TruckTally

Where our numbers come from

Towing, payload and GCWR

These come from the manufacturers' own annual towing guides — the documents Ford, Chevrolet and Ram publish each model year for dealers and RV buyers. Each model-year page names the specific publication it draws from at the bottom of the engine table.

Every figure is the maximum for a properly equipped truck in its best towing configuration, which is what the manufacturer advertises. We publish the configuration alongside the number rather than the number alone, because the difference between a two-wheel-drive double cab with a 3.42 axle and the crew cab in your driveway is frequently several thousand pounds.

Payload is listed per model year rather than per engine. Peak payload usually belongs to a work-truck configuration that few people buy, and it rarely pairs with the engine that earns peak towing.

Bolt patterns, center bore and torque

Compiled from factory service information and owner's manuals at the generation level. These specifications change only when a platform changes, which is why the tables are organized by generation rather than by year — a 2019 Silverado 1500 and a 2018 do not share a bolt pattern, but a 2019 and a 2025 do.

Tire calculations

Not sourced — computed. Overall diameter, revolutions per mile and speedometer error all follow from the tire size itself using standard formulas, so there is no database behind the calculator and nothing to go stale. Section width in millimetres divided by 25.4 gives inches; multiplied by the aspect ratio gives sidewall height; twice that plus the wheel diameter gives overall diameter.

The rubbing assessment is different in kind and we want to be clear about that. It is a screening heuristic based on diameter and width change against stock, not a fitment guarantee. Trim level, wheel offset, suspension condition and whether the previous owner already trimmed the air dam all move the real threshold.

Complaints and recalls

The problems pages come from the NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation through the federal government's public API. Complaints are reports filed by vehicle owners and are published as submitted — the agency does not verify them, and a complaint is not a finding of defect. Recalls are campaigns the manufacturer filed with the agency.

We aggregate rather than republish. A complaint's free-text summary is owner-written and can contain identifying detail, so the pages show counts by component and link back to NHTSA rather than reprinting the reports.

One thing we are careful about: complaint volume tracks how many trucks are on the road at least as much as how good they are. A best-seller collects more complaints than a rare model at the same defect rate. That is why these pages compare a truck against its own other model years and never rank one model against another.

This data refreshes monthly and automatically. The check that guards it is worth naming: NHTSA periodically renames its cab-level model strings, and when that happens a naive pull quietly matches fewer trucks and reports a number that looks plausible but is built from one trim. Our validation fails the refresh in that case rather than publishing it.

Vehicle identification

Model, year and engine listings are cross-checked against the NHTSA Product Information Catalog (vPIC), a US government database in the public domain. It is authoritative for what was built and sold, but it does not carry towing, payload or wheel specifications — those come from the manufacturer sources above.

How often this updates

Towing, payload and wheel data: once a year, when the new model year's towing guides are published — typically late summer or early fall. Generation-level data (bolt patterns, thread sizes) changes only when a truck is redesigned. Complaints and recalls: monthly. Nothing here is fetched at page load; the entire site is static files.

Corrections

If a figure here disagrees with your door jamb sticker, your door jamb sticker is right and we want to know. The certification label reflects your truck as built; a published table reflects a configuration.

Sources currently cited

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