curious about my Tundra purchase recently and where it stacks up with 150(1500)-250(2500)-350(3500) naming convention and so on. Bottom line is a truck, in this case my Tundra, with a GVWR of 6,001 - 10,000 pounds is a Class II truck according to DOT.

Further, the article I read stated the previously mentioned naming game is a hold-over from days when the first available trucks were compared to their horse-drawn counterparts for their capacity. So 150-1500 were compared to half-ton wagons, 250-2500 to three quarter-ton wagons and so on.

Beyond that capacities are largely a function of displacement, horse power, torque, gearing, braking and so on within that Class II designation of which there are currently eight DOT classes.

[Bob.n.Denise]

Many years ago, had a first gen Tacoma and would occasionally pull an enclosed 6x12 motorcycle trailer loaded with a BMW R1200GS and several bicycles. It would pull it, but it was stressful. Vacations are supposed to be fun, right? So I purposely went overkill with the current truck, and find the traveling is so much more pleasant.

[Docjava]

Seen some looking for info on their vehicle. Since there are many different versions of the same vehicle I found the best way to find out the exact info on your vehicle is to find the RPO code sticker in your vehicle and look them up. They will tell you exactly what your vehicle is equipped with, then you can also use info from a site like I have used listed below. I am very satisfied with my PU but I also add to my vehicles the Monroe Max Air HD air shocks. They can add quite a bit of extra towing and cargo/hitch capacity.

http://mccormickmotors.com/media/doc...ter_Entire.pdf

[rockfordroo]

Originally Posted by RZ406

Can someone answer a question for me on why some people buy a trailer with a dry weight the same as the maximum tow capacity of their tow vehicle? They think that if they put a WDH on the trailer that they can haul a lot more than the max the vehicle can tow. A weight distribution hitch doesn't make it so you can bring every thing out of the house when you go on vacation. It just spreads the weight evenly through out both the TV and the trailer to keep things safe and level.

Because a lot of newbies don't have a clue what dry weight really is, and their salesman looks out in the parking lot and sees "a pickup truck," and says, "Oh your truck can pull this!"

Of course, the salesman has no clue if the truck has a 4,000 lb tow capacity or a 12,000 lb tow capacity or something in between. He also has no clue what the allowable payload is.