Towing: Wildcat 26BHS with Nissan Armada

camp-n-family wrote:

I think I've got this figured out (sorry I'm a towing noobie). The MAX is 1433 minus 600 for passengers leaves us with horrible 833 max tongue weight, correct? The trailer is 705 (dry), plus an Equalizer hitch at 100lbs would make it 805lbs. Leaving us 28lbs for any water, batteries and propane before we even add anything into the trailer, correct? Realistically it sounds like the Armada could only support a 500lbs hitch MAX. With a WDH wouldn't that number increase the capacity because some of the load could be pushed to the trailers axle instead? What are the dangers of exceeding that 1433 load, but under the 9000lbs towing capacity? It sounds like most Armada towers would pretty much always exceed that capacity. I think ultimately we would get the trailer, but would would need to sell the Armada and get a GMC 2500 or 2/3 ton truck. It doesn't sound like any SUV could handle this load.

You're getting it figured out. Welcome to the world of 1/2 ton towing. This is why tow ratings are pretty much fictional numbers. You'll almost always max out payload and other ratings way before reaching the tow rating.

A WD hitch changes the capacity for the reciever but not the trucks capacity. A percentage of the effective tongue weight will get transferred back onto the trailer through the WD hitch but if you need that little amount to stay in limits then you usually need a bigger truck.

A little over payload won't hurt anything. Question is how much is ok? A couple hundred pounds? 1000lbs? Nobody wants to take the liability to answer that, that's why the manufacturers have ratings. Personally I wouldn't be too concerned with being a couple of hundred pounds over payload as long as you remain well within the axle, tire, and reciever ratings.

It sounds like I need to be concerned with the axles more than the GVWR which is the payload, correct? If that is the case I would like be a little over on the hitch weight, but under maximum axle weight with a WDH installed it should evenly distribute the weight to the axles.

I'm not sure how the payload factors in but, I figure fully loaded the trailer would be about 7600lbs and GAWR equals 8,000 leaving me about 300lbs without the payload factored in. If I factor in the payload (1458) then I clear by about 1900lbs right?