SRW vs DRW

goldwing....for some reason Ford dropped their Fleet Ford spec website that covered 2000 on up to current Ford trucks.
The only one I found is their new websites but covers 2014 and up trucks.

Any Ford gurus know how to access the old fleet fordbbas.com website for 2000 and up trucks. Their was a wealth of mechanical specs in those pages. The info he seeks should be in that web.

If you need a law enforcement officer to ticket you in order to ensure you're loading your truck safely, I don't really know what to say.

A LEO will not cannot ticket anyone for carrying weight above the truck makers GVWR. The reason he cannot is their are no state/fed overweight codes for exceeding the truck makers GVWR.

I've got several states size and weight codes for vehicle weights. Their all worded differently but point in the same direction as this one; ..used for example only...
(c) Gross weight.--No vehicle or combination shall be driven
with a gross weight in excess of the sum of the allowable axle
weights as set forth in this section, nor shall any vehicle or
combination be driven with a gross weight in excess of the sum
of the manufacturer's rated axle capacities.**

Sorry OP for the weight hijack.

klr650goldwing wrote:
Thanks everyone. There is a wealth of information here. I checked the weight tag on my truck and found the following information: GVWR 9900, FRONT GAWR 5200, REAR GAWR 6830. I don't know how to calculate total towing capacity from those numbers. I bought this truck new. When new it had 3.73 differential gearing. I had those gears changed to 4.56. That increased the towing capacity of the truck, but I don't remember how the truck shop calculated those numbers. Can anyone determine the maximum weight 5er this truck can tow?

Well if you go by GVWR, likely about 12,000#

Until recently towed a 12,500# 5er with our 2001 Ram 2500, the TV scaled at 10,500# with 5er. so you would be about 600# over your GVWR. I chose to just step up to a 2016 Ram 3500 DRW, now my GVWR is 14,000# and huge max trailer and GCVWR.

twodownzero wrote:

It doesn't matter what your state says. If you're over your GVWR, you're overloaded.
If you need a law enforcement officer to ticket you in order to ensure you're loading your truck safely, I don't really know what to say.

Please! Let's stick with what is actually the law and not what someone think the law says or wishes the law said just to support their unsupported argument. People who spout off that stuff have never read a law or most likely even know where to look for it even if they could understand what they read.
No LEO is going to give him a ticket for being over the manufacturer's GVWR. There's a very simple reason why. The manufacturer's GVWR is a rating by the manufacturer. It's not a legal weight limit. Manufacturers do not make the law. It is a non-enforceable rating used only by the manufacturer for their ratings. It's not a legal document and has no bearing on legal weights.
I didn't get my knowledge from listening to some fat guy in a flannel shirt sitting around a campfire. I taught truck laws and weight laws for a lot of years. I was recognized by the courts and FMCS as an expert in truck laws and weights. If a person is going to use a legal comment to support their personal opinion then post the statute. At least it might show the person knows what they're talking about.

Thanks everyone. There is a wealth of information here. I checked the weight tag on my truck and found the following information: GVWR 9900, FRONT GAWR 5200, REAR GAWR 6830. I don't know how to calculate total towing capacity from those numbers. I bought this truck new. When new it had 3.73 differential gearing. I had those gears changed to 4.56. That increased the towing capacity of the truck, but I don't remember how the truck shop calculated those numbers. Can anyone determine the maximum weight 5er this truck can tow?

Me Again wrote:

twodownzero wrote:

GAWR does not matter in the real world. You will not overload an axle before you overload the GVWR.

RGAWR ratings matter. A lot of states could care less about the manufactures GVWR and license vehicle higher.

RGAWR is most often set by the load capacity of the tires. Exceeding RGAWR with a 5th wheel is the main concern. 99.9 % of pin weight goes on the rear axle of the TV. We have a resident weigh master on the forum that has many times said the LEOs could care less about the manufacture GVWR.

We tow/towed a 16K 5th wheel with a 2015 RAM 3500 SRW, loaded for full timing and choose a model that has a lower dry pin weight of 2435. This is a 39'4" Bighorn high profile 5th wheel.

Your older SRW 350 is not as capable as the newer 350/3500's.

It doesn't matter what your state says. If you're over your GVWR, you're overloaded.

If you need a law enforcement officer to ticket you in order to ensure you're loading your truck safely, I don't really know what to say.

By your logic, my older 3500 is just as capable as a newer truck because it has tires that will support more than its axle weight ratings (and indeed as much as any newer 1 ton SRW truck), and therefore its GVWR, according to you, is irrelevant. All I have to do is move back to Illinois, where they required me to plate my truck for 12,000 lbs because their plates are 8k or 12k, with non in-between. The axle assembly itself is rated for way more than the tires, so by your logic, I'm entirely safe to load the truck significantly beyond its GVWR. It has factory overload springs that don't even touch their pads until it is overloaded, so I doubt you'll have anything legitimate to say about the rear springs and their support capacity.

Yet if I loaded my rear axle to its rating (whatever that is, likely 6400 pounds), I would be overloaded by something like 1,000 pounds.

Trucks have many ratings. If any one of them is over, it's overloaded. It can be a tire, an axle, the GVWR, GCWR, all of the above, etc. The only way it is not overloaded is if none of those ratings are exceeded. In your world, GVWR is the sum of the axle ratings. In reality, that is not true for pickup trucks. Your logic would be especially dangerous for a dual wheel truck, because the tire ratings exceed the hard parts by a pretty substantial margin.

