Tongue Weight Rating
Hello, We are buying a trailer for our daughter and son-in-law. They now have a Ford Expedition with 8,900# tow rating. 80% of that is 7,120#, but they should stay below 7,000# loaded (5,500 to 6...
Forum Discussion
waynec1957 wrote:
This has been a good discussion—math induced headaches aside. I haven’t seen formulas like this since I took econometrics in grad school :)
Payload capacity of a TV is an interesting subject. I've read many times on different forums from experienced and knowledgeable folks that in a 1/2 ton truck, you usually run out of payload capacity long before towing capacity. All the "towing capacity" numbers thrown around by the manufacturers don't mean a whole lot in themselves.
And you can't go by the payload capacity number on the door jamb sticker. You might get lucky and be close but sometimes the actual capacity as shown by going to a scale and subtracting that from the GVWR can be a lot less. Some believe the sticker is 100% true. Any factory options and anything you add like say a canopy, will reduce the capacity. For the doubters, go to a scale and check it for yourself. If you come across a commercial scale on a highway, just take a moment to run through the scale with only the truck. Our F250 has 4x4, supercab, long box, and a canopy and a few other factory options. The actual payload capacity is around 900 lbs less than shown on the sticker. And even though we are well under the tow rating of the receiver and truck with a 7K lb GVWR TT, we aren't that far away from the 1250 lb. tongue capacity of the receiver because we are close to 15% of the TT's GVW. We would've been overloaded with a regular 1/2T. Manufaturer's TT dry weights sure can be way off reality.
I firmly believe the smartest thing you can do is go to a scale and figure out your weights and capacities. Even if you are a firm non-believer, you could get a surprise.
