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"
