New trailer, what do these weights mean?

[1kristarose]

Hi, we are brand new to travel trailers and I'm trying to get a grasp on what all of these weights mean to figure out if we're even towing safely.

I have been trying to read all I can, but it's just confusing me further.

I do have all our specs, I think:

Trailer: 2017 Kodiak Ultimate 240BHSL
Dry weight, from manufacturer: 5312
Dry hitch weight: 620
Cargo capacity: 1286
Length: 27’6

Tow Vehicle (info from manual)
2008 Escalade ESV 6.2L
Tow limit from manual: 7800lbs
GVWR: 7400lbs
GAWR Front: 3600lbs
GAWR BacK: 4200 lbs
GCWR: 14,000
The sign on the tire sticker in the door: “Combined weight of occupants and cargo should not exceed 1433lbs”

We loaded the trailer and car with all our gear (not much) and took it through the scales, here was the result:
Steer axle: 2760
Drive axle: 4240
Trailer: 5020
Gross weight: 12020

Are we within our TV capacity?

In the cab of the car would be myself, husband, and 3 kids with a total weight of 465lbs, plus some coolers and such.

Escalade has new brakes, new tires, and brake controller installed.

Dealer installed Eaz-lift WDH and sway bar.

Main questions:
1. It seems our rear axels are over their capacity by 40lbs. Does the WDH help with this? Do we need to readjust this?

2. How do we figure out our tongue weight?

3. Are there liability issues we need to be aware of? We fully insured the trailer and got Good Sam roadside assistance, but I want to make sure we're within legal boundaries to tow the trailer

4. Anything else we can do to ensure a safe tow? We are thinking maybe invest in ProPride 3P hitch, but also worried that maybe the extra weight of a heavier hitch will put us even closer to a dangerous zone.

Husband drove tanks in the army so he is used to big vehicles, but NOT towing at all. I'm pretty terrified!

All our towing will be dry towing without water since we will use sites with full hookups. We will likely never tow more than 100 miles from home with this set up.

[atwowheelguy]

I'm running the EAZ-Lift Elite hitch with 1000 lb. bars and one friction anti-sway bar. It's about as basic as it gets. I bought the camper used and the hitch came with it from the prior owner. The camper had 14.7% of its weight on the tongue the last time I weighed it. The camper gets pushed aside a little when the big trucks go past, which requires a slight bit of counter-steering. But I don't consider that to be the least bit alarming. Mine tows just fine with the basic hitch.

[Durb]

A couple of more notes: I use the scales which are about a mile off the freeway on the side of the road on the way to Champooeg State Park (Donald exit). They are free and not busy so you can take your time.

An escalade of that vintage might have automatic leveling which means the rear end will raise when you start the engine. If so, it is important that your weight distribution hitch is set up with the engine running. If not when the vehicle is started the rear end will raise and unload your WDH and place more weight on your rear axle.

If you have any hint of sway I would dump the sway bar and buy a weight distribution hitch with integral sway control. Good recommendations in the previous post.

When he has confidence in your set up and in Astoria, take the Astoria Bridge over to Ilwaco. That thing still tweaks the nerves after all my years of towing. Good luck and have fun.

[1kristarose]

Thanks everyone, I'm trying to learn as much as I can.

As far as rear axle over loaded, I think we figured that one out. Turns out our driveway has a very slight downgrade to it which caused the trailer hitch to be slightly lower than the truck normally would be, so we weren't getting full use from the WDH. We figured out we need to hitch up and connect everything, then pull out into the street where it is completely flat and re-adjust the WDH to ease the load on the rear axle.


Now I'm trying to figure out what the best hitch, WDH, sway control bar etc I should be using. I feel the dealer just gave us run of the mill ones although I have no idea. I really want the best I can get since my 3 young kids will generally be in the car with us while towing.



We're going to fill it up with water, re-adjust our WDH and go back to the scales with all the kids in the car (we have a CAT scale about 2 easy miles from our house) to get a better idea of what everything weighs with water on board, just in case.

