How heavy of a trailer can I get?

Huntindog wrote:
I take it that this is your first TT?

Well , good job asking questions here. You will need to sort thru the various opinions to see what makes sense to you.

As far as TW goes, I recommend planning on 15%.
The reason is that TW can change quite a bit in the course of a trip, and you NEVER want to be below 10%.
Water gets used and ends up in either the black or grey tanks, food and drink gets consumed and ends up there as well. Propane gets used and lightens up the TW. Even clothing leaves the closets and ends up in the laundry chute. Other items may just for one reason or another not finish the trip in the same place that they started it.
It is impossible for anyone to say just what all these variables will do to the TW. Each TT is different, and everyones camping style is as well.
In fact as you grow into TT use, you may change your camping habits from what you are envisioning to something much different.. I know I have.

Oh interesting! I never thought about all of that. I was thinking to just pack it when we leave like we did coming home but that makes total sense. So what would happen then if we packed it at 15% but then coming back it was 16? Would it be ok to do 14or so to give wiggle room for the way back?

I appreciate your insight!

GaryWT wrote:
So you must be totally confused. I agree with you that it is commonly suggested that people load most trailers about 1000 pounds. I don't agree with you that you plan to have some of this load not travel in the trailer, this will get old fast. It is nice to have everything loaded and leaving it in the trailer. Since you know that your available payload is 900 pounds I say that is 900 and not 940 or 1100. Payload is payload and needs to be spread over both axles as 900 pounds, you can't add payload by using a wdh as stated. You can get a lot of trailer at that weight. I have a 35 foot trailer that is 6400 dry and 8000 if fully loaded. Towed with a F150 until recently. Look at the Bullet and Premier Bullet lines to get an idea of what you can get with the weight. Good luck, I hope you can get through all this and find a great trailer for your family.

We have family that will travel with us (they live really close) but will not be driving with us in our truck ever. So it is most definitely our plan. Food and clothes will not be left in the trailer while not camping obviously. Our payload will probably be more than 940 since we will be taking off our bed cover but 940 is still the number we will need to work with, right? I will definitely take a look at those trailers again. Thanks for the suggestion :)

donn0128 wrote:
No one was rude. You asked a question and then when the answer is not to your liking you start arguing instead of listening to what people are trying to tell you.

Asking questions to get more info is not arguing. And yes- him making assumptions and getting pissed off when I nicely tell him that they were wrong is very rude. I couldn't care less what the answers are here as long as they are factual. Him telling me where I got my info when he was completely wrong is not factual...

So you must be totally confused. I agree with you that it is commonly suggested that people load most trailers about 1000 pounds. I don't agree with you that you plan to have some of this load not travel in the trailer, this will get old fast. It is nice to have everything loaded and leaving it in the trailer. Since you know that your available payload is 900 pounds I say that is 900 and not 940 or 1100. Payload is payload and needs to be spread over both axles as 900 pounds, you can't add payload by using a wdh as stated. You can get a lot of trailer at that weight. I have a 35 foot trailer that is 6400 dry and 8000 if fully loaded. Towed with a F150 until recently. Look at the Bullet and Premier Bullet lines to get an idea of what you can get with the weight. Good luck, I hope you can get through all this and find a great trailer for your family.

No one was rude. You asked a question and then when the answer is not to your liking you start arguing instead of listening to what people are trying to tell you.

The battery, usually the fresh water tank and most storage areas are in the front of most TTs. When weight is added there, it will change the weight distribution and increase the percentage on the tongue.

Ron Gratz wrote:
If you will be using a WDH to restore the TV's front axle to is unhitched load --
the resulting vertical load applied to the TV will be about 80% of the TT's tongue weight.
If the TV's available payload is 900#, the maximum allowable tongue weight, based on TV's GVWR, will be approximately 900/0.8 = 1125#.

A likely tongue weight percentage for the loaded TT is about 13%.
This means the maximum allowable TT weight, based on TV's GVWR, will be approximately 1125/0.13 = about 8650#.

The above estimate assumes the TV's receiver is rated for at least 1125#.
It also is assumed that the TV's rear GAWR is not exceeded.

Ron

This is about as simple as you're going to get on this site, with exception to the 1125 max tongue weight with WDH. The OP later said his truck says 940lbs with a WDH.

Tongue weight needs to be 10-15%. So, you could get a loaded trailer up to 9400lbs technically. 15% is VERY high and there is no reason to assume it will be that high unless you plan to carry water in a tank that is mounted at the very front of the trailer.

Don't let people on here over complicate this. Shop for campers with dry weights anywhere up 7k, even up to 8000lb MAX range if you pack light. There are SO many great options in the 5-7k dry range.

Assume you will add about 1000lbs of stuff, or try estimating yourself, and round up on everything. 1000lbs is A LOT of stuff in a travel trailer. (I have a 2k capacity and have never exceeded 800lbs of stuff for a family of 4, including 2 bikes on the back of the trailer)

Finally, don't shop only by GVRW of the trailer. Just be aware of it. Keep it in mind. If by chance the GVRW is actually under 9k, you know you're good. If its over, then you simply need to watch your loaded weight. A GVWR of 12,000lbs doesn't mean anything if it weighs 7,000lbs dry and you load "only" 2,000lbs of stuff.

fla-gypsy wrote:

Shorteelaw wrote:
Our WDH max tongue weight is 940.

That is going to put you back into the 6k loaded range on a trailer. No way around it

Yes, there is a way around it --

You load the trailer so the tongue weight percentage is approximately 13%.

Then, a loaded trailer weight of approximately 7230# gives a tongue weight of approximately 940#.

Ron

I agree that max we shouldn't go over 6,000 when we fully load it. Then the issue becomes I don't think I should be using the max the trailer could weigh to find that number because that's with us in it and when we tow it we won't be in the trailer and when we are traveling with others they will be hauling food etc and when they aren't we will be camping at places that have water hook ups. So I guess I need to figure out what all of our stuff weighs and go from there.