F450 vs F350 SRW payload

^^^ Thanks Roy. I trust you know what you're talking about, however, I don't really get it. Why wouldn't Ford just skip building a 4500 series pickup, build a 5500 series pickup instead and they could set it up to have a greater payload than the f350. Then they could advertise a meaningful number? Then what about the 12400 gvwr number set for the 3500 srw? Does some government guy say we need a special subclass for the 3500 series pickup. The short box needs to be limited to 11500? Why? Anyway, it sounds like you would agree with what others have suggested... loading to the axle rating of a truck is loading to within the design limits of the truck. I think BC is the only jurisdiction in Canada and the US that uses gvwr numbers to set legal weight limits for trucks. And even in BC it's extremely unlikely that an RVer such as Cummins would ever be weighed and ticketed for being over his gvwr. Maybe an unmodified 2500 pulling an 18,000 lb tandem axle rv would have something to worry about if his headlights are pointing at the moon.

Edit: and why is the gvwr limit for both 3500 series and 4500 series set a 14000 lbs?