The sad part of it all is it really does not mean much in these values.
I state this as to the fact a well know major manufacture of trailers built some custom trailers for a contractor the dept of defense under contract.
The trailer manufacture sent trailer with tags that were not rated to the DOD requirements. This presented issue when passing weight station as the trailer was over loaded.
So as the government agent we pushed for proper trailers, the trailer manufacture sent us new trailer tags stamped to the higher value. We fought with them but lost as a manufacture they set the load levels of the trailers they build.
As John states "specified by the manufacture" (no federal standard).
So while a guy can get Lowes to load 4000lbs of block in the back of a old small toyota pickup, you can't rent a 5000lb trailer to haul a 3000lb vehicle.
