GCWR compliance - educate me please

With GCWR the manufacturer is saying that if you stay within it, your truck will meet all its design performance and durability criteria. Go over it and you are in unknown territory. Warranty and legality may vary according to dealers and jurisdictions.

Dayle1 wrote:
GCWR is not a legal issue, it is the manufacturer's rating for warranty (if they could ever prove you exceeded it). It is what the manu. feels is a max weight to pull with reasonable performance and not damage the drivetrain, etc. But to specifically answer, you would not add truck and fiver GVWRs because that would double count the pin weight. Also in Tx you can register the truck for a GVWR higher than the manu. Number. You just can't exceed any axle or tire rating.

I had a new truck that the turbo was acting up on. When I brought it in under warranty to be looked at I asked where I could unhook my gooseneck trailer. When the service manager came out saw what I was pulling he asked what it weighed (over 30,000 lbs) then told me I should have a F550 for that load. Anyway it was no problem getting the turbo replaced under warranty.

Txsurfer wrote:
In order to be compliant with your GCWR do you just have to scale less than the GCWR or as I think I read somewhere GCWR = sum of truck GVWR and trailer GVWR and it doesn't matter how much you scale? Hope that makes sense? When are you into commercial territory with GCWR's?

Scale weight is what counts on GCWR.
Commercial is when you are hauling for hire and no longer a personal vehicle.

fj12ryder wrote:
Well, kind of rjstractor. I believe the registration weight would be the "actual" combined weight of your vehicles, not their combined GVWR.

For example: my registration weight is 23,000 lbs., which is a little more than I actually weigh. If I were stopped and weighed I would be legal. However if I went by my GVWR, then the truck would be 10,000 lbs. and the trailer would be 18,000 lbs., meaning I would need to be licensed to 28,000 lbs. But that isn't the way it works in Missouri. They register by actual weight, not theoretical weight.

You are referring to vehicle registration, I'm referring to driver licensing. Two totally different things.

Like you pointed out, licensing requirements for the driver in WA is different between commercial and personal but vehicle licensing is the same - This not the case in every state.

also, as noted by some, your paid for gvwr/gcwr must be over what you weigh in at, when scaled but the local weight LEO in a scale house, or a portable scale units. Then you must also be under the mandated max mentioned above, to avoid damage to the road bed itself. THAT is the engineer designed spec that LEO's must enforce. They are not supposed to enforce the manufactures warranty numbers per the door sticker on your vehicles. If they do, and it is below the "Federal Bridge Law" numbers, I have mentioned, then that state could lose any and ALL federal funding for roads! That is mentioned in wa States RCW 45.xx.xx which is this states weight laws.

Marty

Bedlam,
Here in WaSt, commercial and personal use trucks are registered the same way, same fees, same max per axle, based on actual tire width, or 500 lb per inch for a single wheel set up, 600 if you have duals, to a max 20,000 per axle, min 34,000 for tandems.

Personal does not have to follow actual drivers licensing requirements, log hours to name two items. 69 mph speed limit for those over 10,000 lbs, or pulling a trailer, chains required in winter on class's for those over 10k, 4we does not matter, not supposed to be in car pool lanes, but Leo's look the other way.....

Marty

The problem is that RV’s and personal use vehicles are handled differently in each state. Commercial has federal guidelines that are consistent for interstate commerce, but they can be different than personal use in each state.

In my state, I register each of my vehicles for a maximum GVW. If I go above that weight, I can be cited or have to pay for an additional 2000 lbs of GVW. They don’t care what the GVWR or GCWR stickers say as long as you can stop the vehicle in a prescribed distance and are not over tire or road ratings.

How many thousands of posts on this issue

Well, kind of rjstractor. I believe the registration weight would be the "actual" combined weight of your vehicles, not their combined GVWR.

For example: my registration weight is 23,000 lbs., which is a little more than I actually weigh. If I were stopped and weighed I would be legal. However if I went by my GVWR, then the truck would be 10,000 lbs. and the trailer would be 18,000 lbs., meaning I would need to be licensed to 28,000 lbs. But that isn't the way it works in Missouri. They register by actual weight, not theoretical weight.