Help needed with CAT scale numbers

Baja Man wrote:
Questions:

If I load additonal weight to truck bed, which I plan on doing in the next few weeks (camper shell, tools, camping supplies, possible a cargo slide, etc) approx. 600#.....

1. will this increase my tongue weight?
2. If so I would need to increase both the hitch to a 1400/14000 and receiver to at least 1400 tW.

Thoughts?

Hi,

As the others have stated, you are way too light on the front of the truck. You are not transferring enough weight to the front. For your truck year and suspension, running the front ~100 to 150# under unloaded weight is not bad. But you are a lot away from that. I would not go all the way back to the exact same weight as unhitched, you may have other stability issues then. I am on purpose riding 100 to 150# under on the front axle. With my bed weight and TW it allows the rear of truck to kiss the rear overload springs and it helps with oversteer on the truck.

You made 1 other error most likely not realizing you did it. You did not load the truck bed the way you go camping. If you are going to add 600# to the bed, that is a lot. The whole truck ride height is going to change with that much extra weight added. This will affect the shank length being that much different.

Adding bed weight does not change the loaded TW of the camper. However it does change the ride height of the truck and it will affect the settings of the WD hitch. To help explain this a little better, if where you are right now in truck weights, if you adjust the WD hitch to shift more weight to the front of the truck this will help restore more weight back to the front of the truck. This will help when steering in wet conditions so you do not slide with the heavy trailer pushing you (aka understeer). When the WD on the truck is correct, then you will raise or lower the hitch head on the WD shank to level out the camper as close as you can within 1 adjusting hole. Slight nose down is better then much nose up. Once you move the shank, check the fender heights again. You might have to tweak 1 more washer of tilt of the hitch head back towards the trailer depending on how far you move the head.

So you just bought a new drop shank to lower the hitch head down and you have the camper leveled out and the WD on the truck set correct.

Now next spring you put 600# in the truck bed. The front of the truck will lower down and so will the back of the truck. But not by equal amounts. That much weight is going affect the WD settings on the hitch. You will need to start over on the WD settings and re-establish unhitched truck fender heights, readjust the WD settings on the WD hitch and then, and very possibly again lower the WD hitch head on the shank. This time hopefully you did not run out of hitch shank length on the new shank you just bought.

Do you now see the issues? You might luck out with the shank being long enough OR you might not and have to buy another new shank.

Now back to the 1,200# WD hitch, since today you are at 1,180# of loaded TW, as of today you are OK on the hitch sizing. But you are right on the edge. You have a big camper that has the ability to add more weight to it. From your last thread, your camper has a 9,600# GVWR. From your truck weights your camper is loaded to 9,240# and if I understood your note right, this time you had the 80 gallon fresh water tank filled. That water weight is 664# all by itself. The dry weight of your camper was listed as as 7,800#, does that number equal what the weight sticker in the camper is? Catalog weights are not always the same as the weight sticker in the camper due to options added etc.

Where I'm going with those numbers is, today's 9,240# of gross camper weight - 664# fresh water - 7,800# dry weight = 776# of camping gear added to a 34' 3" long camper. Your 776# of camping weight is "light". The "average" camper couple( no kids) adds 1,000 to 1,200# of cargo to a camper before fresh water. My wife and I have even more then that.... You might have less stuff then an average camper, but the prediction will be, in time you will add more stuff... We all do.

Point: Your WD hitch size and truck receiver are OK for today. The predication will be, as time goes on (1 to 3 years) you are going to load more cargo in the camper and if it is goes in the front bedroom and the front storage hole, the loaded TW is going to go up. Your camper has the capacity to hold it, the truck has the capacity to hold it, the WD hitch will be over it's limit. In the future the prediction is you will be upgrading the receiver and the hitch.

Your truck and camper size/weights are very similar to mine. I have 500# of cargo in the bed of the F350 and I started with a dry 7,300# camper that is now fully loaded with fresh water to just under 10,000# and the camper has a 10,000# GVWR. Just I have a much heavier loaded TW. Stuff just adds up and over time more stuff seems to find it's way into the camper.

Hope this helps

John