Vehicle Weights And Ratings For Trucks. I am a bit confused.

My new to me 03 Sierra Denali is classified in many brochures as being a 1/2 ton truck yes? BUT it is considered a 1500HD series truck To me that always meant 3/4 ton. The 1500 = 1500lbs However it also some times is classified in the 1500HD class due to the 6.0l motor

Then there is this: These are the actual ratings for the truck.

Curb Weight 4,797 lbs

Gross Vehicle Weight Rating 7,200 lbs

Max Payload 2,403 lbs

So in reality, this can haul more than a ton? I don't get how a truck that is in the 1/2 ton class of trucks can actually have a max payload of just under a ton and a quarter.

Can anyone enlighten me? Is it something that grew out of the old days when the trucks were 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1 ton and the designations matched? OR do the designations really mean nothing with respect to weight and each truck has a specific rating by design. Or are the numbers really chassis and drive line designation and not really a payload capacity.

I am confused. Since I have not had a pickup truck in a really long time I am WAY out of the loop with the ratings and designations of these things.

It is more a way to classify the truck

Your HD seems to be rated identically too my 99 1500 non hd with the 5.3, the old 1/2 ton etc isnt so much a weight classing anymore as it is a catch phrase to keep it simple for people who got used too half/three quarter ton ratings.

Look at the ratings for a brand new half ton sometime.

It's my understanding that it's a carryover from the old days, I think they quit matching sometime around WW2.

Basically the 1500HD has a bunch of 3/4 ton stuff on a half ton frame. They have an overload spring, 8-lug wheels, full floater axle, 6.0L motor, 4L80 trans, all the HD coolers, etc.

It is jokingly considered a 5/8 ton truck.

I know we all have a big hate for jalopnik, but they had a pretty good article a while back: http://truckyeah.jalopnik.com/truck-sizes-classification-explained-from-tacomas-to-1613958192

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

Just like that new Nissan with the Cummins in it. Heavy half? 5/8 ton? 11/16 ton? Who knows anymore.

maschinenbau wrote: In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid: Just like that new Nissan with the Cummins in it. Heavy half? 5/8 ton? 11/16 ton? Who knows anymore.

Pretty much, but GM only did that with the GMT800 trucks.

If you really want to have fun, look at an F-150 7700. It's a heavy half with 7 lug wheels

cool, my ram is a class 3, whatever that means.

In the 90's, you could get GM 3/4 ton trucks with 6 lug wheels and the light duty 14 bolt rear axle.. they were rated somewhere between a 1/2 and 3/4 ton.. the 1500HD from tge early 2000's was similar, but with 8 lug wheels and the bigger motor..

The 2500HD is actually a one ton that is rated lower for some reason..

And the ratings mean nothing to you and me: i had 4300 pounds of prepared scrap on my 87 GMC 3/4 ton that one time and it wasn't even sitting on the bumpstops yet..

My truck is 6 lug

Hmm, I swore they were 8, but could be wrong, I just know for a fact that they have 3/4 ton parts on them.

In reply to SyntheticBlinkerFluid:

Every one of the 1500HD I have seen is 8 lug. Also they have all been 4x4 which might be the difference. This is also the home of the rare aluminum 5.3 - 1500HD extended cab 4x4s got it. Gut feeling is GM put the light engine in there to keep the empty vehicle weight below a threshold.

REALLY light wheels, too, lighter than the 6 lug wheels. This is important if you are interested in autocrossing your tow vehicle.

Yeah, no significance at all to those monikers anymore. It's just easier to say, "I'm looking for a 3/4-ton pickup," than, "I'm looking for a Chevrolet Silverado 2500, Ford F-250, or Ram 2500."

Of course, in the grand scheme of things, most trucks with a pick-up bed are light duty. All the "heavy-duty" this and "super-duty" that is just marketers marketing their asses off to increase their slice of a very profitable pie.

1500, 2500, and 3500. Think of them as "big, bigger, and biggest".

That's about all.

In the early years of the Super Duty, there was a 2500, AND a 2500 Super Duty, and they share very few parts. Completely different.

ShadowSix wrote: All the "heavy-duty" this and "super-duty" that is just marketers marketing their asses off to increase their slice of a very profitable pie.

Except the heavy duty/super duty are much better at doing "truck" things and worse at doing "car" things. Incidentally its much cheaper to buy a heavy duty/super duty truck if you need to do truck stuff versus getting a half ton equipped to do the same.

atm92484 wrote:

ShadowSix wrote: All the "heavy-duty" this and "super-duty" that is just marketers marketing their asses off to increase their slice of a very profitable pie.

