Hi everyone,

Neat place. I'm new to the board and looking at getting a diesel dually to replace my hand-me-down gas-engined dually. I need some advice. However, I'm confused about the GCWR and Max Towing Capacity for the Dodge.

The following are the GCWR and Max Towing Capacity for Chevy, Ford, and Dodge:

Chevy Duramax: GCWR 22000, Towing Capacity 15800
Ford Powerstroke: GCWR 20000, Towing Capacity 14500
Dodge Cummins: GCWR 23000, Towing Capacity 12000

It seems as if people are more impressed with the Cummins' longevity than with the Ford or Chevy. But, why does the Dodge have a higher GCWR than the others, but a lower max towing capacity? Also, doesn't the Dodge have more torque than the other two?

Primary use for the truck is a daily short-run commute to the office (30-50 mi. RT), with unloaded long-run weekend trips of 800 mi. (maybe 2x per month), plus towing a 10,000 lb. race trailer occassionally (maybe 4-6 times per year). Therefore I'm interested primarily in mileage, towing performance, and lifespan. Is a turbodiesel the way to go?

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

Can't help you on the towing question because it doesn't make sense to me either....but, YES, a diesel is the way to go.

 

Actually, properly equiped, the Dodge has a GCVW of 23K and a max tow rating of 16K. This is a 3500 DRW with 4.10 rear end.

It sounds like for your use, a 2500 or 3500 SRW with 3.73 rears should work. You will get good fuel milage but still be able to pull.

I think the reason the Dodge is sometimes rated a little less towing capacity is that the truck itself is heavyer. The Cummins is made of cast iron - not much aluminum.

Hope this helps.....

 

James, how many miles to you plan on putting on your truck? Per year or for the lifetime?

Towing performance? Hands down its the diesel.

You said you're interested in mileage: Depending on the cost delta's between regular gas and #2 diesel fuel, and whatever mileage figures you guesstimate a gasser will do against a diesel may play into your decision. If you factor in the extra cost of the diesel engine option, and offset that cost with improved fuel mileage, it may take upwards of 70-80k miles to recover the cost - running unloaded most of the time you may never recover the cost. That may be important to you, or may not.

Resale: Diesels got it beat easily.

Lifespan: thats a personal issue, since many folks won't own a vehicle long enough to matter anyways.

Before I bought my diesel, I was concerned about what seemed to be a myriad of extra attention/maintenance diesels needed. That hasn't materialized for me. Gasser's don't stink, diesels do - but I chalk that up on the positive side.

That all being said, I love my diesel and don't regret it all.

By the Way: Wecome Aboard!!

 

That always concerned me too...but I don't see it. Heck...aside from using more oil at the oil changes I don't see a heck of a lot of difference. And when you consider that the oil change is at 7,500 miles on my diesel verses every 3,000 miles on gassers, that's pretty much a wash anyway.

 

James, first - welcome aboard. I'm not sure where the 12000 towing figure came from, as my old '99 had that rating, but my '03 (see signature) has the 16K towing capacity rating. When towing my 5er I get 12 MPG, which is 2MPG better than my old '99 CTD 5spd got, and my old gasser wouldn't pull the 5er at all (far beyond its tow rating). I get 17.5 running empty with the '03 currently, and the maintenance for the diesel has proven on the last two vehicles to be measurably less than it was on the old gasser, so I believe I have side-stepped a lot of headaches by getting the 6Spd Cummins HO for my use. I only tow the 5er 5 times a year (500 miles round trip), the rest is a dailer commuter 85 miles round trip (once a week since I get to work from home most of the time). Hope this helps.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I guess the article must have made a mistake. Here's where I got the info from:

http://www.trucktrend.com/features/t...as/index4.html

I was thinking that they confused Max Towing Capacity with GVWR, which should be 12,000. Looked at the Dodge website and configured a HO/6spd DRW and that put GVWR at 12,000 and towing capacity at 15,500 with the automatic, which makes sense. So, I think it was a mistake.

 

[quote author=James2 link=board=11;threadid=17723;start=0#msg165798 date=1059578066]
Thanks for all the replies. I guess the article must have made a mistake. Here's where I got the info from:

http://www.trucktrend.com/features/t...as/index4.html

I was thinking that they confused Max Towing Capacity with GVWR, which should be 12,000. Looked at the Dodge website and configured a HO/6spd DRW and that put GVWR at 12,000 and towing capacity at 15,500 with the automatic, which makes sense. So, I think it was a mistake.
[/quote]

Yep, sounds like they got their GVWR and GCWR mixed up.

 

GCWR is the total weight of the truck plus the total weight of the towed vehicle plus the weight of passengers and gear in the truck. The heavier the truck, or the heavier the weight of the passengers and gear in the truck, the less GCWR capacity available for the towed vehicle.

Towing capacity is only a limit on the total weight of the towed vehicle.

Hope that helps.

 

Those darn magazines screw more stuff up then they get right. : > > >

 

FYI

On any truck the towing capacity changes with model and options. Any thing that changes the weight of the truck, changes the towing capacity. Also the Axle ration will change your towing capacity.

On a 2003 2500 SLT Long Bed with 3.73's you can tow 11,350
On a 2003 2500 SLT Long Bed with 4.1's you can tow 13.350
On a 2003 3500 ST Short Bed with 4.1's you can tow 16,500

Those are manufacture's numbers, there are those that exceed the numbers.

Terms:

GVWR - Gross Vehicle Weight Rating: Weight of truck + contents

Curb Weight: The weight of the truck

Pay load: GVWR less the Curb Weight

GCWR - Gross Combination Weight Rating: GVWR + Tow Capacity

 

[quote author=sdscuba link=board=11;threadid=17723;start=0#msg166596 date=1059691562]
FYI



Those are manufacture's numbers, there are those that exceed the numbers.


[/quote]

;D 8)

 

[quote author=sdscuba link=board=11;threadid=17723;start=0#msg166596 date=1059691562]

GCWR - Gross Combination Weight Rating: GVWR + Tow Capacity

[/quote]

Actually it should be:

Tow Capacity = GCVWR - Curb Weight

Tow rating is nothing more then the Gross Combined vehicle weight rating minus the weight of the actual tow vehicle and anything in it. So as you add aftermarket stuff to your truck you actually lower your tow rating.

The tow rating is also limited by the weakest point in the system. Even though you truck is rated for 15,000# if you are pulling on a 10,000# bumper ball then 10,000# is your limit.

Tow rating is an unexact number to help the general public that don't understand the whole GCVWR thing, even the magazine don't get it by the looks of it, LOL

Oh ya their is a little fudge room in their if you want to push the limits. My truck is rated at 23,000 GCVWR and I run it at 30,000# pretty often :