So 7000lb but it doesn't say if it's an l56/l65 or whether or not it's the light duty or heavier duty k2500
I'm guessing I'm going to be much less, probably 5-6000lb
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Lets look at the 94 brochure since it's a little clearer:
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The yellow is the "light" 2500 as you can see by the 7200 GVWR. These could have been l56 or L65 although the GM documentation says all 8500 GVWR and under trucks only received the L56. We all know there are L65 engines running around in those trucks so that's not exactly correct. All 1500's were the L56.
Now, that's the MAXIMUM tow rating. Meaning: 4.10 gearing. It drops are you go to taller gears (IE: 3.73, 3.42, etc)
The red is the "heavy" 2500 as witnessed by the 8600 GVWR. All 8600 trucks had the L65. Again, maximum tow rating (ie: 4.10). The rating drops as the gearing gets taller.
The owners manual that came with your truck lays it out a little bit better than the dealers packages. The dealer packs are a little jumbled and sometimes wrong as they are usually printed before the model year is releases since the dealer uses them for ordering.
For example: my 98 K2500 TD 8600 GVWR (4.10) is rated for an 8500lb trailer but also for a CGVWR between 15,000-16,000 lbs. My truck weighs about 6700-7000 ready to roll so you you would think I have room for a 9000-9300 lb trailer. Except I'm only rated for 8500.
Confusing, eh?
The numbers in these years are kind of a mess. They really weren't that interested in testing their combos (costs $$$) so they sort of threw numbers out based on some calculations and dead reckoning.
It wasn't until later when the "towing wars" fired up that OEM's got really specific about weights. Mainly so they could brag one could tow more than the other.
Now that they've gone right off the deep end with towing weights, so SAE came out with the J2807 standard for tow ratings. Now OEM's can't toss out a big number without proving it:
http://www.caranddriver.com/feature...-sae-trailering-standards-explained-tech-dept
As to your 6 lug 14 bolt: thats a semi floating axle. A full floating axle also has a 14 bolt cover.
What you have is a 9.5" ring gear:
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its a fine axle, but not as heavy as the 10.5" that would be in an 8600 GVWR truck:
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Guys call them "14 bolts" because it's easy to look under the truck and count the bolts. It's a "slang" term, just like "OBS" or similar abbreviations. GM identifies them by the ring gear size.
If you look back up to the chart, you can see the difference in the GAWR between the 9.5 and the 10.5 axles. About 1200 lbs difference. That's another 1/2 ton and a bit over the 9.5 rating.....that's pretty significant.