Are You Buying All These Half-ton Claims?

mich800 wrote:
Is it just me or has this board gone a little crazy lately? It used to be someone had a question about towing limits they would be educated on how to determine for their specific vehicle. Usually the first question by the board would be; what is your gvwr, payload, sticker on the door etc. They would then be shown the nice diagrams on how to calculate if they are under those weights. Even some nice threads on how to get weighed. But now it seems the tide has shifted and this is no longer the case. But, if we cannot use the mfg's ratings who are we supposed to trust to let us know what what those ratings should be?

Good observation. The answer is apparently to trust some stranger on the internet who's 'been there done that' over the mfgr's team of educated engineers.

Here's the formula I see from the 'been there done that' camp:

If 1/2 ton, subtract 25% from the stated ratings, but only if you go in and change out the tires from P to LT-E, first. If on P tires, subtract 50%.

If 3/4 ton, add 50%, 'cuz its and "HD" truck and you know they under-rate 'em from the factory.

If its a 1 ton, ratings are irrelevant -- you can tow whatever you can hook up to it.

Of course, there is no justification for any of these conclusions, other than "well, it's a ______-ton ..."

Me, I'll stick w/ the mfgr's engineers, personally.