It is not possible to load my truck to its rear GAWR without busting the GVWR by a long way first. Thus, its consideration, in real world numbers off the scale, is irrelevant. Such is even more true for a 3/4 ton truck of a similar year, which has 1,100 pounds less payload/GVWR to begin with.

I could probably pull the 5er you describe if they didn't lie about the actual numbers. It would have to be carefully loaded to keep the weight on the trailer axles, which is perfectly legitimate.

BTW, most states do not care about RVs and weight. The chance of you getting busted is **** near zero anywhere I've traveled. But the potential liability if you crash while knowingly overloaded could land you a huge lawsuit, no insurance coverage, and even in prison for a felony if someone is seriously hurt or dies. I would definitely never, ever tempt that.

klr650goldwing wrote:
Is there a general rule regarding how much weight is okay for SRW and how much is too much? We are thinking of a larger 5er and not sure how much larger will require a new truck too.

Well why not future proof yourself and get a DRW and not worry when looking.

If you didn't see this, it is a size comparison between our 2001 Ram Laramie 2500, and our new to us 2016 Ram Laramie 3500 DRW. Yes, it is a bit longer and a tad wider at the hips, but just not that much bigger!

Size Comparison 2001 Ram 2500 to a 2016 Ram Laramie DRW.

twodownzero wrote:

GAWR does not matter in the real world. You will not overload an axle before you overload the GVWR.

RGAWR ratings matter. A lot of states could care less about the manufactures GVWR and license vehicle higher.

RGAWR is most often set by the load capacity of the tires. Exceeding RGAWR with a 5th wheel is the main concern. 99.9 % of pin weight goes on the rear axle of the TV. We have a resident weigh master on the forum that has many times said the LEOs could care less about the manufacture GVWR.

We tow/towed a 16K 5th wheel with a 2015 RAM 3500 SRW, loaded for full timing and choose a model that has a lower dry pin weight of 2435. This is a 39'4" Bighorn high profile 5th wheel.

Your older SRW 350 is not as capable as the newer 350/3500's.

ourjeeps wrote:
Having owned both SRW and DRW 1-ton diesel pickups, we'd say if you're pulling any substantial weight - go with the dually for safety, stability, and towing capacity.

Yes, as mentioned city parking is a pain. Yes you eventually have six not four tires to replace, Yes checking air pressure w/o extensions is a pain (so get some, tire pressure is critically important). Yes, as mentioned you can't use standard car washes... between hand washes, we just endure a slightly dirty truck.

OK - the story why we prefer dually's (now) for towing now after years of SRW towing - We were pulling a properly loaded wide-body, high capacity, 16-foot enclosed dual-axle trailer with a 1-ton SRW long bed, crew cab, diesel - a 2002 F-350 7.3L that we loved as original owners.

At freeway speed, the wife (driving) had a rear-wheel, full (60 degree) tread separation (tire carcass held) on the rear passenger-side BFG tire (Load Range E 80 PSI, properly inflated, not overloaded, not abused, 2-year old tire, nearly full tread) which was enough to throw the truck and trailer into a oscillation that almost caused us to leave the road surface (dual lane, separated freeway with shoulders) the safety chains held but the trailer tongue eventually decoupled from the ball, and the trailer ended up on its side on the road surface. The truck bed and tail pipe were severely damaged between the tire damage and trailer impacts to truck bed sides and tailgate. The trailer body and doors held, but one axle was bent.

Any way, several nice semi-truck drivers who saw the accident happening, pro-actively blocked the highway with their rigs to prevent secondary collisions. The wife was not cited by Arizona DPS's finest, who were only concerned about 1) our safety, 2) clearing the road, and 3) getting traffic moving again. If this had happened in the People's Republik to the west... well never mind...

Several friends with yes, fat-wide dually's - told us if this had happened with a dually, you'd calmly pull over to the shoulder and change a tire. Well as a result of the near-fatal incident, we now have a diesel dually as a tow vehicle, and personally comparing SRW and DRW, the increased stability is very noticeable, and no real change in ride quality/comfort (we're talking one-ton trucks right?!?! ;-) ). Ford's new "Sound Screen" acoustic glass on the higher-end rigs makes the cab much quieter at freeway speeds. If you ever crack a SS windshield or break a SS side window it's more expensive to replace however...

Can't say we love the DEF fluid, occasional city parking, and we're too wide for a standard car wash. But it tows GREAT and we're much safer if something goes wrong. We always say a safety prayer for the drivers/owners/families of large 5-ers and toy haulers with SRW tow vehicles, when they go by, or headed the other way, on the other side of the highway.

BTW, a body repair tip - if you ever get your truck bed severely damaged in an accident, look for a local "utility bed" company they usually have or know of, a yard full of new truck beds waiting for a new home.

We put a color-matching brand new 2016 steel take-off bed on our 2002 F-350 truck for 25% of what a body shop wanted. On the Ford Super Duty's, the bed bolt pattern/mounts and body lines matched from 1999-2016. The yard we patronized, had new Dodge, Chevy and Ford take-off beds stacked up ready to go. Always best to have a white truck too. Most work trucks are OEM white, hence most take-off beds are OEM white.

Ive seen pictures of trucks with duals on the front axle too. Have you dualled up your front?

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