Weight Calculations

Don't forget that the "tow rating" was calculated with an empty vehicle and accounted 150lbs for the driver. Any weight above and beyond that reduces the tow rating pound for pound.

7300 - 595 (745-150 driver) = 6705lbs tow rating.

I have a 2001 Suburban 1500 with the 5.3, towing package, Prodigy brake controller and Curt WD hitch and my 22 ft 2009 Wildwood X-Lite at 3650 dry weight is more than the Suburban comfortably tows. So much so that after a 5 week 3600 mile trip last summer from Minnesota to Vermont and places in between we bought a smaller trailer. The combination of weight, wind resistance and hills it just wasn't a pleasant experience. I think your calculations on paper are fairly close to correct but on the real world highway if you buy a trailer sized to your trucks max towing you will be disappointed in your towing experience.

If you have a long bucket list and want to travel in comfort, I'd suggest you trade in the '02 and get a bigger truck. This assumes you and your spouse aren't actual minimalists and will seek an RV with typical amenities.

Don't forget the weight of the hitch. Also look at loaded weight and calculate the tongue weight from there. As others have said look at trailers with max loaded weight of 5,000.

Trailer Newbie wrote:
My truck is a 2002 Chevy Avalanche, 1500. The owner's manual says the max towing weight is 7300 lbs. and the gross combined weight is 13000 lbs. The dry weight of the truck is 5437 and the max weight is 6800, leaving a max truck payload of 1363.

If I allow 745 lbs for people, fuel, and supplies, my truck weight would be 6182. As I understand it, I have to include the tongue weight of the trailer in the truck weight. So, that would leave 618 lbs. available for the tongue weight.

If the truck can tow 7300 lbs. and my anticipated payload in the trailer is 609 lbs, then that would mean the max dry weight of the trailer would be 6209 lbs.

Your Av may have a tow rating of 7300 lbs as does my 2005 Av and as did my previous 2006 Silverado but that doesn't mean you can tow a trailer anywhere near that heavy as you'll easily exceed the truck's real world payload capacity LONG before your GCW comes anywhere near it's GCWR of 13000 lbs. Our previous 24' KZ Spree had a GVWR of 6000 lbs and typically averaged 5500 lbs loaded & ready to camp, average gross tongue weight 750 lbs, and certainly was the heaviest I'd ever want to tow with a GM 5.3L coupled to a non tow friendly 3.42 axle via the older wide ratio 4 spd transmission. These days I tow a 19' couple's trailer typically averaging 4500 lbs loaded & ready to camp, average gross tongue weight 600 lbs, with our 2005 Av - same engine, same axle, same transmission - and although this trailer weighs 1000 lbs less I still have to tow in 3rd with Tow/Haul engaged. Remember, when towing any full height trailer it's not just about weight but also significant wind resistance at highway speeds that will tax your vehicle to it's limit. Advice from my own personal experience - dry weight of any trailer you intend to tow with your Av should be restricted to no more than 4500 lbs.

Not too bad. Piratically, 800 pounds of TW means a load TT weight under 5000 pounds and closer to 4k dry. If you can shift some of the supplies to the TT, then that can go up a bit.

One thing you are missing is that the average loaded hitch weight is around 12 percent. So, reverse calculating, 618 pounds would mean approx 5150 loaded trailer. (Max Tongue Weight (Whatever payload is left) ÷ 0.12 = Approximate largest trailer to stay within the weights).