F350 GCWR

You say that the trailer pulls just fine. I assume, what you meant was that the truck pulls the trailer just fine. I'm willing to bet that you have not towed this trailer in a crosswind or you wouldn't be bragging about that SRW setup. You may be able to physically increase the capacity of the truck. However, you can not legally increase the GCWR, no matter what you do. The GCWR is the highest limit that Ford dared to place on your vehicle. It is stated on the door post. If you are involved in a serious accident, what is on the door post is all the judge and jury will care about. I suggest you carry one hell of a lot of insurance. Not that it will help, as your carrier will simply deny all liability and get away with it. Your other option would be to place any and all of your assets in a trust.

The 4.3 buys you startup torque which is important if starting from a stop up hill. Everything else is identical in your truck is identical to the 4.3. The bottom line. I wouldn't worry about it unless you live on a hill.

I can think of one more thing. Going down hill you won't get as much compression breaking.

I wouldn't worry about damaging your vehicle if you only tow occasionaly. While Tyrone makes a good point, if the GCVR on the same truck with different gearing is higher, than your it does not seem like a safety issue, rather a reliability issue. For example, my Nisssan 4x4 has a tow rating of 3500lbs with a 5 speed and 5000lbs with an auto box. I have the 5 speed, but would not hesitate to go over 3500lbs from a safety aspect as the *vehicle* is rated at 5000lbs. Nissan seems to be concerned about the durability of the clutch.

Tyrone,

There is no GCWR posted on my door stickers. Here is the posted info along with my actual measured weights:

DOOR POST MEASURED DRY MEASURED WITH TRAILER

Front GAWR 4100 3660 3550 Rear GAWR 6830 2740 5060 GVWR 9900 6400 8610 GCWR NOT POSTED

Additionally, the trailer axels weighed 9160 for a total GCWR of

17770. I am not exceeding any door post figures, but I am exceeding the GCWR as listed in the owners manual for my 3.73 rear axel ratio.

Jerry L.

bragging

Jerry, I noticed that you left off the hitch weight. Was there a reason, or is 9160# the total weight of the trailer loaded. I'm curious about the weight of the wife, kids, coolers, beer, etc., that you will be loading into the vehicle also.

Tyrone, The hitch weight is included in the weight change on the truck when trailer is loaded onto fifth wheel hitch as shown in the third column. See revised chart. I estimate that I would actually have perhaps 600 more lbs of food and clothing and human beings distributed in the Rear GAWR and trailer axels.

DOOR POST MEASURED DRY MEASURED DIFFERENCE w Trailer (5TH WHL HITCH WEIGHT) Front GAWR 4100 3660 3550 Rear GAWR 6830 2740 5060 GVWR 9900 6400 8610 (2210) GCWR NOT POSTED TRAILER(both axels at once) 9160 COMBINED(truck axels and trailer axels) 17770 Est COMBINED(1 add. passenger plus stuff) 18370

Jerry L.