Forum Discussion

oldbrown's avatar
oldbrown
Explorer
Feb 06, 2017

Tow Vehicle Capacity

Good morning guys. I know this has been discussed a ton but just looking for some input. I am big on being safe and not pushing the limits on anything. Truck is a 98 K3500 crew cab dually with 454 and automatic transmission and 4:10 gear. With a full tank of gas, myself and one of my kids, the truck weighed 7110 total at the truck scale. 3935 on the front axle and 3175 on the rear. GVWR is 10,000 lbs. Front axle is rated for 4500 and rear is rated for 7500. I will need to add roughly 200 lbs for wife and other kid. My plan is to load the bed with several ATV's, gear, tools, gas, etc. equating to estimated 1600 lbs. We are looking for 22-26 foot long travel trailer and I am estimating 6000 lb. max weight, with estimated 600 max tongue weight. The weight adds up quick. I feel pretty good about this due to most of the weight will be over the rearend as the amount of weight the front can take is pretty limited. I know I have seen guys haul/pull a lot more with these trucks. That does not make it right/wrong, etc. I just like to have my margin of safety and a comfortable towing experience. Thanks in advance for the input.
Tow Vehicles
  • bid_time's avatar
    bid_time
    Nomad II
    Feb 06, 2017
    You'll end up with about 300 lbs. of payload to spare. You will "unload" the front end some with all that weight in the back so I would use a WDH to put that weight back on the front end.
  • blt2ski's avatar
    blt2ski
    Moderator
    Feb 06, 2017
    gcwr WAS 16-170000 LBS. With that in mind, you have 290HP and 440 lbs of torque to work with. Reality is, if you push 20K, you will still be ok.

    Main goal will be to keep the axel wts in check. All that weight in the rear will pretty much stay there. Very little will come off the front, but some will. My 96 SW CC would put 90% of passenger wt on the rear, and we weighed in the 1200-1300 lbs range when my 4 kids were adult sized teens.

    Marty
  • JIMNLIN's avatar
    JIMNLIN
    Explorer III
    Feb 06, 2017
    Having hauled for a living I'm also a big believer in vehicle safety. My job and business depended on it.

    I have a '98 chevy 3500 DRW crew cab 4x4 454 4.10 gears.
    This truck weighs 3280 lb on the rear axle which leaves me with a 4220 lb payload in the bed.

    I've been over dot scales scales in a eight state area along with feed mills/recyclers/CAT/stock yards/grain elevators/load dock scales/etc and never have seen scale readings other than in 20 lbs increments ie; 20-40-60-80-00 lb numbers.
    Just curious but what type scales gave you numbers like 3175 lbs ??
  • MFL's avatar
    MFL
    Nomad II
    Feb 06, 2017
    IMO, the weight may not be as much of a problem, as the GCWR of the 454/4.10. It may be asking a lot for an older low HP engine, 3-speed auto, to carry that much wt, and pull a high walled RV as well.

    I'm sure JIMNLIN, could chime in here, since he has the same truck, and likely towed heavy with it.

    Jerry
  • blt2ski's avatar
    blt2ski
    Moderator
    Feb 07, 2017
    MFL wrote:
    IMO, the weight may not be as much of a problem, as the GCWR of the 454/4.10. It may be asking a lot for an older low HP engine, 3-speed auto, to carry that much wt, and pull a high walled RV as well.

    I'm sure JIMNLIN, could chime in here, since he has the same truck, and likely towed heavy with it.

    Jerry


    The one thing this post is wrong about, the tranny! This year and from about 94 or 95 on is it has a 4 sp auto. Yeah same first three gears when the TH400 was the norm behind a 454, but with an overdrive. Still a POS trans in my book...then what do I know! I've only had one of these two units go over 100K miles, and that is the one in my 2000 C2500 with a small block. All the BB/diesel autos have blown up these model trans like clock work in the 30-35K miles range. If I spent more time on the hwy, I might be better off, but doing a lot of local stop and go driving, the trans is geared too tall for heavy stop and go with 4.10 axel gears, 5.13's might work.......

    Also as noted, that year was a votec 454, so it had 295hp, vs the tbi/4bbl before it at 235, and if you go older than 1980, it was a whopping 195hp!

    Marty
  • Andrew_Burton's avatar
    Andrew_Burton
    Explorer
    Feb 07, 2017
    ***Link Removed*** if we talk about to two vehicle capacity that have much more capacity rather than other vehicles.
  • oldbrown's avatar
    oldbrown
    Explorer
    Feb 07, 2017
    Thank you for the link to the calculator, it was useful.
    I definitely plan to use a weight distributing hitch.
    Sorry, I did not mean to mislead about my weights. I "adjusted" them slightly after I went over the scales due to what I had in truck that should not have been there and added for stuff that should have been. I am confident, I am within 50 lbs. of the scale readings.
    I know the truck does not have near the power of the newer breeds. I am content going 60mph. All of the weights are what I predict to be maximums. We may even go with a hybrid trailer which I know are generally lower profile and less weight. This truck is a recent purchase for me so unfortunately, I do not know much of the history. Trans shifts well, fluid looks good and does not smell burnt. I plan to service the trans, add a larger cooler and a trans temperature gauge. I don't want to push it, so I plan to keep it out of overdrive. Thanks guys for the input.
  • MFL's avatar
    MFL
    Nomad II
    Feb 07, 2017
    Marty is correct, your tranny is a 4-speed. Back in the day, we called these transmissions a 3-speed with overdrive, which is a 4-speed.

    Sounds like you know the trucks limitations, and to keep close watch on tranny temps. I hope it works well for you!

    Jerry
  • bikendan's avatar
    bikendan
    Explorer
    Feb 08, 2017
    oldbrown wrote:
    We may even go with a hybrid trailer which I know are generally lower profile and less weight.


    you're mistaken if you think Hybrid TTs have a lower profile. maybe compared to a 5th wheel or motorhome.

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