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Where to find tow rating for older trucks?

Lil'John

Lil'John

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Title kind of states it.

What is your favorite online source for finding tow ratings of older trucks(1980 and older)?

I'm looking at "light" towing of a single car on a trailer... so about 7-8k pounds tow load. I'm trying to keep it near that rating because Calif charges by GVWR:homer:

I'm know my 2000 S10 4wd regular cab with 4.3L will tow the load. Yes, 7-8k is above actual ratings and it sucks going up steep inclines:homer:
 
granitestatedestroyer said:
Look at GVWR/ GAWR on the door tag.

Don't exceed that.
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Not much help. It assumes I have access to a truck and that the truck has a door tag. Too many trucks from 80s and much earlier don't have door tags intact.

Plus I don't have access to dozens of trucks. I'm also hoping to look at various configurations within a model year; regular cab-short bed, regular cab-long bed, etc. Plus, with what I have in mind, the body is irrelevant.
 
This seemed pretty inline with what I expected. For the most part I would assume that 80s trucks line up pretty well with 1996 and older models.

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ZSK said:
This seemed pretty inline with what I expected. For the most part I would assume that 80s trucks line up pretty well with 1996 and older models.

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I'm not sure if 70s trucks would be inline with there.

I'm looking at two different groups due to Calif smog related stuff:
  1. 1975 and older gas trucks. I have a suspicion that these might be left sniffing 7k to 8k.
  2. 1997 and older diesel trucks. Obviously, no big deal hitting 7k to 8k. But then there is the coal roller tax... too many "12V Cummins for 20k" trucks out there:homer:
 
2WD or 4WD? It looks like you are interested in what shows up on the title, not what it will actually do in practice? Most 4WD trucks back then (and even now) are about 500# less than their 2WD counterparts. It appears you are looking for a 3/4 ton that was born with a D44 front axle, or possibly a 2WD with a spring pack in the rear with less than 7 leaves if you want a good rule-of-thumb. About all the 70's trucks I've seen with that setup were rated for 7400-8000, by the title.
 
IowaOffRoad said:
2WD or 4WD? It looks like you are interested in what shows up on the title, not what it will actually do in practice? Most 4WD trucks back then (and even now) are about 500# less than their 2WD counterparts. It appears you are looking for a 3/4 ton that was born with a D44 front axle, or possibly a 2WD with a spring pack in the rear with less than 7 leaves if you want a good rule-of-thumb. About all the 70's trucks I've seen with that setup were rated for 7400-8000, by the title.
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My interest is mainly 4wd for snowy roads. I'm also largely interested in leaf sprung front. I'm brand agnostic.

You are correct that my main interest is the actual documentable tow rating not what kind of "big dumb load" that might happen.

As an example, I found that a 67-72 k10 is rated at 5600lbs(way short of what I want) It looked like the c20/k20 were rated at 7500lbs (close) I can't find these numbers again:homer: 89-93 Dodge W250 with reg cab and long bed was 11400 lbs.
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Why are you so concerned about the actual rating? I've never heard a single instance of that being a factor in ca.
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Registration fee for truck includes a weight fee that is based upon GVWR.

There are other reasons I'm interested but the above is good enough for purposes of this thread.
 
Lil'John said:
Registration fee for truck includes a weight fee that is based upon GVWR.

There are other reasons I'm interested but the above is good enough for purposes of this thread.
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Depending on the situation, (say buying out of state) they will have you weigh it and base it on that. I think they also do this when coming off a non op?
 
YotaAtieToo said:
Why are you so concerned about the actual rating? I've never heard a single instance of that being a factor in ca.
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x2

Ratings from back when men were men do not cross over to modern ratings that use the SAE test that under-rates everything with low horsepower. They tell you more about what the marketing deparment thought people wanted to hear and less about how comfortable it will be to actually tow that load.

My Aerostar is "rated" for nearly 5000lb. That would be miserable everwhere but a flat road with no reasons to slow down and speed up.
 
GVWR for a pickup usually means nothing for tow capacity.

What you want is a wishy-washy spec that didn't make it to the truck decal. It depends on several factors and options... and the spec would be incorrect if any of them were changed or modified. (Engine, trans, tire size, axle ratio; for example)

If it's an older Chevy you have, some of these dealer brochures have trailering info:

Brochures.Slosh.com: Chevy-GMC Blazer, Jimmy, Suburban, Truck, Recreation sales brochures, magazine articles 1969-91

www.brochures.slosh.com
 
arse_sidewards and u2slow, I agree that published tow rating is a wishy-washy spec that is going to be largely going to be under rated for what the truck could do.

u2slow thanks for the link.

