Door decal and Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)

[Reddog1]

This subject comes up quite often It is frequently argued (discussed) as to what the door decals (Vehicle Certification Label) means, and how the GVWR is determined.

The purpose of this post is to provide what I see as official information on the Vehicle Certification Label. This is not intended to discuss what is or is not an overloaded truck.

This information is from the 2004 Dodge Ram Service Manual. The photos are from this manual. I will follow with additional photos to further emphasize what inks in this photo.




Note the Vehicle Certification Label (decal) clearly states the GVWR is based on the tires and wheels. This Vehicle Certification Label is not on a truck, but only the data would change if it were for a truck.




Again a clear reference to the tires and rims determining the GVWR.




We can read into this to ignore what it tells us, but I think it is very clear. If you have knowledge of anything that contradicts this 2004 Ram Service Manual, please post.

Wayne

[Buzzcut1]

ticki2 wrote:

Reddog1 wrote:

Buzzcut1 wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:

JIMNLIN wrote:


IMO its fruitless trying to figure why or how a truck makers arrives at a GVWR or the GAWRs for a particular truck.

I never had a problem with this part.
Check with DMV what GWVR steps up registration fee, or require special licencing.
In CA pickup is a vehicle with GVWR of no more than 13,400lb and guess what the sticker on my dually says?

same as mine 13... I pretty much ignore GVWR and concentrate on the axle and tire ratings ( plus I beef up the suspension above stock)

This is my position on this subject.

Wayne

Some questions for the Californians , I am just trying to understand this .

What , if any is the criteria for registering the GVWR of your truck ?

Could you register a 1500 pickup at 13,300 ?

What is a manufacturers responsibility if you register their 10k GVWR truck at 13k ?

I am not talking about the trucks actual capability , just the legal aspect , which I think is what the original post was about , but I have been wrong before .

when I did it a month ago there was a series of check boxes with weight ranges, you just checked the appropriate one on the form.

[DWeikert]

Kayteg1 wrote:
I've been told there is no such thing as bad information...

I think you were given bad information.

[ticki2]

Reddog1 wrote:

Buzzcut1 wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:

JIMNLIN wrote:


IMO its fruitless trying to figure why or how a truck makers arrives at a GVWR or the GAWRs for a particular truck.

I never had a problem with this part.
Check with DMV what GWVR steps up registration fee, or require special licencing.
In CA pickup is a vehicle with GVWR of no more than 13,400lb and guess what the sticker on my dually says?

same as mine 13... I pretty much ignore GVWR and concentrate on the axle and tire ratings ( plus I beef up the suspension above stock)

This is my position on this subject.

Wayne

Some questions for the Californians , I am just trying to understand this .

What , if any is the criteria for registering the GVWR of your truck ?

Could you register a 1500 pickup at 13,300 ?

What is a manufacturers responsibility if you register their 10k GVWR truck at 13k ?

I am not talking about the trucks actual capability , just the legal aspect , which I think is what the original post was about , but I have been wrong before .

[joerg68]

Re. the GFAWR/GRAWR/GVWR discussion, I would like to add 2 cents from across the ocean:

Technical inspections are fairly strict over here and most people are quite religious about sticking to the maximum allowed weights. And for good reasons, obviously.

But it is fairly common practice, at least in Germany, to "adjust" the official GVWR to the sum of the Front and Rear ratings. So, apparently, the rather strict technical inspection agencies over here do not automatically assume this is a risk.

You just need to take your truck to the inspection agency (TÜV in my area) and have them reevaluate the GVWR. In many cases, the engineer will agree to officially raise your GVWR to the sum of both front and rear axle gross weight ratings. Sometimes with additional conditions imposed, sometimes not. Obviously, you must not exceed the individual axle weight ratings when loaded. Your paperwork gets adjusted and then states the new number. (Note: There is no such thing as a door sticker over here. Even when there is one, as in imported vehicles, the numbers in the paperwork are what is relevant.)

That is legal, official practice here, not just for imported trucks from the US. Make of it what you will 😉

[AH64ID]

I register for 26K and ignore GVWR as well. I also ignore RAWR and go off of what tires are installed. None of my tires meet the max OE rating for my frame/suspension of 9,350 so no reason to worry about it in a SRW application. Once set of tires/wheels I am limited to 6,390 and the other to 9,000. The most I really ever hit is 7,500 thou.

[Reddog1]

Buzzcut1 wrote:

Kayteg1 wrote:

JIMNLIN wrote:


IMO its fruitless trying to figure why or how a truck makers arrives at a GVWR or the GAWRs for a particular truck.

I never had a problem with this part.
Check with DMV what GWVR steps up registration fee, or require special licencing.
In CA pickup is a vehicle with GVWR of no more than 13,400lb and guess what the sticker on my dually says?

same as mine 13... I pretty much ignore GVWR and concentrate on the axle and tire ratings ( plus I beef up the suspension above stock)

This is my position on this subject.

Wayne

[Buzzcut1]

Kayteg1 wrote:

JIMNLIN wrote:


IMO its fruitless trying to figure why or how a truck makers arrives at a GVWR or the GAWRs for a particular truck.