[myredracer]

It sounds like you are concerned about the Escalade's towing capability and WDH and sway control.

Need to get the actual tongue weight by doing the 3 passes as described above. "Payload" capacity is what matters for travel trailers, not towing capacity. I would guess the actual tongue wt. would be in the 900-1,000 lb range. This is also important to know for sizing the WDH spring bars. Also get the actual payload capacity of the Escalade by subtracting it's actual wt. (TT unhooked) from it's GVWR on the door pillar sticker.

The numbers don't quite *seem* to add up? Say the TT actual wt. is 6,000 lbs, compared to the total wt. of Escalade + TT of 12020 lbs, that would mean the Escalade weighs only 6,020 lbs and if it is already fully loaded for camping including all passengers, camping "stuff" and full tank of fuel that would mean you still have 1400 lbs of payload capacity left? Even if the TT was heavier at 6600 lbs, you'd still have 800 lbs payload capacity left.

Forget about any TT dry weights as they always go up after you are fully loaded for camping. Use the GVWR of the TT which will be CCC + dry wt. = 6598 lbs. The CC of 1286 is on the low side for travel trailers and you will probably be close to the GVWR or possibly even a bit over with empty holding tanks. Water weighs 8.3 lbs per gal. and one or more full holding tanks can add a fair bit of wt. and in some cases, depending on where tanks are positioned, can affect tongue wt. enough to throw off the WDH adjustment.

I would also compare the actual wt. of the Escalade to the the GVWR on the door pillar sticker. You should include all humans, pets (if any), groceries, camping gear, firewood, etc. and a full tank of fuel. No kids or adults can get out during the weighing. Looks like the kids are young and they will grow and add weight. I think you will find you are likely a bit over the payload capacity. Your choice as to whether you want to do this or not and if you ever decide to head east up into the mountains rather than flat-ish roads like say out to Seaside.

A Propride might seem like a good idea but you should try and address all the things that can contribute to sway and poor handling first rather than mask them. Tires on the TT should be inflated to the sidewall max. cold psi (50 if you have LRC and 65 for LRD) and should be checked in the morning before heading off on each leg of a trip. Hopefully you have LRE tires on the Escalade and I would inflate the rears to the max. 80 sidewall max. and fronts maybe 60-70 psi. Set the hitch up so that the trailer is level to slightly nose down. Measure the front fender height before and after the WDH is hooked up and restore the correct amount of wt. back onto the steer axle (50-100% depending on what's in owner's manual and year of manufacture).

Rather than a basic round bar WDH and add-on friction sway bars, look at a WDH with integral sway control like Equal-i-zer 4 pt., Blue Ox or Reese dual cam.

[atwowheelguy]

Yes, your rear axle is a little overloaded. That usually can be remedied by adjusting the weight distribution hitch to transfer weight from the drive axle to the steer axle and the trailer axles.

After adjusting it to the next increment of tension, usually by adjusting the tilt of the hitch head, take it back to the scales.

It takes three passes across the scales to get the whole story.
Once with with everything hooked up.
Once with the weight distribution bars removed and placed in the rear of the tow vehicle.
Once with the truck only with the weight distribution hitch removed.

Around here the first weigh is $11 and each reweigh is only $2. So it'll cost about $15.

Of course this should be done with all the normal passengers and cargo loaded in the tow vehicle and the camper.

Put the data from the weight tickets and the weight stickers on the truck, the truck hitch receiver and the trailer into this handy little spreadsheet. The GCWR rating for the tow vehicle will be in the owners manual or on the manufacturer's web site.

https://tinyurl.com/y7vfjlek

It will tell you:
the tongue weight, which will include the weight of the hitch,
the weight of the trailer,
the weight on each axle of the truck,
the weight of the cargo in the truck and the cargo in the trailer,
how much weight was lifted from the steer axle by the tongue weight and hitch and how much was restored by the weight distribution hitch.

