Does anyone have info about where to find the GCWR of a truck? My GVWR is on the door post tag but I cannot find the Gross Combined Weight Rating.
My truck is a 93 F350, crew cab, long(8ft) box, 2wd, with a 7.3 idi diesel and the E4OD trans. The rear axle ratio is 4.10. By the way I don't have the diesel supplement for the owners manual.

 

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Is there a formula?


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Sure, but it's a fairly complicated formula if your pickup has single rear wheels (SRW) and you flunked 8th grade algebra.

First, you need to know how much your truck weighs wet and loaded for the road but without the trailer. So load up the wife and kiddies and puppydogs and tools and coolers and campfirewood and generator and whatever else you would haul in the truck. Include the entire hitch. If the 5er or gooseneck hitch is not installed yet, then throw it in the bed for weighing purposes. Then go to a truckstop that has a CAT scale or J scale. Fill the fuel tank(s) to the brim, then weigh the wet and loaded truck including driver and passenger(s).

If your truck has single rear wheels (SRW):

Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded truck from the GVWR of that truck. The difference is your max hitch weight or max kingpin weight.

If the trailer you want to tow is a tag trailer, then divide your max hitch weight by 12 percent. The answer will be the max GVWR of any tag trailer you can tow without being overloaded.

If the trailer you want to tow is a 5er, then divide your max hitch weight by 17 percent. The answer will be the max GVWR of any medium sized and medium priced 5er RV trailer you can probably tow without being overloaded.

If the trailer you want to tow is a gooseneck, then divide your max hitch weight by 20 percent. The answer will be the max GVWR of any medium sized and medium priced gooseneck trailer you can probably tow without being overloaded.

Examples for F-250 pickups:

If your wet and loaded pickup with 8,800 pounds GVWR weighs 7,500 pounds, then your max hitch weight is 1,300 pounds.

1,300 divided by 0.12 = 10,833 lbs. max tag trailer GVWR.

1,300 divided by 0.17 = 7,647 lbs. max 5er RV trailer GVWR.

1,300 divided by 0.2 = 6,500 lbs. max gooseneck horse trailer GVWR.

Those are realistic examples for your '97 CC PSD 4x4 shorty assuming you load it very lightly with tools, passengers, and "stuff".

For normally-loaded '99-up F-250 PSD CrewCab 4x4s, you can forget towing any 5er or gooseneck and not be overloaded. That's why they make F-350s.

If your F-350 pickup has dual rear tires, then it's a completely different formula, because you have plenty of GVWR on the truck:

Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded pickup from the GCWR of the tow vehicle. The difference is the max GVWR of any trailer of any kind you want to hook up. If it's a tag trailer, then this assumes you have a receiver hitch and drawbar rated to tow that much trailer.

If your wet and loaded Dooley with a GCWR of 20,000 lbs. weighs 9,000 lbs., then you can hook up to any trailer with a GVWR of 11,000 pounds or less and not be overloaded.

Perhaps more realistic for a family in a '99-up Dooley CrewCab 4x4 PSD would be a wet and loaded truck weight of 10,000 lbs., leaving 10,000 pounds as the max GVWR of any trailer you want to tow without being overloaded.

So the simple answer to your question is weigh your truck, do the math, then look only at the GVWR of any trailer you're considering. (The trailer's GVWR will be on a certification sticker, probably on the left front corner of a 5er or tag trailer.) If the GVWR of any trailer is too much, then look at smaller trailers. If you can't find an adequate smaller 5er, then limit your looking to tag trailers. If you can't even find an adequate tag trailer within your weight limits, then consider buying more truck before you buy the trailer.

 

wow very informative post!