attn: Weight Police

Ben

In the state of Washington, on my registration it is GVW! NO BLINKEN R after all this. I've been pulled over and had to go thru weigh scales with many of my trucks. NOT ONCE< when over a door sticker, but under my paid for license have I had issues. And the one time I was over paid for sticker, 150% of door sticker, as noted a few posts back, I was give a 10day to up the gvw from 26K to 28K lbs. I had another 2000 lbs, 1000 per axel before I would have been over the max amount allowed me under the "federal bridge law". THis is the weight law EVERY on gets in the US. If you are reduced to less than this, you can go to the Federal DOT, explain, show the ticket, and that state could lose federal funding of roads! In fact, the weight law section here in Wa st, says, The weight law enforcement will be done in a way as to NOT lose funding under the FBL!

A manufactures GCWR has absolutely NO meaning to ANY LEO/CVEO on the road. only in a civil court will any of the door sticker/warranty max weight numbers be a difference. And even then, not always.

In my state, I get licensed at 1.5 times the tare, based on manufacture number, or scale wt if the truck chassis was incomplete at the chassis manufacture. Then up this number to the next higher ton! So a rig that weighs 7500 empty, 1.5 times is 11250, so you would be buying a 12K license tag. Be it an 8600 min door tag rig to as much as just over 11K SW rig, or a dually!

ANY LEO or CVEO will tell you here any way, the door sticker is a warranty performance amount set by the manufacture. They enforce the "ENGINEER" rating of the road bed itself, NOT the "engineer" rated limit set by the manufacture. Two different engineers here, with different specs they design too!

In the case of the OP, he probably has 265 or 275 tires, or around 10.5-11" wide, he would get say 11" times 500 lbs per inch width of tire, so 5500 per tire, 11K per axel, or max 22K gvw going down the road. Not too many will recommend this, including myself. If he is truly on the road, he will also have to follow braking limit laws, which IIRC is stopping his rig within 25' at 20 mph. If he can not do this, he has a red tag, non drivable rig on the side of the road until the brakes are fixed so he can meet this figure! THIS is a moving violation, if over the 22K lbs gvwr, assuming he has a paid for registration equal to or greater than 22K, that is a NON moving violation and does not follow him on his driving record, as per the federal bridge law.

I know of a few folks that do long haul, max legal is 105K for a given setup here in Wa st. If one goes into Louisiana, it is 70K max. So they ticket one something like $400 for coming across the border over 70K lbs. You pay the ticket they let you drive thru the state. Cheaper to pay the $400 ticket for the truck company, than take off 25-30K lbs of product so they do not have to pay the fine.

At the end of the day, the paid for tonnege registration, is collecting the fee for the damage you do driving that rig across the road. So the state, taxpayer etc can rebuild the roads when the time comes.

Marty

To the OP...'R' in the various acronyms refers to 'RATING' and hope you understand
what that means

Also, 'recommended' or 'recommendation' on the various OEM's manuals has more
meaning to it than most asking your type of question understands

Say, take engine oil change intervals. Either specified mileage/time or by the
on-board computer.

Go past them on a regular basis and have an engine failure...."TRY" to get
warranty on that blown engine

You are 'free' to do whatever you want...until you do something to take something
away from another.

In the blown engine vs oil change interval...you would be taking money away
from the OEM and the OEM will NOT part with their money in that case

All of these 'decisions' are just risk management decisions...AKA Gambling...

That is your choice and 'right'...but if you should ever cause damage/harm to
someone else because of your decision...then there is a price to pay. Both
to society and that owner/person

I'm not policing...there is no metrics to do so on these freebie forums. Just
advice and many who don't like some of the advice...dismiss and/or reduce the
value of those advisors with a derogatory moniker

The ability to register any vehicle at whatever weight you are willing
to pay is fairly new to me

Please confirm that when you've registered your vehicle above the
GVWR specified by the OEM...that the DMV's registration number has
a "R", not just GVW.

That 'R' is 'RATING'.

Was told on another thread on this portal, that there is NO 'R' in
DMV registration weight...other than the OEM's various 'R' ratings

transamz9 wrote:
snip...

It is mainly for licence purpose. Plus in the commercial world there are big rule differences between a 10,000# GVWR and a 10,001# GVWR.

In a Fleet vehicle you can have a 10,000# GVWR and under and you don't need a DOT# on the truck and anyone can drive it. If you exceed that number then you need a DOT# on the truck and the operator has to carry a medical card. There are other rules and regs but you get the picture.

If I'm not mistaken, at on time (and it still may be true IDK) but you could order a SRW F350 with a 10,000# GVWR.

BulldawgFan wrote:

fla-gypsy wrote:
It's your truck and you can do anything you want with it as long as you are willing to accept the consequences whatever they may be.

I am just trying to be responsible, that is why I am asking, researching, and learning. Replies such as this don't contribute in any way to furthering that. Neither does "it's a free country".

Just say something to the effect of... its safe to base you 5th wheel towability off of the least common denominator of your trucks ratings. If you want to give short advice that lacks much substance.

Since you invoked the "weight police" and are not willing to accept what the manufacturer has published then this is all you get. The weight police are under no obligation and in this case lack the desire to once again simply point out that the maker has provided you with all of the various weight parameters you must meet and that they have published as the maximum, and it is "not to be exceeded". So, its your truck do what you want with it. fla-gypsy is 10-7

Mitch,

How are you good to 10K? I can see the 8K, just as my sons trucks are, ie similar chassis's but a GM and Toyota. As they have to buy an 8K plate too. I've always under stood I get what I pay for, not the extra you are claiming..........

