Am I on the right track???
I've read that to safe that the tongue weight of TT should be somewhere between 9% and 15% on the total loaded trailer weight. Say for a 6000 lb trailer, its 9% tongue wt is 540 lbs and for 15% the tongue wt jumps to 900 lbs. Isn't that a lot leeway? I assume that its best to stay somewhere in the middle say 12%...correct or doesn't it matter that much?
Sadly, my truck only allows for 700 lbs of tongue wt, which isn't a lot. Lets say that I use the Andersen Weight Distribution Hitch which weighs 50 lbs, so that only leaves 650 lbs for the actual trailer tongue weight. Now if I take 650 and divide it buy 0.12 that should equal my maximum trailer weight, which is 5,417 lbs. Now I understand that this number is solely based upon tongue wt and other factors apply to my max trailer weight. For instance my manual says that my truck can tow 7000 lbs (with a driver, a full tank of fuel and NOTHING else in the truck). Since 5,417 is less than 7000, it seems that tongue wt a more limiting factor.
Now assuming that that the average couple packs between a 500 and 1000 pounds of stuff into their trailers that I should be looking for a trailer who's dry weight is no more than 4400 lbs.
Lastly, assuming what I've read is correct and tongue weight should be between 9% and 15% afters its loaded, why do trailer manufacturers put the dry tongue wt in the brochure? Isn't it sort of meaning less? Also when shopping for a trailer I guess its good to know the max that a trailer can carry, but the more important number is the weight number shown on the door frame.
So am I on the right track?
Sadly, my truck only allows for 700 lbs of tongue wt, which isn't a lot. Lets say that I use the Andersen Weight Distribution Hitch which weighs 50 lbs, so that only leaves 650 lbs for the actual trailer tongue weight. Now if I take 650 and divide it buy 0.12 that should equal my maximum trailer weight, which is 5,417 lbs. Now I understand that this number is solely based upon tongue wt and other factors apply to my max trailer weight. For instance my manual says that my truck can tow 7000 lbs (with a driver, a full tank of fuel and NOTHING else in the truck). Since 5,417 is less than 7000, it seems that tongue wt a more limiting factor.
Now assuming that that the average couple packs between a 500 and 1000 pounds of stuff into their trailers that I should be looking for a trailer who's dry weight is no more than 4400 lbs.
Lastly, assuming what I've read is correct and tongue weight should be between 9% and 15% afters its loaded, why do trailer manufacturers put the dry tongue wt in the brochure? Isn't it sort of meaning less? Also when shopping for a trailer I guess its good to know the max that a trailer can carry, but the more important number is the weight number shown on the door frame.
So am I on the right track?
