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A 79 Series is rated to tow up to 3,500 kg with the right setup, but the tow figure alone doesn't make a load legal. Your GVM and GCM (combined mass) also have to add up, and a loaded truck plus a heavy van can breach the combined limit even when each part looks fine. We assess GVM and GCM together so the whole rig stays legal.
Towing questions on a 79 Series almost always start with the 3,500 kg number, but that figure on its own can be misleading. The mass that actually keeps you legal is the combination of what the truck weighs and what it tows. Here's how the numbers work, and how we make sure your rig adds up. If the assessment points to more capacity, our 79 Series GVM upgrades sort it with certification.
With the right setup a 79 Series is rated to tow up to 3,500 kg braked. That's the headline figure, and it's genuine, but it assumes the rest of the mass limits are respected. Towing at or near that weight puts big demands on your suspension, brakes and the way the truck sits, which is why a tow-focused build matters as much as the number. The tow rating is a ceiling, not a promise that any combination up to it is legal.
The 3,500 kg figure is real, but it only holds when your GVM and GCM also stay within limits.
GVM is the most the truck can weigh fully loaded. GCM, Gross Combined Mass, is the most the truck and trailer can weigh together. Here's the catch: when you hitch a loaded van, some of its weight presses down on the towbar and adds to the truck's load, eating into your GVM. So you can be under your tow rating and still be over GVM or GCM. Both limits have to add up at the same time, which is why we look at the whole combination rather than a single figure.
Legal towing means GVM and GCM both stay within limits together, not just the tow number on its own.
A GVM upgrade raises how much the truck can legally weigh, which can give you the payload headroom to carry gear and take the van's tow-ball weight without breaching GVM. It also fits springs and shocks rated for that weight, so the truck sits level and controlled with a van on the back rather than squatting at the rear. What a GVM upgrade doesn't automatically do is lift your GCM, so if the combination is the limit, that needs its own assessment. We check both so the upgrade actually solves your towing situation. To understand whether you need one, see do you need a GVM upgrade on a 79 Series.
A GVM upgrade can give you the payload headroom to tow safely, but the GCM still has to be checked separately.
Start with the plates and the numbers: your GVM, your GCM, the trailer's ATM, and the tow-ball download. Then weigh the truck loaded and, ideally, the whole rig hitched, so you know the real figures rather than the brochure ones. From there we can tell you whether you're legal as-is, whether a GVM upgrade gives you the headroom you need, and how to set the suspension up so the truck tows level and controlled. Guessing is how people end up illegal and unsafe; weighing is how you avoid it.
Check the plated limits and weigh the loaded rig before towing heavy, so you know you're legal rather than hoping.
|
Term |
What it means |
|
Towing capacity |
Max braked trailer weight, up to 3,500 kg with the right setup |
|
GVM |
Max the loaded truck can weigh |
|
GCM |
Max the truck and trailer can weigh together |
|
Tow-ball download |
Van weight pressing on the towbar, counts toward GVM |
Read these together, not in isolation, because a legal rig needs all of them to add up at once.
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