I can see a potential for the 2K, in that an actual wt and measures leo ie a cveo will give you up to a ton over before ticketing you. You will also get a 10 day up your plate amount too. Been there done that in my mdt........

Reality is, you can get to about 20K without going over the actual state law. again as you say, I would not recommend one go this high of actual gvw.....

Marty

GVWR is all about how the truck is registered (tagged) in your state. Depending on your state, the difference can be nothing or anything over #10,000 is considered a commercial vehicle..

Some states like my state has no GVW or ladin or tonnage or anything or use the trucks GVWR for registration purposes on a private use truck. The GVW line on all of my private use trucks registration papers are blank. We simply carry weight up to the lessor of the individual GAWRs or tire load ratings.

Now when I put a truck in commercial service pulling a trailer then my trucks are required to be registered at a GVW for declaring how much GCW I operate at.

Looks like the OP has a grasp about Fords F250/350 SRW same truck platforms and load carrying potentials.

Jayson,

Thanks for the extended explanations! I think I now understand better where your original point of view is/was and I was the one reading more into it... :)

I've been on this dang forum WAY TOO LONG (since 2002) and thus, have become very quick in jumping on posts that sound like someone is trying to "convince themselves" of doing something if they get the "correct answer" to their question..

Yes, you have learned that the "tow ratings" really don't have anything to do with what you can tow.. Especially if it's an RV.. Those ratings have nothing to do with RV's, but just "trailers" in general..

It also basically means that you don't have anything in the truck (even passengers) and that truck is not the fully optioned out trim level you have..

I've read most recently that all the big three "tow ratings" was also derived from REMOVING items in the truck such as rear bumpers, spare tires, jacks and probably a few other things off of an already base level work truck... That makes for a very low "curb weight" figure.. ;)

GVWR is all about how the truck is registered (tagged) in your state. Depending on your state, the difference can be nothing or anything over #10,000 is considered a commercial vehicle..

As was said before, Ford would even let you choose to have a door jamb sticker less than #10,000 so you could register it as a private vehicle in your state, but it was the same dang vehicle as one with the #10k tag..

I know I'm rambling, so if you are still with me, thanks!

The only real ratings you want to go by is the door jamb stickers on YOUR truck.. The manual was written to cover every single truck out there.. Not YOURS.. ;)

So, yes, your F250 is the same as an F350.... ;) BUT, you have a lower GVWR then that F350, so you probably pay less registration fee for it compared to someone with an F350..

Case in point.. My old 1997 F150 had a GVWR of #6250... I only had to pay for a #6000 tag (but I was actually good to #8000 actual GVW because of how my state tags trucks.)

My 2013 F150 has a GVWR of #7700.. I have to now pay for an #8000 tag. (about $50 more). But, I'm good for up to #10k of actual GVW! (go figure)

Would I take my truck to that weight? Heck no.... But, I could.. ;)

I ran that old 97 F150 about #500 over GVWR for over 11 years towing a #5000 TT and it towed great.. Towing the same TT with the 13 F150 and it's even better..

But, would I consider towing a #11,300 TT with my 13?? (what it's "tow rating" is)... Heck no... ;)

So, it's whatever you choose to do with your ratings and what your towing performance level is..

Thanks again and happy camping! :)

Mitch

BulldawgFan wrote:

mich800 wrote:
I think maybe the OP has targeted a specific tree and is failing to look at the entire forest. There are so many different trailer types, configurations, and weight bias. That is why there can be a theoretical higher towable weight limit but depending on the tongue/pin combination you may not be able to achieve that weight with that specific trailer. This discussion just seems to be unnecessarily complicating things.

You must have failed to read my last post. I have targeted no tree, as I have no additional need for my truck.

And having just read a Ford Truck forum I think I learned what I needed to know.

No difference in the F250 & F350srw. This is where this whole thing began Saturday morning while looking at the payload difference between my buddies 350srw and my 250. It is obviously all based on the GVWR rating and the difference in those numbers between the two trucks. There is not really any other mechanical difference between the two vehicles, besides 2 inches of bumpstop.

So, due to the fact there is no mechanical difference, I guess the 350 gets the higher GVWR "just becuase" of that 3. Nothing else.

Sometimes in life, it really "is what it is".

Like I mentioned before, the F350 can also has the same GVWR as the F250 also. It just depends on which box is checked when the order is sent.;)

mich800 wrote:
I think maybe the OP has targeted a specific tree and is failing to look at the entire forest. There are so many different trailer types, configurations, and weight bias. That is why there can be a theoretical higher towable weight limit but depending on the tongue/pin combination you may not be able to achieve that weight with that specific trailer. This discussion just seems to be unnecessarily complicating things.

You must have failed to read my last post. I have targeted no tree, as I have no additional need for my truck.

And having just read a Ford Truck forum I think I learned what I needed to know.

No difference in the F250 & F350srw. This is where this whole thing began Saturday morning while looking at the payload difference between my buddies 350srw and my 250. It is obviously all based on the GVWR rating and the difference in those numbers between the two trucks. There is not really any other mechanical difference between the two vehicles, besides 2 inches of bumpstop.

So, due to the fact there is no mechanical difference, I guess the 350 gets the higher GVWR "just becuase" of that 3. Nothing else.

Sometimes in life, it really "is what it is".

I think maybe the OP has targeted a specific tree and is failing to look at the entire forest. There are so many different trailer types, configurations, and weight bias. That is why there can be a theoretical higher towable weight limit but depending on the tongue/pin combination you may not be able to achieve that weight with that specific trailer. This discussion just seems to be unnecessarily complicating things.