Alphabet Soup

[Glowplug]

Can anyone help me understand the basics of trailer weights? In particular, I find all the different weight abbreviations very confusing. What is the difference between GVWR, GCWR, GVW, ETC.? Even if there is a good website that I can be referred to that would be helpful. I don't think there is a book "Trailers for Dummies" so any help would be appreciated. I am not unintelligent, but I just can't get a grasp on this. Thanks.

 

[RobS]

Can anyone help me understand the basics of trailer weights? In particular, I find all the different weight abbreviations very confusing. What is the difference between GVWR, GCWR, GVW, ETC.? Even if there is a good website that I can be referred to that would be helpful. I don't think there is a book "Trailers for Dummies" so any help would be appreciated. I am not unintelligent, but I just can't get a grasp on this. Thanks.

I learned a lot about this back when we were camper shopping a number of years ago so here's my take:

Any time there is an "R" in the letters it's the Rating. Without the "R", it's generally the actual weight. "V" is vehicle, "A" is axle and "C" is combined. If you are planning a load you want to make sure you're below the indidual axle ratings, the vehicle rating for a truck load and the combined rating for a trailer. With a trailer, the tongue load should not exceed the vehicle rating number.

The rating numbers are found either on the door sticker and/or in the owners manual. You may need the axle code from the door sticker to use the weight tables in the manual.

So if your truck weighs 6000 pounds (Gross Vehicle Weight, GVW) and the GVWR is 8800, you'll be fine. One other number is the curb weight, which is basically the empty weight.

There's a lot more too it all, but that's a start.

 

[RollTideRam]

Empty, my truck weighs 7k. That is the GVR. It is a 2500 with GVWR of 8800#, that is what it the max or gross it is rated at. For truck and trailer or combined weight, it is around 20K. Keeping under these numbers I'm legal, Staying under the axle ratings and tires ratings is the most important to me. JC

 

[Highbeam]

Empty, my truck weighs 7k. That is the GVR.

Whoops, no such thing as GVR, probably meant GVW for Gross Vehicle Weight.


The best website is RV.net where there are even more weight police than on TBN. The RV guys have at least as many issues with ratings as we do and they seem to be more willing to think about and apply the ratings rather than assuming, guessing, and estimating.

While it is confusing, the numbers game can be figured out and applied in black and white. Then you as the operator must decide if you want to use your equipment at 100% of these ratings or only partially load it (or overload it) according to your own safety margin or assumptions. The usual debates seem to stem from abuse and misuse of assumptions other than the factual numbers you inquired about.

 

[Glowplug]

Whoops, no such thing as GVR, probably meant GVW for Gross Vehicle Weight.

Well, I guess you caught me. Typo I guess. Thanks for the site. I'll check it out!

 

[RollTideRam]

He caught my typo I think. Anyway maybe you have figured out what all the abbreviations are for. JC

 

[kenmac]

I thought you might change your name to WarEagleRam after what happened

 

[RollTideRam]

I thought you might change your name to WarEagleRam after what happened

If I lived in Auburn, I might pull for them. I live in Bama and pull for them. It is not Kubota tractors that make me hate the color orange. JC

 

[Bob_Skurka]

What is the difference between GVWR, GCWR, GVW, ETC.?

GVWR = Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, also called GVW = Gross Vehicle Weight, this is the maximum of a vehicle with fuel, passengers & cargo, it can be applied to either a trailer or a car/truck.

GCWR = Gross COMBINED Weight Rating. This it the maximum combined weight of BOTH your trailer and your tow vehicle.

CW = Curb Weight. This is the raw weight of the vehicle without passengers, fuel or cargo.

Payload Capacity. The maximum weight, including fuel and passengers, that can be carried inside a vehicle. It is the difference between the CW and the GVWR.

Realize that a 7000# GVWR trailer will NOT carry 7000#. It will carry a payload that is roughly 5500# and the trailer itself will weight about 1500# for a total of 7000#. Also do not believe that there is any "safety factor" built into a trailer, most trailers are pretty cheaply built and have no such thing as a safety factor. A typical 16' trailer will weight between 1400# and 1600#.

