Need educated on GVWR and tow ratings please.

horse7 · Jun 9, 2007

montanaman said:
The state you are in makes a big difference. In PA, any trailer registered at 10,000lbs or above requires you to register the towing vehicle with combination plates. Has no impact on safety but it sure does help the state generate more money! You add the GVW of the trailer and the GVW of the truck and that's what you have to register the truck for. You can figure a dually towing a 14k trailer costs a heck of a lot to own per year. This is why dealers HAVE to charge delivery fees, either in the cost of goods sold or as a per mile fee.

The funny thing is that none of this applies to an RV so the guy with the 1/2 ton towing the 35' fifth wheeler that the dealer told him would be just fine behind that 1/2 ton, pays about $12 a year for the trailer plate and NO combination plate on the truck.

Ken

We were pulling a C&C 6 horse GN (14300 rated) with one sick horse headed to New Bolton (Kennet PA from NY) when we were pulled over about 15 minutes from our destination-- truck was a Dodge DRW rated 12000. Yeah, 26300 is over 26000 and no CDL, no triangles, no fire extinquisher, no HOS, no.... (and no coggins

yeah, I forgot it in the rush, had to pay for another one at New Bolton).

Ironically, we almost took my F350 SRW rated 9900, but a steering link was worn so the front was slightly loose-- the DRW is safer but less legal in this case in PA.

Went back a week later with my F350 to retrieve the horse and trailer from New Bolton.

They really shouldn't blindly presume illegality based solely on nameplate ratings, but allow some common sense if the trailer is clearly far from fully loaded.

I imagine this could be a problem if I got a shiny new F450 with bed and GN hitch, would need a CDL to pull a puny 6K GN trailer in PA...