What is most weight you guys haul with a F250?

To answer the op's question I hauled 4,000lbs routinely in my 1991 F250 in the form of a very large slide in camper. I upgraded the rear tires when LT 265's came out. I had some stability issues with that high of CG on a single tire truck but other than that my only concern was that the rear drum brakes seemed to be inadequate. Since that was in the days before tow/haul mode I trained myself to hit the overdrive lockout most everytime I needed brakes. I drove all over Colorado with that rig with no trouble but I did drive slower than most everyone else. With the camper in the bed the last overload was not quite engaged. Would I recommend it to someone else? No. Do I have any regrets? No.

I went to a quarry one time that sold gravel by the pickup load and had them load until the snubbers were about an inch off of the axle. I went across the scales on the way out and found out that I had about 6,000lbs in the bed. I never did that again. I felt that the tire upgrade did upgrade the truck since as far as I could find out the only difference between my truck and the F350 dually that year was two tires and wider rear fenders. I did order the truck with the extra overloads that came on the F350.

twodownzero wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Never coulda guessed where this thread was headed....
To help clarify, you are all talking about 3 or 4 separate, yet sometimes related topics or limitations.
1. LEGAL, licensed gvw or gcvw registration and vehicle/bridge laws, which are monitored/enforced by the real weight cops like DOT and state patrol, etc.
2. The actual, as designed or modified real-world "safe" operating parameters.
3. Vehicle mfgs RATED capacities which may of may not be commensurate with the above 2 considerations and may or may not be reflective of a vehicle's designed capacity.
4. People's opinions of what they "think" the laws or liability is, or what they personally are comfortable with.

The level of ambiguity on this subject is high, based on the active and sometimes heated discussions on this subject, pretty much whenever and wherever it comes up.

The law in New Mexico is that if you're operating a vehicle in excess of the manufacturer's rated capacity, you are operating a vehicle without a driver's license. Nothing ambiguous about that at all. In addition, vehicles cannot be licensed for more than their GVWR here.

There is no such thing as "GCVW" registration anywhere as far as I know. My trailer is registered for its GVWR and my truck for its GVWR. While the weight of the combination comes into play sometimes (restrictions on weight of trailers and capacity) but generally for the plate registration itself, a vehicle combination is separate.

This place is littered with people who think they know the law because they were commercial drivers or are familiar with commercial vehicle enforcement which has very little overlap. Commercial vehicles are normally rated for the max legal capacity, so the manufacturer's capacities aren't going to matter. Not so on RVs and non commercial vehicles, where it's easy to overload them, sometimes way beyond anything for which they were designed.

Well, chalk yourself up in the same category. Open your owners manual or towing guide or maybe even on a sticker on the truck, and you'll find the GCVW or GCVWR for a truck. Don't know, I don't obsess over that ____.
Or maybe you're just being the acronym police too...
Also, if you'll take off your weight cop googgles, you'd have read that I enumerated the different typical regulations or interpretations that commonly are used or confused without being specific to your state.
I don't know what NM regs are, don't care, didn't care when I lived there.
Just separating the issues that many feel (correctly or incorrectly) are the governing factor(s).

And since you're an expert, what does the posted gcvw or gcvwr sticker mean on DOT regulated trucks. Maybe I got it wrong.
Is it "gone camping very weighty?"

The F250 uses the Visteon Sterling 10.5" axle unless it has the HD tow package - Then it has the same Dana 275 axle that is used in the F350 SRW (275mm). The 300mm axle variants from Dana are used in the DRW's.

Lynnmor wrote:

spud1957 wrote:


No he doesn't have is backwards.

Here is a description of the High Capacity Trailer Tow Option.

F-250 HIGH-CAPACITY TRAILER TOW PACKAGE1
(F-250 with diesel engine): 3.0" trailer hitch receiver, max.
front springs, upgraded axles and 25,700-lb. GCWR

I just checked, the gearing is the same.

If I'm not mistaken the axle goes from the standard Sterling 10.25" Rear End to the Dana M275 @ 11.25".

I doubt, the OP or any of us when pulling an RV are so over weight, we would be subject to anywhere close to max fines, penalties etc.
Ask yourself this question, how many of you are above 10-12K lbs on a typical SW pickup axle? Or trailer axle on an RV? If you are close to manufactures axle ratings, have a paid for license that exceeds you weights, you're not going to have issues with weight cops, other than rv.net weight police!
Really, this discussion is a mute point.

Marty

Usually if that over weight, pay fine etc, then continue on. The goal of law is not destroy the roads! Trucks pay proper tax for damage done during normal use. Their has been more than one cveo/LEO that's mentioned this. One truck driver used to hit Louisiana border at 110,000 lbs legal in Texas, 80k max in Louisiana. Pulled out company CC, played fine, continued on his way to warehouse, unloaded, headed back for another load. Fine etc was cheaper than reducing load, and profit etc from contents in load.
More than one way to look at this. If one does find examples of being fined for overweight, one needs to get to fine print to see why.

Marty

Actually you can go to jail. Idaho up to 3000 pounds overweight is an infraction, over that is a misdemeanor that is jail if they want to, doesn't happen often I am sure but if your an out of State trucker you might find yourself having to post bond.

