Can anyone here give me
any leads on books (Travel Trailers for Dummies, maybe), web sites, manufacturers home pages, etc. on how I can learn the rudiments of trailer weight, tongue weight, total tow capacity, etc. I am in o...
Forum Discussion
Vehicle manufacturers place multiple ratings on teir vehicles. Those ratings don't always coincide with each other. This partly due to the different things we might tow. IE: towing a boat or flatbed trailer, is completely different from towing a travel trailer.
Tow rating is a number for what they say you could pull behind you. Key words being, "pull behind". Not carry.
Gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), is max weight the vehicle can weigh, based on power train, frame, brakes, suspension, and tires.
Payload is the difference between the GVWR and what the vehicle actually weighs. This is what you can carry. It is the room you have for weight of fuel, driver, passengers, cargo (in or on the vehicle), weight distribution hitch, and trailer tongue weight, before going over GVWR. In a lot of cases, this number will be exceeded, long before you get to the max towing number.
Hitch rating is the weight is the max weight on the hitch itself.
Kind of like this analogy:
You've got a wagon loaded with 2000lbs of bricks. You can pull that wagon by yourself. You have 2000 lbs tow capacity. Now, take the front wheels off the wagon, and you can't pick up the tongue. You still have the 2000 lb tow capacity, but, you don't have the payload to carry all the weight on the tongue.
For towing a travel trailer, you need to observe all of the ratings. This is where many RV sales people, will get you in trouble. Most of them only look at the tow rating number.
Tow rating is a number for what they say you could pull behind you. Key words being, "pull behind". Not carry.
Gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR), is max weight the vehicle can weigh, based on power train, frame, brakes, suspension, and tires.
Payload is the difference between the GVWR and what the vehicle actually weighs. This is what you can carry. It is the room you have for weight of fuel, driver, passengers, cargo (in or on the vehicle), weight distribution hitch, and trailer tongue weight, before going over GVWR. In a lot of cases, this number will be exceeded, long before you get to the max towing number.
Hitch rating is the weight is the max weight on the hitch itself.
Kind of like this analogy:
You've got a wagon loaded with 2000lbs of bricks. You can pull that wagon by yourself. You have 2000 lbs tow capacity. Now, take the front wheels off the wagon, and you can't pick up the tongue. You still have the 2000 lb tow capacity, but, you don't have the payload to carry all the weight on the tongue.
For towing a travel trailer, you need to observe all of the ratings. This is where many RV sales people, will get you in trouble. Most of them only look at the tow rating number.
