1977 Heavy Half, what weight trailer can I tow?

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by C-10 simplex

i've always wondered what was the purpose of this; i have the "heavy duty" springs on my 1/2 ton, but i have 2.56 rear, stock brakes, no aux trans cooler etc. Why bother? i can load the bed with 2000lbs of corn, but i still have to drive it to market.

Marketing.


It allows the Chevy marketing guys to brag about how much more their truck can haul over the Ford marketing guys.

That is, until the Ford marketing guys figure out how to raise the bar and then change their advertising....

K

[DetroitDan]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

Marketing.


It allows the Chevy marketing guys to brag about how much more their truck can haul over the Ford marketing guys.

That is, until the Ford marketing guys figure out how to raise the bar and then change their advertising....

K

a co-worker has a 2011 F150 that can allegedly tow 11,300. That's how far the brand wars have gotten out of control.

[PugDad]

Ok, let's see if I'm on the right track.

My truck has (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) a curb weight of 3650lbs.

The GVWR is 6200.

6200-3650=2550

Does that mean that the weight of the trailer, and cargo, and truck passengers, should be around 2550 lbs?

I'm not having any luck finding an actual spec sheet that says what the GCWR is.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by PugDad

Ok, let's see if I'm on the right track.

My truck has (and I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong) a curb weight of 3650lbs.

The GVWR is 6200.

6200-3650=2550

Does that mean that the weight of the trailer, and cargo, and truck passengers, should be around 2550 lbs?

I'm not having any luck finding an actual spec sheet that says what the GCWR is.

No - what you have described is "payload".

You need the GM "Trailering Guide" for your year truck (like a sales brochure), which will show your recommened maximum combined weight rating. See if there is anything in here: http://gmheritagecenter.com/gm-herit...olet-Truck.pdf

I"m leaving on vacation in a few hours or I would look for what I have. Do a search for sales brochures and see if you can find the Trailering Guide. I'll check back in as I can.

K

[DetroitDan]

No, gvwr is just the truck, with it's max load of passengers and cargo, but not including trailer. To include trailer you are looking for gcvwr, the difference being the C stands for Combined, meaning combined truck and trailer. So 2550 is the weight of all passengers, IIRC they use a baseline of 150 for each passenger, regular cab is built for 3, so there's 450, then I think a full tank of fuel leaves you with a cargo capacity of about 1 ton. Funny, as a side note, Home Depot won't load a ton of product on your truck unless it's a 1 ton. Because they, like so many others, don't know where the terms 1/2, 3/4 and 1 ton came from.
What exactly is the truck, 2wd or 4wd, regular cab longbed? I'll do a little digging. But off the cuff I'd say you're safe with a 4000 lb trailer. You can actually get quite a bit of camper for less than 2 tons. And when you pull the trailer you aren't likely going to have 2000lbs of weight in the bed anyway.
Whatever you do, make sure your tires, brakes, steering and brakelines are all in good shape. If over 3000 lbs trailer weight you need by law to have trailer brakes, so consider wiring the truck for a 7pin RV type plug with a hand operated in-cab controller. Most people don't understand trailer brakes, and figure they don't need them, especially if they have a big heavy dually. But the reason for the trailer brakes, and the controller, is not just for additional stopping and emergency stopping, the big factor is that when the trailer starts swaying because of wind, or it's not properly loaded, the only way to get it under control is to lightly drag the trailer brakes with the hand controller while not braking with the truck.
This is why we've seen so many upside campers on the highway.