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AYCL's avatar
AYCL
Explorer
Aug 01, 2016

Looking for first trailer, math help please

I have been towing a decent amount through the years... enclosed trailers, boats, wave runners, etc. None however have been heavy enough that I have had to do much (if any) math on the trailers. My wife and I are thinking about purchasing our first travel trailer so now I am trying to do the math and figure out what type of travel trailer that I can safely pull. Any help would be greatly appreciated in figuring out my numbers below.

My current truck: 2015 F150 Lariat, 3.5L V6 Ecoboost, 4x4 w/ FX4, Max Tow package, 3.55 axle, brake controller, 145" wheelbase, 36 gal fuel tank.

The sticker on the inside door has:
Front GAWR: 3,525#
Rear GAWR: 3,800#
GVWR: 7,000#

Also, according to Ford's 2015 towing guides, I believe that with Max Tow, my GCWR is 16,900# and maximum tow is 11,500#.

So here is what I think / have read and please correct me where I am wrong.

1. The truck itself weighs maximum tow - GCWR, so my truck weighs around 5,400#. That assumes one 150# driver so the truck really weighs about 5,250#.

2. If I add up the weight of me, my wife, 3 kids (4, 3, & 1), gas in the car, Diamondback HD cover, etc (no personal cargo / gear), I could round that up to about 1,000# to be safe / make the math easy. So now the truck weighs around 6,250#.

3. Then I add a trailer. We are looking at either a travel trailer or a hybrid trailer. One hybrid we saw was the Jayco x254 that has a GVWR of almost 6,000#... and therefore a 13% tongue weight of about 780#.

I have been told to subtract the tongue weight from the payload, so now the truck weighs about 7,000# (tongue weight plus #2 above).

So am I to believe that since it conservatively is around 7,000# and it says my truck GVWR is 7,000#, that I can add no more gear inside my truck or in the bed of my truck when hauling that hybrid trailer? If so, then it seems to me that a larger travel trailer would be out of the question.

On a different note, a friend told me to focus on the truck's rear GAWR number. He said that the rear GAWR is what I need to stay under, so if I have 1,800# from (#2 and #3 tongue weight above), I should be able to still load another 2,000# of cargo in the bed and in the truck with no damage to the truck (3,800# rear GARW - 1,800#).

Overall, I am not looking to max out my truck. Most of our camping would be short trips (hour or two drive) over flat terrain. If all of our trips were flat terrain, I would not worry as much. We would like to take one or two 4-5 hr trips into the mountains each year and we have one big camping trip to NC to Michigan and back each year. So that is why we are focusing on smaller and more efficient.

The biggest travel trailer I would consider is a 29' with a bunk house. I think with gear I can get that to be a total of under 9,000#... tongue weight of around 1,150#.

But that is why I must get the math right first. With the first method, it appears I am already maxing out my truck with a fully loaded hybrid. With the second GAWR method, it appears I have plenty of room for more cargo in the truck.

Again, any help would be most appreciated.
  • JesLookin's avatar
    JesLookin
    Explorer
    Aug 01, 2016
    You say "I am not planning on getting a 30+ foot trailer". Looking up a Wildwood 29QBBS specs say it is really over 35Ft long. Be careful, the model number seldom specifies the length of the camper. In most literature there is fine print somewhere saying that model number doesn't represent the size of the camper.

    Sleeps 9
    Slides 1
    Length 35 ft 3 in
    Ext Height 11 ft 2 in
    Int Height 6 ft 8 in
    Hitch Weight 826 lbs
    Dry Weight 6598 lbs
    Fresh Water Capacity 42 gals
    Grey Water Capacity 30 gals
    Black Water Capacity 27 gals
    Furnace BTU 25000 btu
  • camp-n-family's avatar
    camp-n-family
    Explorer
    Aug 01, 2016
    On a different note, a friend told me to focus on the truck's rear GAWR number. He said that the rear GAWR is what I need to stay under, so if I have 1,800# from (#2 and #3 tongue weight above), I should be able to still load another 2,000# of cargo in the bed and in the truck with no damage to the truck (3,800# rear GARW - 1,800#).


    I don't agree with the above part. Assume you have approximately 1600lbs of payload (your door sticker will say actual without any mods). A 9k loaded tt, which is pretty heavy for a 30'er, will have a tongue close to 1100lbs. That leaves you 500lbs for everything else added to the truck, ALL passenger weights, hitch, gear in bed etc.

