A little uncomfortable with my set up...
Let me explain... I went from a Wildwood travel trailer (22ft, 3600lbs) to a Jayco 273 Toy Hauler (31ft 6500lb, 12ft high). My tonque weight went up significantly from probably a few hundred lbs t...
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aftermath wrote:95jersey wrote:
FINALLY some useful information. Over the weekend I took the RV to my dealer to get winterized and asked them to weight the tongue.
drum roll...1280lbs (no bikes, no water, but fully loaded otherwise).
I don't know when I will be able to get to a CAT scale, as I am booked every weekend until late November. So for now, this is all we got.
So I am definitely exceeding the WD hitch rating (1000lb) at minimum.
95, a few observations on your situation. First, you have stated that you would like to downsize the trailer. If that is true then do it and be done with all this nonsense. If you are willing to try to get thing under control without spending tons of cash then you have lots of suggestions. 1. Tires: this will not be a waste of money even if you change trailers so start there. 2. A More Sturdy Hitch: Likewise you can transfer this to your new trailer and probably be better off.
And now a question I have. You found out the TW on your trailer but it wasn't loaded with your toys. 1200 is pretty heavy and I am guessing that this number will go way down when you load the TH. How did it handle when empty? Was is stable or did it sway? The rule of thumb is the heavier the TW the more stable the tow. Before you give up, you might want to load your stuff in the back and then weight the tongue. Just a thought. AS you take weight off the tongue it can get more difficult to tow. The challenge here is to keep the numbers within spec.
Believe it or not, regardless if I have 0, 1 or 3 bikes, it doesn't really change much. Even if I have no water or full water (54gall). It is just unpleasant if there is any wind or 18 wheeler passing by. The thing is just SO tall. On the interstate when I go through an area of highway that doesn't have trees lined on either side of the freeway, I can immediately tell (more wind). Amazing how the trees help keep the wind down. On tall bridges...forget it, slow down and hold on.
I have towed with an without water/bikes in combination. I don't really feel a difference as far as load. I would even go as far as saying when I was towing it new without ANYTHING loaded into it just locally, it was still being blown around.
