How heavy of a trailer can I get?

MitchF150 wrote:
I respect all the research you are doing and trying to make an informed decision on buying an expensive RV and not biting off more than you can chew, but WOW....

In all the time I've been RVing... And this goes back to the early 70's when I was a kid and Mom and Dad got tired of taking us kids camping in tents, have we or I ever worried about the difference in the TW going out and coming back from a camping trip...

I base my weights on it's max ratings and if it's less, it's just a bonus.. :)

Sure, I might have been overweight in the past... The world did not end and I didn't kill anyone.. ;)

I know it's a different world than it was 45 years ago, but physics have always been the same since ancient times.. :)

Anyway, I think you are WAY over thinking this deal and just need to find something with around a GVWR of around #6000, load it up and ENJOY and HAVE FUN and not fret the little stuff..

Sure, you don't want to get a #10,000 TT with a Nissan Titan and a big and growing family.... We didn't do that 45 years ago...

It mostly comes down to common sense and knowing your own limits and comfort level.. That's what keeps you within your limits of everything in life, right??

Good luck!

Mitch

My profession is accounting... Analyzing numbers is what I do.

I respect all the research you are doing and trying to make an informed decision on buying an expensive RV and not biting off more than you can chew, but WOW....

In all the time I've been RVing... And this goes back to the early 70's when I was a kid and Mom and Dad got tired of taking us kids camping in tents, have we or I ever worried about the difference in the TW going out and coming back from a camping trip...

I base my weights on it's max ratings and if it's less, it's just a bonus.. :)

Sure, I might have been overweight in the past... The world did not end and I didn't kill anyone.. ;)

I know it's a different world than it was 45 years ago, but physics have always been the same since ancient times.. :)

Anyway, I think you are WAY over thinking this deal and just need to find something with around a GVWR of around #6000, load it up and ENJOY and HAVE FUN and not fret the little stuff..

Sure, you don't want to get a #10,000 TT with a Nissan Titan and a big and growing family.... We didn't do that 45 years ago...

It mostly comes down to common sense and knowing your own limits and comfort level.. That's what keeps you within your limits of everything in life, right??

Good luck!

Mitch

Shorteelaw wrote:
So say our trailer is 6,000 pounds when we leave and we verify the hitch weight is 900 pounds.... How much would I want it to be on the way back?

First -- we need to know the following:
1) Do you plan to have a full fresh water tank when you leave? If so, does this mean there is no place to fill the fresh water tank at your camping destination?
2) Do you plan to return home without emptying your gray and black water tanks?
3) Why do you want a TW% of 15% when you leave home?
4) How many pounds of food and beverage do you plan to carry with you when you leave home?

If the weight of the trailer remains close to 6000#, the TW should be kept above 600#.
And the TW should never be greater than 940#

With a trailer weight of 6000#, there is no reason to have a TW of 900# (15%) when you leave home, unless you're sure that the TW is going to decrease by 200-300# for the trip home.

If the fresh water tank is full when you leave AND empty when you return, AND if the gray and black tanks are full when you return, AND if the fresh tank is ahead of the axles AND the waste tanks are behind the axles, then the TW might decrease by 200-300# for trip home if you are not able to move any load from the rear of the trailer toward the front.

If the fresh water tank is full when you leave AND empty when you return, AND if the gray and black tanks are full when you return, AND if the fresh tank is behind the axles AND the waste tanks are in front of the axles, then the TW might increase by 200-300# for trip home if you are not able to move any load from the front of the trailer toward the rear.
In this case, the TW should be limited to 600-700# when you leave home so it does not increase to more than 940# when you return.

The location of fresh and waste tanks varies with manufacturer and model.
Ideally, the fresh tank would be between the axles, with one waste tank ahead of the axles and one waste tank behind the axles.
Then, if the fresh tank goes from full to empty and the waste tanks go from empty to full, there is very little change in TW.

We really can't say what will happen to TW unless we know the tank sizes and locations, whether tanks will be full or empty when travelling, and where the consumables such as food and drinks will be stored.

Ron

Based on my experience with TT's you won't have an issue with tongue weight on the return trip. Check the fill TW, make sure it's not too much and enjoy.

IMHO if you have a close scale then a TW scale is a waste of money, figure out where you are at and retest when you make major loading changes.

Just a reminder, if you have 900 of payload remaining you only have about 800 after a WDH. Really you should be looking for a trailer with a TW of 750 max, or max GVW of 5000-5500, the empty weight of 4000 still is looking pretty solid. It doesn't take much to add 50lbs to the tow vehicle and lose more available payload.

So then how do I know how much it weighs to make sure we aren't below 10%. We will buy a tongue weight scale... But I need to know how much the trailer weighs post-camping to figure out how much the tongue weight needs to be.

So say our trailer is 6,000 pounds when we leave and we verify the hitch weight is 900 pounds.... How much would I want it to be on the way back?

Shorteelaw wrote:
If I weigh the trailer before we leave (scale is super close to our house) to make sure it's not too heavy and make sure we have no more than 15% on the tongue....

You don't need to be concerned about having more than 15% on the tongue.
You do need to be concerned about having more than 940# on the tongue because you've stated that is the limit for your receiver.

---How do I know how much the trailer weighs on the way back since obviously things will change? I was thinking we could buy one of those small devices that will tell you your tongue weight so we can make sure to pack our trailer correctly but I don't know how to make sure it's between 10-15 if I don't know how much the trailer weighs...

I would not be concerned about exceeding a TW% of 15% as long as the TW does not exceed 940#.
I would be concerned about having the TW% below 10%.

If you do a complete set of axle load measurements with the trailer having a typical ready-for-camping loading, you will be able to calculate the loaded TW, the loaded total trailer weight, and the TW%.

If you purchase a Sherline Tongue Weight Scale, you can check the before leaving on a trip and before returning from a trip. That will enable you to determine if you need to shift cargo to keep the TW below 940# and will enable you to ensure that TW% doesn't get too low.

Ron

Look at where the water tank is, if it's fwd of the axles tongue weight will decrease on the trip home.

Shorteelaw wrote:

westend wrote:
You can use a bathroom scale, a length of lumber, and a fulcrum to get a somewhat accurate weight. Hopefully, someone will post up the configuration. Gotta' run or I'd find the picture of the steup.

For the tongue weight or gross weight? When I read the bathroom scale method it was for finding out how much was going to be on your hitch.... I could've misunderstood of course.

Yup tongue weight.

Pictorial

westend wrote:
You can use a bathroom scale, a length of lumber, and a fulcrum to get a somewhat accurate weight. Hopefully, someone will post up the configuration. Gotta' run or I'd find the picture of the steup.

For the tongue weight or gross weight? When I read the bathroom scale method it was for finding out how much was going to be on your hitch.... I could've misunderstood of course.

You can use a bathroom scale, a length of lumber, and a fulcrum to get a somewhat accurate weight. Hopefully, someone will post up the configuration. Gotta' run or I'd find the picture of the steup.