Dumb question
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 173
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From: Southern Illinois
Pretty much its payload capacity. The higher the ...ton, the more heavy duty the whole truck is. The 1/2ton, 3/4ton, ... are a little misleading, I would say most trucks are good for another 500-1000 lbs beyond their rating, maybe a little more one way or the other, depending on their setup.
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 173
Likes: 0
From: Southern Illinois
Take a look at your sticker in the door jam. It should give you a GVWR number. Take that number minus your vehicle weight and the will be close to your recommended max. That truck probably weighs about 4200-4500lbs. Its ok to exceed the max GVWR, but to an extent as that can become dangerous.
Senior User
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 482
Likes: 2
You also need to pay attention to the axle weights. It is possible, but not easy, to be within GVWR but overload the axle rating. Also the ratings are only good with the tires listed. For instance my truck is listed as 8600 GVWR but the tires are only rated at 2000lb each giving me a max for the truck of 8000lb. That is IF I can get the load to balance at 4000lb at each end.
