Advertised TH tonue weight

carringb wrote:

2500 Grunt wrote:
He still believes that customers of TH'S NEED to rely on adding toys to reduce pin weight and the 10% of GVWR is an ok figure to use when calculating TW for picking out a WD hitch. .

I completely agree with your dealer. Building toy haulers with too little tongue weight would set customers up for dangerous towing experiences.

That's not what the dealer agrees with. They think 10% of GVWR is what the TW is on a TT TH. It's at least 15%.

2500 Grunt wrote:
He still believes that customers of TH'S NEED to rely on adding toys to reduce pin weight and the 10% of GVWR is an ok figure to use when calculating TW for picking out a WD hitch. .

I completely agree with your dealer. Building toy haulers with too little tongue weight would set customers up for dangerous towing experiences.

The dealer still did not admit that they were wrong but agreed to (shut me up) do the swap. He still believes that customers of TH'S NEED to rely on adding toys to reduce pin weight and the 10% of GVWR is an ok figure to use when calculating TW for picking out a WD hitch. Adding my 1400# sandrail did nothing to reduce pin weight on my TH. Anyway, I'm happy now.

I went through the same WDH issues as you when I bought my Weekend Warrior - The dealer under sized the hitch for the tongue weight. When I came back with actual weights, they acted surprised but did bump me up two sizes. My TH was "only" a 22' model but it was the heavy wide body chassis with fiberglass sides that carried 150 gallons of water and generator forward of axles and dual batteries and 60 lbs of LPG on the tongue. I went from a 800 lb WDH to 1200 lb and didn't have any problems adjusting tongue weight after that. When I tried to adjust the lighter hitch the bars had a distinct bow once got my weights to where they should have been.

Update: Dealer "threw in" the incorrect WD hitch when we purchased this TH which was under rated for my trailer. They fixed it by replacing it with a different one. Happy camper now!

2500 Grunt wrote:
Bought a sherline trailer tongue scale and the TW came in at 1400# unloaded. Added 180 gal. of water and it added another 300# to the TW..

Those numbers are right in line.
When I had my tow behind, triple axle hauler, I was seeing similar weights.

Bought a sherline trailer tongue scale and the TW came in at 1400# unloaded. Added 180 gal. of water and it added another 300# to the TW. Going to load it up with my car and recheck. Called the MFG and was told that the listed TW is the unloaded weight. Getting jerked around now b/t the MFG and the dealer in regards to picking out or sizing a WD hitch and how to do it....Will update later.

2500 Grunt wrote:

mdamerell wrote:
1st I'm surprised they used 10% since the rule of thumb is 10-15%. 15% of 12,900# is 1935#.

You need to weight truck and trailer together and then weight just the truck to get our real numbers. You can't go on what it use to weight. Your WD hitch will also move so weight up onto the steer axle.

Normally the TW listed is dry weight. If you divide 1318# by 8692# = 15.16% ratio. Your gross of 12,900# times 15.16% gives an approximate 1956# TW at GVWR on trailer.

Spent about 45 minutes politely talking to the service mgr about that debate (10 vs 15%) and they always go only by the GVWR of the trailer when calculating tongue weight. Also discussed how a TH is generally heavier than a TT but ??? My truck is 7500# on the scale so with my loaded trailer axle of 11100 plus a tongue weight of about 2200# my GVWR is 13300# and the listed GVWR of trailer is 12900 (400# over).

I told him that I was under the assumption that the above link should be the dry tongue weight but he says no it's the loaded or GVWR.....Time to call Evergreen on Monday.

Debating the accuracy of the manufacturers specs or what's better, 10% or 15% tongue weight is kinda moot at this point. Bottom line, you're tongue weight is way too high and you're over your GVWR.

IMO, you need a good baseline to resolve your issues:

1. Weigh your TH to find the **realworld** tongue weight + axle weight = GVWR, **EMPTY**.

2. Where do you have everything loaded in your TH? Can any or all of it be moved directly over or ideally behind the axles on your TH?

3. Is there anything you have loaded in your TH you can live without?

The advertised Specs are how it rolls off the factory floor STOCK- dry weight.
TW is dry weight not gross trailer weight. Anyone can figger out the TW based on the gross weight advertised BUT no one knows the dry weight but the factory. This info is provided so you have an idea of what you'll need in a hitch bare minimum.

Which a lot of people take it as the real tongue weight, which it is not.

They don't weigh it again after adding options

10-12% for Tag trailers
15-20% for 5th wheel

But it doesn't matter, if you really have 2300# tongue weight yer still way over the hitch.