CWR vs Payload
Trying to figure out exactly what the CWR (Cargo Weight Rating) numbers are for as shown on the label inside the glove box for trucks that are approved to carry a TC. I understand that payload is the ...
Forum Discussion
I went round and round on this when shopping for my camper. I had the Ford specsheet in the glove box telling me the max recommended weight for a slide-in camper, Ford's GVWR, and the rear axle, tire, and wheel ratings. Most of these made sense, but the pamphlet in the glove box was somewhat arbitrary. I felt like it had a touch of voodoo weight calculating in it.
I found that the real weight limitation as far as general rear payload was the wheel rating. This was a couple hundred less than the tire rating. Having the actual weight numbers from our local CAT scale was critical for me to get a handle on what my real world numbers were. Don't be afraid to drive over them at the nearest truck stop -- it costs ten bucks and will give you both axles separately and combined.
Beware of going to the state weigh stations and county landfill scales. Our local dump was off almost 1000 lbs.! After weighing the truck empty with a full tank I felt like I had the numbers to safely calculate what was my likely maximum camper weight I should consider. At the risk of making everyone's eyes glaze over (again) I cut and paste the following from my blog:
"Our truck is a 2006 Ford F350 long bed, single rear wheel crew cab with the King Ranch option package and camper package. This makes it weigh (unloaded and empty of everything, even people) 7860 lbs. total. This is called the Gross Vehicle Weight, or GVW. I weighed it at the local CAT scale at the Flying J, with a full tank of fuel.
Our truck is listed on the Ford factory info pages as having the following specs:
Rear Wheel (each) 3525 lbs.
Our tires (each) 3650
Rear Axle 10,000
If you do the math our rear wheels together have a 7050 lb. capacity, so this becomes the limiting factor, not our tires or axle ratings.
Our truck's rear end weighed 3140 at the scale. Subtract that from 7050 and you get 3910, or the most payload that I can safely load onto the rear of the truck. Now this does not take into consideration that I might have been slightly forward on the scale or the curvature of the earth or some other nonsense, so I am happy using this number."
Judging from how the truck behaved on it's first road trip being constantly buffeted by semi's and high winds I am happy with the resulting purchase. Keep in mind that I only drive around 65 mph so you might have a different need according to speed. Here's how the weight rating knowledge played a part in our purchase.
First, I did not consider any camper that would put us over OUR figured weight threshold. I figured the loss of the tailgate and the addition of a passenger (the Admiral) was a wash so I didn't worry about that. I kept the slide-in camper spec sheet in mind but did not feel absolutely bound by it, since it was so far off of our calculated weight limit of almost 4000 lbs. However, this 4K figure was my absolute limit and I was definitely not interested in bumping into it. So somewhere between 3000 and 3500 lbs. was to be my desired camper weight WET. It really boiled down to how much I could keep myself and the Admiral from chunking a bunch of heavy stuff into the rig and how much faith I could put into the manufacturer's listed specs.
Second, I eliminated the brands I didn't like due to quality, features or layout. We ruled out a lot of campers based on reputation (the internet is a manufacturer's best friend or bane of existence). What was left was limited by availability and dealer location. That meant a few visits to check and measure things.
Lastly, what was left was three brands that had campers that would still fit into our weight limitations.
It was a simple matter to audition them and make a pick. The rest is wedded bliss! i hope you can figure out a plan and get some peace with it. This process will drive you crazy if you let it.
Please see my blog for more info on my stableload install and other TC musings @
Tim's TC Blog
I found that the real weight limitation as far as general rear payload was the wheel rating. This was a couple hundred less than the tire rating. Having the actual weight numbers from our local CAT scale was critical for me to get a handle on what my real world numbers were. Don't be afraid to drive over them at the nearest truck stop -- it costs ten bucks and will give you both axles separately and combined.
Beware of going to the state weigh stations and county landfill scales. Our local dump was off almost 1000 lbs.! After weighing the truck empty with a full tank I felt like I had the numbers to safely calculate what was my likely maximum camper weight I should consider. At the risk of making everyone's eyes glaze over (again) I cut and paste the following from my blog:
"Our truck is a 2006 Ford F350 long bed, single rear wheel crew cab with the King Ranch option package and camper package. This makes it weigh (unloaded and empty of everything, even people) 7860 lbs. total. This is called the Gross Vehicle Weight, or GVW. I weighed it at the local CAT scale at the Flying J, with a full tank of fuel.
Our truck is listed on the Ford factory info pages as having the following specs:
Rear Wheel (each) 3525 lbs.
Our tires (each) 3650
Rear Axle 10,000
If you do the math our rear wheels together have a 7050 lb. capacity, so this becomes the limiting factor, not our tires or axle ratings.
Our truck's rear end weighed 3140 at the scale. Subtract that from 7050 and you get 3910, or the most payload that I can safely load onto the rear of the truck. Now this does not take into consideration that I might have been slightly forward on the scale or the curvature of the earth or some other nonsense, so I am happy using this number."
Judging from how the truck behaved on it's first road trip being constantly buffeted by semi's and high winds I am happy with the resulting purchase. Keep in mind that I only drive around 65 mph so you might have a different need according to speed. Here's how the weight rating knowledge played a part in our purchase.
First, I did not consider any camper that would put us over OUR figured weight threshold. I figured the loss of the tailgate and the addition of a passenger (the Admiral) was a wash so I didn't worry about that. I kept the slide-in camper spec sheet in mind but did not feel absolutely bound by it, since it was so far off of our calculated weight limit of almost 4000 lbs. However, this 4K figure was my absolute limit and I was definitely not interested in bumping into it. So somewhere between 3000 and 3500 lbs. was to be my desired camper weight WET. It really boiled down to how much I could keep myself and the Admiral from chunking a bunch of heavy stuff into the rig and how much faith I could put into the manufacturer's listed specs.
Second, I eliminated the brands I didn't like due to quality, features or layout. We ruled out a lot of campers based on reputation (the internet is a manufacturer's best friend or bane of existence). What was left was limited by availability and dealer location. That meant a few visits to check and measure things.
Lastly, what was left was three brands that had campers that would still fit into our weight limitations.
It was a simple matter to audition them and make a pick. The rest is wedded bliss! i hope you can figure out a plan and get some peace with it. This process will drive you crazy if you let it.
Please see my blog for more info on my stableload install and other TC musings @
Tim's TC Blog
