Buying a TT
Hey everyone, I'm very new here and wanted some advice. I have 4 kids and I'm looking into buying a travel trailer. I own a 2016 Chevy Silverado 1500, 5.3L, 3.42 rear, crew cab short box 4x4. I'm look...
Forum Discussion
I always highly recommend you do the math and then check it. First, know your truck. What motor and what rear gear ratio do you have? Once you know that go to the Trailer Life website and lookup your truck in the towing guides to get your max towing capacity. After figuring that out, find the sticker on your truck's door (usually drivers side on the side of the door as you open it or on the column the door closes to). That will tell you the vehicles curb weight and GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating). The GVWR is the total the truck can weigh (with people and gear included) with a trailer. Depending on options on the truck the truck's weight can vary.
I personally like to leave at minimum 10% overhead in my towing weight. My 2019 Silverado with the 5.3L V-8 and 3.23 rear gear ratio will tow 9600 pounds and a tongue weight of 950 pounds. That means I want to stay roughly 1,000 pounds lighter in my trailer. I figure that 10% makes up for the people and things I will have in the back of my truck.
For your trailer... there is a stick on the door, or somewhere on the outside of the trailer that will list the trailers dry (empty) weight. This is almost never accurate. Just like your truck it depends on the options you have in the trailer unless you want the base options. My new trailer I just picked up is a Coachmen 29se. The manufacturers website says its ~5700 pounds dry. The sticker on the door of the trailer says its 6040 pounds dry. Clearly something is off. I figure we have some extra options in our unit that adds to the weight.
The first thing I did when I picked up the trailer with my wife is take our empty truck (just me and the wife) and the trailer hooked to the truck to truck weighing scale. I was shocked that it came to 12,40 pounds. The truck sticker says its 5,300 pounds and the trailers sticker says its 6,040 pounds. So that's about 800 pounds more than I expected. Now I weigh 180 pounds and my wife weighs 140. So it doesn't make sense. however, I am still within my total GVWR for the truck. (15,000 pounds).
I invested this time in the Equalizer E4, 4 point hitch. Wow, what a difference. Its like the trailer isn't even behind my truck, and I get no bouncing anymore on the road. We pulled it home with high winds and it was
I figure we usually have roughly 1,000 pounds of "stuff" when we load up our trailer and the truck bed with bikes for the family camping trips. But, I will be going back to the scale to weigh that in a week when we leave for our 8 day trip with all the gear.
In closing... do the math, know what numbers you're using for the math, get the truck's data, the trailer's data, and get your rig weighed at a scale. Its worth knowing the data. And for the love of all things right... get a good hitch. The biggest problem I see is people cheapening out on their hitch system. Easily more than half the trailers I see on the road being hauled are not distributing weight properly, no sway control, and they are bouncing and swaying all over the road. Also, that causes vehicle wear and tear much quicker.
I personally like to leave at minimum 10% overhead in my towing weight. My 2019 Silverado with the 5.3L V-8 and 3.23 rear gear ratio will tow 9600 pounds and a tongue weight of 950 pounds. That means I want to stay roughly 1,000 pounds lighter in my trailer. I figure that 10% makes up for the people and things I will have in the back of my truck.
For your trailer... there is a stick on the door, or somewhere on the outside of the trailer that will list the trailers dry (empty) weight. This is almost never accurate. Just like your truck it depends on the options you have in the trailer unless you want the base options. My new trailer I just picked up is a Coachmen 29se. The manufacturers website says its ~5700 pounds dry. The sticker on the door of the trailer says its 6040 pounds dry. Clearly something is off. I figure we have some extra options in our unit that adds to the weight.
The first thing I did when I picked up the trailer with my wife is take our empty truck (just me and the wife) and the trailer hooked to the truck to truck weighing scale. I was shocked that it came to 12,40 pounds. The truck sticker says its 5,300 pounds and the trailers sticker says its 6,040 pounds. So that's about 800 pounds more than I expected. Now I weigh 180 pounds and my wife weighs 140. So it doesn't make sense. however, I am still within my total GVWR for the truck. (15,000 pounds).
I invested this time in the Equalizer E4, 4 point hitch. Wow, what a difference. Its like the trailer isn't even behind my truck, and I get no bouncing anymore on the road. We pulled it home with high winds and it was
I figure we usually have roughly 1,000 pounds of "stuff" when we load up our trailer and the truck bed with bikes for the family camping trips. But, I will be going back to the scale to weigh that in a week when we leave for our 8 day trip with all the gear.
In closing... do the math, know what numbers you're using for the math, get the truck's data, the trailer's data, and get your rig weighed at a scale. Its worth knowing the data. And for the love of all things right... get a good hitch. The biggest problem I see is people cheapening out on their hitch system. Easily more than half the trailers I see on the road being hauled are not distributing weight properly, no sway control, and they are bouncing and swaying all over the road. Also, that causes vehicle wear and tear much quicker.
