NekkidFish wrote:
Quick question. When looking at a Forest River V-Lite on a dealers site, it doesn't list the dry weight, but it does list a shipping weight of 7308 pounds. Is that the same thing?
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Ok, so using that weight (7308), you can venture to say that you will probably put another 500 lbs into the trailer to make it usable when you take it on the road. Dishes, linens, clothes, food, etc, will add up very quickly.
As mentioned a travel trailer (TT) will normally "need" anywhere from 10% to 15% of the actual weight (when loaded) on the tongue of the trailer to balance it out so that it won't sway going down the road. So 10% would 730 lbs and 15% would be 1096 lbs.
Your Tundra will probably only have about 1500 lbs of available payload so using the 15% figure, that would only leave you less than 500 lbs for the driver, passengers, equipment, tools, etc, to load into the truck.
Even if your Tundra has the 9800 lbs tow limit, you STILL could not come anywhere close to that amount of weight due to the fact that you would be way over your payload limit.
A word of caution... when pulling a TT you really want to make sure that you have sufficient weight on the tongue and also that you want a good weight distribution unit that preferably has built in sway control. The two most common are the Equal-i-zer and the Reese Dual Cam. There are much better units that actually "eliminate" sway, but they cost much more.
In summary, regardless of the Tundra you have, you must be aware of the payload capacity and the tongue weight of the trailer. Know what they are before purchasing any TT. Pushing the truck's limits is doable, but not advised as it will increase problems with the truck and driving characteristics and reduce mpg and handling making your driving experience one that you may not want to have.
Hope this helps
Ron