    If you decide to ignore the payload rating and go by axle and tire ratings you will need to figure actual weights per axle. Don't forget that a large part of the 3800lbs axle rating is already used up by the trucks weight as it sits empty. For example your 5400lbs truck weight is split between the 2 axles. Lets say 3400lbs front and 2000 on the rear empty. That would leave you 1800lbs on the rear for tongue and hitch weight, stuff in the bed, and a percentage of passenger weight to reach max.

    As you can see, using the 2 different methods can leave large differences in numbers. If you are ignoring one to make it work barely within the other though it usually means you have too much tt or too little truck.
  • MFL's avatar
    MFL
    Nomad II
    Aug 01, 2016
    Since you have the Lariat model, your payload may be less than you think. If you look at the sticker on the door that says the weight of all cargo, passengers, etc, it will likely be around 1,400 lbs. If you add 1,000 lbs of people and gear, you would have 400 lbs left for tongue wt and hitch.

    I agree on the RAWR of 3800 being the important figure. However if you weighed the rear axle, with the truck loaded, ready to leave for camping, you would not have enough left for the tongue wt of the larger trailer.

    My suggestion, look at door payload sticker. Now weigh truck rear axle loaded to camp. Now you will have to decide what rating to exceed, or not. Me, I would not exceed RAWR.

    Jerry
  • ChooChooMan74's avatar
    ChooChooMan74
    Explorer
    Aug 01, 2016
    You're doing it right. I would leave room for some water. You should travel with some just in case. Could come in handy. Also, you may stay somewhere and not be able to dump.
  • AYCL's avatar
    AYCL
    Explorer
    Aug 01, 2016
    Thanks camp-n-family for the quick reply. So I guess it would be better to get the travel trailer then right. I could load some more weight in the trailer and with only 13% transferred to the truck / payload weight.

    I am not planning on getting a 30+ foot trailer and loading it up to the max but I feel like a 29' at around 9,000# loaded would do ok for a few trips into the mountains each year and one big trip to Michigan.

    In other words, if we loaded up the used 29' Wildwood 29QBBS we are also looking at to around 9,000# (that would mean about 2,000# of our gear / cargo), the tongue weight at about 1,000# would put my truck close to the max 7,000# GVWR. So the total would be about 15,000#, less than the 16,900# GCWR.
  • camp-n-family's avatar
    camp-n-family
    Explorer
    Aug 01, 2016
    You have it pretty much correct. Payload is key with 1/2 ton trucks as it will be exceeded before anything else. Make it easy and get some real weight numbers. Load the family up in the truck and hit a scale. Subtract that weight from the GVWR and what you have left is for the tongue weight and stuff in the bed.

    Some are die hards about staying under payload, others think axle and tire ratings are more important. Your choice which you want to follow. If you add the axle and tire ratings up you will see it is much higher than your actual payload rating. There are other things that play part in the payload rating but you won't hurt anything being a little over.

    As for the trailer, don't go by dry or brochure weights. They are highly misleading. Trailers now have a yellow sticker, usually on the door or in a cabinet, that will show its actual weight with options as it left the factory. Only dealer ad ons won't be included. You will definitely need a good wd hitch and brake controller. I would highly recommend something with built in sway control.
  • AYCL's avatar
    AYCL
    Explorer
    Aug 01, 2016
    And a follow up trailer question. Let's say that we do end up getting something similar to the Jayco x254. The unit's unloaded weight (for what that is worth) is 4,705# and the cargo carrying capacity is 1,290#.

    Again, please correct me where I am wrong.

    Even though I plan to never haul to a site with full water, I assume that I must factor that in the weight anyway. So 42 gal of water would be about 350#. I figure that I have to factor that in because if I drive there nearly fully loaded with cargo but with no water, I fill the trailer up with water when I get there to pull it to our designated site, it would then be over the cargo carrying capacity.

    In the same regards, it has gray and black capacities of 30-1/2 gallons each. Do you have to figure those in at all if you figure that you will empty those upon exiting?

    Overall, it just seems that once you factor in the water, propane tanks, and any dealer add-on's, it quickly lowers that 1,290 cargo capacity down to less than 900#.

    One final note is that I am open to purchasing anything that helps the weight balance and increase safety. I am already planning on purchasing a weight distributing hitch and sway bars.

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