Definitions
Glossary
The words on a door sticker and a towing chart. Each one is a separate limit.
- Payload
- What the truck can still carry after its own curb weight.
- Bed capacity
- Volume is cubic feet. Weight is payload. They are not the same limit.
- Tongue weight
- The downward force a conventional trailer puts on the hitch.
- Pin weight
- The bed load from a fifth-wheel or gooseneck.
- Wheelbase
- The distance between the front and rear axles. Tow charts are organized by it.
- GCWR
- Gross combination weight rating: truck, people, cargo, and trailer together.
- GVWR
- Gross vehicle weight rating: the most the truck itself can weigh.
- GAWR
- Gross axle weight rating, front and rear separately.
- Curb weight
- What the truck weighs before people and cargo.
- Axle ratio
- How many times the driveshaft turns for each turn of the wheels.
- Frontal area
- How much trailer the truck has to push through the air.
- SAE J2807
- The shared test behind modern half-ton and heavy-duty tow ratings.