John,
SOME manufactures use smaller axels than GVWR, the remaining made up with hitch weight......again some!
My old 92 Fleetwood had a 6000 gvwr, yet it had two 3500 gvwr axels, tires, rims etc under it. I personally had no issues loading it up higher than 7000 lbs total, with usually 6000-6600 on the axels, remain hitch in the 600-800 range. This variance also depended upon how long, or where we were going......
Of course, if one wants to throw equipment trailers into the mess. They give the payload as the sum of the Axel(s), with a quote, of hitch weight being the weight of the trailer! So a dual 3500 lbs axel trailer, that is empty wt of 2500, can carry 7000 lbs with 2500 lbs of hitch weight! be it a ball/pintle, or a 5w.......
So it could be possible, that the OP does have a 5000 lbs suspension. BUT the manufacture has put a smaller gvwr placard on it for some other reason...... of course like ALL GVW vs GAW debates, which is correct and why is another issue all of its own.
With that said....... many ways of fixing said issue(s), whether it is cost effective or not is another issue too.
Marty
