Can I tow this much weight?

2kwik4u · Tuesday at 1:26 PM

Adrian @ JB Solutions said:
I get it 100%. There is also what seems to be scare tactics used (not saying you but in general in these threads), like if you go over 1lb that your car will fail and you'll cause a multi-car/fatality crash. That simply isn't the case.

The OP can the tow boat for years and will never have a single issue, assuming common sense and safely towing. Tire pressure, driving distance, etc. are all basic towing items that everyone should be doing regardless if you are near max capacity or have 7k of overhead.

Oh, I get it. There are just a couple of comments that always rub me the wrong way. Unfortunately you hit one. I do agree, too, that these things are typically thrown around way more than they should be.

The first is "lots of people do it, and it's just fine"......Which is obviously conflating popular with acceptable/safe/reliable. Just because there are a lot of people doing it doesn't mean it's the right answer, it's just a popular answer.

The second is "Insurance won't cover you if you tow over the limit'....Which isn't just logically false (You buy insurance to cover you when you do dumb stuff, or dumb stuff happens to you), I have also yet to see any evidence of this being enforced anywhere online. I've spent days researching this and can't find case law, new articles, or really anything beyond anecdotal evidence that someone towed over the limit and had insurance not pay......This does fit inside the hyperbole that you mention in the first part there, too.

Jim_in_Delaware · Tuesday at 3:38 PM

The other thing we usually discuss about towing which the OP may or may not know, it’s that it’s not just the towing capacity that’s important. Some folks run out of payload capacity before they reach the towing limit. Others, don’t even bother to figure out of this true. I’ve got some of higher towing numbers for my Ram 1500, but there are some trailers (toy haulers) that I can’t tow because their heavy tongue weight would put me over my payload capacity, even though I am well within my towing capacity.

Jim

2kwik4u · Wednesday at 7:51 AM

Jim_in_Delaware said:
The other thing we usually discuss about towing which the OP may or may not know, it’s that it’s not just the towing capacity that’s important. Some folks run out of payload capacity before they reach the towing limit. Others, don’t even bother to figure out of this true. I’ve got some of higher towing numbers for my Ram 1500, but there are some trailers (toy haulers) that I can’t tow because their heavy tongue weight would put me over my payload capacity, even though I am well within my towing capacity.

Jim

I had an example somewhere from my old GMC truck. Started with a 9,200lb tow rating, but by the time I added people/gear/boat for a weeks vacation in the mountains; I was only about 100lbs under the payload capacity and was within 2k lbs of towing capacity.......with an AR190. Imagine the people that only get the fullsize pickups with the 6k tow ratings and are dragging around a heavy wake boat with a family of 4 for a camping trip. They're almost definitely over the limit.

Don't get me started on the lifted bro-dozer style trucks and how all the aftermarket lifts and wheel spacers negatively affect the towing dynamics.

Beachcampin · Wednesday at 2:13 PM

The problem is that there are many factors that go into the tow rating and you never know what the limiting factor is. I learned this with the Jeep wrangler's recently. For years people speculated why they were so low; too short, transmission, braking, etc etc etc. everything you've seen here and they towed really great with higher loads than should have been possible. None of it made sense since the same engine, transmission brakes, etc, were used on vehicles with much higher towing limits (see the gladiators). Then they came out with a higher capacity wrangler and announced what was really the limiting factor and it was the axel. No one that I ever saw predicted that.

And that's really the problem is that you don't know what the limiting factor is. Maybe it will tow just fine overweight from a safety perspective. Maybe it will just cause increased wear. But then again, maybe its squirrely as hell and you'll end up in the ditch or worse. depends on whether you want to be a test pilot and how much experience you have towing.

Alexegan88 · Wednesday at 4:34 PM

dantebelmonte said:
The last boat I had was a 2021 Yamaha AR190. Yamaha says dry weight on trailer is 3,111 lbs. Add 40 gallons of fuel at 6 lbs per gallon, that is another 240 lbs plus another 200 lbs in misc gear on the boat. Total weight of 3,551 lbs I was towing and I had no issues.