Then you can determine if the WDH is properly adjusted and whether the axles are loaded within load recommendations.

Moderator edit to re-size pictures to forum limit of 640px maximum width.

[APT]

axle weights when hitched up looks like WDH is doing little to nothing. Increasing the head angle and/or fewer links under tension will increase front axle weight, decrease rear axle weight, and get you under all specs. That should also give a more stable towing experience.

[kerrlakeRoo]

Move the coolers to near the axles of the trailer and you should be good. The hitch will make some noise, you'll get accustomed to it and learn whats normal for your rig over time.

[1kristarose]

Thank you all so much for the quick replies!!

I am feeling a bit better about things. Husband says he will heed the advice and adjust the WDH hitch. Also all our coolers were in the trunk of the car, we can move those around too to ease up some weight on the rear axle.

We just drove from Portland OR to the coast, 80 miles over a mild mountain pass, everything went very well. Husband said he wasn't worried at all. I was the one sitting in sheer terror!

I'm feeling a bit better about all of this. It seems that we may actually be within our limits, even if we are getting kinda close. I don't plan on pushing things! No steep mountain passes and hairpin turns for us. I think for now we'll settle in to our first vacation weekend, doing some crabbing and figuring out how the freezer works! 😃 😃

PS - do new trailers typically groan and make so much noise??

[kerrlakeRoo]

OK,,,, exhale
Basic on weights
Tow vehicle
Payload= all the weight you can add to the truck pushing it down,
This includes Trailer tongue weight, all passengers and supplies in the truck. Yours is 1433 lbs
Tow capacity = all the weoght your truck is designed to pull based on drivetrain, frame and design specs, it also is limited by what your truck is designed to be able to stop. Yours is 7800 lbs

Trailer weights
Dry weight is of minimal use since you dont tow empty. Yours is 5312 lbs
Trailer gvwr is the fully loaded weight, the most you should tow based on frame, axles, and wheels, in the trailer including batteries, water, supplies etc. yours appears to be 6598 lbs. a combination of the dry weight and CCC of the trailer.

To find the tongue weight, weigh just the trailer with it connected to the Truck, and then back up a couple of feet and unhitch so the trailer is totally on the scale. The difference is the tongue weight.

You truck insurance provides liability coverage for when you are towing the trailer.

Just travel slowly until you get comfortable. Get a feel for the stopping characteristics, they are the most crucial change from normal driving. If the trailer brakes are adjusted the rig should stop well, likely not as well as the truck by itself, but you should still feel you have normal control.

At a glance, your load looks ok with the exception that your weight distributing hitch should likely be tightened some, if you could shift an additional 200-300 lbs to the front would be a good move,
NOW for the important part, where ya goin?

[camp-n-family]

You need to adjust your WD hitch. Your front axle seems light and the rear is over weight. When the dealer installed the hitch the trailer was empty. The tongue weight will increase as you load the trailer if most of the weight is added ahead of the axles making the dealers setting off.

[Redwoodcamper]

Your weight capacity on the rear of the Escalade will be what you out need to watch. It might be boderline with that rating. Use your wd hitch to adjust that weight and avoid carrying any extra weight in the trailer. In reality, it is plenty safe as long as brakes and hitch are adjusted properly.

[Lwiddis]

"All our towing will be dry towing without water since we will use sites with full hookups."

Why, at the very beginning of your RVng, are you limiting yourself and family to only RV parks with full hookups? Why, when you live in the great Northwest with SOOOO many wonderful state and federal parks are you saying this? Don't go to Lewis and Clark SP..no full hookups. Don't go to Honeyman SP...no full hookups. Don't go to Olympic NP...no full hookups. Dont stop at Glass Creek USFS GC south of Lee Vining on US 395...no hooksups and NO potable water. USE and enjoy your new TT. Last 28 days of camping for me...one night of hooking...to dump.

[sgip2000]

Seems that your WDH needs to be adjusted. Other weights look okay. Just need to shift more weight onto the front axle.