• Example 1: My VW Touareg weighs about 6486# when fully loaded that would be the GVWR. It has a curb weight of 5086#. That gives it a payload capacity of 1400#. It can tow up to 7700#. So a fully loaded Touareg + a fully loaded trailer will yield a GCWR of about 14,185# (but I cannot find an offical published GCWR).
• Example 2: A Hummer H3 has a towing capacity of 4500#. It has a curb weight of about 4700#. It has a GCWR of 10,000. It has a GVWR of 6000#. That gives it a payload capacity of 1300#. So if you fully load your Hummer H3, you can NOT tow a full 4500# because you will exceed your 10,000 GCWR by 500#.

*** Payload capacity = the total weight of passengers, fuel in the tank, spare change stuck in the seat cushions and all the cargo you plan to carry, so if someone has a hefty wife and wants to pack a lot of gear, you may have to choose between the wife and some of the gear.

*** CW can be applied to any vehicle or trailer.

*** Do NOT assume that the towing capacity is congruent with the GCWR. It is very possible to overload your vehicle's GCWR if you are towing a full load and you have a full payload.
​

 

[kenmac]

If I lived in Auburn, I might pull for them. I live in Bama and pull for them. It is not Kubota tractors that make me hate the color orange. JC

And I always thought that Auburn was in Bama. I have been mislead.

 

[RollTideRam]

They got voted out, and went to Georgia

 

[Glowplug]

GVWR = Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, also called GVW = Gross Vehicle Weight, this is the maximum of a vehicle with fuel, passengers & cargo, it can be applied to either a trailer or a car/truck.

GCWR = Gross COMBINED Weight Rating. This it the maximum combined weight of BOTH your trailer and your tow vehicle.

CW = Curb Weight. This is the raw weight of the vehicle without passengers, fuel or cargo.

Payload Capacity. The maximum weight, including fuel and passengers, that can be carried inside a vehicle. It is the difference between the CW and the GVWR.

Well, just when I thought I was getting this figured out I get all confused again. I thought "Rating" meant the maximum and "weight" meant actual. For example, suppose a vehicle has a curb weight of 6000#. That's exactly what it weighs empty. Now suppose its got a GVWR of 7500#. I thought that meant you could "safely" load it to 7500# total if you wanted. But if you loaded it and the actual weight was 7100# that would be the GVW. Me kunfoozed.

 

[Bob_Skurka]

Chuck, I buy fleet vehicles (cars, light trucks and large trucks), and while I may not be correct I think I am. When I talk with dealers, they interchangably use GVW and GVWR, which is why I wrote that GVWR is also called GVW. If I am spec'ing out a mid-duty delivery truck (25,995#) and tell them I want a 25,995# GVW truck, they show me trucks that have a 25,995 GVWR.

Now I can also tell you that there are roads that have a GVW limit posted and the police officers enforce the load limits NOT by what the truck weighs at the time it is on the road, but by the GVWR that the truck is measured at when fully loaded. So if a road is posted at a 15,000# limit and a GMC Top-Kick with a 26,000# GVWR only weighs 14,000# empty and the empty truck is driving down the road, it will get a ticket for being a 26,000# truck on a 15,000# road (and one of my truck drivers just got fined $1000 for doing just that!) (more accurately it is by the licensed GVW that the officers enforce the law, not by the manufacturer's GVW/GVWR).

The ratings given are the MAXIMUM ratings. So to say you have a truck loaded up to 7100# when it has a GVWR of 7500# is to say you have a truck that is not loaded to capacity, but it does not mean that the GVW is 7100#. The 7100#, in the freight industry would = the working loaded weight, or the current loaded weight, but it is not the gross vehicle weight. We deal with declining load weights or static load weights. A declining load weight example would be typical of a UPS delivery truck, the truck starts out full and over the course of the day is unloaded at each stop. A static load weight would be a long haul or Point to Point load where a given load is put on at one location and the entire load is carried over a given distance and then the entire load is taken off at the destination.

When it comes to towing our little tractors around behind our trucks, the thing you want to consider is how much safety margin you have. A "rating" is based on a well maintained piece of equipment. If the brakes are worn, the springs are shot, etc then your truck cannot haul or tow the full rating safely.

Generally I think most people would be well off to stay at 85% of the rating or lower, their vehicles will last longer and their hauling will be accomplished with a safety margin.

 

[Glowplug]

Bob-That all makes sense now. It was just a little confusing to me in the earlier post. Thanks!!