Towing a trailer greater than Max Tow Weight

[SteveSheahan]

I have a 2019 Silvarado 1500 with the 6.2 engine and tow package. The rated maximum trailer weight is 9300 lbs. Can I tow a trailer with a GVWR of 10,000 lbs (Max dry weight is 6436 lbs), as long as I keep the total loaded weight less than or equal to 9300 lbs (i.e. not carry max amount of water, etc) ? I would think so, but would this void my GM warranty? Thanks

[Old-Biscuit]

YES you can....
No it will NOT void your warranty




But YOU will be OVERLOADED.
See that 9300# MAX Tow Rating is a Marketing Tool.
Base model, 150# driver, 20# cargo


WHat is the Max Weight Rating on hitch/receiver.....950# or less


15% tongue weight on 6000# trailer is 900#

[jjackrash]

For purposes of the truck's tow-weight ratings, the thing your truck cares about is the weight of the trailer at the time you are towing it, i.e., how much it weighs on the scale that day, not how much a sticker says the trailer could weigh fully loaded if maxed out.

I don't know whether towing over any of the trucks towing weight limits voids warranties or not, or how they would know in any event, but its generally not a good idea to buy and regularly drive a trailer that is over limits. (I also generally think 9k lbs. is a lot of weight for a 1/2 ton to tow a TT, even if the new ones are rated to tow more.)

Total combined sticker weight can matter for commercial licenses, but I don't think that is part of the specific question you are asking.

[csuder99]

No, but not for the reasons you mentioned. A travel trailer in the 9000+ lbs weight range is going to have 1200+ lbs of tongue weight which takes up most (or in some cases all) of the payload of a half-ton truck.

The manufacturer ratings are to a large extent based on mandated performance criteria in terms of repeated uphill starts and maintaining minimum speeds on a grade without cooking the transmission or overheating the engine. On flat ground reaching or even slightly exceeding the ratings is not going to cause mechanical issues.

Note that the ratings show the maximum under very favorable conditions: A short trailer (less TW) with low center of gravity (think dump trailer or flatbed with lumber) and the tow vehicle empty except for the driver. Not how you describe a typical travel trailer combination.

[jjackrash]

Oh, and any passengers, a driver over 150 lbs, and anything else you put in the truck counts against the tow rating and payload limits.

[Itchytoe]

GVWR doesn't matter at all when it comes to towing. The actual weight of the trailer is what matters. If your trailer weighs less than the tow rating, you'll be fine even from a legal-OMG-I'm-the-weigh-police standpoint. That same trailer could have a GVWR of 20,000 pounds, but it still wouldn't be over your ratings if it doesn't actually weigh that much.
Will it affect your warranty? No. Don't worry about that.
That being said, I wouldn't recommend a half ton truck for that trailer. I'm assuming you're talking about a travel trailer. They are notoriously difficult to tow because of their physical dimensions, not because of weight. My travel trailer is well within the tow ratings of practically every half ton truck, but I wouldn't dare use one. It's 11 feet high, 8.5 feet wide, and 37 feet long. Sure, it's light, but it's a freaking billboard. It catches wind like a sail. It's anything but easy to tow. Adding another 3,000 pounds to it wouldn't have any impact on how it tows.

[37driver]

My worry would be that if there were to be an accident, some attorney would figure out I was exceeding the weight rating of the truck.

[tuffr2]

The trailers I have seen with a 10,000lb GVWR are kinda big and long. Some are even higher like the Jayco 330 series travel trailers. Those big trailers will catch a lot of wind and be kinda difficult for a 1500 series truck to control it IMHO.

Check your hitch rating on the truck. And 9,300lbs towing seems kinda low for a GM truck with the 6.2 litre powerful engine. Are you sure 9,300 tow rating is correct?

Now to answer your question: A trailer that can weigh a max of 10,000lbs GVWR but weighs 8,000lbs empty and you put 500lbs. of camping stuff in it for a total weight of 8,500lb. That is the weight you are towing, 8,500lbs. Not 10,000lbs.

