Tongue weight and truck carrying capacity

Empty Nest, Soon wrote:
With the current truck the max towable weight is a generous 10,000 pounds, but the carrying capacity is only 1444 pounds. Figuring the weight of two large adults as passengers, etc., I’m left with only about 1000 pounds, or less, of carrying capacity available for tongue weight.

Trading for a HD truck again is not an option. I’m trying to figure how much TT I can reasonably expect to tow with the current truck.

In figuring carrying capacity of the truck, do I consider the weight of the tongue with TT loaded?

Or do I consider only the weight added to the truck after the WD hitch has transferred some of the tongue weight to the TT wheels? If I use this figure, then how much of the tongue weight should I expect the WD hitch to transfer back to the TT wheels?

Wayne,

First off the weights as seen by the truck have to be scale weights of a truck and trailer that are both loaded and ready for camping.If speculating on paper as we are presently doing then allowances will naturally have to be made so that after the trailer is purchased you don't get a shock at the scales!

lf your truck is like mine then the manual has ratings for conventional and WDH - 600# and 1100#, respectively. There is no need to figure out how much of the weight will be transferred to which axle after the hookup is done. Just knowing you are good for 1100# at the hitch is a good starting point.

As you noted you may have 1000# of reserve payload. Here is where allowances have to be made. Safest thing to do is load up the truck (which you already own) as if you were going camping and get the truck weighed to see how much is on each axle and how much payload you really have in reserve then make an educated decision on the trailer you can buy.

Assuming the proper estimate of allowable hitch weight is known, say 800#, you just have to divide that by 0.15 (the15% for sway) and you will get 5300#. Using 12% as a basis you get 6700 #, while 10% gives 8000#. These are the GVWR numbers of the trailers you should be looking at. Recommendations for minimizing the natural tendency to sway range from 10% to 15% of trailer weight on the tongue / hitch. This has to be considered before considering any anti-sway device. Naturally the 5300# trailer would hare least tendency to sway while they all leave some margin against the max tow rating of the truck. Personally I like to de-rate that number by 15% - 20% to allow for hills, strong winds, etc. In other words, real world pulling capacity of your 10,000# rated truck in my hands would be 8000# to 8500#.

With then weighs in mind you can start looking at floor plans, considering not only the trailer weights (on paper!) but also the CCC and the ability to more weights around - from truck to trailer, and from forward to aft on the trailer itself.

So-called 1/2 ton trucks are payload-limited so you have to start calculations from the truck end not from what the truck is rated to pull. The above approach is what I used and I ended up with the trailer in my signature below. Pulls fine and does not sway.