Confirm Towing Capacity Is OK?

[trublupsu94]

I know you all get this all the time. But I wanted to give my setup and see if folks think this is OK. I weighed my 2011 Keystone Passport Ultralight. It is 5764 lbs shipping weight which I assume is dry. When I travel it is right around 6500-6700 lbs depending on gear. We have a 2010 Ford F150 XLT SCrew w 5.4L V8 4x4. Towing capacity of the truck is supposed to be 9600lbs.

I did not look at the tongue weight of the trailer when I weighed it because I always seem to have someone in a hurry behind me to unhook the trailer on the scale. We have a WD hitch too.

When we are in the car, it is me (200 lbs), wife (not going to tell you), two kids (150 lbs total), fido (40 lbs) and some stuff in the rear of the truck that comes in at about 500 lbs at the absolute max. (small amount of firewood, 2 bikes, water hose, etc)

It seems to tow OK, but I wanted to see if this seems like enough cushion between the max capacity of the truck versus what I have in the trailer. You all are the experts or at least you have more experience than I. Does this setup seem ok?

[Need-A-Vacation]

When you hit the scales, run through with the trailer, then drop it and run through with the truck only!

As mentioned, 2 weights w/ the trailer, 1 with the wd "latched up", 1 without wd, but put the bars in the bed of the truck, or leave them in the hitch if they will not fall out.

[hbensley]

Don't worry about anyone being in too much of a hurry when you are at the scales. Just keep working at getting your weights correctly without taking extraextra time on things you don't need to be doing.
You are paying to use the scale service just like the other guys are.
If they think you are slowing them down on while you are on the scales just think about how much they will be slowed if you have a catastrophic failure out on the highway in front of them.
The key is to know what you are going to do before you get to the scales. Execute the weighing plan and get off the scales as soon as you are done. Don't dilly dally and you will be OK.

[JIMNLIN]

op says wrote:
t seems to tow OK, but I wanted to see if this seems like enough cushion between the max capacity of the truck versus what I have in the trailer. You all are the experts or at least you have more experience than I. Does this setup seem ok?

Looks like another good match when we look at your numbers (not exaggerated numbers) and your actual experience of how it tows. Remember the truck has a small engine so don't expect to keep up with a diesel or the newer high hp gassers.

As far as having a cushion you won't get a straight answer on that one as not everyone agrees on that point. I bought a truck to use so I use 100 percent of what I bought and paid for. And no my trucks don't wear out prematurely or break down more often.

Actual weights are preferred over estimating. Time to drop by your local CAT scales/feed store scales/recycle center scales/grain elevator scales and gets some front and rear axle weights. A single gross weight doesn't tell the whole story.

[owenssailor]

rhagfo wrote:

kaydeejay wrote:

trublupsu94 wrote:
I just looked at the specs for my trailer. It shows a tongue weight of 605lbs. Does this include propane and battery? If not, I would guess that the tongue weight is closer to 650lbs.

That is probably the "Dry" tongue weight. It includes nothing but the empty trailer.
If the loaded trailer is 6500# to 6700#, then the tongue weight is going to be 13% to 15% of those numbers, or between 845# and 1005#.
That is a LOT more than the 605# you are working with.
Have you figured in the weight of your WD hitch gear?

You can sit a fiddle with guesstimates for weight of this and that all you want the ONLY truth comes from a trip to the scales!!!! Take the truck loaded as for camping along with family.
You can go to Cat scales pay your $$ and do the two trips.
1. Truck alone separate front and rear axle weights.
2. Truck with trailer attached wo/ WD three plates, front rear and trailer.

Math time.
Tongue weight = (#1 front + Rear) - (#2 front +rear)
Trailer weight = tongue weight + Trailer axles.
Available TV payload = (GVWR) - (#1front +#1 rear)

By doing a third pass with the WD hooked up you can see what the load is on the rear axle and also how much weight has been restored to the front axle.

[rhagfo]

kaydeejay wrote:

trublupsu94 wrote:
I just looked at the specs for my trailer. It shows a tongue weight of 605lbs. Does this include propane and battery? If not, I would guess that the tongue weight is closer to 650lbs.

