Pulltab
Well-known member
Want to know what truck is right for you? I see people almost everyday come onto the forum and ask, "can I pull this?" Let me see if I can decode some of this for you.
First of all I made a post that raised some eyebrows in response to the above question. Part of my post was edited and quite rightly by Jim. He left the first part of my post which said it all but sometimes people skim over what they don't want to hear.
Let's kill a myth here, the most common response to "can I pull this with my truck" is 'yes I pull that with a 3/4 ton pickup no problem.' Folks, look at the whole picture. The least important part of buying a truck is not whether you can pull it but can you stop it! You would not buy a truck if it could not pull your rv so you should think the same way about if you can STOP the rv. Facts are they put trailer brakes on rv's to allow them to do the braking for the rv. Worse case scenario is what if the trailer brakes fail? This is where a GCWR come's into play. PLEASE consider both of these important factors in your decision to buy a truck.
Now lets kill another statement by ALL the manufacturers and that is "You can pull xx,xxx pounds with this truck" read the fine print! It will say "when properly equipped" it doesn't mean that any truck that they make will pull that much. Generally to be able to pull the max load they claim you need at a minimum:
The lowest Rear end ratio available: generally a 4:10 or 4:30
Dual rear wheels:
Usually a Long bed:
usually depends on configuration of the truck, standard cab, quad cab, crew cab etc
and generally their auto trans: (not necessarily always true though, read the fine print)
There ratings are generally based on the above equipment with the truck at bone basic (no options installed) once you start adding options that takes away from your total towable ratings. Lets break it down a little and I will use my Dodge 3500 ram as an example
My dodge is a 4x4 dual wheel, 4:10 rear gear long bed with auto transmission
I believe they claimed I could pull 15,600# if properly equipped. Well by adding the 4x4 I probably lost 600# of my tow rating, mine is a quad cab and that probably cost me some more due to the weight of the additional metal to make the quad cab. The base weight of my truck was somewhere around 7300# or so, that generally means BEFORE you add options. Now I added an additional fuel tank with tool box that added to the gross vehicle weight. Now with both tanks full of fuel (86 gallons) and tools on board and me the wife and the dog and everything I would normally have in the truck it now weighs 9000#
So lets look at figures
Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) which means the total of everything loaded in the truck and the weight of the rv loaded. This is the legal amount you may be if run across the scale.
Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) that you see on the rv tag is the maximum amount the RV may weigh by itself loaded at any time.
My GCWR rating for my Dodge is 23,000 lbs
My GVW rating of my rv is 14,000#
the math says that if the actual weight of my truck is 9000# and my GCWR is 23,000# the max amount I can have in my rv and contents would be 14,000#
Please do not go by dry weights as many people will tell you, they will base their info on the fact the base truck weighs 6000 and the dry weight of their rv is only 10,500# they think that means that their GCWR is 23,000# if they subtract the base weight of the truck of 6000# means now they can tow 17,000#'s. That would be true IF your truck weighed only the 6000# they claim
If you want to make an informed decision, get the max limits of both the truck and the rv.
Do your homework and make sure you are properly equiped to haul the max. Then before you buy the truck ask them if you can take it to the scales and weigh it. Might cost you $10 but believe me that is money well spent! Much cheaper than when you find out the truck you just bought CAN"T safely tow, now if you trade up it just cost you $10,000!
Use that weight of the actual truck you intend to buy and try to calculate what you think extra you will have in the truck including tools and people, preferrable is the truck is full of fuel but chances are it wont be so do a little quick math on how much more fuel you will have to add in weight, 8# a gallon is a safe round number, if it is a 40 gallon tank and is only half full figure 20 gallons at 8# equals another 160# in fuel.
Once you have the truck info you can start deciding if the trailer is safe to pull. Subtract your actual calculated weight of the truck from the GCWR and that will give you your GVW of the rv you can pull. Again, don't go by dry weight of the rv, that was a base rv with probably no options pulled off the line and weighed. It may not even include the AC unit or the extra battery and does not include the propane in the tanks or water in the tank etc.
A 10,500 base rv could now weigh 10.800# before you add any dishes or appliances etc.
The whole purpose of buying an RV is to enjoy it. Do it safely. A salesman will always tell you "YEAH you can pull that! And a lot more! Didn't you see our commercial where our truck was pulling a 747 airplane!" Truck salesmen lie and so don't rv salesmen. I have yet in my 10 years of rv'ing ever had a salesman tell me the truth. Beware. Do your homework, don't rely on opinions there are way to many variables
I have tried to make this as informative as can without to much personal opinion but some does exist, nature of the beast
By the way, the total weight of my rv and truck fully loaded is 22,760# my GCWR is 23,000# I am not a lot under my gross but I am under and personally that gives me comfort.
