Total newbie to RVing

handye9 wrote:
Too much trailer or not enough truck.

Your 7650 tow capacity was calculated considering a 150 lb driver, with no aftermarket accessories, no cargo, and no passengers.
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Simple example would be:

Truck has 1250 lb payload and 7650 lb tow capacity.
7650 lb trailer would have about 1000 lbs tongue weight
Weight distribution hitch weighs about 100 lbs
driver weighs 150 lbs

Tongue / hitch weight 1075 plus driver 150 = 1250 lbs needed from payload
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In theory, your truck could pull a 7650 lb trailer, but, as you can see in the example, any accessories, passengers, or cargo, would overload the truck.

Every pound of aftermarket accessories (bed liner, floor mats, bed cap, step bars, etc), people, pets, and cargo, takes a pound away from available payload and a pound away from tow capacity. If you put 650 lbs of people and cargo in that truck, it's max tow capacity is 7000 lbs. A trailer with UVW of 6000 lbs, is going to weigh more than 7000 lbs, when loaded for camping.

Towing at or near your max weight, can be quite unpleasant.

Here's a link to a program that will calculate a max trailer weight, using your specific payload and passenger / cargo requirements.

X2

Since you already know max cargo capacity will probably be the limiting factor of your TV. I will give my standard recommendation, which is to rent a TT similar to what you wish to buy.

You may find it handy and a solution to your situation or you may not like pulling a barn down the road at 10 miles per gallon.:W

Dry weight is pretty useless for figuring what you can tow. Nobody tows a trailer dry. You've got to account for propane, batteries, water, food, clothing, etc. Typically assume an additional 1,000 pounds added to the dry weight to get you in the ballpark of what you'll really be towing.
Without knowing the numbers I would think you don't have enough truck for that trailer.

Too much trailer or not enough truck.

Your 7650 tow capacity was calculated considering a 150 lb driver, with no aftermarket accessories, no cargo, and no passengers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

Simple example would be:

Truck has 1250 lb payload and 7650 lb tow capacity.
7650 lb trailer would have about 1000 lbs tongue weight
Weight distribution hitch weighs about 100 lbs
driver weighs 150 lbs

Tongue / hitch weight 1075 plus driver 150 = 1250 lbs needed from payload
---------------------------------------------------------------------

In theory, your truck could pull a 7650 lb trailer, but, as you can see in the example, any accessories, passengers, or cargo, would overload the truck.

Every pound of aftermarket accessories (bed liner, floor mats, bed cap, step bars, etc), people, pets, and cargo, takes a pound away from available payload and a pound away from tow capacity. If you put 650 lbs of people and cargo in that truck, it's max tow capacity is 7000 lbs. A trailer with UVW of 6000 lbs, is going to weigh more than 7000 lbs, when loaded for camping.

Towing at or near your max weight, can be quite unpleasant.

Here's a link to a program that will calculate a max trailer weight, using your specific payload and passenger / cargo requirements.

Dry weights don't always include any options such as awnings, AC units and the weight of propane tanks. So, you usually need to figure that the dry weight is lower than the actual weight of the trailer as it leaves the factory. You need to crunch the numbers and see what a realistic towing weight will be for your truck. I'm guessing that you would be better off having the loaded weight of any trailer to be 6,500 lbs. or less. That would mean looking for something with a dry weight closer to 5,000 lbs. which gives you 1500 lbs. for options added to the trailer, propane, a bit of water and the gear you carry in the trailer.

But to be more precise, check the figures based on payload of the truck so you have to subtract the weight of passengers and gear in the truck and the tongue weight of the trailer.

Although my truck can technically pull 10K, I'm pulling 6,200 lbs. or so and feel that the truck handles that weight fine.....wouldn't want to have an 8K or more trailer for long term towing.

gkf1970 wrote:
Good Evening. A little background
My family usually spends about 3-4K every summer on accommodations for about a 20 day vacation on Vancouver Island and in Kelowna. In addition, my daughter usually travels the province for races in the summer. We went to local RV show this year and after giving it some thought, thinking that getting a Rv more be more economical in the long run, plus we own something at the end of paying it off.

We have a 2014 Ecodiesel ram 1500 with a tow limit of only 7650lbs. We are looking at Jayco white hawk with dry weight of approx 6k.

I am wondering what people's thoughts are on this combo. Thank you for any help.

Unfortunately most of the ecodiesel models have an very low payload... check inside your drivers door, should be sticker that states "total weight of passengers and cargo should never exceed xxxx lbs".... that's your payload.

The tongue weight of an RV counts against your payload. Check out the listed tongue weight, then add your passengers, and cargo weight.... see how much you have left over compared to the # on the door sticker.

The main number you want to look at is what your truck will carry not what it will pull. What you want to look at is total GVWR. I think the normal tong weight is between 11 and 15% so if your trailer is going to weigh lets say 7000 lbs then your tong weight or the weight that you will be putting in your truck would be around 1050lbs. Then you add the gear in the truck the people in the truck the trailer hitch the and that will give you the weight your truck is carrying. If its below the GVW of the truck your good to go. If not then you are over loaded.