These values, however, are the maximums for when the vehicle has only a driver in it and no cargo. Truck manufacturers will often calculate and advertise their truck’s payload and towing capacities. Why You Can’t Use the Advertised Payload and Towing Capacities
You could also hurt other drivers by causing accidents on the road. If your cargo is not secured and within your truck’s carrying capacity, you could put undue stress on your vehicle’s suspension, transmission and engine. Out of every 1,000 crashes, 163 came from vehicle-related debris or fallen cargo. When AAA conducted a study of accidents from 2011 through 2014, it found 125 deaths and 9,805 injuries each year had direct connections to debris-related incidents. Improperly secured trailers and cargo contributes to vehicle-related road debris. towing capacity when loading up your vehicle. You need to know whether to calculate truck payload vs.
The trailer tongue weight is how what you tow can impact the payload capacity of your truck. Don’t forget to add the mass of the cargo in or on the trailer before calculating the tongue weight if you will use the trailer for towing and hauling. This tongue weight only accounts for an empty trailer. For example, if you have a single-axle eight-foot-long trailer, empty, the trailer weighs around 320 pounds. It ranges from 10 to 15% of the total trailer weight. This measurement indicates how much weight the towed load exerts on the truck’s tongue. Part of the payload capacity is the trailer tongue weight. Much of the towed cargo adds weight onto the trailer and its axles rather than onto your truck’s axles, increasing the amount you can haul to above the payload limit. Typically, this value exceeds the GVWR because your vehicle can tow much more than its overall weight. GCVWR indicates the total amount for your loaded truck and trailer. You need the GCVWR to calculate towing capacity. The former stands for gross combined vehicle weight rating while the latter represents the gross vehicle weight. What Is GCVWR?ĭo not confuse GCVWR with GVWR. By removing the curb weight from the gross vehicle weight, you will find out how much additional weight your truck can handle. Your truck’s mass constitutes part of the GVWR, as does the load you carry.
When determining maximum payload and towing capacity, you need to know the curb weight, which includes a full tank of gas and topped off fluids but no passengers or cargo. The curb weight of your truck is how much the vehicle weighs when empty. The higher the GVWR, the more your vehicle can carry in payload and towing. Those above this weight are heavy-duty trucks. Vehicles with greater than 10,000 pounds but less than 26,000 pounds for GVWR are considered to be medium-duty. Trucks with GVWRs up to 10,000 pounds are light-duty vehicles. The classifications help you to identify the type of vehicle you have. Each level increases in varying increments up to Class 8, which includes trucks with GVWRs of greater than 33,000 pounds. Class 1 constitutes the smallest trucks weighing 6,000 pounds. government classifies trucks into various classes based on the GVWR. This value measures how much your truck can carry inside it - the driver, passengers and cargo. Instead, you can find it on the plate affixed to the sidewall, which may be on the driver’s side door, or consult your owner’s manual. The GVWR, gross vehicle weight rating, is one metric you will need to calculate to ensure you don’t cause long-lasting damage to your truck. To understand the differences between payload and towing capacity, you must put some of those other values into perspective. You see several numbers thrown at you in truck advertisements - GVWR, curb weight, gross combined vehicle weight and many others. Towing capacity, on the other hand, refers to the maximum weight that a truck can tow after factoring in the weight of the truck and any cargo. Click here > What’s the Difference Between Payload and Towing Capacity?Ī truck’s payload capacity refers to the maximum amount of weight you can safely add to a truck’s cargo area in addition to its empty weight (or curb weight). To compare the payload capacity of Reading service, dump, and enclosed bodies, use our side-by-side product comparison tool. Discover more about towing capacity, payload and other calculations you will need to make to get the most from your truck. Exceeding this value can cause excessive wear on your truck’s engine, transmission, tires, brakes and other components. Whether towing or hauling cargo, you need to know the capacity your vehicle can handle. Home / Calculating Your Truck’s Maximum Payload and Towing Capacity