Tow Vehicle Capacity

[Cardinals]

I have seen on this site before discussions of tow vehicle capacity and realize it is an important determination. I am thinking of purchasing a Jay Flight 34RSBS. It has unloaded vehicle weight of 8,440 and dry hitch weight of 1250, gross vehicle weight rating of 10,950 and cargo carrying of 2510.

I own a 2011 Chevy Silverado 2500HD. On the truck specs I see a variety of ratings. What is the proper way to make this calculation? I got burned once before on too heavy of a trailer for too light of a truck and don't want to have the same issue again.

I will continue my search on the site, but figured the best way is to just ask.

Thanks.

[bid_time]

Try this calculator to help you with your calculations.

[myredracer]

Cardinals wrote:
Yes. my axle is 3.73 and thus my question to the group. They have included "dual sway cam" as part of purchase.

If that means a Reese dual cam WDH, keep in mind that they take a bit more fiddling to install and in some cases, a while to tweak them to optimize the performance. Excellent WDH. Do NOT let the dealer install it tho. Read the sticky in the towing section and learn how to do it yourself. With that high a tongue wt., there are some important considerations to know about. You can use the WDH without the cam arms installed to get the TT home. Make sure the dual cam WDH has the correct rating including the spring bars and the heavier duty snap-up brackets.

I would suggest going to a scale with the truck and getting an accurate wt. and use the GVWR on the door pillar sticker to give you the actual payload capacity. Actual payload capacities can vary a little or sometimes a lot from the figure on the sticker.

[lbrjet]

The only thing I would worry about is your receiver. If it is not rated for 1500 lbs of tongue weight I would change it out.

[Need-A-Vacation]

camp-n-family wrote:

And of course you probably also know that everything you carry in the truck, besides the driver (and possibly front passenger), counts against your GVWR

Everything added to the truck INCLUDING the weight of driver and passengers counts towards payload and GVWR. Don't confuse it with the TOW RATING which includes weight for driver (150lbs), and a passenger at 150lbs using the new standards.

But the tow rating for an '11 was not set using the new standards. While you can compare an '11 to the tow rating of a '15 or '16, that is only possible to compare "apples to apples" if the '11 has the 4.10 gearing also.

Cardinals,

With the 3.73 gear you will be over the tow rating and the gcvwr of the truck. But depending on your family weight and how much cargo you load in the bed you may be under the gvwr. You should be under the RAR also.

The truck will definitely pull that trailer. You may be in 3rd or 4th gear instead of 4th or 5th if you had the 4.10 instead of the 3.73.

Good luck deciding!!!

[APT]

I would be comfortable with that. The 6-spd really helps get the power out of the 6.0L.

[camp-n-family]

And of course you probably also know that everything you carry in the truck, besides the driver (and possibly front passenger), counts against your GVWR

Everything added to the truck INCLUDING the weight of driver and passengers counts towards payload and GVWR. Don't confuse it with the TOW RATING which includes weight for driver (150lbs)- and a passenger at 150lbs if using the new standards.

[Need-A-Vacation]

If you do go ahead with it, I would highly suggest the 1700lb wd bars. The 1500lb bars could possibly not be enough. With a 910lb "dry" tw (think it's 910, maybe 920), we have about a 1400lb tw all loaded, ready to go with our 32.

[Cardinals]

Yes. my axle is 3.73 and thus my question to the group. They have included "dual sway cam" as part of purchase.

[APT]

The only potential issue is the tow rating if you have 3.73 axle. It is in the 9500-10k range vs. closer to 14k pounds for 4.10. Otherwise, should be good. Get a WDH with integrated sway control.

[krobbe]

For that trailer, I would estimate 10,000# loaded weight and 1500# tongue weight.
Now see if those numbers work for your truck's payload and towing capacity after adding in all the additional weight of hitch, passengers and cargo.

[old_guy]

I pull a TT with that kind of weight and my 2500hd pulls it very well. I have 4.10 gears and a 6.0 engine. with a tongue weight of 1250 ,just be sure you use a WDH.

[kknowlton]

You want to make sure your loaded hitch weight doesn't overwhelm your truck's GVWR or RAWR. And of course you probably also know that everything you carry in the truck, besides the driver (and possibly front passenger), counts against your GVWR.