Like someone mentioned above there might be some legal mumbo jumbo if you are in an accident. It might be a good idea to get a documented weight slip from a CAT scale just incase.

I towed a trailer for 3 years that was too big for my truck on back roads to the local State Parks. The truck was fine as long as I towed below 55 mph. When I wanted to travel of the highway at 70mph that is when I needed a bigger truck.

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by Itchytoe

GVWR doesn't matter at all when it comes to towing. The actual weight of the trailer is what matters.

I hope you had a typo when you posted GVWR doesn't matter. Because you won't find a professional engineer (PE) that will agree with you.

But if you meant GCWR instead of GVWR, then I'll agree with you.

The tow rating (GCWR minus the weight of the tow vehicle) doesn't matter as long as you keep an eagle eye on tranny and coolant temps and never allow either to exceed the red line for your tow vehicle. If you are satisfied with the power and performance of your wet and loaded rig when climbing grades, and you never allow anything in the drivetrain to overheat, then you can ignore the tow rating.

But GVWR is a different story. The GVWR is the max weight you can have on your tow vehicle's suspension without being overloaded. GVWR is based on the weight capacity of tires, wheels, axles, suspension, frame and brakes of the tow vehicle.

Payload capacity available for hitch weight is the critical spec to be concerned with when towing. Payload capacity available for hitch weight is the GVWR of the tow vehicle minus the weight of the wet and loaded tow vehicle ready to tow. So tongue weight of a travel trailer (TT) or pin weight of a 5er are important, not the gross weight of the trailer.

But you won't find the payload capacity available for hitch weight anywhere. To get it you must load the tow vehicle up with everybody and everything that will be in it when towing, fill up with gas, then weigh the wet and loaded tow vehicle. Then add the weight of the hitch that was not factory equipment on your tow vehicle. Weight-distributing (WD) hitch for a TT or fifth-wheel hitch (indluding install kit) for a 5er.

Divide the payload capacity available for hitch weight by 13% to 15% for a TT, or 18% to 20% for a 5er to get the max wet and loaded weight of any RV trailer you want to buy to tow with that tow vehicle.

Then after you are on the road with your new wet and loaded RV trailer, stop at a truck stop that has a certified automated truck (CAT) scale, fill up with gas, and weigh the wet and loaded rig, Add the weights on the front and rear axles of the tow vehicle to get GVW. Compare GVW to GVWR to see how close to bein overloaded you are.

Now back to the OP's question.

Originally Posted by SteveSheahan

The rated maximum trailer weight is 9300 lbs. Can I tow a trailer with a GVWR of 10,000 lbs (Max dry weight is 6436 lbs), as long as I keep the total loaded weight less than or equal to 9300 lbs .

Probably not. Because the 9,300 pounds tow rating is not your limiter as to trailer weight. You will probably exceed the payload capacity available for hitch weight well before you get close to 9,300 pounds gross trailer weight. Your drivetrain can probably PULL a 10k trailer with no sweat,, but you will exceed the weight capacity of something on your tow vehicle.

[Persistent]

Originally Posted by SteveSheahan

I have a 2019 Silvarado 1500 with the 6.2 engine and tow package. The rated maximum trailer weight is 9300 lbs. Can I tow a trailer with a GVWR of 10,000 lbs (Max dry weight is 6436 lbs), as long as I keep the total loaded weight less than or equal to 9300 lbs (i.e. not carry max amount of water, etc) ? I would think so, but would this void my GM warranty? Thanks

You can do what ever you want. Apparently many people do. There are some great dash cam videos on Utube. Towing experience can be anything from difficult to heart stopping.

1) Make sure you have the maximum weight specification for your VIN #. It may be found on the driver's door frame sticker. Published weights often vary considerably.

2) The maximum tow weight specification means towing more than that is overloaded and dangerous to yourself and others. It does not mean that towing with less weight is safe and/or not overloaded. However, actual weight, not specified or published weight is the value the specification refers to.

