Help with the towing math

RobWNY wrote:
Thanks for the information everyone. When I bought the truck, I never gave a thought to pulling anything really heavy. Although we have gone camping, we've never been campers before or owned one. We kicked around the idea last fall and went to look at a few dealerships. We were going "looking". We had no intention whatsoever to buy one but when we got to our 3rd dealer, my wife really liked the trail runner and it turned out that the dealer/owner and I had a couple of acquaintances in common (and I live 60 miles away from the dealership). By the time we were done shooting the breeze about the people we both knew, had some laughs etc., he just came out with an offer. He took 9 grand off the sticker, he threw in a WDH, threw in the anti-sway, threw in an electric jack and I couldn't say no. The deal was WAY better than the other two dealerships offered (like 4 grand better). So there I was with a brand new trailer that I knew nothing about and a 1/2 ton F150 to tow it with. Then I came to this site and read all the threads about "will my vehicle tow it" and started getting really nervous. New trucks that would better suit my needs are in the 45K range and I'd rather not take on that additional expense if I can avoid it! When I towed it home, it was a windy rainy 45 degree day. I stayed off of the Interstate and took 2 lane State roads home. I kept my speed at 50mph or less and other than an occasional nudging feeling when the wind gusts came, the truck towed really well and stopped easily. Then again, I wasn't going 65mph on an Interstate either and was careful not to get too close to vehicles in front of me. I have towed utility trailers with a fairly big tractor on it so I wasn't clueless and knew what not to do but I have to admit I was nervous. I kept thinking to myself....My truck weighs less than the trailer. If the trailer gets out of control, my wife and I are going to get whipped around like rag dolls. Scary thought! So unless I can find a New truck that isn't going to suck all my money away from me I'll just keep gear weight down to as little as I can and still have what I want and need and pack it all in the trailer and leave the truck empty other than me and my wife.

Many people have been bitten by the dealer and end up with a much heavier and larger trailer than expected..

While I do think your combo might be OK empty, it won't take much at all to go over your trucks cargo weight..

Water weighs about 8.8 lbs per gallon so if you fill your freshwater tank it will most likely put you overweight.

Your best bet is to get it weighed.

There are lots of places that can do this..

"CAT" scales can be found near any major trucking route, some Lawn and Garden landscape supply places have scales and if you have any place that deals with limestone/rock quarries they tend to have scales.

Additionally I am really concerned with the tongue weight specified, it must be incorrect and you really do need to find out what it is. You need an accurate weight there in order to figure out how to properly load your trailer.

You can buy a tongue scale, a company called Sherline is one you can find for about $100 and will allow to quickly check the TW anytime you are loading.

If you don't want to buy a tongue scale you can also DIY your own with a simple bathroom scale using the info HERE