Truck Tow Rating Standards

lawn psycho · 06-29-2012, 09:37 AM

After doing some reading on truck tow ratings, I just found out that a new standard was created a couple years ago, SAE J2807 that is supposed to normalize the ratings across manufacturers.

As has been said many times, in most practical situations you realistically could only use 70-80% of the manufacturers tow ratinsg and still have a decent handling vehicle. This proves it.

Example: My 2009 F-150 super crew was rated at 11,300 pouunds of towing. The F-150 today with a more powerful engine is rated at 10000 pounds. And ALL the manufacturers played loose with how they came up with their tow rating.

Here's a good article I found that explains it:

http://www.automobilemag.com/feature...ss_sniff_test/

Fargo · 07-01-2012, 11:35 AM

We tried a bunch of things the last couple years to keep them away, nothing worked. Two weeks ago I went to Lowes and bought green snow fence. We now have 300 ft of fence along the beach and out around the dock. I cut the fencing down to 18". Seems to be working. I'll lower it as the lake level drops.

Slickcraft · 07-01-2012, 06:16 PM

Well 10,000 lbs will haul a lot of geese.

Correct about the new ratings which we were aware of 6 months ago when we got our new Tundra with the 5.7 liter engine and towing package. The configuration that we have is rated at 9,800 lbs using the new standards. That gives a lot of margin towing a 6,000 lb horse trailer and with the new standard confidant that we could handle more. Not that I want to let the wife know that the truck could handle more than the two horses that she has now.

SIKSUKR · 07-02-2012, 08:24 AM

Thats funny.How do you get that post into the wrong thread?

XCR-700 · 07-02-2012, 09:18 AM

Interesting and a step in the right direction for sure, but in my experience you cannot capture on paper the experience of towing with a specific combination and under your road conditions and they vary so much that you dont know what you got until you use it.

I am often surprised to drive a tow rig that someone else said was great only to totally dislike it myself.

That said I am super fussy to have a very sure-footed tow vehicle with enough low end torque to pull the side off the house and drag it up hill!

There is nothing more unnerving than having a tow vehicle feeling like the trailer is in control and driving with a death grip the whole way. It makes for a very long ride,,,

And the second most annoying thing for me is a lack of "useful" power, and by that I'm thinking like when you pull onto either end of the Laconia By-Pass and you have say 5000Lbs behind you, thats when you need to be able to get up to speed and do so with authority, not a lot of loud varoom but going nowhere. Far too many of the new trucks have a power curve that is more geared toward high speed passing with no trailer, something I have no use for in a truck.

Low end grunt, mid-speed (30 - 60 MPH) passing power, and a ride that feels like you are in full control of the trailer are the tickets to a sucessful tow vehicle. But they also have to match what you are towing and where, and if you have a trailer that gets blown around by side-winds, or is super short or long or high or whatever, well that all impacts the quality of your experience towing and that is hard to capture on paper.

Still good to see something more tangable than the generic total towing limits.

Thanks for sharing!

06-29-2012, 09:37 AM	#1
lawn psycho Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: On the move... Posts: 987 Thanks: 113 Thanked 248 Times in 133 Posts	Truck Tow Rating Standards After doing some reading on truck tow ratings, I just found out that a new standard was created a couple years ago, SAE J2807 that is supposed to normalize the ratings across manufacturers. As has been said many times, in most practical situations you realistically could only use 70-80% of the manufacturers tow ratinsg and still have a decent handling vehicle. This proves it. Example: My 2009 F-150 super crew was rated at 11,300 pouunds of towing. The F-150 today with a more powerful engine is rated at 10000 pounds. And ALL the manufacturers played loose with how they came up with their tow rating. Here's a good article I found that explains it: http://www.automobilemag.com/feature...ss_sniff_test/

07-01-2012, 11:35 AM	#2
Fargo Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Location: Lake Winni Posts: 215 Thanks: 36 Thanked 130 Times in 38 Posts	Geese We tried a bunch of things the last couple years to keep them away, nothing worked. Two weeks ago I went to Lowes and bought green snow fence. We now have 300 ft of fence along the beach and out around the dock. I cut the fencing down to 18". Seems to be working. I'll lower it as the lake level drops.

07-02-2012, 08:24 AM	#4
SIKSUKR Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 5,075 Thanks: 215 Thanked 903 Times in 509 Posts	Thats funny.How do you get that post into the wrong thread? __________________ SIKSUKR

The Following User Says Thank You to lawn psycho For This Useful Post:
XCR-700 (07-02-2012)

07-01-2012, 06:16 PM	#3
Slickcraft Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Welch Island and West Alton Posts: 3,219 Thanks: 1,175 Thanked 2,002 Times in 915 Posts	Well 10,000 lbs will haul a lot of geese. Correct about the new ratings which we were aware of 6 months ago when we got our new Tundra with the 5.7 liter engine and towing package. The configuration that we have is rated at 9,800 lbs using the new standards. That gives a lot of margin towing a 6,000 lb horse trailer and with the new standard confidant that we could handle more. Not that I want to let the wife know that the truck could handle more than the two horses that she has now.

The Following User Says Thank You to SIKSUKR For This Useful Post:
LostInNH (07-06-2012)

07-02-2012, 09:18 AM	#5
XCR-700 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: MA Posts: 1,333 Thanks: 744 Thanked 533 Times in 310 Posts	Interesting and a step in the right direction for sure, but in my experience you cannot capture on paper the experience of towing with a specific combination and under your road conditions and they vary so much that you dont know what you got until you use it. I am often surprised to drive a tow rig that someone else said was great only to totally dislike it myself. That said I am super fussy to have a very sure-footed tow vehicle with enough low end torque to pull the side off the house and drag it up hill! There is nothing more unnerving than having a tow vehicle feeling like the trailer is in control and driving with a death grip the whole way. It makes for a very long ride,,, And the second most annoying thing for me is a lack of "useful" power, and by that I'm thinking like when you pull onto either end of the Laconia By-Pass and you have say 5000Lbs behind you, thats when you need to be able to get up to speed and do so with authority, not a lot of loud varoom but going nowhere. Far too many of the new trucks have a power curve that is more geared toward high speed passing with no trailer, something I have no use for in a truck. Low end grunt, mid-speed (30 - 60 MPH) passing power, and a ride that feels like you are in full control of the trailer are the tickets to a sucessful tow vehicle. But they also have to match what you are towing and where, and if you have a trailer that gets blown around by side-winds, or is super short or long or high or whatever, well that all impacts the quality of your experience towing and that is hard to capture on paper. Still good to see something more tangable than the generic total towing limits. Thanks for sharing!