If Calif weight fee isn't based upon GVWR, then that reason given is no longer applicable. I still have other reasons for finding a tow rating... those reasons have absolutely no bearing on the answer to the topic of this thread: where is a good reference for tow ratings?
 
That's the wishy-washy... they aren't reliably available anywhere. :flipoff2:Your LEO can't find them either... and even if he could, he can't prove your axle ratio, or if you have all the pieces of the factory tow package that the mfr insists you have.

What you do is make sure your tires aren't overloaded, and hitch not overloaded. If you have the factory decal, make sure you're not over GVWR or GAWR. That's what they check at the roadside.
 
u2slow said:
That's the wishy-washy... they aren't reliably available anywhere. :flipoff2:Your LEO can't find them either... and even if he could, he can't prove your axle ratio, or if you have all the pieces of the factory tow package that the mfr insists you have.

What you do is make sure your tires aren't overloaded, and hitch not overloaded. If you have the factory decal, make sure you're not over GVWR or GAWR. That's what they check at the roadside.
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Correct. My experience is one has to go out of their way to attract a cop or find the cop that is having a bad day.

The following load towed by a 2k s10 reg cab pickup didn't cause the cops to bat an eye(probably 1k over actual tow rating but stopped/accelerated reasonably):
BadTow.jpg
 
Lil'John said:
Correct. My experience is one has to go out of their way to attract a cop or find the cop that is having a bad day.

The following load towed by a 2k s10 reg cab pickup didn't cause the cops to bat an eye(probably 1k over actual tow rating but stopped/accelerated reasonably):
Click to expand...
Or you need to look rich and/or commercial while driving through an area that is doing revenue policing.

99% of the stupid old men who come on here bitching about how they got screwed by CHP or OHP or whatever fell into that category.
 
Lil'John said:
I'm not sure if 70s trucks would be inline with there.

I'm looking at two different groups due to Calif smog related stuff:
  1. 1975 and older gas trucks. I have a suspicion that these might be left sniffing 7k to 8k.
  2. 1997 and older diesel trucks. Obviously, no big deal hitting 7k to 8k. But then there is the coal roller tax... too many "12V Cummins for 20k" trucks out there:homer:
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in stock form a pre-75 gas truck would probably be on the edge with 7-8k. doable, but that'd be about it.

but it would not be difficult at all to fix those concerns and make it much more happy at that weight
 
Provience said:
in stock form a pre-75 gas truck would probably be on the edge with 7-8k. doable, but that'd be about it.

but it would not be difficult at all to fix those concerns and make it much more happy at that weight
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As noted previously, there is "official" tow rating and what a truck can tow. My interest is "official" tow rating of 7-8k.

And I 100% agree that there is a lot of things that can be done to make towing more enjoyable at "bleeding edge" weights.
 
Lil'John said:
As noted previously, there is "official" tow rating and what a truck can tow. My interest is "official" tow rating of 7-8k.

And I 100% agree that there is a lot of things that can be done to make towing more enjoyable at "bleeding edge" weights.
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i guess i still don't understand your desire for official tow rating, when it really doesn't exist.

as you note in your OP, CA charges based on GVWR, which isn't GCWR.

if you can't reasonably find the "official" then it doesn't exist because it is so configuration specific. GVWR on the door tag for my 78 f250 2wd is 7900 pounds, it's also very easy to find that number and reference in various manuals and all over the internet, that is what gets tagged and determines emmissions and regulations.

depending on the trailer, the hitch, the loading, the auxillary brakes, it could have 3k lbs and be edge of safe or 15k pounds and be safe.

are you looking at a standard car trailer with 2 braking axles or 1? weight distributing hitch? gooseneck?
 
Provience said:
if you can't reasonably find the "official" then it doesn't exist because it is so configuration specific. GVWR on the door tag for my 78 f250 2wd is 7900 pounds, it's also very easy to find that number and reference in various manuals and all over the internet, that is what gets tagged and determines emmissions and regulations.
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I was hoping to find something like the trailer.com site that would go down as far as early-mid 70s for various configurations. As you note, various configurations yield different values.

Since I'm still in research mode, I don't have access to door tags of dozens upon dozens of trucks sitting in my yard to look at them.:homer:

Provience said:
depending on the trailer, the hitch, the loading, the auxillary brakes, it could have 3k lbs and be edge of safe or 15k pounds and be safe.

are you looking at a standard car trailer with 2 braking axles or 1? weight distributing hitch? gooseneck?
Click to expand...
I agree 100% percent that there are many factors that will impact the road worthiness and safety while towing.

The trailer I'm dealing with is a former "heavy equip" trailer; think bobcat. It is not a gooseneck/5th wheel style hookup.

I will have to go dig into the axle for how many braking. They are surge brakes. I know surge aren't the best but I know these work well/consistent.

