Yet another what can I tow question

“I doubt we'll travel much further than 4 hours away from our home location which is Columbia,..”

Nothing bad will happen within 4 hours of home no matter how overloaded you are. And nothing heats up that close to home either...tires, hubs, brakes, engines, transmissions etc. You are good at any weight!

Many are towing that size TT with a truck such as yours. I would be comfortable with that, but like I mentioned earlier, comfort zones vary. If you have towed a fair size boat, or other trailer of any size, you should have some idea. However, two people could tow the same trailer, using same truck, with different descriptions of experience.

A quality WDH, with built in sway control will make a difference in the towing, so don't cheap out on that.

Jerry

This will be my first TT and I just don't want to have white knuckle rides. I'll have the whole family loaded in the truck and I just want to be safe. I doubt we'll travel much further than 4 hours away from our home location which is Columbia, South Carolina (smack dab in the middle of the state). We'll probably hit the mountains of NC or the beaches of SC mostly.

Looking at a few campers with a UVW of 5,500.

I've got a #7000 GVWR TT that started out at around #5500 dry and #700 dry tongue weight.. I've since loaded the HECK out of it! :) I also usually carry a full fresh water load (58 gallons) which is basically in front of the axles, so.. It's heavy!

I've not crossed the scales with it, but just figure it's at it's GVWR and at least #1000 TW when all said and done.

The 13 F150 Ecoboost with MaxTow does a good job with it. It's about all I'd want to go to stay in my 'easy tow' category.. It can tow more, but then it just gets maxed out and that's no fun..

I've towed TT's regularly since 2002 with a couple of F150's and this is just what I'm comfortable with using those vehicles.

"Safely tow" is a term that really can't be judged since that also implies that you KNOW how to tow in the first place, right?w

Anyway, just don't make the mistake of looking at "dry" weights of trailers and comparing to your trucks "tow rating" and think you are good.. The results are usually not a fun tow..

Good luck!

Mitch

You didn’t list the payload for your truck. It can be found on the yellow sticker on the door jamb. Cargo should not exceed xxxx pounds.
For now, you can ignore most of the other numbers as the payload rating will be your most limiting factor.
Get an idea of how much weight you will have in the truck. Passengers, their stuff, and whatever you think will be in the bed. Doesn’t have to be exact, a ball park will suffice. Subtract that from the listed cargo max. What’s left is available payload for the tongue weight of a trailer.
Also for now, ignore any trailer dry weight. Take the Gross Weight Rating and multiply by .13 (13%) to get an idea of the max tongue weight. Use that number to compare to what you found as your available payload,
This process should give you a good starting point in a search for a suitable camper.
I have 1200# of available payload, after subtracting passengers, etc.
My trailer has a max cargo of 6000#, so a max tongue weight of 780#.
I’m well under my payload max on the truck, so all is good.

“Many figure to add about 1,500 lbs to whatever their trailer weighs empty.”

A very reasonable number allowing for full fresh water tanks, chairs, toys etc.

Every number except payload and the weight of stuff and people in the truck and the wrong GVW. However, my TV is about the same and 6000 pounds wet and loaded is my limit with the 1500.

6000 pounds dry for half tons is a reasonable happy limit for most people and families. Statistically reported on here, the people towing 7000+ pounds with half tons are less comfortable with handling. Power has not been a problem in years.

Agree with above, your payload and hitch rating will be limiting factors. Most figure a loaded trailer hitch wt of about 13 percent, so an 8,000 lb loaded to camp trailer is likely to be just over 1,000 lbs hitch wt. Depending on your experience/comfort zone, I'd say 6,000 unloaded/dry wt, to a GVWR of 8,000.

Many figure to add about 1,500 lbs to whatever their trailer weighs empty.

Keep in mind the wt added inside truck, and truck bed, which is added with the hitch wt, as is the weight distributing hitch, another 100 lbs, to get total payload.

Jerry

Pretty sure you've got a typo, gross weight is probably 5,178 pounds which would give you a payload of just over 1,800 pounds. Combine that info with the max tongue weight and the max trailer weight and all your numbers agree as doing as your occupants and stuff in the bed weigh less than 600 pounds. If they exceed that then reduce the max trailer weight by 7 pounds for every one pound over.

However, that's theoretical maximum, conventional wisdom is you won't be very happy over ~30 feet or 6,000 pounds unloaded if you average what most around here who have been there say.