Hitch weight or tongue weight???

proxim2020 wrote:

Wireman134 wrote:
Loaded you'll be pushing that max tongue weight, that trailer will be tossing you around and if you brake hard you'll loose lots a weight off your front axle. Safer to get the WD hitch I'd say a 1000Lb round bar to compensate for any cargo you put in the bed of the truck.

Seriously? How much stuff do you think this guy will be packing? The trailer only has a dry weight of 3800.

Keep in mind, this trailer was made before the invention of the yellow sticker that gives a reasonably accurate indication of real dry weights. This person is in the same situation I was in back in 2008 with a different trailer. I bought a 2000 Shasta Ultraflyte 2547. 26 foot long, no slide, ultra light model. It had a brochure dry weight of 3282 lbs and a hitch weight of 520 lbs dry. I towed it for 2 years before I got around to running it across a truck scale. I was over my GVWR of 5,520 lbs by a few lbs and my tongue weight was 970 lbs. By remounting my spare from the front of the trailer to a rear compartment and moving other stuff around, I typically had a tongue weight of 850 lbs after that. I'd guess the yellow sticker on my new trailer is reasonably accurate, but I think we can be confident that trailers back then had dry weights listed in brochures that are not accurate.

I would assume you will be close to the GVWR and could have a potential 15% tongue weight. I would definitely get a weight distribution hitch and sway control.

Wireman134 wrote:
Loaded you'll be pushing that max tongue weight, that trailer will be tossing you around and if you brake hard you'll loose lots a weight off your front axle. Safer to get the WD hitch I'd say a 1000Lb round bar to compensate for any cargo you put in the bed of the truck.

Seriously? How much stuff do you think this guy will be packing? The trailer only has a dry weight of 3800.

You can calculate tongue weight by considering your trailer to be a fulcrum. Measure the distance from the axle (mid axles if tandem trailer) to the tongue jack and the coupler. With a tongue weight scale, measure weight at the jack. Then,

D1 x W1 = D2 x W2.

Best way is to weigh it at the coupler however.

Loaded you'll be pushing that max tongue weight, that trailer will be tossing you around and if you brake hard you'll loose lots a weight off your front axle. Safer to get the WD hitch I'd say a 1000Lb round bar to compensate for any cargo you put in the bed of the truck.

TW will be about 450-550lbs.
WD not necessary but Sway contol is. You may get some squat from the weight.
You do not need a WD hitch for sway control. Online you can buy a stinger (look up sway control adapter) that has the little tab off to the side for the small ball. That way you save on hitch weight at the very rear of your truck.

At 3800 lbs I would not even blink I tow much more with the 4x4 version of the same truck. You'll be fine with this trailer.

If you haven't weighed a prospective TT, which is simply not feasible, to be on the safe side, use it's GVWR to calculate the tongue weight. I would use 15% of the GVWR to be conservative.

Our first TT had a UVW of 3800 lbs and after I did a bunch of mods. and it was all loaded up for camping, it ended up weighing what it's GVWR was, 5000 lbs. And that was with empty tanks.

It's highly unlikely you will have a payload capacity issue, but it would be a good idea anyway to go to a scale and weigh your truck.

I can't see you towing without a WDH, but you should see what your owner's manual says. It will tell you what the front fender height should be restored to after the TT is hooked up. I would recommend sway control and you'll need a WDH for that. Many choices out there for a WDH.

DougE wrote:
For true weight go to a truck scale. Place just the trailer wheels on the scale.

Errr .... he does not have the trailer yet. He is looking to buy it.

You also have to check what the hitch itself is rated for. Many trailers have forward storages and of course there are the batteries all of which increase hitch weight. Mine in fact has nearly all its storage ahead of the axles. You can always add something like a torklift superhitch and not have to worry about it. The equalizer bars will transfer some weight forward & back.

You can also consider adding supersprings or airbags if you feel your tongue weight is too high. Too low a tongue weight induce sway.It is easy to find that you shoudl have at least 10%, but finding out if there is an upper limit, assuming the rear end of the truck can handle it) is more difficult

My limited understand is this and please any veteran members correct me if I'm wrong...

The tongue weight is approximately 12 to 15 percent the total weight of the trailer. It represents the downward weight exerted on the truck from the tongue. This weight is subtracted from your payload capacity.