max capacity tow buffer
10+ years ago when my family first started towing the rule of thumb was leave 15% off of your vehicles maximum tow capacity as a safety buffer to prevent overloading and overtaxing your tow vehicle. ...
Forum Discussion
One can generally speaking IMHO go over the gcwr of a given rig, tow safely UP TO the highest rated drivetrain of a given chassis. IE, if you have a V6 vs a mid 5L with twice the tow rating. You can more than likely tow at the double the rating and be fine. Yes, been there done that. Only it was an I6 vs a BBv8. The I6 generally did better at slower speeds up steeper grades. The BB V8 with an auto would stall out on 20+% grades at 12K lbs, The I6 would go up the hill at 12K lbs, yet had a gcwr equal to the gvwr of the truck, 8600 lbs vs the BB with a 16K gcwr.
You can be unsafe UNDER tow rating too. Towed an 8K trailer with my MDT dumptruck, loaded the bobcat wrong, ie no hitch wt, dang near took me off the road. Put the bobcat correctly on the trailer, no issues! Yes I am WAY under the max for that truck at 8K lbs of trailer.
I generally will not tow over 2x the grawr of the rig. A 15 series with a 3K-4K RA, max would be 6-8K lbs of trailer, as long as I am under axel limits. Same with 25 series rigs with 6-7K axels, max 12-14K trailer.
I've towed many miles with my 96 K3500 with a 12500 gcwr ALL because it had the NV4500 in it, vs the TH400/4L80E auto. It towed faster, did not overheat as much, could pull a steeper grade without stalling out etc. Not sure why it was rated less....I towed upwards of 12K worth of equipment trailer with a bobcat and mini trackhoe on it, no issues.
Properly setup, one can pull more than one thinks. Problem is, will it meet your performance specs vs the engineers that say what it can tow!
marty
You can be unsafe UNDER tow rating too. Towed an 8K trailer with my MDT dumptruck, loaded the bobcat wrong, ie no hitch wt, dang near took me off the road. Put the bobcat correctly on the trailer, no issues! Yes I am WAY under the max for that truck at 8K lbs of trailer.
I generally will not tow over 2x the grawr of the rig. A 15 series with a 3K-4K RA, max would be 6-8K lbs of trailer, as long as I am under axel limits. Same with 25 series rigs with 6-7K axels, max 12-14K trailer.
I've towed many miles with my 96 K3500 with a 12500 gcwr ALL because it had the NV4500 in it, vs the TH400/4L80E auto. It towed faster, did not overheat as much, could pull a steeper grade without stalling out etc. Not sure why it was rated less....I towed upwards of 12K worth of equipment trailer with a bobcat and mini trackhoe on it, no issues.
Properly setup, one can pull more than one thinks. Problem is, will it meet your performance specs vs the engineers that say what it can tow!
marty
