CheckMyTow

The advertised tow rating belongs to one truck

A model's headline number is the best result of one configuration. We plotted every configuration the manufacturers publish — 157 of them — to show where that number actually sits.

Edited by Kirill Dvoryashin · Updated 2026-07-28

Pickup configs that carry their model's advertised max

13 of 125

10% of everything you can order

What the median pickup configuration reaches

83%

of the advertised maximum (range 74–94% by model)

Payload spread inside one model (Ram 1500)

1,060 lb

1,310–2,370 lb across 15 configs

The Ford F-150 is advertised at 14,000 lb. Ford publishes 25 conventional-towing configurations for it, and exactly 1 of them is rated 14,000 lb: 3.5L EcoBoost V6 · 4x2 · SuperCrew · 3.55 axle · Max Trailer Tow Package (53C). Order the same truck in four-wheel drive and the number is different. Order it without the tow package and it is much lower. None of that is dishonest — the footnote is right there in the towing guide — but the headline is what travels.

Every published pickup configuration, and the one number the ads use

Each dot is one engine × driveline × cab × axle × package combination from the OEM towing guide. Amber is the advertised maximum, the blue tick is the median configuration. Across all 8 lines, 13 of 125 configurations carry the headline number.

  • Advertised maximum
  • Median configuration
  • Every other published configuration
Advertised max Ford F-250 Super Duty 14 configs 22,000 lb 2 of 14 Ford F-150 25 configs 14,000 lb 1 of 25 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 17 configs 13,300 lb 3 of 17 GMC Sierra 1500 17 configs 13,300 lb 1 of 17 Ram 1500 15 configs 12,750 lb 1 of 15 Toyota Tundra 14 configs 12,000 lb 1 of 14 Chevrolet Colorado 11 configs 7,700 lb 3 of 11 Toyota Tacoma 12 configs 6,800 lb 1 of 12 0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 Published tow rating (lb)
Table view — every value in the chart
Model Configs Advertised max What it takes Median Lowest
Ford F-250 Super Duty 14 22,000 (2) 6.7L Power Stroke Turbo Diesel V8 · 4x4 · Crew Cab · 3.55 axle · High-Capacity Axle Upgrade Package (535) 16,200 13,300
Ford F-150 25 14,000 (1) 3.5L EcoBoost V6 · 4x2 · SuperCrew · 3.55 axle · Max Trailer Tow Package (53C) 11,200 8,100
Chevrolet Silverado 1500 17 13,300 (3) 6.2L V8 with DFM (L87) · 4x4 · Double Cab · RST · Max Trailering Package (NHT) + 20" wheels 11,100 6,800
GMC Sierra 1500 17 13,300 (1) 3.0L Duramax Turbo Diesel I6 · 4x2 · Double Cab · 3.73 axle · Max Trailering Package + 20" wheels 10,900 6,900
Ram 1500 15 12,750 (1) 5.7L HEMI V8 eTorque · 4x2 · Quad Cab · 3.92 axle · Max Tow Package 11,190 7,280
Toyota Tundra 14 12,000 (1) 3.4L i-FORCE TT V6 (389 hp) · 4x2 · Double Cab · SR5 10,350 6,800
Chevrolet Colorado 11 7,700 (3) 2.8L Duramax turbo-diesel I4 · 4x2 · 3.42 axle · Z82 Trailering Package 6,000 3,500
Toyota Tacoma 12 6,800 (1) 3.5L V6 · 4x2 · Access Cab · V6 Tow Package 6,400 3,500

Data: 157 configurations from official OEM towing guides, model years 2014–2026 (8 pickup lines shown). Tool: CheckMyTow OEM dataset · checkmytow.com

What the chart says

  • The headline is a corner case. 13 of 125 pickup configurations (10%) are rated at their model's advertised maximum. On five of the 8 lines it is a single configuration.
  • The median truck is 83% of the ad. By model the median configuration lands between 74% and 94% of the headline — so the typical shortfall on a half-ton is roughly 2,000 lb of trailer.
  • The headline configuration is usually not the one people buy. Five of the eight maxima require two-wheel drive; several require a specific axle ratio and a package that has to be ordered with the truck. Four-wheel-drive crew cabs — the volume configuration — sit lower on every line.
  • The spread inside a model line is wider than the gap between models. The Ford F-150 runs 8,100–14,000 lb depending on how it is optioned. Payload moves just as far the other way: the Ram 1500 spans 1,060 lb of payload across its 15 published configurations, and its highest-priced trim carries the least.