I tow with a 2024 Jeep Grand Cherokee V6. Jeep states that with the tow package (which I have) I can tow 6,200 lbs. Towing last year with the Jeep for the AR190 was no issue. I could certainly feel that I was towing something when driving but never gave me any issues.

This year we upgraded and bought a 2025 Yamaha 222S. Yamaha says dry weight on trailer is 4,992 lbs. Add 75 gallons of fuel at 6 lbs per gallon, that is another 450 lbs plus another 200 lbs in misc gear on the boat. Total weight 5,642 lbs.

Here is my question:
Is towing 5,642 lbs with a 6,200 lbs tow capacity going to be cutting it to close? We usually only tow it about 45-60 minutes away from us to the lake. I can take all back roads and its usually not super hilly to get there (with the exception of one lake we go to that is a decent chunk of hills). Would love any feedback anyone has here or am I just overthinking it?!

Thanks group!

Please listen to me. Several years ago I bought my 2022 Yamaha 252SE and towed with Jeep GC V6 with the 6200lb capacity. I was just shy of 6200 with fuel. It towed just fine, with the exception of not exceeding 65 on the highway without it getting a little dicey it had plenty of pulling power and breaking as well. You can see it sag a little in the photo, but with the rear load leveling shocks after you hit a couple of bumps at leveled out nicely. I pulled it out of the steepest ramps and it had amazing traction and low end power. No sign of an issue.

That said, 3 years later and I have replaced engine mounts, front axles, driveshaft, transfer case, and more (thankfully all under warranty).

I finally pulled the trigger on upgrading my tow vehicle to a 2025 GMC Sierra 1500, diesel with the 8800 pound capacity. What a difference, especially on the highway, it feels stable even at 75/80 (although I try not to exceed 70). The driveshaft, the axles, the frame, everything is thicker and stronger on the truck. The Jeep was a unibody and not engineered well for towing heavy.

Can you safely? Sure, assuming you don’t plan on doing 80 on a highway, but don’t be surprised when you’re replacing powertrain parts well before you should.

Babin Farms · Wednesday at 7:28 PM

Did someone say something about towing beyond the rated capacity??? Towing above the tow rating of the vehicle all depends on a lot of factors. One of the main things is the towing experience of the person behind the wheel. If you’ve never towed anything or you have but only small utility trailers, towing some serious weight requires a lot more attention to what is going on with the tow vehicle, trailer, surroundings and other drivers.

drewkaree · Wednesday at 9:55 PM

Babin Farms said:
Did someone say something about towing beyond the rated capacity??? Towing above the tow rating of the vehicle all depends on a lot of factors. One of the main things is the towing experience of the person behind the wheel. If you’ve never towed anything or you have but only small utility trailers, towing some serious weight requires a lot more attention to what is going on with the tow vehicle, trailer, surroundings and other drivers.
View attachment 233579

I would feel safe in assuming that "if you're asking, you ain't experienced".

I average driving about 6k miles per month, and the issues I see with accidents and breakdowns are almost never the work truck hauling heavy equipment, even though there's more, numbers-wise, of those types of people towing. Of the "civilians", it's boats, by a long shot, then pickups with campers, then motor homes that aren't towing anything. Experience is an X factor, and I tend not to give anyone the benefit of the doubt, unless I've witnessed their skill. @WiskyDan is barely able to pull into a parking spot, for instance

WiskyDan · 2025-04-24T10:01:22-0400

drewkaree said:
Experience is an X factor, and I tend not to give anyone the benefit of the doubt, unless I've witnessed their skill. @WiskyDan is barely able to pull into a parking spot, for instance

I've never actually pulled "into" a parking spot......I tend to park "across" at least 8 when I'm pulling the boat........

scguy13 · 2025-04-24T18:37:21-0400

Alexegan88 said:
Please listen to me. Several years ago I bought my 2022 Yamaha 252SE and towed with Jeep GC V6 with the 6200lb capacity. I was just shy of 6200 with fuel. It towed just fine, with the exception of not exceeding 65 on the highway without it getting a little dicey it had plenty of pulling power and breaking as well. You can see it sag a little in the photo, but with the rear load leveling shocks after you hit a couple of bumps at leveled out nicely. I pulled it out of the steepest ramps and it had amazing traction and low end power. No sign of an issue.

