I have a travel trailer already but I want to buy a tow vehicle so before I go out and buy I want to understand thoroughly. I am starting with payload. I am looking at a 2007 Tundra 5.7L VV8 4 door 4 x 4 double cab. They claim the payload is 1,580. Am I to assume that from that 1,580 I must subtract the hitch weight of 720, my weight of 150, my dogs of 120, a full tank of gas, the receiver and ball, my ax, lipstick and anything else I might put in the truck? Am I right in this line of thinking? Am I missing something obvious that I should subtract? Thank you for your help.

You are correct except for the gas. Payload will usually include full fluids. You could load the truck up with everything you plan to take, fill the tank etc and go to a scale. Subtract the scale weight from your GVWR (should be 7200lbs for that year Tundra) and you'll have the exact weight for payload left over. Be careful with hitch weight numbers too. Make sure you don't use "dry" or brochure weights as they are for an unloaded trailer and don't include options, propane, batteries etc which all increase the tongue weight. If you can't get an actual hitch weight when loaded then you should estimate the trailers weight and take 12-15% of that for tongue weight. Some people will also use 12-15% of the trailers GVWR for their calculations. That way if you're ok at max, you'll be ok at any trailer weight under that.

camp-n-family wrote:You are correct except for the gas. Payload will usually include full fluids.It also includes 150 lbs for driver

Lantley wrote:camp-n-family wrote:You are correct except for the gas. Payload will usually include full fluids.It also includes 150 lbs for driverAlso:The lipstick need only be counted if you're not wearing it. :B

It also includes 150 lbs for driver No it doesn't. The tow rating includes 150lbs for the driver, payload does not account anything for the driver.

camp-n-family wrote:You are correct except for the gas. Payload will usually include full fluids. You could load the truck up with everything you plan to take, fill the tank etc and go to a scale. Subtract the scale weight from your GVWR (should be 7200lbs for that year Tundra) and you'll have the exact weight for payload left over. Be careful with hitch weight numbers too. Make sure you don't use "dry" or brochure weights as they are for an unloaded trailer and don't include options, propane, batteries etc which all increase the tongue weight. If you can't get an actual hitch weight when loaded then you should estimate the trailers weight and take 12-15% of that for tongue weight. Some people will also use 12-15% of the trailers GVWR for their calculations. That way if you're ok at max, you'll be ok at any trailer weight under that.Oh my Gawd! My dry weight on my trailer is 5,628 and I called StarCraft and they told me the hitch weight was 718. Are you saying that if I add 1,000 pounds inside the trailer that some of that 1,000 (12-15% of it) must also go on as hitch weight? Because if that is what you are saying then I would have to subtract 130 pounds more from the payload? Lets see...1580 (claimed payload) -150 (me)-120 (dogs)-130-718 (tongue weight). That leaves 462 and I don't even know what the receiver and ball weigh or what else I might put in the truck. I am kind of light on travel but still.

Trying to understand payload | Good Sam Community

Francesca_Knowl
Explorer
Feb 12, 2014
Ron (Lanerd) is 100% correct-o-mundo about weight distribution being different from sway control.

Many, many, MANY folks mistakenly believe otherwise, and too many have come to grief as a result of that misunderstanding. The discussion at this link is a perfect example...woman writes in all puzzled about what caused their sway-induced disaster and describes what are clearly her W/D bars as "sway control". Except that they're not, as she and her husband found out.

W/D setups do make a contribution to overall stability by way of restoring weight to the front end of the tug, but unless trailer sway control is incorporated into its design, W/D does not function for that purpose and must be added.

Here's a written-for-us-novices article on sway control/WD hitches and how they're used together: Link
APT
Explorer
Feb 12, 2014
Slow down GalWithDawgs. As you shop trucks, check out the as equipped payload by locating this sticker on the driver's door or door jam. Note what each prospective truck has where mine says 2051:

With 700 pounds dry TW, you will probably end up near 900 pounds loaded with camping gear, but some of that will be returned to the trailer's axles. 1500 pounds pounds of payload should be plenty. You may end up exceeding the GVWR/payload by a little, but the half tons do very well at or slightly over that rating.

I do not understand the aversion to domestic trucks. Do you realize Ford/GM/Ram combined sell about 15x the amount of full sized trucks as the Tundra? How many heavy duty trucks are used by businesses to haul/tow every mile? Do you think that many people just keeping buying******over any over? There's your consumer's reports, real world sales.

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