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I have never seen a good explanation of how GVWRs are estabilshed, either for trucks or trailers.
I think it must just come down to what the engineers see as the weakest link in the vehicle. If it is the drive train, then maybe changing the rear end ratio is a legit. way of increasing the GVWR, but if it is the frame, brakes, tires, or axles, then changing the rear end ratio is not going to help the GVWR. It is just a matter of what the weakest link is in the design of each vehicle.
That said, I think if you look at Ford and GM trucks, you can see that this might be what is happening. Ford seem to have a heavier, probably stronger truck with larger brakes, derived from their bigger trucks, their weak link is the power train, hence they can play with the rear end ratio and wheel sizes, and come up with different GVWR. GM has a pretty solid engine and drive train that is capable of driving much bigger trucks, but their pick-up frame and chassis is lighter than that used by Ford, so for GM the weak link is something other than the drive train, so they don't fiddle with rear end ratios and wheel sizes.
This is NOT intended to mean the one is better than the other, just that the each has a different limiting factor determining their GVWR, and all of the this is just speculation on my part, others may disagree.
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