Towing Capacity for New Travel Trailer
I am currently looking to purchase a new Travel Trailer. My current trailer, a Keystone Bullet 246RBS, has a dry wt of 4800lbs. I tow it with a 2013 Ram 1500, which is rated between 8400lbs and 9700lb...
Forum Discussion
rexlion wrote:
With all due respect, I don't see how that can be correct. Take my SUV as an example:
4900 lb curb weight
6200 lb GVWR
If I subtract my GVWR from just my curb weight (let alone actual weight), I can only tow 1300 lbs! But my Lexus GX470 has a 6200 lb tow rating!
This is the difference between GVWR (how much weight you can put on the SUV's axles) and GCWR (total weight of the full system - weight on SUV axles plus weight on the axles of whatever you're towing).
Assuming you balance the weight appropriately between the axles according to their relative capacities, you have 1300 lbs capacity on the SUV for tongue weight, people, and whatever else you load into/on the SUV. If you towed a trailer with an actual weight of 6200 lbs, and the tongue weight is 13 percent (806 lbs), the people and other stuff in/on the SUV can weigh up to 494 lbs. (Nice thing about minivans - I have a substantially larger cargo capacity than that after adding tongue weight.)
Of course it's always a good idea to leave some margin on that.