Crossovers and SUVs work the other way — the advertised number is the common number

The same plot for the 4 SUV and crossover lines in the dataset. Here 15 of 32 configurations carry the advertised maximum: with one or two drivetrains and no axle or package options, there is little for the number to vary across.

  • Advertised maximum
  • Median configuration
  • Every other published configuration
Advertised max Toyota Highlander 9 configs 5,000 lb 4 of 9 Subaru Outback 8 configs 3,500 lb 3 of 8 Toyota RAV4 8 configs 3,500 lb 3 of 8 Honda CR-V 7 configs 1,500 lb 5 of 7 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 Published tow rating (lb)
Table view — every value in the chart
Model Configs Advertised max What it takes Median Lowest
Toyota Highlander 9 5,000 (4) 3.5L V6 (270 hp) · XLE / Limited · V6 Towing Prep Package 3,500 1,500
Subaru Outback 8 3,500 (3) 2.4L H4 turbo (260 hp) · AWD · Onyx Edition XT / Limited XT / Touring XT 2,850 2,700
Toyota RAV4 8 3,500 (3) 2.5L I4 (gas) · AWD · Adventure / TRD Off-Road · Dynamic Torque Vectoring AWD, tow-prep equipment standard on grade 2,130 1,500
Honda CR-V 7 1,500 (5) 1.5L I4 DI VTEC Turbo (190 hp) · FWD · LX / EX / EX-L (gas) 1,500 1,000

Data: 157 configurations from official OEM towing guides, model years 2014–2026 (4 SUV/crossover lines shown). Tool: CheckMyTow OEM dataset · checkmytow.com

That contrast is the practical takeaway. On a crossover, "what can it tow" has one answer, and the brochure gives it to you. On a pickup it has 25 answers, and the brochure gives you the largest one. Which is why a tow question that starts with the model name — can an F-150 tow this? — cannot be answered; it has to start with the configuration.

Method

Population. All 157 configurations in our OEM dataset: 12 US model lines, model years 2014–2026, one record per engine × driveline × cab × axle ratio × tow package combination as published in the manufacturer's own towing guide. Conventional (bumper-pull) ratings only — gooseneck and fifth-wheel ratings are separate numbers and are not mixed in.

Definitions. The advertised maximum is the highest conventional tow rating published for the model line — the number that appears in advertising and comparison tables. The median is the middle value across all published configurations, rounded to 10 lb; it is a median of configurations, not of trucks sold, which we cannot observe. Where a manufacturer publishes a range across wheelbases we record the conservative (lower) value, so the spread shown is if anything narrower than the real one.

Limitations. A configuration is not a sales-weighted truck: if a line offers many rarely-ordered variants, they each count once. That cuts both ways — it does not change how rare the advertised maximum is, but the "median configuration" is not the "median truck on the road". Records covering multiple model years appear once, at their conservative value across the span. Every number traces to a cited OEM guide page; see data sources.

Use the data

The full table is oem-configs.csv — all 157 configurations with tow rating, payload, GCWR, curb weight, SAE grade and the source citation for each. Reuse with attribution. To see what a specific configuration allows under a real load, the tow-match calculator does the arithmetic and names the limit that binds — which, once the truck is loaded, is usually not the tow rating at all.

Cite this: CheckMyTow (2026). The advertised tow rating belongs to one truck — 157 US vehicle configurations from OEM towing guides. https://checkmytow.com/research/advertised-vs-real/