Tow question for new member
2003 Tahoe z71 4wd with tow package. 1750 payload 7400 towing capacity. 1000 tongue wt with wdh. 2016 coachman Catalina 273bh. 4800 dry wt, 540 tongue wt.
Am I ok here? Advice?
Am I ok here? Advice?
Forum Discussion
lawrosa wrote:
dw1gator wrote:
lawrosa wrote:
not sure what you are asking here. weighed with WDH hooked up and ready. then weighed TV without any of it on TV.dw1gator wrote:
ok. I got all the weights. Here goes.
GCVW. 11500. max rating is 13000
GVW 6800. Max rating is 6800
GFAW. 3140. max rating is 3600
GRAW 3660. max rating is 3750
GTW. 5300. max rating for pulling is 7400.
tongue weight is 580. that's 11% of trailer weight.
this is with TV and trailer fully loaded with our gear, passengers, and full tank.
Whats the weight of the truck alone? 6220
You need individual axle weights. 6220 means nothing. I will get those. I got the ways to weigh from trailer life. I did the individual axles loaded.
Whats the max pressure and weight rating of the tires. haven't done those yet.
Let us know what the sidewall says. ok
Your #'s would seem your heavy in the back.. How did you determine your TW? And that its 580 lbs? weighed truck connected. weighed truck disconnected. subtracted one from the other.
Thats not telling you what your proper weights are..like stated above, that's how trailer life stated to determine tongue wt
Did you weigh with the WD bars engaged and not engaged?
See the calculator I posted. Thats how you need to weigh....
ok I will do that on my next opportunity.
Do you have a weight distribution hitch? yes I do. Reese with the chains.
I like to understand the principles. would you explain? if I weigh just TV hooked up and then weigh not hooked up, why would that not be accurate for tongue weight?
also, what is the significant of indv axle weight not hooked up if I have those wts hooked up?
why weigh everything with WDH on and ready and then weigh everything but with WDH off? is it to see if you need adjustment to push some more wt to front axle? thanks for your help.dw1gator wrote:
lawrosa wrote:
not sure what you are asking here. weighed with WDH hooked up and ready. then weighed TV without any of it on TV.dw1gator wrote:
ok. I got all the weights. Here goes.
GCVW. 11500. max rating is 13000
GVW 6800. Max rating is 6800
GFAW. 3140. max rating is 3600
GRAW 3660. max rating is 3750
GTW. 5300. max rating for pulling is 7400.
tongue weight is 580. that's 11% of trailer weight.
this is with TV and trailer fully loaded with our gear, passengers, and full tank.
Whats the weight of the truck alone? 6220
You need individual axle weights. 6220 means nothing.
Whats the max pressure and weight rating of the tires. haven't done those yet.
Let us know what the sidewall says.
Your #'s would seem your heavy in the back.. How did you determine your TW? And that its 580 lbs? weighed truck connected. weighed truck disconnected. subtracted one from the other.
Thats not telling you what your proper weights are..
Did you weigh with the WD bars engaged and not engaged?
See the calculator I posted. Thats how you need to weigh....
Do you have a weight distribution hitch?lawrosa wrote:
not sure what you are asking here. weighed with WDH hooked up and ready. then weighed TV without any of it on TV.dw1gator wrote:
ok. I got all the weights. Here goes.
GCVW. 11500. max rating is 13000
GVW 6800. Max rating is 6800
GFAW. 3140. max rating is 3600
GRAW 3660. max rating is 3750
GTW. 5300. max rating for pulling is 7400.
tongue weight is 580. that's 11% of trailer weight.
this is with TV and trailer fully loaded with our gear, passengers, and full tank.
Whats the weight of the truck alone? 6220
Whats the max pressure and weight rating of the tires. haven't done those yet.
Your #'s would seem your heavy in the back.. How did you determine your TW? And that its 580 lbs? weighed truck connected. weighed truck disconnected. subtracted one from the other.
Did you weigh with the WD bars engaged and not engaged?- You need to put all those #'s in this calculator..
http://towingplanner.com/ActualWeights/TravelTrailerCatScales dw1gator wrote:
ok. I got all the weights. Here goes.
