Newbie question about towing weights

Turbo Turtle wrote:

MFL wrote:
If your 96, is a full 4-door crew cab 4x4,gas, it will have the 7.5 (460) engine. It will be a strong puller, if in good condition. It was rated to pull 10,000 lbs.

To find out what pin weight it will carry, you will have to weigh the rear axle, with the truck loaded with everything you plan to take camping. There should be a RAWR sticker in the drivers door. It should show 6,000 plus lbs.

With the rear tires only, sitting on the scale, lets say the weight on rear axle, shows 3,500 lbs. You now just subtract that 3,500 from the RAWR of 6,000, if that is the number on the door sticker.

This will give you the available pin weight. In this case it would be 2500 lbs. It may be more, if your RAWR is more, as listed on door sticker.

This would mean that you could handle a 10,000 lb., loaded weight FW, as that is the limit your powertrain is rated to pull. A 10,000 lb. loaded weight FW, would have about 2,000 lbs. of pin weight.

Jerry

The number on our door sticker RAWR is 6084.

AND: Doesn't that pin # change with, say, how much you pack into the trailer in front of its wheels and how much in the rear? Or is the balanced weight the same: just an overall load?

Yes, you can change the pin wt =some=, by balancing your load, though you =can= get too light on the pin and cause stability issues. Our local hitch shop uninstalled a swivel-wheel tote from a FW because it was unweighting the pin too much and causing significant sway at speed. Personally, I only carry enough fresh water to get me to a CG or to a point near our usual boondock site where I water down, including extra jugs. I never carry anything in the waste tanks if I can help it.

Lyle