Overweight

I'm 22% over my GVWR. Gentlemens Volume to Weight Ratio.

At 6'3" I should be 180# but I sit at 220#. 40# overwight. I'm exceeding my shoe limit by 20#.

There is some handling issues - I tend to slow down at the tops of hills more and more, tight manuvers are slower but I'm noticed I'm a lot more stable in strong cross winds?? I've upgraded to a reinforced belt and oversized my shirts.

Had to take you for a bit of a ride.

I'm about 1500#over GVWR. Under my axles but right at my tire limit. Upgrading tires to 285/70/17 and I'll be just fine.

Bedlam wrote:
In some states you can be at the GVWR limits and still tow a 3000 lb trailer without brakes. Does this mean that OEM's take non-braked trailer towing into consideration when sizing vehicle brakes? If so, it may not be that unsafe exceeding GVWR.

This is a brake related topic only. Many other factors come into play when exceeding GVWR. I agree though if you take your factory GVWR and add 3K you should be fine within the capabilities of your stock brakes.

Just my 2 cents though.

twodownzero wrote:

SlideInDad wrote:

Braking is fine as the 2500HD Diesel has grade braking and a GCWR of 22K so I'm 9K below that.

GCWR does not assume you're pulling a trailer with no brakes. That is illegal everywhere.

At 22K yes but state by state a trailer under a certain wt does not require brakes. In MA that is 3000 lbs so with my OEM 9200 GVWR rating plus a 3K trailer without brakes I am good to 12,200 with my four corner brakes on the truck. Sorry if my post was misleading, probably should have left the 22K number out of this;)

Last time I checked it was about 1000 over. Might have had something to do with my frame on the right side breaking 100 percent. That and the poor condition of CA roads.

In some states you can be at the GVWR limits and still tow a 3000 lb trailer without brakes. Does this mean that OEM's take non-braked trailer towing into consideration when sizing vehicle brakes? If so, it may not be that unsafe exceeding GVWR.

SlideInDad wrote:

Braking is fine as the 2500HD Diesel has grade braking and a GCWR of 22K so I'm 9K below that.

GCWR does not assume you're pulling a trailer with no brakes. That is illegal everywhere.

Last time I weighed, I was about 10,500#. GVWR is 9900. That was on a 5 day trip without the dogs. I have both dogs now and I'm on a 10 day trip; I wouldn't be surprised to see it closer to 11,000. No tire is overloaded and I am anal about tire pressure, but I still wish I had a dually. Oh and my camper is a Lance "Lite" 815--you know, the one they said would work on a 1/2 ton truck. It overloads my 1 ton SRW.

If I did not already own my truck when I bought my camper, or if I were buying another truck, I would only consider a dually for either 5th wheel or truck camper use.

If you carry a camper with a slide and tow a heavy trailer, it's easy to pass the 6-ton GVW mark. Although there will be people that will claim this is unsafe at any speed with a SRW (Nader love children), there are plenty more people that have made the required adjustments and traveled thousands of miles with these setups. It's important to research your vehicle components and find the weakest parts - It's just as important to research vehicle class and driver license restrictions to see why a manufacturer may set an arbitrary rating that is bellow component ratings.

I think I win as I'm ~2500lbs over GVWR for my truck! 9200 GVWR and weighed on a CAT scale full of fuel, 4 passengers and camper packed for trip (full water tank empty holding tanks):

Front Axle 4500
Rear Axle 7240
Total 11740

Driven this rig for 8 seasons and it handles awesome when loaded, with all the mods I did it drives like an empty DRW without the camper on it:( You have to do your homework if you're going to exceed OEM limits, for my truck I've spent ~$5.5K aftermkt to make sure it exceeds loads on both axles:

2007 GMC Sierra 2500HD Classic CC 4x4 Diesel SB
AAM rear axle rated at 10400 lbs
front axle GMC load rating 4800 lbs
Cepek Hummer H2 17x8.5 wheels rated at 4500 lbs each: $2K
Nitto Dura Grappler 285/70r17E tires rated at 3750 each: $1K
Supersprings, AirLift air bags: $600
Cognito Leveling kit with Bilstein 5100 shocks: $900
Herculiner bed liner with thick rubber bed mat: $100
Torklift frame mount tie downs: $500
Titan Class V tow beast: $400

Braking is fine as the 2500HD Diesel has grade braking and a GCWR of 22K so I'm 9K below that. Sway is not a problem with the Supersprings, considered a rear sway bar but never felt I've needed it.

If you don't want to go to these extremes then I suggest just making sure you don't exceed GVWR by more than 500lbs and make sure that your rear axle wt is within the limits of the tires and wheels.

I wouldn't do this again but back in 2007 there wasn't a GM 3500 SRW 6.5' bed option as there is today and I needed a SRW for where I camp which is why I sold my old DRW and 11.5 Arctic Fox for something smaller.

Happy camping

Guilty! Just under 1000 lbs over GVWR, but under axle and tire limits.