How am I supposed to be able to drive a 43000 pound load?

That's the best answer.

 

This is not a question an owner operator should be asking.

 

On the door post of my 2011 Freightliner Cascadia 125 SLP (no custom sleeper or anything) it says GVWR 52500 pounds.
I am also looking at a 53 ft Great Dane reefer trailer for sale, which has a GVWR of 30860 pounds according to the plate.

From what I have found (which may be wrong though, so please help) the GVWR is the weight of the truck including diesel and a maximum number of passengers and suitcases but not the trailer (!?) so from what I can understand it should be not too much above its actual weight, maybe 49000 pounds or so. On the other hand, 52500+30860 is illegal (above 80000) even before I loaded any cargo!

 

I totally agree it is an extremely basic question. If it is that difficult to answer it, then maybe there are others than me that needs this to be straightened out. In my CDL school it was rather obvious that not even the teacher knew the answers to most things, and he was like 80 years old and had been trucking his whole life and even has his "supertrucker" videos out on Youtube.
The only stupid question is the question that doesnt get asked because people were more occupied with identity than with actual progress.

 

If that is really the easiest way to find out, then I will definitely do that. I would be totally amazed if it was, though.

 

GVWR is what it is rated for. Not what it actually weighs

 

Fill your tanks, load your personal things and go weight the truck.
Mine is 36,900.
It's good information to have.

 

Have you even hauled your first load yet? or just drinking "Tequila"?

 

Ok, thanks!

I find it odd that Freightliner has not written the actual weight anywhere in the manual or on the vehicle, considering I need to fill out the actual weight of the vehicle on numerous government forms... The explanation might be that different US agencies use different definition of curb weight!

I found this on Wikipedia:

Curb weight
Curb weight (American English) or kerb weight (British English) is the total mass of a vehicle with standard equipment and all necessary operating consumables such as motor oil, transmission oil, brake fluid, coolant, air conditioning refrigerant, and sometimes a full tank of fuel, while not loaded with either passengers or cargo. The gross vehicle weight is larger and includes the maximum payload of passengers and cargo.[1]

This definition may differ from definitions used by governmental regulatory agencies or other organizations. For example, many European Union manufacturers include the weight of a 75-kilogram (165 lb) driver and luggage to follow European Directive 95/48/EC.[2] Organizations may also define curb weight with fixed levels of fuel and other variables to equalize the value for the comparison of different vehicles.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency regulations define curb weight as follows: Curb weight means the actual or the manufacturer's estimated weight of the vehicle in operational status with all standard equipment, and weight of fuel at nominal tank capacity, and the weight of optional equipment computed in accordance with §86.1832–01; incomplete light-duty trucks shall have the curb weight specified by the manufacturer.[3]

So in conclusion, it is not known yet what the approximate weight of a 2011 Freightliner Cascadia sleeper is. Which is pretty amazing. I can google any car and find out what the typical curb weight is, but not a commercial truck! Here is Freightliners own spec page. Does it have the weight? Nope. The Cascadia Specifications | Freightliner Trucks