Forum Discussion
anaro
Sep 06, 2013Explorer
Couple things. First, is your burb set up to tow with a transmission cooler and brake controller? You want a good proportional brake controller like prodigy P2 or p3. do not get a time delay brake controller. You will need a good weight distribution hitch with integrated sway control like Reese dual cam or equal-i-zer or even better (and more expensive) Hensley arrow.
Now lets look at what you can really tow. The statement my burb can tow 7600 lbs really doesn't mean anything. That number will be decreased by several factors. lets look at how to arrive at the correct numbers for you.
Load your burb up with all passengers, pets and gear you will have in it when towing and go weigh it (catscale with a full tank of fuel. When you weigh it, put the front axle on scale pad 1 and the rear axle on scale pad 2. (bring something long like a broom handle or long ice scraper as the button to push for weighing sits high for truckers). You will get a ticket that gives you 3 weights (front axle, rear axle, total vehicle weight).
Take the total vehicle weight and subtract it from the vehicles gcwr (the most both burb and trailer can weigh together) to get your adjusted towing capacity. Now take your total vehicle weight from the scale and subtract it from the vehicle gvwr (the most the burb can weigh) to get your available payload. The payload is what weight you can still add on or in a vehicle. Your trailers tongue weight sits on the vehicle and therefor gets added into the payload numbers so the tongue weight must be less than the available payload.
Now looking at the trailer there are dry weights and gvwr to look at. The dry or unloaded weight is a number you will never tow. The number published on a website or in a brochure doesn't even include the propane or battery weight. Then you have to add in your items to the weight. Believe it or not things add up really quickly (dishes, pots, pans, clothes, toiletries, camping chairs, grill, tools, wheel chocks, and the list goes on.). Most people tend to add 1000-1500 lbs to a trailer (some more, some less). You don't know how much your family of four will add so calculating using the trailer gvwr is wiser for you. The tongue weight listed in the brochures is also a dry or unloaded weight. As you add gear to a trailer in front of its axles it adds weight to the tongue. Unfortunately you can't just put all the gear in the rear of the trailer as this will off load the tongue weight and cause a sway condition. So loading a trailer is about balancing things. Ideally the loaded tongue weight will end up being 13-15% of the loaded trailer weight. Again here do a calculation using gvwr for you. So a trailer with a 7000 lb gvwr could have a tongue weight of 900-1050 lbs. Your burb probably does not have that kind of payload. The closer you get to a vehicles limits the more uncomfortable and unstable a towing experience gets. Having been there, I can tell you white knuckle experiences are exhausting and scary. It sounds like you are on a budget that wouldn't be able to handle upgrading the tow vehicle after the purchase so paying close attention to capabilities before hand is imperative.
Now lets look at what you can really tow. The statement my burb can tow 7600 lbs really doesn't mean anything. That number will be decreased by several factors. lets look at how to arrive at the correct numbers for you.
Load your burb up with all passengers, pets and gear you will have in it when towing and go weigh it (catscale with a full tank of fuel. When you weigh it, put the front axle on scale pad 1 and the rear axle on scale pad 2. (bring something long like a broom handle or long ice scraper as the button to push for weighing sits high for truckers). You will get a ticket that gives you 3 weights (front axle, rear axle, total vehicle weight).
Take the total vehicle weight and subtract it from the vehicles gcwr (the most both burb and trailer can weigh together) to get your adjusted towing capacity. Now take your total vehicle weight from the scale and subtract it from the vehicle gvwr (the most the burb can weigh) to get your available payload. The payload is what weight you can still add on or in a vehicle. Your trailers tongue weight sits on the vehicle and therefor gets added into the payload numbers so the tongue weight must be less than the available payload.
Now looking at the trailer there are dry weights and gvwr to look at. The dry or unloaded weight is a number you will never tow. The number published on a website or in a brochure doesn't even include the propane or battery weight. Then you have to add in your items to the weight. Believe it or not things add up really quickly (dishes, pots, pans, clothes, toiletries, camping chairs, grill, tools, wheel chocks, and the list goes on.). Most people tend to add 1000-1500 lbs to a trailer (some more, some less). You don't know how much your family of four will add so calculating using the trailer gvwr is wiser for you. The tongue weight listed in the brochures is also a dry or unloaded weight. As you add gear to a trailer in front of its axles it adds weight to the tongue. Unfortunately you can't just put all the gear in the rear of the trailer as this will off load the tongue weight and cause a sway condition. So loading a trailer is about balancing things. Ideally the loaded tongue weight will end up being 13-15% of the loaded trailer weight. Again here do a calculation using gvwr for you. So a trailer with a 7000 lb gvwr could have a tongue weight of 900-1050 lbs. Your burb probably does not have that kind of payload. The closer you get to a vehicles limits the more uncomfortable and unstable a towing experience gets. Having been there, I can tell you white knuckle experiences are exhausting and scary. It sounds like you are on a budget that wouldn't be able to handle upgrading the tow vehicle after the purchase so paying close attention to capabilities before hand is imperative.
About Travel Trailer Group
44,029 PostsLatest Activity: Jan 28, 2025