Except the heavy duty/super duty are much better at doing "truck" things and worse at doing "car" things. Incidentally its much cheaper to buy a heavy duty/super duty truck if you need to do truck stuff versus getting a half ton equipped to do the same.

Sure, within a particular make, model, and year those terms have meaning. They are an exercise in branding. Across different brands and decades those terms do not have meaning. They are marketing terms, not legal or engineering terms.
It's like the term "SS" when relating to Chevrolets. Marketers have taught us that it is a signal that the car is high-performance, but it has no inherent meaning beyond that.
Another example: If Ford wanted to start describing their 4 cylinder Ranger as the Ranger Super-Duty, no one from the government or the SAE would stop them, the reason they didn't was that their marketers wanted to protect the term and the associated brand.

SVreX wrote: In the early years of the Super Duty, there was a 2500, AND a 2500 Super Duty, and they share very few parts. Completely different.

It was F-250 for Ford for a year or so...

98 Super Duty was the new 'normal' F-250 and the other was based on the then new F-150 (97) which had 7 lug rims...it was the odd-ball with f-250 badging.

F-250 F350 and F-superduty were old skool for 97.

An F-Super Duty was the actual name for a F-450(ish) from 87-97. cab and chassis only and had 10-lugs and beam front axle. 2wd but I've seen them upfitted with 4wd.

98+ had F-450 and F-550 Super Duty

Chevy did a similar thing with a 3500HD...frames on those were pretty massive and it looked like it had a 3" body lift from the factory.

Finally, if you go back a bit the factories did some weird things like supply axles based apparently on availability. So some Dodge w-350 trucks might have a dana 70 or 80 rear end seemingly without reason (I might be wrong on this but I've heard it :)

Had a V10 Super Duty in the shop last week. Said F-450 on the fenders. (Was post 97 in other words)

Wheels were 8-lug, although not the normal 8-lug pattern that a one ton has. Also 19.5" wheels and the biggest brakes I've seen on a truck.

It gets even more difficult to decipher when you realize that a Ford F-450 and Ram 3500 are considered to be direct comparisons in the same class.

jamscal wrote:

SVreX wrote: In the early years of the Super Duty, there was a 2500, AND a 2500 Super Duty, and they share very few parts. Completely different.

It was F-250 for Ford for a year or so... 98 Super Duty was the new 'normal' F-250 and the other was based on the then new F-150 (97) which had 7 lug rims...it was the odd-ball with f-250 badging. F-250 F350 and F-superduty were old skool for 97. An F-Super Duty was the actual name for a F-450(ish) from 87-97. cab and chassis only and had 10-lugs and beam front axle. 2wd but I've seen them upfitted with 4wd. 98+ had F-450 and F-550 Super Duty Chevy did a similar thing with a 3500HD...frames on those were pretty massive and it looked like it had a 3" body lift from the factory. Finally, if you go back a bit the factories did some weird things like supply axles based apparently on availability. So some Dodge w-350 trucks might have a dana 70 or 80 rear end seemingly without reason (I might be wrong on this but I've heard it :)

I had a 99 F250 'light duty', before they became the f150 7700 and the super duties came around. it was the NBS ford with the 7 lug. The only major differences were slightly heavier frame, the beefier 4r100 auto trans and had the 10.25 sterling axle with heavier suspension all around. it was significantly beefier then my dad's 01 f150 that he has. Hauled 3000 lbs of rock in the bed once and it still wasnt on the bump stops

dean1484 wrote: My truck is 6 lug

Then it's a regular 1500 denali with a 6.0. 1500hd are 8 lug. Strange beasts and pretty rare. Lay under it and count your rear axle cover bolts.

jamscal wrote: So some Dodge w-350 trucks might have a dana 70 or 80 rear end seemingly without reason (I might be wrong on this but I've heard it :)

It's been a few years since I looked at the manual that spelled out what got what axle, but I remember it was pretty damn confusing. IIRC (I'd have to check the service manual again), a 2500 Cummins with a manual transmission got the D80 (this was my truck). Automatics got the D70. All 2500 5.9 V8's and V10's got the D70. 3500 Cummins and V10's got the D80. 3500 with the V8 got the D70. Whether or not it was 4WD also made a difference.

And this probably only applies to late 1st Gen and early 2nd Gen (late 80's up to mid-90's) trucks. I'm sure it changed later.