One issue with the trailer is it is "short" either at the front or the rear which prevents "ideal" car placement.

Given how infrequently I tow, replacing the trailer outright is not an option.
 
door tag GVWR information is easy to find on the internet

Ford F-Series fifth generation | Ford F-250 Information specifications reviews

ford-f250.com ford-f250.com

1967-1972 ford

Models:

  • F-100: 1/2 ton (5,600 GVWR max)
  • F-150: 1/2 ton (4×4)(5,600 GVWR max)
  • F-250: 3/4 ton (6,500 GVWR max)
  • F-250: 3/4 ton (4×4)(6,800 GVWR max)
  • F-350: 1 ton (7,800 GVWR max)
  • F-350: 1 ton (4×4)(8,000 GVWR max)
Click to expand...

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whole lot of information for 1970 chevrolet combinations


1972-1980 dodge vin decode, pretty easy if you find something you think might be close to ask the seller for 4th letter of VIN

for the trailer, seems like it would be easy enough to sell what you have and buy used for the same price a lighter duty trailer. better vehicle placement, probably save at least 1k pounds, better brakes
 
Provience said:
<snip GREAT info>

for the trailer, seems like it would be easy enough to sell what you have and buy used for the same price a lighter duty trailer. better vehicle placement, probably save at least 1k pounds, better brakes
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Thank you for all the links. LOTS of info to look at. Based upon the Ford stuff, I'd have to look at 1 ton for my before 1975 list. For Chevy, I forget when a 4wd 1 ton came about(k30) but I want to say after 1975 :/ I have almost zero knowledge of Dodge.

On my current trailer, I'm not sure if there is a market for an "equip" trailer:homer: I agree 100% that many of "newer" car trailers out there will be much better for car hauling. I'm just not sure about breaking even by swapping.
 
I am just a lurker on this thread but I am looking for an older tow rig to tow my JK on tons around vancouver island, there is an ex city owned f350 crew cab dually 7.3 IDI for sale locally, low mileage, 2wd but i would toss a dana 60 and divorced np205 in to finish it off. The used truck market is the shits these day here in communist canuckistan...
 
First year for Chevy k30 is '78.

For the case of max gvwr in that 75-older bracket, a Chevy c30 or dodge d/w300 should have the 10k# gvwr, a thick frame, and the ability to bolt-on update anything better from the 80s/90's.

Edit: Also figure out what VIN is used for registration purposes. That vintage would make it the cab on a Chevy, and just the driver door on the dodge :laughing:
 
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u2slow said:
First year for Chevy k30 is '78.

For the case of max gvwr in that 75-older bracket, a Chevy c30 or dodge d/w300 should have the 10k# gvwr, a thick frame, and the ability to bolt-on update anything better from the 80s/90's.

Edit: Also figure out what VIN is used for registration purposes. That vintage would make it the cab on a Chevy, and just the driver door on the dodge :laughing:
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I'm looking at starting with a factory/dealer 4wd that gets me to the 8k gvwr so the c30 is out.

I'm still on the fence for whether I want a gas or diesel which impacts my range. Currently I have nothing diesel so I have little inclination to get one... although the legendary "Cummins gets 40mpg while towing 100k lbs uphill the whole way" brag does make diesel intriguing:homer: Gas would be big block and mileage be damned:eek:
 
Most of the 8lug dodge and ford 4x4's have drum brake front axles thru 75. A fair chunk are closed-knuckles too.

A 73-75 K20 should be findable with a 8600# gvwr. No bigblock though unless swapped.

I'm not impressed with the ford pickup frames 80-97.

Tough to beat the rugged hardware on a 91.5-93 w250/350 Cummins truck.
 
Lil'John said:
On my current trailer, I'm not sure if there is a market for an "equip" trailer:homer: I agree 100% that many of "newer" car trailers out there will be much better for car hauling. I'm just not sure about breaking even by swapping.
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You say single car, so you need to carry 5k or less? Assuming yours is a "9990 GVWR" surge brake trailer I would list yours as trade for a lighter car hauler trailer and see what you get.

Aaron Z
 
u2slow said:
Most of the 8lug dodge and ford 4x4's have drum brake front axles thru 75. A fair chunk are closed-knuckles too.

A 73-75 K20 should be findable with a 8600# gvwr. No bigblock though unless swapped.

I'm not impressed with the ford pickup frames 80-97.

Tough to beat the rugged hardware on a 91.5-93 w250/350 Cummins truck.
Click to expand...
The "odd" axle and lack of factory big block aren't a big deal. Both should be relatively easy to swap around.

What kind of issue was their with the Ford frames?

The issue in Calif with 93 Cummins is the price. I've seen one or two in the $15k range for 400k mile beaters:homer:
 
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