GVWR of a Ram 3500

[justafordguy]

Originally Posted by JIMNLIN

Your registered weight gets you nothing in another state just as another states registered GCW or other weights different than yours gets nothing in your state.

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True, I was told by my DMV office that a truck only had to meet the registration weight requirements of the state it is registered in.

[2500HD]

Originally Posted by Cummins12V98

Here are my LOADED full time numbers. 6500 gen on board along with wifes jewelry components (ROCKS).

front 5,460

rear 9,580

truck total 15,040

RV 17,500

Combined total 32,540# that includes 100 gallons water.

Don't worry about the 14K on the truck. That is the limit of a 3500 dually anything over and it is in Commercial Medium Duty territory.

I am still under rear axle rating and WAY under tire rating. I have factory rear air. But that makes no difference in the ratings it just keeps the load level up to rear axle rating. Bottom line don't worry load it up!

I whole heartedly agree with you about "don't worry and load it up", but I can't help but remember all the other threads where guys (ESPECIALLY THE RAM GUYS) are warning everyone about not exceeding any of their trucks ratings no matter how big of a truck the guy has. I'm aware that Ram has the highest ratings of all the big 3. If I understand the weight police correctly one pound over is well...over and unsafe.

I'm not pointing any fingers at you or disagreeing with you I'm just asking the question why is it ok for you to do this and the guy with an f-250 or 2500 can't pull a 13k fifth wheel without the truck breaking in half killing someone.

[Dasmoeturhead]

Kill somebody due to being unable to stop,siezed differential, blown tires,wheel failure,broken drive line,u-joints or whatever and then justify that. Use common sense. Start a trend of being responsible.

[Cummins12V98]

Originally Posted by 2500HD

I whole heartedly agree with you about "don't worry and load it up", but I can't help but remember all the other threads where guys (ESPECIALLY THE RAM GUYS) are warning everyone about not exceeding any of their trucks ratings no matter how big of a truck the guy has. I'm aware that Ram has the highest ratings of all the big 3. If I understand the weight police correctly one pound over is well...over and unsafe.

I'm not pointing any fingers at you or disagreeing with you I'm just asking the question why is it ok for you to do this and the guy with an f-250 or 2500 can't pull a 13k fifth wheel without the truck breaking in half killing someone.

I understand your question.

The fact is I am well under the front axle, rear axle and towing ratings. I am over the GCVWR of 14K by 1,000#. The 14K number has nothing to do with the trucks capacity in this trucks rating. The 14K is the limit on a class 3 pickup designation. Any more and it is in the commercial category. So in reality it's a 4500 truck with a 3500 rating.

Yes I do criticize people that overload their trucks and try to make a 1/2 ton do the work of a 3,4 ton and so on. The thing that people never consider is what the actual pin weight of the RV can be NOT the DRY pin weight! That is where I have a real problem is when people look at what their truck can TOW instead of what it can HAUL!

I had a 98 RAM 2500 4X4 12 Valve that had plenty of power to haul our last MS but the brakes were not big enough the rear tires were not HD enough and so on. I could have put bags on it and tires and so on but the fact was there was too much RV to be safe.

Hope I explained my self.

[Cummins12V98]

When people tow on the edge they will say it owes just fine and so on. At those close and over tolerances there is little to no fudge factor.

I will explain.

I used to tow a 32.5' Avion Platinum with my 98 2500 RAM. The combined load was 20,500#. I always felt it towed and handled the load well but I also felt I was at the upper end of my personal limit.

We were traveling down a long grade coming into Palm Springs after dark one night and coming around a curve I was hit broadside from a gust of wind. Scared the he!! out of me and pushed us across the lane into oncoming lane that thankfully was empty. That really confirmed I was at my safe limit. We were very lucky no one was coming.

So when the wife wanted a bigger RV I said fine first we will get a Dually to handle what ever we decide on.

I am not going to convince some that what they are already doing could be very dangerous, it's the newbies that I want to really be informed before making a big purchase.

[dgwilson40]

Your GCVWR is not #14,000lbs. The
#14,000 is the max weight of the truck only. Your combined weight of truck and trailer is probably around #30,000lbs depending on transmission and gear ratio mainly. Based on what you have said you are way under. So you should be ok.

[Kevinc2011]

With the Aisin automatic and 4.10 gears, that trucks GCVWR is listed as 37,500 lbs. mine has the 68RFE transmission and 4.10 gears, that lists mine as 30,500 lbs. the load specs on these trucks are high. My GCVWR DRY is 25,580 lbs as weighed on a CAT scale. I do not carry water so food and clothes I will estimate at 500 lbs, making my loaded at about 26,000 lbs for traveling.

[1bigmess]

Originally Posted by justafordguy

I agree 100% that you will be fine as long as you stay under the rear axle and OR tire ratings on any truck.

I'm just clearing this up a little: stay under the lowest rating of these two figures. If the axle rating is higher than your tires, best not to go over the axle rating. If the tire rating is higher than your axle, best not to go over the axle rating.

I'd be very curious to know if an insurance company would cover their insured party if it was discovered the operator of the insured vehicle knowingly overloaded any of the different vehicle running gear items and that may have caused a loss.

[Gordon Dewald]

Originally Posted by 1bigmess

I'm just clearing this up a little: stay under the lowest rating of these two figures. If the axle rating is higher than your tires, best not to go over the axle rating. If the tire rating is higher than your axle, best not to go over the axle rating.

I'd be very curious to know if an insurance company would cover their insured party if it was discovered the operator of the insured vehicle knowingly overloaded any of the different vehicle running gear items and that may have caused a loss.

I have a strong suspicion that insurance companies along with other interested agencies monitor sites like this to see what is going on in the industry. Observing folks encourage others to ignore the manfacturers specs will be raising a red flag I would imagine.

[1bigmess]

Any good reason, and maybe a few bad ones, to *not* pay for a loss must be an entire department of hard working folks at an insurance company.

[glennwest]

I'm over 10k on rear axle. I do have air bags also. I plan on getting an HDT

[caissiel]

In my province all super duties are licence the same weight. My neighbour with a 2000 F350 dually is licences for 12000 lbs. My 2005 F250 was licenced for 14000 lbs.
His F350 stock had one less spring ply per side and mine with camper package has over load ply or helper spring ply in addition. In the brake area his pads are almost half the size of mine.
When he loads on his 34 ft fifth wheel the rear of his truck really goes down and it shows. With my 39 ft 5th wheel on mine it levels my F250.
I dropped the registration on mine to just below 12000 lbs. The registrar looked at me and said you know it's not cheaper, but I wanted to be under 26000 lbs registration because my trailer has 7000 lbs axles.
As I said many times, I prefer the SRWs for the front axle and tire combination that makes them stronger up front. Stability is in the rear spring packs and air bags only soften the ride.
I was asked at the border if I had bags and said NO I DO NOT NEED THEM.