Exceeding my gvwr

[sourdough]

[QUOTE=roadglide;202341]Sourdough what is your TV? I'm under the impression your not familiar with the modern diesel vehicle or your tv is a diesel and your pulling a small trailer. I'm a member of the duramax forums and know that the duramax is grossly under rated . The sticker on the TV is there for safety requirements and tax purpose.[/QUOTE

It's not about my trailer/TV. I'm well below ALL weights because I upgraded to make it so. It wouldn't matter if my trailer weighed 5k or 25k I would have a TV rated to tow much more. Such is not the case here - and yes, I am very familiar with the modern diesel, trucks, payloads and towing.

Being a member of a Duramax forum, or reading that some folks think it is grossly underrated, or BELIEVING that the stickers are there as some sort of guideline will not keep you out of jail if you knowingly exceed them. They are put there to TELL you those are the max weights you can have and not to exceed them....period - as you said "for safety reasons". That is done so that there ISN'T a reason for every individual to interpret weights the way they want to see them....and to fit whatever situation they have.

I once knew a very large, strong oak tree on the edge of my favorite stream. The limbs over the river were large, strong and beautiful. I KNEW they were WAY strong when I threw my rope over it and proceeded to use them to swing out over the river. Imagine my surprise when on about the 5th swing out this big limb broke; dropping me in the river and missing my head by about 6". NO WAY! I said. The tree said YES WAY. The same holds true for your truck and weights. The rules are there for a reason. In my tree case a big limb fell and barely missed me; in your case, when the rear wheel breaks off your truck due to an overload (I've had a trailer wheel "depart") and you start skidding crossways in the highway with your 5vr in tow and happen to plow into a Prius, Sentra, Altima, etc. etc. and lay them out....who, again who, do you think is going to be thinking about "poor you" in the courtroom? Not a soul. I've seen a small car run clean over by a semi, left sitting in the road with roof and half the car gone, as they tried to lay blue tarps to cover the "halves" of what was left. I won't be a part of that if I can prevent it.

I have expressed my concerns about this and the reasons for them. I don't want to start a debate with anyone/everyone who believes they can run overweight because they think it's ok because of abc etc. This is something that is left to each person's discretion and thoughtfulness; I understand that.

One last thought about "duramax", "duramax forums" and the "duramax" being grossly underrated. The "duramax" is the engine. It is involved in the towing capacity of a truck BUT so is the tranny, differential ratio and a host of other things...most importantly the CHASSIS and SUSPENSION of the tow vehicle. Those items are of primary concern when you start talking about the weight dropped onto a truck....not the ability of the engine to pull x amount of pounds rolling on wheels..........

[SADLY]

So now we're going to jail if we exceed GVWR ?

[jsmith948]

Originally Posted by SADLY

So now we're going to jail if we exceed GVWR ?

Dy on't know about jail - although, in the event of a death due to criminal negligence you would probably be charged with manslaughter or vehicular homicide. My concern would be what a personal injury shark would do to me on the witness stand in front of a jury box filled with tree hugging Prius drivers!
FWIW, the GAWRs of my truck add up to 11,300, BUT, the truck has a GVWR of 10,000. That is the number I have to adhere to if I want to be LEGAL. JMHO

[NWTTrailer]

Originally Posted by SADLY

So now we're going to jail if we exceed GVWR ?

[Ken / Claudia]

It's not over GVWR that gets you to jail. It's what makes many acts a civil case or criminal case against you if you kill of cause major life threating injury. This is called intent. Did it happen due to knowing or reckless behavior. IF a DA gets a case where a family was killed by a overloaded vehicle and it is found out that the driver KNEW he was over weight and may have not been overweight by having a different truck or trailer or other equipment. Maybe a case for a criminal act well be charged. BUT, as we here weekly on news about civil law suits. That is what well destroy your life style even with insurance. Do you own a home, have a job. Someone will try to get money from you.
Just being over weight likely will not be the only factor in a major crash. Add speed, blow tire, axle break, maybe road conditions, driver distracted or tired/sleepy etc. End result the vehicles get impounded and checked out by police for every reason why it happened. Just the vehicle computer will show how it was driven just before the crash.

[Javi]

Today's society is filled with people who simply have no sense of personal responsibility... occasionally when one bright light starts to shine, the rest move in to smother it...

[Sulphur1]

Hi aksilvy1,
Interesting reading about your dilemma and the replies. We have similar issues here in Australia with the same response - 'you'll never get weighed, etc'. But the legal side is always in the back of my mind!
My Cougar pin is only 1675 lbs and I'm right on the vehicle's 10,000lb limit with two passengers, a Reese R22 hitch and a bed locker -almost nothing in the truck. I was amazed at the weight increase compared with my 2000 GMC K3500 Dually.
I bought a Chev 2500HD for it's safety features, particularly braking not realising how heavy it has become. I should have bought a 3500HD SRW which is exactly the same truck with uprated rear springs and shocks and a different badge. I've ordered the 3500HD OEM complete rear spring package at a cost of $A2200 to legally uprate the vehicle. Without knowing the added spring weight it will give me about another 1100lbs peace of mind with no legal consequence re overloading. Unfortunately these trucks are 3x US price so model change not considered.
Whilst I guess I did not do enough research I believe the vehicle sales people should better advise customers re the suitability for the task, but then it's all about the money these days.
Cheers
Jon

[SADLY]

Whew..... in my state, we can register our trucks for whatever weight we want.

It's just a taxation issue... So I could register a 9000lb GVWR truck for 12,000.

[CWSWine]

Originally Posted by SADLY

Whew..... in my state, we can register our trucks for whatever weight we want.