If a state enforces the manufactures ratings, per federal bridge laws, NO FEDERAL FUNDS can be used to build or maintain that road! This also means, any and all federal funds can and will be with held from that state, until they give you the max of the road bed design limits!
I know the above gets quoted multiple times in Washington states weight laws. I also know I can legally go down the road above the manufactures warranty performance ratings, per multiple cveo/leo's I've talked to, taken classes from, pulled me over, read up on laws etc.
Best practice for anyone, is stay under gawr's of a vehicle. With that said, going over may or may not cause you a legal problem. As I noted earlier, you may meet the weight laws, but fail the braking specs, or multitudes of other regs you have to follow.
Being overweight is not like driving drunk, speeding etc from a ticket standpoint. You can not go to jail by being just over weight per say. It might be a part of the issue.
In 40 something years of commercial style driving, being pulled over with light and medium duty trucks, I have yet to get an overweight ticket! That includes a time I was 1200 lbs over registered weight, 150% of door sticker gvwr! I was 1000 lbs under max bridge law amount per axle. Got a 10 day up the paid gvwr by a ton. What really at the end of the day, was pea gravel falling out of barn doors on IHC. That was a $200 moving violation ticket. So reported to DOL, insurance company etc. That day cost me a few bucks! For a few years.
Marty

twodownzero wrote:

rhagfo wrote:

twodownzero wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Never coulda guessed where this thread was headed....
To help clarify, you are all talking about 3 or 4 separate, yet sometimes related topics or limitations.
1. LEGAL, licensed gvw or gcvw registration and vehicle/bridge laws, which are monitored/enforced by the real weight cops like DOT and state patrol, etc.
2. The actual, as designed or modified real-world "safe" operating parameters.
3. Vehicle mfgs RATED capacities which may of may not be commensurate with the above 2 considerations and may or may not be reflective of a vehicle's designed capacity.
4. People's opinions of what they "think" the laws or liability is, or what they personally are comfortable with.

The level of ambiguity on this subject is high, based on the active and sometimes heated discussions on this subject, pretty much whenever and wherever it comes up.

The law in New Mexico is that if you're operating a vehicle in excess of the manufacturer's rated capacity, you are operating a vehicle without a driver's license. Nothing ambiguous about that at all. In addition, vehicles cannot be licensed for more than their GVWR here.

There is no such thing as "GCVW" registration anywhere as far as I know. My trailer is registered for its GVWR and my truck for its GVWR. While the weight of the combination comes into play sometimes (restrictions on weight of trailers and capacity) but generally for the plate registration itself, a vehicle combination is separate.

This place is littered with people who think they know the law because they were commercial drivers or are familiar with commercial vehicle enforcement which has very little overlap. Commercial vehicles are normally rated for the max legal capacity, so the manufacturer's capacities aren't going to matter. Not so on RVs and non commercial vehicles, where it's easy to overload them, sometimes way beyond anything for which they were designed.

Well, according to a poster on another forum, South Carolina registers on GCVWR, and both vehicles need to be within GVWR if scaled.

So from my point of view. I towed over the GVWR of our 2001 Ram 2500 CTD, it had gotten to 1,700# over GVWR (10,500# scaled on a GVWR of 8,800#) I was still within axle and tires, so semi OK.
Well that 1,700# kept eating at me due to hungry lawyers. The Ram din't need bags, as it had a Camper Package which gave it the same springs as a 3500 DRW, and because it was a manual it also had the same rear axle.

So we went from this.



To This!

There is no such thing as "GCVWR"

My Bad :S
GCWR

rhagfo wrote:

twodownzero wrote:

Grit dog wrote:
Never coulda guessed where this thread was headed....
To help clarify, you are all talking about 3 or 4 separate, yet sometimes related topics or limitations.
1. LEGAL, licensed gvw or gcvw registration and vehicle/bridge laws, which are monitored/enforced by the real weight cops like DOT and state patrol, etc.
2. The actual, as designed or modified real-world "safe" operating parameters.
3. Vehicle mfgs RATED capacities which may of may not be commensurate with the above 2 considerations and may or may not be reflective of a vehicle's designed capacity.
4. People's opinions of what they "think" the laws or liability is, or what they personally are comfortable with.

The level of ambiguity on this subject is high, based on the active and sometimes heated discussions on this subject, pretty much whenever and wherever it comes up.

The law in New Mexico is that if you're operating a vehicle in excess of the manufacturer's rated capacity, you are operating a vehicle without a driver's license. Nothing ambiguous about that at all. In addition, vehicles cannot be licensed for more than their GVWR here.

There is no such thing as "GCVW" registration anywhere as far as I know. My trailer is registered for its GVWR and my truck for its GVWR. While the weight of the combination comes into play sometimes (restrictions on weight of trailers and capacity) but generally for the plate registration itself, a vehicle combination is separate.

This place is littered with people who think they know the law because they were commercial drivers or are familiar with commercial vehicle enforcement which has very little overlap. Commercial vehicles are normally rated for the max legal capacity, so the manufacturer's capacities aren't going to matter. Not so on RVs and non commercial vehicles, where it's easy to overload them, sometimes way beyond anything for which they were designed.

Well, according to a poster on another forum, South Carolina registers on GCVWR, and both vehicles need to be within GVWR if scaled.

So from my point of view. I towed over the GVWR of our 2001 Ram 2500 CTD, it had gotten to 1,700# over GVWR (10,500# scaled on a GVWR of 8,800#) I was still within axle and tires, so semi OK.
Well that 1,700# kept eating at me due to hungry lawyers. The Ram din't need bags, as it had a Camper Package which gave it the same springs as a 3500 DRW, and because it was a manual it also had the same rear axle.

So we went from this.



To This!

There is no such thing as "GCVWR"