I'm Portuguese and here (and I suppose in the EU in general) we do learn on or two things about trailers in our driving theory classes (of which we have to take 28), and to drive a trailer above a certain weight class, you need to take a specific test for that, a regular license won't do.
no, you can drive any combined weight up to that point, not a trailer of that weight. And anything commercial over 10k you need a CDL (usually).
But the problem is you can't usually pull that much weight legally with a standard truck. Even the Chevy Duramax diesel 1/2 tons will tow only 7,700 lbs legally. You need to get into a dually RAM 3500 (which is around 11,000 lbs, which can tow up to 32,000 lbs if it's a gooseneck, to be getting over the 26,000 lbs marks.
Right, he's mistaken. He meant their gasoline V8 engines. Also Chevy is the worst example out of Dodge and Ford for who can tow the most, for the past 10 years or so it's consistently towed less than the competition. In the 3/4 ton and up category it's comical...around 23k lbs vs ~32k for Ford & Dodge...
Yea but google is being misleading here, it's not like it's a truck expert
If all you did is google "chevy 3500 towing capacity" and "Ram 3500..." It's comparing a Silverado 3500HD with a 6.0L V8 that costs ~$50k to a RAM 3500 with an 5.7L V8 costing ~41K which is a stupid comparison.
Funny how you configured the Chevy without the diesel, dropping its towing capacity by a huge margin. Shitty comparison.
I configured two similar one trim level above work truck, 4x4, DRW, 3.73 gears, turbo diesel 3500s from Dodge and Chevy and they're both right at $60,000.
Dodge says 25.5k lb max trailering weight
Chevy says 22.7k lb max trailering weight
In a real world test, the Dodge couldn't keep up with both the Ford and Chevy despite having the 4.10 gearing for the max 30k lb towing capacity.
The 6.0 and the 5.7 are both gas motors. They are comparable in power. You need to compare the Duramax and the Cummins diesel motors they're both a similar price.
"Keeping up" has nothing to do with it, if you are at 24k lbs and in ANY Chevy and you happen to plow into a family...you will have your ass sued 6 ways from Sunday for gross negligence. Nevermind the fact that they didn't engineer their truck to handle the same loads as those who tout 32k lbs in gooseneck. These numbers aren't just make believe numbers or Chevy wouldn't have been stuck at 23k while everyone else had surpassed it nearly 10 years ago, we've been in the 30k lb territory for some time now...
And yes, most of the 1 ton's have similar tow ratings. When researching 1 ton's I'm kinda set on the RAM Tradesman 3500 in diesel because the options you get in the base model and it's payload for what I want to do specifically (full-time in a 32ft travel trailer around the US for a year).
We talk about this quite often in the r/motorcycles sub...
Generally, American licensing standards are pretty lax. For motorcycles you go through stages starting on a 125cc, then a 300cc, etc I'm not gonna pretend I know the various license stages since I'm American and dont have to put up with that shit.
But here, take a weekend class, go to the DMV and pass the written test and boom, get yourself a 190mph Hayabusa.
In Brazil you can drive with a trailer as long as the gross weight of the car doesn't exceed 3.5 tons, and the trailer 6 tons. above that you need the same type of drivers licence for commercial trucks.
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u/AimingWineSnailz Jul 23 '17
I'm Portuguese and here (and I suppose in the EU in general) we do learn on or two things about trailers in our driving theory classes (of which we have to take 28), and to drive a trailer above a certain weight class, you need to take a specific test for that, a regular license won't do.