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TV max tow > TT GVWR - Says Who?

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Al_Bear

RVF Regular
Joined
Jan 3, 2021
Messages
12
Location
Windsor, California
RV Year
2007
RV Make
Komfort
RV Model
212T
RV Length
21
TOW/TOAD
20
Fulltimer
No
Here's a quote from TrailerSafetyWeek.com: "Do not use a tow vehicle with a max tow rating of less than the GVWR of your trailer".

Does anybody know if this is a guideline or a requirement? I searched the California DMV website and couldn't find it there. Is it something required by insurance companies? I'm going to call mine (AAA) about this after the holiday.

Our new-to-us TT has a dry weight of 4520 and we don't bring along any heavy toys. Based on my experience with our prior trailers, I estimate a total TT real-world weight of 4800 for trips without fresh water, or 5200 in the unlikely event that we do carry fresh water. In either case, we will be well under the 7000 max tow of the our 2019 Colorado. (And yes, for those who know that "max tow" is just an approximation, or maybe just marketing b.s., the Colorado will be about 300 lbs. under max payload/GVWR, even with full fresh water in the TT, which brings the actual measured tongue weight to 620.)

The problem is that the TT sticker shows 7400 as the trailer GVWR.

So, if the quote is just a guideline, I would be inclined to ignore it. If it's a regulation, that's something else. We love the trailer--so we would have to get a bigger TV.
 
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I would say it is a guideline, not a requirement. I know of guys hotshotting with a one ton dually grossing over 30,000 pounds that were legal weight wise.
 
If a trailer has a GVWR of 10,000 lbs then that is the amount that the tow vehicle needs to be able to tow. The towing capacity is determined by the manufacturer based on the strength of the frame, the drivetrain and transmission, the engine, gearing at the axles, brakes, cooling system, and suspension. When 1-ton trucks started to have far greater towing capacity the manufacturers started using fully boxes frames, increasing brake rotor sizing, putting in stronger transmissions and higher rated axles, larger radiators, transmission cooling system, and other improvements.

A tire may be have a load capacity of 3,000 lbs at 80PSI and some yahoo may decide to use them with a load of 5,000 lbs and they may get away with it for awhile. I do not want to cause harm to myself, my passengers, or anyone else with whom I share the road because I decided to overload the tow vehicle or the trailer. Call it common sense or maturity but that is how I choose to roll.
 
This will explain better than I can. Tow Capacity varies with how much stuff you have in your truck and how much your truck weighs.

 
Calsun, I think that you would be right if what you mean to say is that a trailer with a GVWR of 10,000 should not be loaded in excess of 10,000. In fact I was surprised to hear that people often exceed the travel trailer's GVWR.
But why should the tow vehicle be capable of towing 10,000 pounds of cargo in the trailer when the owner is never going to load the trailer to that degree.
And would that also apply to a boat trailer? If I find a good deal on a used boat trailer that's capable of towing a 5,000 pound boat, but my boat only weighs 3,000, do I have to size up my tow vehicle so that it would be capable of pulling a 5,000 pounds boat on that trailer?
About 10 years ago someone gave me his utility trailer when he gave up dirt biking. It was spec'd to carry dirt bikes, which would probably be a 1,800 pound load. But I only use it for trips to the dump--brush and sometimes a little construction debris from minor projects around the house or yard. During all that time the most I have ever loaded in it was about 800 pounds (as per my dump receipts). Am I supposed to take into account some imaginary extra 1,000 pounds when considering where I am with respect to my tow vehicle capacity just because the trailer could handle an additional 1,000 pounds?

I started this thread because I was trying to find out whether there were any regulations in place somewhere that would require me to size up my tow vehicle just because my new-to-me travel trailer has a lot of extra cargo capacity, which I'm never going to use. As far as I can tell, there aren't. I don't think such regulations would make sense, but from a bureaucratic point of view I can imagine some agency adopting them because it seems more cautious and would be simpler to enforce: you wouldn't need to consider what was in the trailer, you could just look at the sticker. But even that doesn't make a lot of sense, because you would still have to know what was in the trailer in order to know whether it was overloaded itself or, for that matter, whether it was exceeding the the tow vehicle capacity, regardless of what the stickers say. In other words, if the tow vehicle is capable of handing 10,000 pounds of cargo in that trailer, you would still need to know whether the actual load is over 10,000. If the actual weight of cargo is 13,000, there might be an overload even though it would be ok at the 10,000, the stated trailer GVWR. Do you see my point?
 
I think you may be making it harder than it really is. First, I don't think a police officer will give you a ticket based on the fact that the weight ratings on the tow vehicle and the trailer disagree.

The three things that ARE important here are the tow rating of the truck, the actual weight of the trailer and the gross combined vehicle weight rating (GCVWR). If you weigh the truck with all passengers, cargo and fuel aboard, and it is within the GVWR shown on the sticker, AND, you weigh the trailer with EVERYTHING on board (including food, drinks, clothes, water, propane, etc.) AND it is within the trailer sticker GVWR, AND the combination weight is within the truck's sticker GCVWR, you should be "legal." That said, it is prudent to give yourself a bit of wiggle room which is why it is recommended that you stay within 80% of the sticker GVWR/GCVWR.

TJ
 
Thanks, TJ. That's exactly what I think. Both GVWR vs. actual are good, and combined comes in at 81%. So we're ready for the road!
 
I owned a 1998 Chevy Tahoe and it was rated to tow 7500 lbs but even with a 3,000 lbs trailer load if there was a problem with the trailer brakes the Tahoe would have needed a mile to come to a stop from 55 mph. With a 7500 lbs trailer load it would have been unsafe in many areas where the freeway onramps are too short to begin to get up to 55 mph and have a prayer of merging with the big rigs going 65 mph or faster.

There are also travel trailers that even with the loads in spec there have been failures of the shackle mounts for the leaf springs. Same goes with slide-in campers separating and with complete failure of pickup truck frames. And the factory calculations are based on how the vehicle and trailer left their respective factories. Change the wheels and tires and alter the offset or even worse, lift the truck, and all bets are off.
 

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