That is probably the "Dry" tongue weight. It includes nothing but the empty trailer.
If the loaded trailer is 6500# to 6700#, then the tongue weight is going to be 13% to 15% of those numbers, or between 845# and 1005#.
That is a LOT more than the 605# you are working with.
Have you figured in the weight of your WD hitch gear?

You can sit a fiddle with guesstimates for weight of this and that all you want the ONLY truth comes from a trip to the scales!!!! Take the truck loaded as for camping along with family.
You can go to Cat scales pay your $$ and do the two trips.
1. Truck alone separate front and rear axle weights.
2. Truck with trailer attached wo/ WD three plates, front rear and trailer.

Math time.
Tongue weight = (#1 front + Rear) - (#2 front +rear)
Trailer weight = tongue weight + Trailer axles.
Available TV payload = (GVWR) - (#1front +#1 rear)

[kaydeejay]

trublupsu94 wrote:
I just looked at the specs for my trailer. It shows a tongue weight of 605lbs. Does this include propane and battery? If not, I would guess that the tongue weight is closer to 650lbs.

That is probably the "Dry" tongue weight. It includes nothing but the empty trailer.
If the loaded trailer is 6500# to 6700#, then the tongue weight is going to be 13% to 15% of those numbers, or between 845# and 1005#.
That is a LOT more than the 605# you are working with.
Have you figured in the weight of your WD hitch gear?

[Francesca_Knowl]

trublupsu94 wrote:

Does this setup seem ok?

Depends on why you're asking.

If it's that you want to buy a new truck, you may tell your wife that yes, of course, your family is Doomed unless you do so.

[kaydeejay]

Campinfan wrote:
Cargo capacity usually includes a 150 lb passenger...............

Not true. The number on the "Occupants and Tire Loading" label includes EVERYTHING in the truck.
Perhaps you are confusing the Max Tow rating which DOES include a 150# driver in the calculation.

[lawrosa]

You cant go over your axle ratings..

Go to the scale and get truck and trailer weighed with WD activated.

We need front axle, rear axle , and trailer.

Then unhook the WD hitch bars only and let them hang. Get the same weights as above...

Then drive off, disconnect the trailer and weigh the truck alone. Put the WD bars in the back of the bed. Give us that weight..

Then post that info with your door sticker info. Front axle, rear axle rate, and GVWR..

With all that info we can tell you exactly what your dealing with...Toungue weigh, and if you are over your limits. Also if you have the WD set properly..

You want to do this. Over axle ratings can have serious catastrophic failures while driving down the highway...

Whats you family's safety worth to you...

This is the best advice you can get. All other guesses are assumptions period. Know your numbers!!!!!!

[ScottG]

ktosv wrote:
I would use the bathroom scale and double check it to know for sure.

Those are notoriously wrong (at least according to my wife).

[ktosv]

My 2910 has a published tongue weight in the 600# range. I would use the bathroom scale and double check it to know for sure.

[trublupsu94]

I just looked at the specs for my trailer. It shows a tongue weight of 605lbs. Does this include propane and battery? If not, I would guess that the tongue weight is closer to 650lbs. If that is the case, my cargo is at 1450 if I look at the worst case with our stuff in the bed of the truck. Does that 50lbs matter? Because worst case, I would be 50 lbs over. And I didn't mention, not that it matters, I put LT 'E range' tires on the truck just because I like the stiffer ride.

[ktosv]

My 2910 has a tongue weight of about 820# and an axle weight of about 6200# loaded.

As mentioned, you are going to be limited by payload. The ride quality of your vehicle will diminish when pushed to it's limits. Maybe emergency handling too?

From my experience when pushing the payload of our 1/2 ton Suburban with our 2910, the rear differential temperature ran about 150F hotter than the rear differential on my Express. Ride quality is night and day between the two vehicles.

[Campinfan]

Cargo capacity usually includes a 150 lb passenger. Don't worry about how big the cushion is. The trucks are designed so that what they say it can handle is where people feel comfortable towing that amount. My friend is an engineer in the auto arena and his buddy works on Super Duties. He said that the limits are what most people would feel comfortable towing. If you have towed with it and it feels good, then you are probably ok. We have all seen old POS trucks with 3 tons of steel or rocks in the back and they still work....no I am not in support of that but some seem to think that if you go 1 lb over, the truck will disintegrate on you.