Gladiator tow rating

[MJMadness]

Did the factory provide any information regarding a tow rating, or max GCWR, for Gladiator trucks?

It's a 66 J-2600 specifically.

I'm assuming they didn't, which in my case is probably better than if it turns out they're rated to tow only 3000lbs or something.

[Kaiserman]

What's your gear ratio? 6 or V8? I can check my tow brochure out tomorrow. IIRC properly equipped the J26/J3600's where either 5 or 7Klbs for towing.

Gladiator Camper Trucks (J3800) are rated for 10K lbs.

[MJMadness]

I don't know what the axle ratio is (or more correctly, was), but it had the inline 6.

What happened was this truck was beat on and driven until it died in a field, where it was left for dead. I don't know when that was, probably the 90s though. I bought it from the guy who purchased the property it was on, then got a title for it. My plan was to put the cab on a 2nd gen Dodge Ram chassis with a Cummins diesel, so I gave the chassis and driveline away to a guy who needed D53 parts and was doing a restoration. I figured at least that way it saved another one of these trucks. I then promptly got sidetracked, built some other vehicles up, etc, and now I'm getting back to this thing. Anyways, it finally occurred to me that I might have a bit of a legal issue on my hands, since the GVW of the J2600 is only 6000lbs, which is actually 400lbs less than the curb weight of the Dodge I have as a donor for the project, and I was hoping to be able to use this thing to tow my car hauler around as needed. So I've spent some time reading through the applicable rules set by the all mighty ICBC to try to figure out what to do.

Currently I think if I ditch the diesel and go with something along the lines of a Vortec/TBI Chevy 350 (vanilla and lackluster, but so be it, I intend to just drive it around 98% of the time, and tow short distances 2% of the time) I can shed about 600lbs of weight. Plus the Gladiator cab is lighter than the Dodge (I don't have the bed anyways), and I can build an aluminum or steel/aluminum deck, which should shave a few more pounds. Maybe then I can get it down so the unloaded truck is well enough under 6000lbs that it would still have some useful legal capacity for hauling, and still enough to not be overweight with tongue weight factored it.

Anyways, if there's something that says they could tow 7000lbs (I don't care if that's not for how much truck WAS configured from the factory), that's good news. I need it as a CYA in the event that I am questioned. Technically it turns out that factory tow rating doesn't legally matter, but it is one thing they may ask for.

I also technically need to find the GAWR (max axle weight ratings) if they were ever given for these trucks. Obviously those numbers shouldn't be relevant, as my Dodge chassis has a D60/D70 setup, but that's not how it works. Having done more research it seems these numbers are the real go-no-go, and nobody has an answer to what you would do if the factory never provided this information (nor do they know what the information is, actually, so I'm not sure how they would prove I am in the wrong, but alas when dealing with ICBC you are guilty until you prove your innocence).

If at the end of the day the math will not work then I need to come up with another plan.

[Kaiserman]

Front GWR is 3000lbs, rear is 4500lbs for the axles themselves. That was lowered depending on how the springs/brakes where configured on each Jeep.

My towing brochure is for the older OHC 6cyl trucks. It shows the J210/J310 (6600lb GVW, the equivalent of your J2600) to have a max of 5K lb towing ability with a max 500lb tongue load.

My 71 has a 5000lb GVW and weighs about 5640lbs empty right now. Never had any problems with the MA DMV or inspections stations. It also has HD springs and Dana 60's front and rear right now.

[MJMadness]

Thanks for the numbers.

I'm going to do some more reading and poking and decide if the J2600 title/cab is suitable for this, ICBC can be very goofy about things because they both make the rules and are the insurance provider.

Alternatively I have a 76 J20 that was a mud racing truck. It's pretty well destroyed by what was done to it, but the cab is oddly in decent shape. It might be a better option. Or I can actually use the Dodge and Gladiator titles and get an amalgamated vehicle title, which in theory would be the most correct thing to do in this situation, but there is some troubles with that, and then it would wind up being titled as something like a "2017 u-bilt/custom truck" and a new VIN issued (and the original data plate surrendered).