GCWR question

[farmer boy]

Does D.O.T(or MTO) actually use this weight rating or do they use gvwr and axle weights when weighing? Seems like alot of trucks would be overweight if they used the gcwr.
 

[Lyndon - AB]

My experience is that GVWR and axle weights are what really counts. At a scale they usually weigh by axle group and at a roadside inspection they usually weigh each axle individually. GCWR is more important for registration and insurance. That's why you sometimes see two identical trucks with two different GCWR's on the doors. As an example; the one at 48 000 kg is registered for pulling tandem or tri-axle trailers. The one at 63 500 kg is registered for pulling super-b's.

Hope I didn't muddy the waters any.
 

[ericlb]

at roadside inspections they usualy weigh each axle, or axel set, they look to see how much weight each axle or axle set has on it, there also looking to make sure the vehicle is designed to haul the gross weight it is carrying this is why, meduim duty and especially heavy duty trucks have numerous axle weight options available to them when spec'ing out a new truck, it depends on what the customer that is ordering the truck intends to do with it, example; a new truck going to a potato chip company running in the midwestern states, and a new truck intended to haul heavy equipment over the rocky mountains may look almost identical on the outside, under the sheetmetal, there completly different, dot must make sure the equipment used is cabable of carrying the load it has, also on say a 1 ton pulling a deckover trailer, with a tractor on it, same criteria applies, which is where not only gross weight is being checked, but where that weight is located on the vehicle, ie proper weight distribution, say you have that trailer under a farmall 706, if you have the tractor all the way foward to the front of the trailer, your going to be in for it, you will have too much weight on the truck's rear axle , possibly the trailers first axle, and not enough on its rear axle, move the tractor back several feet and you transfer that weight much more evenly
 

[showcrop]

To take Ericlb's excellent answer a little further, axle weights are so critical that in order to make any money, bulk haulers are forced to have on board scales on their trucks in order to be able to carry max. loads without having to tour the country side avoiding scales.
 

[john in la]

Try hooking a large trailer on the back of a small Toyota pickup. Load it to where each axle is not over loaded. This means you will be within the GVWR.

The problem is the truck is not heavy enough to handle the trailer/load weight. It will start fish tailing and you will loose control.

GCWR is often over looked in most inspections. In fact a lot of manufactures do not even give this rating
But go over board and you are asking for trouble and not only from the DOT officer.
 

[mkirsch]

The DOT doesn't give a hoot whether the equipment is "capable of carrying the load it has."

They only care about two things:

1. You do not exceed the weight on your registration.
2. You do not exceed the DOT maximum on any individual axle or axle set.

If you're good to go there, they will go over your rig with a fine-toothed comb until they find some nit-picky thing they can cite you for, or even better, put you out of service.
 

[ericlb]

must varry, around here the dot does care about vehicle cabibility, enough so they dont care what the redistration states, they want to see what the cab id tag says and they do look at it around here
 

[Dean Olson]

Texas DOT does care about and enforce GCRW. You don't see any 1 ton pickups hauling back hoes on tandem axle trailers any more.

Last level 2 TXDOT random inspection I had on my 18 wheeler the officer looked at the door spec plate and checked every tire on my truck and trailer to make sure it was at or above manufactures specs.

They are looking hard for revenue. He didn't get any from me that day.
 

[dansuper27]

Have to add that they also check the weight rating on the tires. You can be legal on everything else and still get shut down if the tires aren't rated for the load you have on. So for example if you try to save money on trailer tires and buy the load range D's when the trailer needs load range E's to go with it's axle rating then you can't load to the trailer's weight rating. Tire capacity is the limiting factor in that situation
 

[Ken Macfarlane]

If we're talking 1 ton farm truck type hauling, where are they gonna get the GCVR on the roadside? Its not on the vehicle dataplates. Some years you would have a hard time obtaining it from the manufacturer. It was just a warrantee denial tool in the past. Only lately became a big selling point and is well documented between models.