From: John De Armond Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel Subject: Re: Increasing GVWR capacity? Message-ID: <jmaglvsqpa0bik9im5ft8kfdguitrord9f@4ax.com> Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2003 02:30:59 -0400 On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 15:12:10 GMT, ht <invalidMUNGED@ADDRESSmyrealbox.com> wrote: > ><Sigh>, I was afraid of that, but it was worth a shot. >Thanks.. > >HT What you just read was so much rubbish. Any concept of a systems approach to the design of an RV is a joke, with only a few exceptions. You can indeed safely increase the weight capability of your vehicle. NOT GVWR, as that is a political/legal figure. The axles will almost invariably have sufficient rating. You can research this yourself if you find out what brand of axle you have and then have the patience to look. The first thing to do is check the rim rating. It's almost always higher than the corresponding tire rating. If the rim rating is high enough you may be able to go to a higher load range tire. The best solution is to buy both rims and tires for the rating. Aftermarket steel rims are inexpensive. I went through this process with my rig a couple of years ago. Several thousand miles later I still can't believe the tranformation in handling this simple change made. I had the old 16.5" tires in the highest load range still made (can't remember if it was D or E). Even a brief blip to 70 mph would separate a tread. After 4 or 5 such events I got tired of replacing tires and did the upgrade. I got the steel spoke wheels that are so popular on Jeeps and the like. Something like $60 ea from my tire dealer. I went to 16" tires so I could go to a higher load range. I now have about a 500 lb margin when the rig is fully loaded and wet. The difference in tire diameter made for about a 6 mph error at 65. I had a recalibration gear box made but I've yet to install it. The GPS/Street Atlas combo works well enough for a speedo. One final thought. If you're not having any problems with handling or tire life, you might want to just leave well enough alone. With all the corporate conservatism built in to the GVWR, exceeding it by a bit isn't something to get all worked up about, others in this group notwithstanding. John |