It's just a taxation issue... So I could register a 9000lb GVWR truck for 12,000.

Air bags and 12 ply tires doesn't increase the payload of the truck but a sticker on the plate does. Interesting....

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by SADLY

Whew..... in my state, we can register our trucks for whatever weight we want.

It's just a taxation issue... So I could register a 9000lb GVWR truck for 12,000.

So you're saying that if I bought a Ford Ranger and decided I wanted to tow a 53,000 lb gooseneck trailer behind it "because", all I have to do is tell the DMV in your state is that I want to "upgrade" the weight on my small truck and all is well? Despite the obvious danger to myself and everyone else on the roadway? What state do you live in? I've never heard of that anywhere.

When you initially register a vehicle all the weights are on the document provided to the DMV for registration - you do not fill out that document. How do all those documents get changed because the owner decides he wants a "bigger" truck....on paper?

[Floton]

Originally Posted by SADLY

Whew..... in my state, we can register our trucks for whatever weight we want.

It's just a taxation issue... So I could register a 9000lb GVWR truck for 12,000.

If you want to pay more taxes go for it but it doesn't change the fact that the only numbers that matter are the ones the manufacturer put on the sticker.

[Ken / Claudia]

In Oregon the truck owner tells DMV what their max wt. will be and needs to pay for that. A f550 should pay around 400 per year, a f350 40 per year What's why most f550s are paying f350s wt. rating until stopped and cited. I tried to get DMV people to read the VIN and license the vehicle per what that lists the wt. rating of that vehicle. They will not, I was told it is a police job to check it out. There for, Oregon is loosing Tens of thousands each year in lost tax's needed for roads. And the police are the bad guys for doing what DMV should have done. But, here police are trained about all that stuff and read the fender badging, Fed std sticker, tires wt. rating and weight vehicles and issue out tickets when over wt.. In the end the that costs police and tax payer, even the driver more because DMV will not step up and license a vehicle for true wt. that it was made to carry.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by Ken / Claudia

In Oregon the truck owner tells DMV what their max wt. will be and needs to pay for that. A f550 should pay around 400 per year, a f350 40 per year What's why most f550s are paying f350s wt. rating until stopped and cited. I tried to get DMV people to read the VIN and license the vehicle per what that lists the wt. rating of that vehicle. They will not, I was told it is a police job to check it out. There for, Oregon is loosing Tens of thousands each year in lost tax's needed for roads. And the police are the bad guys for doing what DMV should have done. But, here police are trained about all that stuff and read the fender badging, Fed std sticker, tires wt. rating and weight vehicles and issue out tickets when over wt.. In the end the that costs police and tax payer, even the driver more because DMV will not step up and license a vehicle for true wt. that it was made to carry.

I guess I stand corrected.

It seems very dangerous to let a person decide how "big" they want their truck to be and put them on the road and then wait for law enforcement to catch them if they are overweight. As you pointed out, they can also lose a lot of money because I want to turn in a gvw that's much lighter than my truck so I pay less. Guess in that scenario the owner really does come out on the cheap end and doesn't have to worry about a fine. Just seems odd to me that the state doesn't use all the tools at its disposal to do what it can to assure correct registration on the front end instead of dumping everything on law enforcement which should ultimately be the backstop....

[Ken / Claudia]

I agree is stupid to allow the truck owner to tell DMV how much to license to vehicle at, especially when the VIN tells everyone what the maker says is the max. wt. they made the vehicle to be at. They can have a 8600 lb 3/4 ton and pay for 20,000 lbs. But, that will never allow them to travel on any roadway at that weight. I have never seem anyone do that. Common people will pay less but, never more than required. This applies to 1 tons that are comm vehicles only max wt. 10,000. Than ANY motor vehicle (truck or cargo van) 10,001 to 26,000 lbs. Excludes motorhomes.

[chuckster57]

$40.00/yr for weight fees? I just paid $196.00 last month. Total DMV was $249.00

[Ken / Claudia]

Yes. that is because if 10,000 lbs or less and not used as a comm vehicle. Oregon says it is a passenger vehicle . 86 bucks for 2 years flat fee. The heaviest vehicle I cited with passenger plates was a manufactured home hauler. Why because he told DMV it was a passenger pickup. DMV does not inspect vehicles unless coming in from another state.

[Desert185]

Oregon is like AK in that registration is for two years...and relatively cheap, but they get you everywhere else. I just paid $126 in NV, but $30 of that was for a veteran plate.

[vampress_me]

MN is not far off from Oregon. Here, licensing fees for a 1/2 ton or 3/4 ton truck new are going to be around $400 or so per year. State law says licensing for a 1 ton is $120/year. Only difference is that as the 3/4 ton gets older, the fee goes down like all other vehicles, but 1 ton fee stays at the $120/ year for life of the vehicle. The goofy part is the weights, with a 1 ton (my only experience) you can pick to license it at 10,000 lbs, 12,500 lbs, or 15,000 lbs. The cost isn't different, its still the same $120. On our new truck the door tag show GVWR of 11,500. They licensed it at 15,000. I don't get it. But to me and hubby, the door tag rules what we will tow.

[BlueThunder34]

How much simpler it would be if we all just bought TVs that were adequate to SAFELY tow our trailers, instead of buying something too big for what we have and then try to justify why it's ok because of this or that. The yellow sticker is the legal rating no matter what someone believes their truck can handle. Heck I've seen the Tundra commercial towing the space shuttle so it must be ok to tow anything you or I could buy, right

[SADLY]

Threads like this are a pretty good example as to why questions like this should be researched at the source (DMV/DOT, etc) rather than asked on the internet.

There are some fairly passionate, yet incorrect answers out there.