Lightening tongue weight
It has occurred to us that if we just camp alone, with nothing in the TV but ourselves and a bag of potato chips, we're good with the tongue weight. But after subtracting it from our payload, we don'...
Forum Discussion
MargaretB wrote:
It has occurred to us that if we just camp alone, with nothing in the TV but ourselves and a bag of potato chips, we're good with the tongue weight. But after subtracting it from our payload, we don't have much left except ourselves and those chips.
So how can we lighten our tongue weight? We have two propane tanks and two batteries. We're happy to move one of the batteries, but where? How far behind the hitch does it have to be to lighten the tongue weight? We have room under the bed in our TT, but that's the front of the TT and would put weight on the hitch.
Is there anything else we can do to lighten the tongue to free up some of that payload so we can take our grands camping next summer?
Margaret,
QUOTE from your 10/19/14 post:
"We loaded up and detoured to the scales on our way out of town on Friday. The dry weight of the trailerwas 5100#. Loaded 5500#. Tongue 720#. Payload about 380# - two adults and two road bikes (and my 50# purse.) We didn't haul a lot of food, but probably won't anyway. The Sequoia hauled with no problem. I think we're OK."
QUOTE from your 12/11/14 post:
"Our current tongue weight is 13%. Loaded for a short trip, our TT is at about 6200#. Payload is 1230# and tow limit is, depending on whom you believe and when, either 7100#, 7200#, or 9600#.
We go with the middle."
It appears that you have been adding & subtracting numbers without real world facts. YOUR Sequoia has a specific GVWR "as built". That info is on the door jamb sticker. There is also information listed about the tires, once again "as built". That correlates with the GVWR.
I believe to your advantage, & peace of mind, you need to start over with all calculations. Weigh the Sequoia by itself filled with gas, no trailer, to determine it's true CURB weight. From that figure, subtract weight of passengers in the vehicle at the time of weighing. Subtract that number from the GVWR as listed on the sticker. The number you arrive at, is PAYLOAD. Start there.
This is just the FIRST step in the process.
This is a step by step process, miss one step & things won't add up to give you ACCURATE information.