3) It is safe to tow when your tow vehicle is not overloaded. Loading specifications are on one of two stickers on the driver's door sticker. I wish it was as simple as one number. It is not. When you push the limits of your tow vehicle you must do the math and you must get actual axle, tongue, max TV, max TT, and whole rig weights.
Weighing is cheap at truck scales. It is helpful to have a tongue weight gage if you are pushing the cargo capacity of your TV.
Cargo capacity must be less than specified. Adding 100# to your tow vehicle removes 1000 to 1500# from your towing capacity.
Maximum axle weight …
Gross combined weight …
Tire and wheels maximum …
Sorry, the math is required!

4) Most travel trailers on the road today are at or near their maximum gross weight. MGVW is a good estimate with some safety margin of what your actual trailer weight will be. On the other hand actual weights are what is specified on your tow vehicle door stickers.

[mtofell]

Perfect example of why, "just go by the trailer's GVWR" to size your truck isn't always the best advice. That saying gets thrown around here like religion and is sometimes really pretty poor advice. The actual weight of the trailer is what matters.

I'll admit the majority of trailers have a couple thousand pounds between dry weight and GVWR so it works out but to just blindly advise people they MUST go by trailer GVWR is inaccurate.

Of course, as has been pointed out, OP has other issues but I believe he was originally confused by the poor advice regularly circulating about.

[Itchytoe]

Originally Posted by SmokeyWren

I hope you had a typo when you posted GVWR doesn't matter. Because you won't find a professional engineer (PE) that will agree with you.

But if you meant GCWR instead of GVWR, then I'll agree with you.

...

But GVWR is a different story. The GVWR is the max weight you can have on your tow vehicle's suspension without being overloaded. GVWR is based on the weight capacity of tires, wheels, axles, suspension, frame and brakes of the tow vehicle.

The GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) of the trailer is not dependent on the truck's abilities in any way. The OP is asking about towing a trailer that has a GVWR of 10,000 pounds, but weighs significantly less. In fact, it's under the tow vehicle's ratings. The trailer's GVWR doesn't matter when towing. The trailer's actual weight matters when determining if it's within your tow vehicle's ratings, not the trailer's ratings.


You seem to think I have confused the tow vehicle's GVWR with the trailer's GVWR. I did not. They are two different ratings, and every PE on this planet would agree with me. To determine if your vehicle can tow a trailer within it's ratings, you need the actual weights of the trailer, not the maximum ratings of the trailer.

[77Travco]

Originally Posted by SteveSheahan

I have a 2019 Silvarado 1500 with the 6.2 engine and tow package. The rated maximum trailer weight is 9300 lbs. Can I tow a trailer with a GVWR of 10,000 lbs (Max dry weight is 6436 lbs), as long as I keep the total loaded weight less than or equal to 9300 lbs (i.e. not carry max amount of water, etc) ? I would think so, but would this void my GM warranty? Thanks

It comes down to how well your truck handles the trailer and how comfortable you are driving your setup. If you have a truck warranty issue…. just don’t mention how heavy your trailer is.
I pull my 222SL toyhauler with a 2016 2.7 EcoBoost F150. Truck has a 6 speed, 3:55's, 1430lb payload and is rated to tow 7500lb trailer. My trailer CAT scales at 8200lbs fully loaded with 2 Harleys and full fresh water. I am very impressed how well this truck handles this trailer when fully loaded. I bought a trailer tongue scale from etrailer.com so I can play with adjusting my weights. My biggest issue is actually getting the tongue weight heavy enough. Your biggest issue will probably be your trucks RAWR. Keep an eye on the tongue weight.

[SmokeyWren]

Originally Posted by Itchytoe

The GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) of the trailer is not dependent on the truck's abilities in any way.

Right. His question was: "Can I tow a trailer with a GVWR of 10,000 lbs...as long as I keep the total loaded weight less than or equal to 9300 lbs". The GVWR of the trailer was a given, not a question. His question was can his truck tow a trailer that heavy.

And the short answer is probably not because you will exceed the GVWR (and therefore the payload capacity) of the tow vehicle way before you reach trailer weight of 9,300 pounds.