Ultimate payload monster?

rjstractor wrote:

JRScooby wrote:
I ain't much smarter than a box of rocks, but I would guess there might be other components that limit GWR?
BTW, I don't think I have ever seen a weight tag where the total of axle weights is not greater than GVWR.

On a pickup you won't see that but on commercial trucks you likely will. My former motorhome, a 1998 E450 based C had a RGAWR of 9450 and a FGAWR of 4600 and a GVWR of..... 14050. Those axle weight ratings are lower than those of a 350/3500 series dually pickup yet the GVWR is just over 14K, probably to put it into the class 4 truck group and reduce the emission requirements. Fast forward to today. The new E450 has axles of 9600/5000 and a GVWR of 14500, again lower axle ratings than a new F450 dually, which can be as high as 9900/6000. Yet the GVWR of said truck is only 14000. If this isn't evidence of the OEMs artificially lowering GVWRs of pickup trucks to keep them in a given DOT weight class, I can't imagine what is. If Ford used the same criteria for the F450 pickup (not cab and chassis) as the E450 cutaway its GVWR would be 15,500 or more.

I'm sorry, I have worked with "commercial trucks" trucks most of my life. And I confess, I have not checked the numbers on all that many what is called mid-range (With 5 to 7 on the door) I know of the 4 Fords I owned, all of them total of axle weights was greater than GVWR. ('67? F750, Holmes 600 wrecker, '63 N750, 11ft dump body, '56 F5, 8 ft dump, (mostly toy, but did haul enough to pay for plates, and towed the Bobcat some) and '74 F500, with 10 ft tool body) Most of the trucks, I don't remember all the numbers, but the LT 9000s and the Macks all had 18 fronts and 44,000 tandems (By the time I was buying them I had broke enough parts to go with HD) GVWR was 50-52,000 on them. The '76 Pete, retired oil field rig-up truck, had a 12,000 front, and 52,000 rears, GVWR of 56,000, GCVWR 80,000. (Over the decade I had that truck I up-graded the steer to 20, doubled the frame, added a 20,000 lift axle. Last job we worked, hauling asphalt about 80 miles. Load the truck to just under the 80,000 limit, print a ticket. Pull the pup under the chute, load 15 tons, get a 2nd scale ticket, and work that Cat 1693, 2 stick 5&4 up the back roads. Good times, good money) Had a Freightliner and Pete, both factory set up with 20,20, and 46. Both GVWR of 65,000. A LTL Ford, 20,& 46 GVWR 60,000 (Bed installer added 20 lift axle. My last Pete, a tractor, had 12& 40s, for a 50,000 GVWR.
I have to stand by the idea most trucks the GVWR is less than sum of axles.