Hi everyone,

I've been trying to figure out how much weight a truck can tow legally. Suppose that the truck will be registered after I figure out what the max weight I will be hauling.

I think the second gen cummins 1 ton GVRW is 13,300 pounds. So is that what the truck can tow? If you have a ten ton gooseneck trailer behind you with a load that weighs 15,000 pounds is that legally too much weight?

I just dont know how to figure out all this stuff. I've been asking around and I cant get a straight answer.

Thanks!

 

I'll take a stab at explaining it....

the GVWR (not GVRW as you typed it, error i uderstand no biggie) is called the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating which means thats the manufacturers specs for how much your vehicle can weigh legally according to its capabilities. For example, my ram weighs around 5700 lbs i believe and its GVWR is 7500. So that means my ram can haul 1800 lbs and be legal OR if I'm towing a trailer the tongue weight can be up to 1800 lbs but not exceed 1800 as that would put the total legal weight of the truck over the 7500 lbs limit.

There's also GAWR which is Gross Axle Weight Rating. Simply put it is how much weight you can legally put on the axles of the truck and or the weight you can put on them before serious breaking goes down.

There's also GCWR which is Gross Combined Weight Rating and this refers to the combination weight of the truck and trailer. This might be what your looking for... so inside your driver door there should be that sticker that gives you all that weight jazz, so the way i see it is take the GVWR and subtract it from the GCWR and va va voom there's your towing capacity.

Now, those numbers really don't mean anything unless you get stopped by the Crown Vics with the flashing lights. You can tow much more than what is recommended easily, just the manufacturer thinks that if you go more than their specs, damage could occur and handling and braking and so forth are drastically changed, which is correct. So be wise when hauling/towing.

To anybody else, if my reasoning here is off at all feel free to correct me and call me a dumbass! haha. This is what I think of it all so hopefully it helps!

 

I believe I read somewhere the 2nd Gen Ram with the 5.9 and Towing Package had a max capacity of 8,100 LBS.

 

Ok thank you. That does help out alot.

Now if I do end up getting DOT numbers for commercial use, I really better understand this stuff!! I know that I can get some heafty fines it I overload the truck. So I have to go with what the manufacturer says and thats what DOT will look at. Right? Kinda seems like the truck cant legally haul all that much doesnt it?

 

Well yeah I read that too for the gas jobs, but I'm looking into the 1 Ton Cummins. They say 13,300#

 

Yeah theoretically thats why they would look at i would think. And yeah you're right that doesn't seem like a whole lot of weight it can haul. Since you'd be using it for commerical use I would be a bit cautious loading it up like you said

 

15.000 is about max with a solid transmission.

The legal aspect you might want to call the state police or dot they are the one's who inforce it.

 

CTD 5spd, 4x2 depending on model year

GVWR of 10500lbs
Max trailer is 14000lbs
GCWR is 20000lbs (combined max wt rating)
Up to 1200lb tongue weight

 

Alright thanks everyone.

So how the heck do you weigh what the tongue weight is on a gooseneck trailer? I mean there is a spec that the manufacturer gives you i'm sure, but once you add a load on there how to you measure it? I dont know, it just seems like it is very easy to be "over loaded" when it comes to trying to follow the laws.

 

So how the heck do you weigh what the tongue weight is on a gooseneck trailer?

Weigh the truck, hook up the trailer, weigh the truck again, just the truck leave the trailer wheels off the scale. I'm not sure that "tongue weight" is matters in the case of a gooseneck style trailer, I'ld think that you would be limited by max load of combination, and the max axle weight. However you do this you should add a trailer brake controller to be safe.

"Up to 1200lb tongue weight"

Takes a special hitch for this much tongue weight on the rear end, must ball hitch's are rated at 500# max tongue weight.