First of all I made a post that raised some eyebrows in response to the above question. Part of my post was edited and quite rightly by Jim. He left the first part of my post which said it all but sometimes people skim over what they don't want to hear.
Let's kill a myth here, the most common response to "can I pull this with my truck" is 'yes I pull that with a 3/4 ton pickup no problem.' Folks, look at the whole picture. The least important part of buying a truck is not whether you can pull it but can you stop it! You would not buy a truck if it could not pull your rv so you should think the same way about if you can STOP the rv. Facts are they put trailer brakes on rv's to allow them to do the braking for the rv. Worse case scenario is what if the trailer brakes fail? This is where a GCWR come's into play. PLEASE consider both of these important factors in your decision to buy a truck.
Now lets kill another statement by ALL the manufacturers and that is "You can pull xx,xxx pounds with this truck" read the fine print! It will say "when properly equipped" it doesn't mean that any truck that they make will pull that much. Generally to be able to pull the max load they claim you need at a minimum:
The lowest Rear end ratio available: generally a 4:10 or 4:30
Dual rear wheels:
Usually a Long bed:
usually depends on configuration of the truck, standard cab, quad cab, crew cab etc
and generally their auto trans: (not necessarily always true though, read the fine print)
There ratings are generally based on the above equipment with the truck at bone basic (no options installed) once you start adding options that takes away from your total towable ratings. Lets break it down a little and I will use my Dodge 3500 ram as an example
My dodge is a 4x4 dual wheel, 4:10 rear gear long bed with auto transmission
I believe they claimed I could pull 15,600# if properly equipped. Well by adding the 4x4 I probably lost 600# of my tow rating, mine is a quad cab and that probably cost me some more due to the weight of the additional metal to make the quad cab. The base weight of my truck was somewhere around 7300# or so, that generally means BEFORE you add options. Now I added an additional fuel tank with tool box that added to the gross vehicle weight. Now with both tanks full of fuel (86 gallons) and tools on board and me the wife and the dog and everything I would normally have in the truck it now weighs 9000#
So lets look at figures
Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) which means the total of everything loaded in the truck and the weight of the rv loaded. This is the legal amount you may be if run across the scale.
Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) that you see on the rv tag is the maximum amount the RV may weigh by itself loaded at any time.
My GCWR rating for my Dodge is 23,000 lbs
My GVW rating of my rv is 14,000#
the math says that if the actual weight of my truck is 9000# and my GCWR is 23,000# the max amount I can have in my rv and contents would be 14,000#
Please do not go by dry weights as many people will tell you, they will base their info on the fact the base truck weighs 6000 and the dry weight of their rv is only 10,500# they think that means that their GCWR is 23,000# if they subtract the base weight of the truck of 6000# means now they can tow 17,000#'s. That would be true IF your truck weighed only the 6000# they claim
If you want to make an informed decision, get the max limits of both the truck and the rv.
Do your homework and make sure you are properly equiped to haul the max. Then before you buy the truck ask them if you can take it to the scales and weigh it. Might cost you $10 but believe me that is money well spent! Much cheaper than when you find out the truck you just bought CAN"T safely tow, now if you trade up it just cost you $10,000!
Use that weight of the actual truck you intend to buy and try to calculate what you think extra you will have in the truck including tools and people, preferrable is the truck is full of fuel but chances are it wont be so do a little quick math on how much more fuel you will have to add in weight, 8# a gallon is a safe round number, if it is a 40 gallon tank and is only half full figure 20 gallons at 8# equals another 160# in fuel.
Once you have the truck info you can start deciding if the trailer is safe to pull. Subtract your actual calculated weight of the truck from the GCWR and that will give you your GVW of the rv you can pull. Again, don't go by dry weight of the rv, that was a base rv with probably no options pulled off the line and weighed. It may not even include the AC unit or the extra battery and does not include the propane in the tanks or water in the tank etc.
A 10,500 base rv could now weigh 10.800# before you add any dishes or appliances etc.
The whole purpose of buying an RV is to enjoy it. Do it safely. A salesman will always tell you "YEAH you can pull that! And a lot more! Didn't you see our commercial where our truck was pulling a 747 airplane!" Truck salesmen lie and so don't rv salesmen. I have yet in my 10 years of rv'ing ever had a salesman tell me the truth. Beware. Do your homework, don't rely on opinions there are way to many variables
I have tried to make this as informative as can without to much personal opinion but some does exist, nature of the beast
By the way, the total weight of my rv and truck fully loaded is 22,760# my GCWR is 23,000# I am not a lot under my gross but I am under and personally that gives me comfort.
