Towing capacity vs max cargo weight rating
Hello all! Can someone clarify something for me? If a truck's max gooseneck trailer loaded weight is 15,100 lbs (as per manufacturer towing guide - it is a Ford) - how can the max cargo weight rati...
Forum Discussion
I am the OP.
This all started with my own epiphany that you can have (on paper) a towing capacity of 15,000 lbs but the payload capacity (on paper/sticker) of only 2000 lbs or so. Since some trailers (mostly horse trailers with living quarters in front) are front heavy, it seems to me contradictory to have a vehicle that can tow behind it X lbs but at the point of attachment only take 1/7th of the lbs.
So, I am faced with two choices:
1. "Obey" the sticker, sell the truck and buy one that has a bigger sticker!
or
2. Try to understand how the payload capacity number is arrived at and after doing so, make an educated decision about what to do next.
Someone pointed me to the RAWR - take your truck to the scales and get the proper payload capacity number scheme. I did so, months after I started the thread and by my calculations I actually have just the payload capacity in the latter scheme to haul the horse trailer I want.
Then some jack * ss piled onto my revelation and started writing short replies about how I am picking numbers out of a hat (he must have thought were witty and insightful - they were not but they spurred on 3 more pages of discussion. Sigh.).
P.S. I do not live and breathe the realm of trucks and towing and how they are certified etc. I am just a consumer. However, I feel that if I will "consume" a $60,000 vehicle, I might as well try to understand what, where, how and why. I was initially also worried about the legal aspect of the "am I overweight" equation but am no more...
P.P.S. In my "journey", I have considered various options - buying a new gasser with the money I could get from my not-so-perfect diesel; buying an older IDI/TDI diesel from the pre-2000 era, so on and so on. However, I figured that right now I have a truck that works - and I may as well try to figure out if it will work for my application.
This all started with my own epiphany that you can have (on paper) a towing capacity of 15,000 lbs but the payload capacity (on paper/sticker) of only 2000 lbs or so. Since some trailers (mostly horse trailers with living quarters in front) are front heavy, it seems to me contradictory to have a vehicle that can tow behind it X lbs but at the point of attachment only take 1/7th of the lbs.
So, I am faced with two choices:
1. "Obey" the sticker, sell the truck and buy one that has a bigger sticker!
or
2. Try to understand how the payload capacity number is arrived at and after doing so, make an educated decision about what to do next.
Someone pointed me to the RAWR - take your truck to the scales and get the proper payload capacity number scheme. I did so, months after I started the thread and by my calculations I actually have just the payload capacity in the latter scheme to haul the horse trailer I want.
Then some jack * ss piled onto my revelation and started writing short replies about how I am picking numbers out of a hat (he must have thought were witty and insightful - they were not but they spurred on 3 more pages of discussion. Sigh.).
P.S. I do not live and breathe the realm of trucks and towing and how they are certified etc. I am just a consumer. However, I feel that if I will "consume" a $60,000 vehicle, I might as well try to understand what, where, how and why. I was initially also worried about the legal aspect of the "am I overweight" equation but am no more...
P.P.S. In my "journey", I have considered various options - buying a new gasser with the money I could get from my not-so-perfect diesel; buying an older IDI/TDI diesel from the pre-2000 era, so on and so on. However, I figured that right now I have a truck that works - and I may as well try to figure out if it will work for my application.
