Vehicle Capacity Comparison
So there are lots of numbers to know when buying a truck and trailer. I have recently purchased a truck and camping trailer I knew all these numbers but got a little suspicious once seeing the numbers...
Forum Discussion
2012Oudoorsman wrote:
I will also be willing to say that the Tundra may be the best set up half ton axle for towing, when looking at engine, tranny, and rear end gear.
You are looking at the wrong numbers then. Toyota and Ram have the lowest payloads in half tons, as noted in the OP. While the axles may handle higher loads, the springs, shocks, bushings, bolts, etc may not be. We do not know what the limiting factor is.
Loading a pickup to GVWR allows different distributions of weight. Not everything pickup owners carry will perfectly distribute the weight such that the sum of axle weights would match GVWR.
Tundra with 4.30 gearing is almost identical to Ford/GM with 3.73. Both Ford and GM offer 6.2L engines with more power than Toyota and with 3.73, even 4.10 for Ford. And then there's the Ecoboost...
That said, the Tundra is a strong truck. It was first to market with the 6-spd trans and powerful 5.7L. Owners love the power. It performed very well at and over it's ratings for RVers. It's not my first choice for a half ton, but it is a strong one when payload is not a factor.
The SAE towing spec is primarily a performance driven standard, how much weight can a vehicle tow up a hill to reach a certain speed within a certain time. It has nothing to do with how well a vehicle tows at part throttle. It has nothing to do with how well a truck handles tongue weight. IMHO, it has little benefit to the market. Few people actually drive their trucks, or any cars, at wide open throttle.
