Clarification on tow capacity
If a vehicle says it's tow capacity is 9,000 lbs what does that 9,000 pounds include? Obviously the TT plus whatever we have in it and the water in it... But what else?
Forum Discussion
BurbMan wrote:
Typical travel trailer is 8' wide by 8' tall = 64sf. If you consider how high it sits and not just the area of the front cap, then 8' x 10' = 80sf. It would seem that the 60 sf is a limit, ie do not tow anything bigger than 60sf frontal area. It doesn't tell us what the relation between weight and frontal area is, ie, if 80sf is 33% over the 60sf limit, does that mean you de-rate the 11300 by 33% to 7533?
...
Like others have said, it's really %TW and receiver rating that determines tow capacity.
The only way you'll get to 11300# without exceeding the truck's receiver rating is with 10% tongue weight. And you really don't want to do 10%TW with a TT with 8' high walls and 64sqft frontal area.
But, offhand, let's say 12%TW will be ok with 60 sqft frontal area, and the receiver could then limit total trailer weight to ~9400#.
I've got ~ 66 sqft and about 15% tongue weight on a 7500# trailer. It's pretty stable in high winds. I would go down to maybe 13-14% but not lower, so maybe up to 8500# trailer weight max for 66sqft frontal area, as determined by receiver limits and %TW.
There's other factors than %TW and wall height involved in trailer stability (like load distribution in the trailer), but seems to me that the higher the frontal area - the higher the %TW is a good idea.