I never had a problem with this part.
Check with DMV what GWVR steps up registration fee, or require special licencing.
In CA pickup is a vehicle with GVWR of no more than 13,400lb and guess what the sticker on my dually says?

same as mine 13,300 LOL which is why I pretty much ignore GVWR and concentrate on the axle and tire ratings ( plus I beef up the suspension above stock)

[Kayteg1]

JIMNLIN wrote:


IMO its fruitless trying to figure why or how a truck makers arrives at a GVWR or the GAWRs for a particular truck.

I never had a problem with this part.
Check with DMV what GWVR steps up registration fee, or require special licencing.
In CA pickup is a vehicle with GVWR of no more than 13,400lb and guess what the sticker on my dually says?
In other states 10,000lb is magic number where the fees step up sharply.
That is why you have so many pickups with 9980lb stickers.

[Old-Biscuit]

JIMNLIN wrote:
JMO but there is no smoking gun how the truck mfg arrives at a GVWR or the GAWRs. The vehicle mfg may choose any number they want.

Some thing are know per the FMVSS.

Tires and rims are selected per the truck makers GAWR (not a GVWR). 571.120 says;
"...the sum of the maximum load ratings of the tires fitted to an axle shall be not less than the gross axle weight rating (GAWR) of the axle system as specified on the vehicle's certification label required by 49 CFR part 567.

We see much gets posted that the sum of the GAWR's can never = the trucks GVWR.
Fords body builder spec in the super duty 250/350 pages in note #4 says;

"4) *Gross Axle Weight Rating is determined by the rated capacity of the minimum component of the axle system (axle, computer-selected springs, wheels, tires) of a specific vehicle. Front and rear GAWRs will, in all cases, sum to a number equal to or greater than the GVWR for the particular vehicle. (snip)*
Read close where its saying the sum of the GAWR can equal to its GVWR.

The F350 SRW is a great example of a truck having several different GVWRs with the same size wheels and tires.
Example is a F350 SRW crew cab 4x4 6.7 174" wheelbase 6290 RAWR 5600 FAWR 17" tires and wheels with a 11200 GVWR or 10000 GVWR.

IMO its fruitless trying to figure why or how a truck makers arrives at a GVWR or the GAWRs for a particular truck.

Ding, ding, ding..chicken dinner

[JIMNLIN]

JMO but there is no smoking gun how the truck mfg arrives at a GVWR or the GAWRs. The vehicle mfg may choose any number they want.

Some thing are know per the FMVSS.

Tires and rims are selected per the truck makers GAWR (not a GVWR). 571.120 says;
"...the sum of the maximum load ratings of the tires fitted to an axle shall be not less than the gross axle weight rating (GAWR) of the axle system as specified on the vehicle's certification label required by 49 CFR part 567.

We see much gets posted that the sum of the GAWR's can never = the trucks GVWR.
Fords body builder spec in the super duty 250/350 pages in note #4 says;

"4) *Gross Axle Weight Rating is determined by the rated capacity of the minimum component of the axle system (axle, computer-selected springs, wheels, tires) of a specific vehicle. Front and rear GAWRs will, in all cases, sum to a number equal to or greater than the GVWR for the particular vehicle. (snip)*
Read close where its saying the sum of the GAWR can equal to its GVWR.

The F350 SRW is a great example of a truck having several different GVWRs with the same size wheels and tires.
Example is a F350 SRW crew cab 4x4 6.7 174" wheelbase 6290 RAWR 5600 FAWR 17" tires and wheels with a 11200 GVWR or 10000 GVWR.

IMO its fruitless trying to figure why or how a truck makers arrives at a GVWR or the GAWRs for a particular truck.

[lc0338]

good read

[Buzzcut1]

Maybe I will go ask my friends at the CHP commercial truck division ( the ones that inspect my firms Ambulances)

[ryoung]

Old-Biscuit wrote:
The Vehicle Certificate Label certifies vehicle conforms to Fed Motor Vehicle Standards.

Then it states: The label also lists: And go on to list 9 items.
One item is Gross Vehicle Weight Rating. (And this is key-----that sentence ends with a PERIOD) THEN it goes on to describe that the F/R axle weight ratings are based on minimum rim size and cold tire pressure.

Based on THAT sentence structure......GVWR is one item LISTED on 'label' and F/R AWRs are other items listed WITH a caveat on how they are determined.....not on how GVWR is determined.



And I understand that the data was from a 2004 Ram Service Manual but YOU posted it therefore by extension it is YOUR example.
Hence my reference: In your example.

I agree with Old-Biscuit. The sentence structure does not infer that the GVWR is directly related to or dependent on the gross axle ratings. The GVWR assigned to a vehicle is the maximum weight the vehicle can weigh without exceeding any parameter contained in the certification standards. Obviously the sum of the gross axle ratings will exceed the GVWR due to loading characteristics.

ryoung

[jimh406]

Sheesh, quite the drama. I didn't expect this thread to end this way.

[trailgranny50]

What a mess, again. Glad I'm not the topic this time, he, he. In my experience and somewhat narrow "point of view" if the camper is so heavy you need to add thousands of dollars of after market fixes to get the truck to be level you need a bigger built for the load truck. All the figuring, number crunching, what ifs, try this, buy that doesn't seem worth the effort. Just get a camper that doesn't make your truck an ant carrying an elephant and call it good. But then ants are well known to be super strong and able to haul way more than what you'd expect.....tongue-in-cheek guys, tongue-in-cheek. Not criticizing anyone in particular or in general, or even trying to criticize. Lord knows I have my hands full managing my personal business let alone dictating what anyone else should do. Always entertaining this forum is.