Tongue weight and truck carrying capacity

Please read the last issue of Travel Trailer and you will get a better perspective of 1/2 tons.

kgarrett9999 wrote:

I'm not finding much at the 7,500 lb weight that fits the bill. Most that have an acceptable hitch weight are down closer to 6,000 lbs.

Great! Because by the time you put typical camping gear in a 6k dry TT, you'll be at 7000-7500 with 150-300 pounds higher loaded TW!

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.

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.

You'll need to deduct the weight of a WDH and anything else not included in the weight of the TV when it left the factory. Let's assume the remaining available payload is 800#.

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?

With WD applied, you can assume the vertical load added to the hitch is equal to about 80% of the TT's loaded tongue weight.
Then with 800# of available payload, the maximum allowable TW would be 800/0.80 = 1000#.
Assuming a TW% of 13%, the corresponding maximum allowable loaded TT weight would be 1000/0.13 = about 7700#.

Ron

As others have noted the payload left should equal approx. 13% of total trailer weight to stay within the trucks ratings.

I'm in the market for a new travel trailer and my tow vehicle has a towing capacity of 9,600 lbs with a carrying capacity of 1453. So I'm about in the same boat.

The 9,600 lbs is more than adequate, though I don't want to tow the max allowed. The carrying capacity/hitch weight is really my limiting factor.

With that said, I've been limiting my search to TT's with a weight of 7,500 lbs or less and then taking a look at the hitch weight of the TT. My assumption is that with my wife and I plus a dog or two and their kennels plus a couple of bicycles plus WD hitch, we have somewhere around 850-900 lbs available for hitch weight.

I'm not finding much at the 7,500 lb weight that fits the bill. Most that have an acceptable hitch weight are down closer to 6,000 lbs.

Just be careful, tongue weight can easily get over 15% on a loaded trailer. That's good for stable towing, but not so good if your truck is payload limited.

Also, if you're pushing your truck's payload limits, you may end up exceeding the truck's rear GAWR. That's what happened to us:

7500# loaded trailer
1130# loaded tongue weight (>15%)

200# under payload (=2050#)
20# under receiver rating with WDH (=1150#)
130# over rear GAWR (=4050#)

With a little WDH tightening and moving some stuff around in the trailer, I think we're now at/under the rear GAWR. But I'll always have to be careful with the weight in this trailer.

The truck handles it fine, especially with the upgraded suspension and LT tires.

7000 pounds loaded is a happy place for most half tons. Besides the occupants and TW, I'm sure you'll have the truck bed full of camping gear too! I have never seen a pickup pull into a campground with an empty truck bed.

6k dry should be comfortable for you.

If you have 1000Lbs left after passengers here is how I do the math...

- 75lbs WD hitch = 925 left

925 = TT Loaded Weight ~7000Lb @ 13%

If you haul other stuff in the pickup this will reduce further the capacity available for TT tongue weight.

For instance add 200lbs of firewood/stuff in the pickup bed, now you looking 725 = TT Loaded Weight ~5500lbs @ 13%

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

Thanks!

Calculate the hitch weighing around 100 pounds. Then use 13 percent of the trailer's gross weight for tongue weight. Of that 13 percent only about 20-25 percent of the redistributed weight will be on the TT axles, the remaining on the tow vehicle. A 10,000 pound TT will have about 1300 pounds tongue weight and another 100 for the hitch for a total of 1400 pounds. With your truck's payload you will be limited if you want to stay within the payload and gross vehicle weight ratings. Don't forget the payload numbers include everything you put into or on the truck like kayaks, bicycles, bbq, firewood, chairs, tools, dogs and people.