I hope I'm barking up the right tree
I have never owned a TT before, although in a previous life I pulled a two-horse trailer all over the Northeast. I was young and carefree back then, never gave towing much thought - just hitch and go....
Forum Discussion
Thanks for all the advice my friends. I guess the way I finally figured it is this: an Andersen WD hitch for my truck weighs 60 pounds. I added in 100 lbs. for the battery and propane tank and 420 lbs. for the natural 13% trailer tongue weight (4000 lb. GVWR) and it totaled up to 580 lbs. My owners manual states the maximum tongue weight for the Frontier I have as 610 lbs. Not ideal, but within the spec. Next I looked on the door jamb and found the maximum payload number of 1218 lbs. and the little yellow hand-written sticker that tells me to reduce that figure by 198 lbs. So I did. I'm thinking that leaves my available payload at 1020 lbs. Now I don't know if that figure includes a 150 lb. driver and a half tank of gas but I assumed it didn't. I added the weights of the four of us - I go 235, the wife 135 (FYI: I didn't ask, but I think that's about right), my daughter is right at 100, and the dog weighs 63. All together we weigh about 540 lbs. That weight plus the 580 lbs. on the hitch plus 120 lbs. of gas puts me at 1240 lbs., or 220 lbs. over my available payload. As an OG that has become more careful in my old age that number scares me a little bit. But the alternatives are to either buy a new truck or to look for a smaller trailer (there is a third option, but nobody wants to stay home).
So there you have it. When I posted my initial post I was under the assumption that I would add the Andersen, propane tank, and battery to the Sonic's dry hitch weight of 290 lbs. for a total of 450 lbs., and also under the assumption that if most everything was loaded over or behind the axle that weight wouldn't change by much. That's what was making me crazy about the published dry hitch weight - it's an actual measured figure but if it means absolutely nothing then why have it? Thank you all for clearing up my misconceptions.
But I have one more question and I promise I won't ask any more (maybe): we were looking also at a Jay Feather 7, model 18RBM. It has a sofa and a Murphy bed and an interior height of 78" (I'm 6'1" - some Jaycos have interior heights of 73") so it is appealing. You can Google it if you like but the question I have is - the dry hitch weight is 410 lbs. and the GVWR is 3975 lbs. If you add the Andersen, propane, and battery to the hitch it would increase the "dry" weight to 570 lbs. (410 + 160 = 570). But if you take the GVWR and multiply it by .13 the hitch weight comes out to 516.75 lbs. So does that mean that by loading the trailer to its max weight you would actually DECREASE the load on the hitch by 53.25 lbs.? If that's the case it opens a whole new set of possible trailers to me.
So there you have it. When I posted my initial post I was under the assumption that I would add the Andersen, propane tank, and battery to the Sonic's dry hitch weight of 290 lbs. for a total of 450 lbs., and also under the assumption that if most everything was loaded over or behind the axle that weight wouldn't change by much. That's what was making me crazy about the published dry hitch weight - it's an actual measured figure but if it means absolutely nothing then why have it? Thank you all for clearing up my misconceptions.
But I have one more question and I promise I won't ask any more (maybe): we were looking also at a Jay Feather 7, model 18RBM. It has a sofa and a Murphy bed and an interior height of 78" (I'm 6'1" - some Jaycos have interior heights of 73") so it is appealing. You can Google it if you like but the question I have is - the dry hitch weight is 410 lbs. and the GVWR is 3975 lbs. If you add the Andersen, propane, and battery to the hitch it would increase the "dry" weight to 570 lbs. (410 + 160 = 570). But if you take the GVWR and multiply it by .13 the hitch weight comes out to 516.75 lbs. So does that mean that by loading the trailer to its max weight you would actually DECREASE the load on the hitch by 53.25 lbs.? If that's the case it opens a whole new set of possible trailers to me.
