GVWR's - Tow Ratings - weight police weigh in please

720Deere wrote:
You can't add the GAWR together to come up with a maximum capacity. More than 90% of the time, you are not going to transfer any weight to the front axle when you are towing a heavy trailer. Gooseneck and fifth wheel hitches are typically centered over the rear axle or just a few inches forward of it. It is pretty hard to leverage any weight to the front axle.

GVWR like anything else in life is limited by the weakest link in the system. It could be tires, brakes, axles, springs, frame or even the transmission. Ram has made a lot of changes to their trucks since 2006. I never understood their lack of payload capacity up until recently.

This statement is a little funny in light that newer trucks now run a GVWR in the neighbor hood of 90%+ to 95% of total axle rating. The F150 Max, Max GVWR is within in 650# of the total axle rating, assuming an EB engine, the rear axle can easily be overloaded with the truck within GVWR!

Many trucks up through about the 07 model year only run a GVWR around 80% of of total axle rating.

In my case 01 Ram 2500

FGAWR 5200
RGAWR 6084
Total 11,284
GVWR 8,800
Differance 2,484

I am at 78% of total axle rating.