Hey ARMOUR, The DOT cops should have been able to tell you what your legalGCVW is for your truck, afterall they are the ones doing the enforcing, thats the least they coulda done for you after writing you up. Another thing if your running commerical plates you can't have offroad lights either!? Know a few guys runnin comm plates had to turn lights around (or install solid light covers) so they can't be turned on and pointed towards oncoming traffic, onhighways, off road is ok. And if the company had you at that weight, I'd have them pay the fine. By the way which scale did ya get nailed at?

 

The fine was for not having a log book and pre-trip inspection book! ($250/ infraction and not having 15 days of records.)

It was the scales at the AB-BC border!

If you have MSN Messenger, send me your contact info!

 

GVW & GCVW are 2 different things.
GVW is what your truck itself is registered for including people, cargo, fuel and whatever else the truck itself is carrying.

GCVW is the max combined total weight of the truck and all its contents and the trailer and all of it's contents.

 

Your GCVW should be in the neighborhood of 24000 lbs (10886 Kg) give or take. It varies by type of cab, engine, transmission, 4x4 or 4x2 and rear axle including ratio. That number is also on your door sticker and is the weigth of the truck with what ever is in it including people, fuel, tools, and the weigth of the trailer. In other words if you drove your rig trailer and all onto the scales, you and your passengers stayed in the cab the total weight must be under the GCVW to be legal.

If you are not towing a trailer, then your loaded vehicle should be under the GVWR number - probably in the 10100 lbs range.

Your unloaded vehicle weight is probably in the range of 7474 lbs. So the payload is GVWR - unloaded vehicle weight or about 2626 lbs. You, your passengers, fuel, the junk in the cab and whatever is in the bed is considered payload.

Your tare weight - tare means weigth of the container would be the normal weigth of the unloaded truck as you operate it. This number is so they can determine the weigth of your cargo.

You also need to keep the weigth between the front and rear axle within legal ranges. These numbers are also on the door sticker.

One of the main reasons to buy a 3500 instead of a 2500 is to stay legal when you tow a heavier trailer especially a fifth wheel that puts more weight on the kingpin. A fifth wheel needs to put 20% to 25% of its weight on the kingpin to be stable when towing. So if you are towing a 10000 lbs fifth wheel you are going to be putting 2000 lbs of weight in the bed.

Good luck
Frank