GCWR is ONLY a warranty weight rating. IT is NOT a legal rating. So if towing over, you are still with in warranty, Ford may deny you any warranty fixes if that is the cause for a breakdown.
GVWR on the other hand, is a warranty, and some states legal, others like here in Wa state, we ALL pay tonnage on the truck. It is the next higher ton by taking net truck wt, times 1.5. So if your truck weighs 7000 lbs, 1.5 times = 10500, next higher ton is 12K. You buy a 12K plate, you are LEGAL to 12K lbs gvwr! My sons have 15 series trucks with 6500-7200 factory gvwr's, they both had to buy 8K plates, they are legal to 8K!
With this in mind, if you are ooking to keep the truck level. All of the above items work. My last truck, a SW3500, I went from a 5pack with a single overload at the bottom, to a 6 leaf/single lower overload with all the leafs about 1/16" thicker, gave me an 8500 lb setup vs the stock 6400 lbs setup. Still rode smooth etc. Went from 300 lbs off the fa with a 1500 lb pitle hitch trailer, to 200 lbs off the fa. It does help to have heavier duty springs at times. My axel itself was good to 10-11K lbs. Tires, springs and rims were limit.
marty
