Trying to understand normal tow handling
I traded in my 2014 Starcraft 1220 popup in August for a 2015 Fun Finder 242BDS at the beginning of August 2014. I weighed the trailer on an electronic vehicle scale with a full load and it came in a...
Forum Discussion
Your GVWR = 6,160 lbs
Loaded Vehicle = 5,800 lbs
That looks good, not sure why you say you were 150 lbs over?
Your GCWR = 9,980 lbs
Total weight = 11,000 lbs
Over by 1,020
Rear GAWR = 3,300 lbs
Loaded Rear Axle = 3,150 lbs
Good, under by 150 lbs
Front GAWR = 3,080
Loaded Front Axle = 2,650 lbs
Looks good also.
Do you have the axle weights without the trailer hooked up? That would help us calculate if your load transfer of the w/d hitch was correct. If you were to find your rear axle was over loaded, but the front was well under capacity, you could choose to use the w/d hitch to move weight to the front axle, it will move a smaller % to the trailer axles as well. That would be a better option that being over an axle rating and especially over a tire rating.
I do not know why your total axle ratings of 6,380 lbs is less than the GVWR of 6,160 lbs. Perhaps they know most people will never drive over the scales and it leaves some wiggle room and "hidden" extra capacity? Or maybe the brakes are a limiting factor? Only the engineers of the vehicle would know. I would suspect it is just the wiggle room. For instance, if you have an unloaded vehicle weight of 4697 lbs (from Edmunds), you'd have 1,463 lbs of payload. If you could load the vehicle perfectly to balanced out the axles to exactly their max ratings, you could actually load up the vehicle with 1,683 lbs (3080+3300-4697). The likely hood you could successfully accomplish this is very small unless you have it on the scales when you load it. This difference in the ratings between total axle ratings and GVWR is pretty normal. The safe thing is to not exceed either.
After writing all that, I'm looking at the Durango to see if you'll be better off as far as payload, but...as I'm looking at your numbers, I think I might be confused. You listed a loaded vehicle weight of 5,800, which I assumed to be when loaded with the trailer connected. But looking at your spread sheet, I see you show the tongue weight being added to the 5,800 lbs for a total of 6,392 lbs GVW. Maybe that is why you said you were over loaded 150 lbs? But your spreadsheet says you are 232 lbs over. It would appear the Durango might actually have less payload, but the numbers seem to vary depending on where I look. Maybe it has more. It would be nice to find a photo of someones payload sticker on the AWD Hemi Durango, that would clear it up.
I look forward to seeing your re-worked spreadsheet. Perhaps that will clear it up.
Loaded Vehicle = 5,800 lbs
That looks good, not sure why you say you were 150 lbs over?
Your GCWR = 9,980 lbs
Total weight = 11,000 lbs
Over by 1,020
Rear GAWR = 3,300 lbs
Loaded Rear Axle = 3,150 lbs
Good, under by 150 lbs
Front GAWR = 3,080
Loaded Front Axle = 2,650 lbs
Looks good also.
Do you have the axle weights without the trailer hooked up? That would help us calculate if your load transfer of the w/d hitch was correct. If you were to find your rear axle was over loaded, but the front was well under capacity, you could choose to use the w/d hitch to move weight to the front axle, it will move a smaller % to the trailer axles as well. That would be a better option that being over an axle rating and especially over a tire rating.
I do not know why your total axle ratings of 6,380 lbs is less than the GVWR of 6,160 lbs. Perhaps they know most people will never drive over the scales and it leaves some wiggle room and "hidden" extra capacity? Or maybe the brakes are a limiting factor? Only the engineers of the vehicle would know. I would suspect it is just the wiggle room. For instance, if you have an unloaded vehicle weight of 4697 lbs (from Edmunds), you'd have 1,463 lbs of payload. If you could load the vehicle perfectly to balanced out the axles to exactly their max ratings, you could actually load up the vehicle with 1,683 lbs (3080+3300-4697). The likely hood you could successfully accomplish this is very small unless you have it on the scales when you load it. This difference in the ratings between total axle ratings and GVWR is pretty normal. The safe thing is to not exceed either.
After writing all that, I'm looking at the Durango to see if you'll be better off as far as payload, but...as I'm looking at your numbers, I think I might be confused. You listed a loaded vehicle weight of 5,800, which I assumed to be when loaded with the trailer connected. But looking at your spread sheet, I see you show the tongue weight being added to the 5,800 lbs for a total of 6,392 lbs GVW. Maybe that is why you said you were over loaded 150 lbs? But your spreadsheet says you are 232 lbs over. It would appear the Durango might actually have less payload, but the numbers seem to vary depending on where I look. Maybe it has more. It would be nice to find a photo of someones payload sticker on the AWD Hemi Durango, that would clear it up.
I look forward to seeing your re-worked spreadsheet. Perhaps that will clear it up.
