Re: Vehicle Towing Weight Limit
The pages you have posted proves my point! Your post to which I was replying stated that Chevy manuals for years made a specific reference to 5,000 lbs being a dividing line between weight and distributing hitches. Nowhere in the pages you have posted is the 5,000lb figure mentioned. As I said in my original post, the placard on the hitch DOES reference that value.
You are right that it isn't spelled out exactly specific in the manual, but it is there in what I consider pretty direct language. It says 600 pounds max tongue weight for weight carrying hitches, and it says 10-15% tongue weight for the trailer. Do the math and that works out to a 4000-6000 pound trailer. 5000 pounds is the average. That's good enough for me.
My guess is that Chevy probably took the specific wording out for the exact reason as some of the debates on here. Dodge and Ford probably don't have a "specific" reference either and having a specific number lets other salesmen/dealers/manufacturers point to it and say "see, Chevy has a limitation" when in actuality all of them have about the same limitation even though it isn't specifically spelled out. Dodge goes so far as to not put any weight limits in the manual. I guess you can tow anything that you can hook up to a dodge.
Now unless anybody misunderstands, I've got nothing against any manufacturer truck and have owned many brands including Ford, GM, Dodge, Nissan Toyota, and even Jeep and VW pickups. The Nissan and Toyotas I've had were mini trucks, but very impressive in what they could accomplish for what they were. My father currently has a nice Cummins powered Dodge, my brother and I have Duramax powered GMC's. I almost bought a Ford diesel when I bought my GMC. It was a toss up except I got what I felt was better deal with the GMC and it was in the middle of the 2003 model year and I would have had to risk the first year of the 6.0L ford diesel. I digress though. In regard to the Ford, Dodge, and GM trucks, they all make good trucks and they all have about the same limitations. The rest is just advertising and personal preference in my opinion.
In regard to towing in general, as far as I am concerned it is the owners responsibility to know his vehicle, including what is in the manual, and what is listed on the hitch for limitations. Obviously I'm not talking about you. You came here knowing there was a limitation on the hitch. I commend you for that. But the hitch limitation and the vehicle limitation aren't really that far off from each other.