That said, 3 years later and I have replaced engine mounts, front axles, driveshaft, transfer case, and more (thankfully all under warranty).

I finally pulled the trigger on upgrading my tow vehicle to a 2025 GMC Sierra 1500, diesel with the 8800 pound capacity. What a difference, especially on the highway, it feels stable even at 75/80 (although I try not to exceed 70). The driveshaft, the axles, the frame, everything is thicker and stronger on the truck. The Jeep was a unibody and not engineered well for towing heavy.

Can you safely? Sure, assuming you don’t plan on doing 80 on a highway, but don’t be surprised when you’re replacing powertrain parts well before you should.

Hijacking to say… you’ve got my dream truck. AT4 in gray. Ok, so the real dream is a 2500 AT4 in gray, but a 1500 suits us just fine. We have a 22 Sierra with the 3.0 and absolutely love it. That little engine is incredible, and it’s the first gen LM2 version. I know the newest version is a little bit better. We just started looking around at 25 models at the AT4 is first on the list. I told our local dealer that I wouldn’t entertain anything if it didn’t have the 3.0. My 2010 had the AFM issues, and GM is STILL plagued with those issues. I’ll never get another gas GM engine but they knocked it out of the park with that Babymax.

Our current 22 is a lease (don’t flame me for that) but the next truck will be long term. So… I want to buy and cry once and get what I really want. You happy with it so far?

Alexegan88 · 2025-04-24T19:22:49-0400

scguy13 said:
Hijacking to say… you’ve got my dream truck. AT4 in gray. Ok, so the real dream is a 2500 AT4 in gray, but a 1500 suits us just fine. We have a 22 Sierra with the 3.0 and absolutely love it. That little engine is incredible, and it’s the first gen LM2 version. I know the newest version is a little bit better. We just started looking around at 25 models at the AT4 is first on the list. I told our local dealer that I wouldn’t entertain anything if it didn’t have the 3.0. My 2010 had the AFM issues, and GM is STILL plagued with those issues. I’ll never get another gas GM engine but they knocked it out of the park with that Babymax.

Our current 22 is a lease (don’t flame me for that) but the next truck will be long term. So… I want to buy and cry once and get what I really want. You happy with it so far?

Well if I’m being honest I wish I would have gone with the 2500 AT4, same color with the Max Tow which comes with the same frame, axel, and suspension of the SRW 3500. I paid 68k out the door on my 1500, the 2500 would have been around 86k out the door + twice the fuel cost.

Too late now, but at least it was the more responsible decision. I don’t “need” the bigger truck.

That said, I LOVE it.

scguy13 · 2025-04-24T20:21:37-0400

Alexegan88 said:
Well if I’m being honest I wish I would have gone with the 2500 AT4, same color with the Max Tow which comes with the same frame, axel, and suspension of the SRW 3500. I paid 68k out the door on my 1500, the 2500 would have been around 86k out the door + twice the fuel cost.

Too late now, but at least it was the more responsible decision. I don’t “need” the bigger truck.

That said, I LOVE it.

We have zero need for the 2500. NONE. We have an SX190 we’ll have at least a few more years and MAY get into a 222 after that. The 1500 still has enough guts to deal with that and then some.

Plus it’s hard to trade the 28ish mpg I get on the highway with the 3.0 (not towing obviously) for the MAYBE 18 of the 2500. They’re effectively identical in interior space also. So…purely a luxury to get the 2500. Not a hard decision to save that $20k for something more useful.

Alexegan88 · 2025-04-25T06:24:30-0400

scguy13 said:
We have zero need for the 2500. NONE. We have an SX190 we’ll have at least a few more years and MAY get into a 222 after that. The 1500 still has enough guts to deal with that and then some.

Plus it’s hard to trade the 28ish mpg I get on the highway with the 3.0 (not towing obviously) for the MAYBE 18 of the 2500. They’re effectively identical in interior space also. So…purely a luxury to get the 2500. Not a hard decision to save that $20k for something more useful.

Saving 20 K on the truck, but then 25K+ in fuel over the life of the truck as well.

Can I tow this much weight?

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