Your GAWR is the total weight rating of the front & rear axles. This just means that the axles together are rated for more load than the rest of the truck (frame, suspension, etc.).
2009 Cedar Creek 34sats
2007 Chev 3500HD D/A
1952 Wife
Thanks for that. What irritates me is that the only difference between my F250 and a SRW F350 is one leaf spring in the rear. Same frame, axles, brakes, etc. and it's rated for more. I have airbags on my F250 which I think should bring up my GVWR but it doesn't "officially" because they aren't from the factory. But they are worth their weight in gold in my opinion, and make the truck way more driveable when hooked up to my 5er.
GVWR is the rating that the manufacturer certifies to the Federal Government that the vehicle will preform as advertised, IE braking, acceleration, handling. GAWR is the rating of one single component, the axles. It does not take into account the tires,wheels, springs or any other part of the vehicle. This is where so many people get confused and ultimately get them selves into trouble when loading.
Yep, the F250 and F350 didn't always come with the same tires and wheels, that allowed a higher GVWR than the F250. The F250 can be made to carry the same load, might even from the factory, but the GVWR doesn't change. The axles could carry the weight, but maybe not all the other components would (although the drivetrain between the F250 and F350 are the same).
In some cases insurance and registration is less for a F250 than a F350, so there are reasons for why manufacturers do what they do. We as consumers get more choices, so that's good too. It's another reason they came out with the 10k GVWR F350. It's the same truck as a F350 with higher GVWR but the sticker says lower due to insurance and registration. I worked at two auto insurance companies and policy language stated a passenger vehicle was 10k lbs or less GVWR. So, technically F350 should always be written under a commercial policy, but they don't get written that way. Anyway, Ford came out with a 10k GVWR F350 that works better for some folks. BTW, neither of the insurance companies I worked for did anything different in regard to F350, we wrote them, insured them, paid the claims, etc., but "technically" they weren't considered an insurable vehicle under the standard auto policies. The F250 never had this problem because their GVWR was always under the magic 10k GVWR.
Another advantage of having a GVWR of 10,000 pounds or less is you can legally park it in front of your house in California.
You guessed it, California has a law that says a vehicle over 10,000 pounds can not be parked on a street unless it is on a truck route. The law is fairly old, back when only dual rear wheel trucks would have a GVWR over 10,000 pounds.
Somehow modern single rear wheel pickups should be exempted from this law, but they are not.
10,000 pounds is a lot of weight on that truck. And you want to put on more, without the benefit of the upgraded 18" rims on the F-350 and other heavy duty parts?
Depends, but wheels are just like tires, they are manufactured to carry various loads. So, some 17" wheels aren't rated to carry the same load as some 18" wheels; however, some 17" wheels would carry more than some 18" wheels. It just depends on the specific wheel, for what weight it was designed to carry. Ford specs their wheels for the overall vehicle. F350 trucks came with wheels that matched/exceeded the GVWR, as did F250. Basically, the rest of the truck is the same, wheels and tires might be different.
Bottom line, your frustration is warranted in a sense. The trucks are the same (basically), but there are definitely reasons to want a lower GVWR than a higher one. In your case you basically have a truck that can do the same as one with a different (higher) sticker on the door jamb but don't have to worry about those things associated with a higher GVWR. By the way, if your truck is a 4x4 then there is also a difference in the height of the block that the rear springs sit on, making a F350 sit approximately 2" higher in the rear.
donn0128 wrote: GVWR is the rating that the manufacturer certifies to the Federal Government that the vehicle will preform as advertised, IE braking, acceleration, handling. GAWR is the rating of one single component, the axles. It does not take into account the tires,wheels, springs or any other part of the vehicle. This is where so many people get confused and ultimately get them selves into trouble when loading.
The GAWR takes into account the whole front or rear suspension of the truck, not just the axles themselves. The GAWR includes the springs, axle, brakes, hubs, wheels and tires and all things attatched to the axle.
Most often, the GAWR listed by the vehicle manufacturer is alot lower than the actual axle weight rating listed by the axle manufacturer. The limiting factor for the vehicle GAWR is usually the tires, wheels or springs.
On my truck, my Visteon rear axle's max weight rating is 6250, but the Ford GAWR is 6084, which is the sum of the rating of the stock rear tires that came on the truck (3042 lbs each). On the DRW version of my F350, the axle manufacturer's rating is 8250 lbs, but the GAWR from Ford is 7400 lbs. The limiting factor is the springs, since the 4 rear tires capacities add up to well over 10,000 lbs.
On newer Fords, the DRW F350's use a Dana 80 rear axle, which carries an 11,000 lb rating by Dana, but Ford's GAWR is between 9000 and 9750 lbs, depending on what year F350DRW is being discussed. The limiting factor is the springs. The F450 chassis-cab trucks that used the Dana 80 got the full 11,000 lbs GAWR by Ford, since those trucks had much heavier rear springs (as well as bigger brakes and higher rated wheels and tires).
For 99-up Fords, both the F350SRW and the F250 use the Visteon 10.50" rear axle, which is rating at 9750 lbs for both trucks. The F350SRW GAWR is 6830 lbs for early years and 7050 lbs for newer years. That rating is based on the sum of the 2 rear tires max weight capacities. The F250 GAWR used to be 6084 lbs and has increased a bit since then.
The truck is certified at whatever GVWR or GAWR is on its cert placard. Each has its own job.
I found this on OOIDA web site.
Manufacturer Specifies GAWR and GVWR
(Letter to Heavy & Specialized Carriers Conference of American Trucking Associations):
“….it is the manufacturer who specifies the values (GAWR and GVWR), and he is free to specify whatever values he himself decides are correct. Both NHTSA in its compliance tests, and the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety on the road, will judge the vehicle on the basis of the values assigned. Therefore it is in the interest of the manufacturer to assign values which accurately reflect the load-bearing ability of the vehicle and its suspension.”
The Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) and the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) are defined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) as determinations made by the manufacturer. (49 CFR 571.3). As a general matter NHTSA finds that the manufacturer is most familiar with the complexities of this product and is most qualified to assign these values.”
Now for your particular vehicle I would contact your truck manufacture as to why they chose those numbers. Don't hold your breath for a answer.
"good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" Will Rogers
'03 2500 QC Dodge/Cummins HO 3.73 6 speed manual Jacobs Westach Linex
'97 Park Avanue 28' 5er with two slides 16" BFG Commercial LTs
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