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