Towing a TT

[JoMoLite]

What is the optimum % of the tow vehicle maximum limit in towing a TT.I have read percentage of 80% to 50%. I am buying a new truck and I want a reasonable amount of towing excess capability. Thanks.

[DinTulsa]

You will be fine, I think you will find the v6 underpowered. The only downside I see is after a long day of towing you will be exhausted from having to drive the vehicle up every hill. Buy the trailer and start enjoying the rv life!

[kltk1]

Hi, folks, I realize I'm late to this party, but I'm new to towing a travel trailer and want to make sure I'm understanding this correctly. I'm considering a travel trailer and my 2016 Ram 1500 with Pentastar V6 has a towing capacity of 7400lbs, however, GCWR is rated at 12,900lbs. I'm looking at a TT that's 5,000lbs (Rockwood Mini Lite 2509S). While I'm well within the truck towing capacity, it seems I'm well over the 80-85% mark I see referenced throughout the thread on GCWR with GCW being more important than towing capacity. And does a weight distribution hitch change anything in my scenario? Below is how I've broken it down.

TV = 5050
Occupents = 600
TT = 5015
TT Cargo = 500
TT Tongue Weight = 600

11765lbs total weight

12900-11765 =1135lbs buffer
91.2% of trucks rated GCWR = Unpleasant towing experience?

[blt2ski]

Driveway at clients on lake Washington. Queen Anne ave north side is 25%. Many of us use roads steeper than freeway max of 8%.

Marty

[DinTulsa]

Where are you pulling 30% grades? Are you boondocking?

[blt2ski]

You should also figure out what the max tow rating means. ALA 5% grade at 100F temps, full AC on and not over heating the rig, maintaining at least 35 or 40 mph depending upon the base gvwr of the tow rig? Is that fast enough for you?
minimum 12% grade start and ebrake holding the rig. Is this steep enough for you? I've gone up some 25-35% grade at full gcw and higher in some rigs. mean while a rig that was rated twice another one I owned, did not go up the low 20% grade! So just because you are below the tow rating, does not mean you will get to the end location?
I've pulled over gcwr many times in the past. no bad issues, except when the truck was NOT speced to go up grades I expected it too! The overall best tow rig I had, a 96 GM K3500 SW with a 6.5 td, manual 5 sp. Pulled 30% grade in 1st gear. a bit slow on freeway grades, around 35-40. Worst, a r3500 flat bed, would stall out on a 12-14% grade at 12K lbs, gcwr was 14K lbs. middle, an 05 dually Crew cab dmax. Went up max 24-25% grades at 20K lbs, pulled typical freeway grades in the 50's. BUT, if a 30% grade was in the way of destination......I was SOL! Got to that grade the quickest.....but it still stalled out!
The 6.5 had a 12500 gcwr, the dmax a 23500.
At the end of the day, it all depends!

marty

[ktmrfs]

mkirsch wrote:
After all this has been said, the actual TOW CAPACITY of your truck will not be the maximum "tow rating" shown on the television commercials, or even what's in the owner's manual for your particular truck.

TOW CAPACITY depends on how much payload you have left after you've loaded yourself, your wife, your kids, your dog, firewood, bicycles, fishing poles, canoes, kayaks, toys, drinks and snacks for the road trip into the truck.

The remaining payload capacity is used to carry the weight of the trailer tongue. If you have none left, you have no towing capacity. If you only have 600lbs left, you cannot tow the "10,900lbs" that they tell you in the commercial.

In reality your truck's towing capacity is about 7 times its remaining payload capacity. This is because trailers typically have 13-14% tongue weight and 13.5% is about 1/7 of 100%.

yup, Tow vehicle MFG pretty much assume 10 percent tongue weight on TT while trailer mfg usually design for 13-15 percent. And after loading up the trailer, your often closer to 15 percent.

similar for 5th wheels. TV assume the lowest pin weight, mfg shoot for higher pin weight.

So.... IMHO it's a very rare occasion where you can tow the listed max without being over GVWR.

[mkirsch]

After all this has been said, the actual TOW CAPACITY of your truck will not be the maximum "tow rating" shown on the television commercials, or even what's in the owner's manual for your particular truck.

TOW CAPACITY depends on how much payload you have left after you've loaded yourself, your wife, your kids, your dog, firewood, bicycles, fishing poles, canoes, kayaks, toys, drinks and snacks for the road trip into the truck.

The remaining payload capacity is used to carry the weight of the trailer tongue. If you have none left, you have no towing capacity. If you only have 600lbs left, you cannot tow the "10,900lbs" that they tell you in the commercial.

In reality your truck's towing capacity is about 7 times its remaining payload capacity. This is because trailers typically have 13-14% tongue weight and 13.5% is about 1/7 of 100%.

[nowgrn4]

No one turns the key thinking they are gonna get in a wreck.

What If the unforeseen happens and I crush a car full of idiot's that pulled out from a side road? In the worst case what if it goes to a civil trial? And I am over GVWR?

I don't want to take the chance that I could lose everything because I didn't have enough truck.

[APT]

I would look at all the ratings, not just tow rating. Axle, payload, and receiver ratings are often exceeded well below tow ratings on modern vehicles.

[DinTulsa]

Near 50% and 75% at most? That's seems a little extreme, I guess we should all just start buying semi trucks to pull our rv's.

[DustyR]

X-2
I towed with a Tundra that I had the Gross Vehicle TV & TT loaded at the maximum suggested weight. Towing on the flat, no problem vehicle would hold fifth gear and cycle to fourth as needed. When I hit the hills I was in fourth and cycling between fourth and third for the most part.
The worst thing was the mileage --low sevens--. I traded and went to the vehicle in my sig and averaged 12.3 on a tow from Harlingen, TX to WV. The Diesel shifted in to fourth on a hill one time. I usually tow at 55 to 65 MPH dependent on traffic conditions.

IMHO more truck is the best choice. Stay near the 50% area if possible and no higher than 75%.

[ssthrd]

I ran at just over 87% with my combo with no real issues on my recent trip around North America. I scaled close to 14000 pounds on a 16000 pound GCVWR. Saw everything from bald ass prairie to high mountain passes in the Rockies. Could have used a few more horsepower at 8,000 feet, but no problem at all. I was close to my max on the rear end--cant remember the numbers.

[atwowheelguy]

As others have said, you will likely run out of payload before running out of towing capacity. Concentrate on not overloading the chassis of your truck. Mine runs at 94% of GVWR, 94% of GAWR and 82% of GCWR and tows with no problems so far.

[dodge_guy]

The manuf has already figured in a percentage when they designed the truck. No reason to decrease it more from what the manuf already has.

[nickthehunter]

Lwiddis wrote:
"The engineers really did do their job. And you have to know. The tow capacities are pretty conservative"

Show me something from GM, Ford etc. that says their tow capacities are "conservative" and by inference that you can safely exceed their tow capacities.

Engineering 101, Google "Factor of Safety".