GCVW. 11500. max rating is 13000
GVW 6800. Max rating is 6800
GFAW. 3140. max rating is 3600
GRAW 3660. max rating is 3750
GTW. 5300. max rating for pulling is 7400.
tongue weight is 580. that's 11% of trailer weight.
this is with TV and trailer fully loaded with our gear, passengers, and full tank.
Whats the weight of the truck alone?
Whats the max pressure and weight rating of the tires.
Your #'s would seem your heavy in the back.. How did you determine your TW? And that its 580 lbs?
Did you weigh with the WD bars engaged and not engaged?- ok. I got all the weights. Here goes.
GCVW. 11500. max rating is 13000
GVW 6800. Max rating is 6800
GFAW. 3140. max rating is 3600
GRAW 3660. max rating is 3750
GTW. 5300. max rating for pulling is 7400.
tongue weight is 580. that's 11% of trailer weight.
this is with TV and trailer fully loaded with our gear, passengers, and full tank. - I've had an 02 Tahoe and now a '10 Tahoe. You'll be fine. My old trailer was 26' and 6300 dry. New one is 30' and 6500 dry. I was at payload and GCWR capacity when loaded up with the wife and 3 dogs, but we didn't go over (confirmed by scales on the way out) on our 3 week trip to Maryland.
Prior to really having much knowledge about towing capacities, payload etc I was towing the old trailer with my 02 Tahoe all over the country with most of our trip being on the west coast and through the mountains. It was a great trip and we had no issues with the Tahoe not being able to handle it. Honestly, I was probably way over the weight ratings on that trip because I had move out of an apartment and whatever we didn't sell went in the trailer. I Guess ignorance was bliss, but 10,000 miles later we were fine. We ran that trailer/truck set up for 8 years and the worst thing that happened was a couple tire blowouts, but that kinda comes with the territory.
The only issue you may have is if you load up the trailer with a ton of stuff AND load up the tahoe with a ton of stuff and people. That'll put you over payload or axle weight rating.
Sure more truck would be great, but SUV options are limited when it comes to towing. The only other choice really is a Suburban 2500. If you don't need an SUV for transporting people/animals, I'd move to a 2500 pickup. My problem is I have 3 large dogs and there is no way they are fitting in a crew cab pick up and I won't put them in the bed of a pick up, even in cages. - also after you weigh and know what you are dealing with then you can go shopping.
Also dealers have the ability to pull out the scale and weight the TW of the trailer your looking at.
Whatever that weight is add 50lbs per battery roughly, and 50lbs per propane tank roughly. Basically add 200 lbs to it.
Also add the weight of the WD system although you can probably move 100 or more lbs off the TW to the trailer axles with your WD set properly.
Someone will correct me if im off on those #'s - Another advantage of the CAT scale is you get, or should get, the weight on each axle. It allows you to see how balanced and close to the max you are.
Our Pilot station charges $10.00 for first weigh in and $2.00 for the second with in 24 hrs.
We load up and get ready the day before, so I weigh the TV and then the TV and TT combination.
I have weighed my rig twice, once when loaded with the normal camping stuff and again when I piled on my canoe and fishing gear.
The numbers do not lie. dw1gator wrote:
Thanks for the replies. I am going to cat scales to weigh. Payload is as stated. 6000 is what I have calculated for total trailure weight loaded. Total for all cargo including passengers is 650 to 750 lb.
So if payload is 1750 and passengers etc is 650# to 750# payload just dropped to 1100/1000#
Go weigh 'camp ready'......full fuel, you, ALL passengers, any thing that will be inside Tahoe (bags, backpacks, cargo etc)
Tahoe's GVWR minus actual scaled weight.........true available payload
RAWR minus actual scaled wwight............true weight that can be 'carried'
REAR TIRE MAX LOAD RATING......vs actual rear axle weight. True rear tire weight that can be 'carried'
Get 'real' weights and then you can do math that allows for real world numbers.....not 'dry' numbers, not mfg. magical max tow numbers etc.
