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
Campfire Time wrote:Shorteelaw wrote:
We don't want to get something that has even worse gas mileage so I cringe at 3/4 tons as this will be a daily commuter. But I also don't want to get a TT that just doesn't work for us. Decisions decisions!!! :)
Towing is not cheap. Even if you use a smaller SUV like an Explorer or Traverse to tow a small hybrid trailer, gas mileage will be bad when towing, and when not towing its not all that great either.
A good rule of thumb is to know what the GVWR of the trailer is(Note, that is not the dry weight. Dry weight is a fictional number). Make sure your tow vehicle has at least a 1000# capacity over and above the GVWR of the trailer. The rest of the numbers will generally fall into place because of the margin. Granted this is not perfect methodology, but its a good place to start. If your truck has a 9000# capacity, the GVWR of the trailer should be no more than 8000#. And always keeping in mind that the closer you get to the max rated weights, the harder it will be to tow.
More important, nothing is perfect. No matter what you do (unless you have unlimited funds) you will compromise on something on your choice trailer and tow vehicle. Sure you can buy the trailer first, but then you will buy based on eye candy and not on practicality,or affordability. Certainly you want something livable and comfortable, and that you can afford. Make a list of your needs and wants. Don't compromise on the needs, and you probably still get a lot your wants. There is nothing wrong with a smaller trailer and living with it for a while. You adapt. We tented for years, then a PUP, then a hybrid, and now another hybrid. But in each case we kept the trailers 10 years each and never felt we had to trade out after a short time.
And you don't have to buy a new truck. There are plenty of affordable well maintained, used trucks out there. You just need to be patient and take your time looking.
This was a really helpful post - thank you. Regarding it not being cheap to tow - I'm not worried about the cost to actually haul it - I'm not wanting to spend my whole salary on gas and not even be able to afford to go away for the weekends in our TT, lol.
