Forum Discussion
GrandpaKip
Oct 04, 2019Explorer II
You can find out the payload of your Armada from a sticker on the driver side door jamb. It will say something like, “The total cargo capacity should not exceed xxx pounds”.
Work out what weight your family and their stuff in the Armada will be and subtract from the posted number. Then subtract about 100 pounds for a weight distribution system. What’s left is what tongue weight you can put on the hitch.
An easy way to get ideas of suitable campers is to take 15% of the Gross Vehicle Weight (which gives you an idea of max tongue weight) and see if that puts you over your rated payload.
I have a feeling you will find that you are going to have to scale back some of the campers you have listed.
For example, a 7000 pound max gross weight will eat up between 700 and 1050 pounds of payload. The lower amount is the minimum of 10% tongue weight.
Everybody almost always runs out of payload before the max tow weight of the tow vehicle. Do not pay attention to the listed tongue weight. It is almost always too low.
Work out what weight your family and their stuff in the Armada will be and subtract from the posted number. Then subtract about 100 pounds for a weight distribution system. What’s left is what tongue weight you can put on the hitch.
An easy way to get ideas of suitable campers is to take 15% of the Gross Vehicle Weight (which gives you an idea of max tongue weight) and see if that puts you over your rated payload.
I have a feeling you will find that you are going to have to scale back some of the campers you have listed.
For example, a 7000 pound max gross weight will eat up between 700 and 1050 pounds of payload. The lower amount is the minimum of 10% tongue weight.
Everybody almost always runs out of payload before the max tow weight of the tow vehicle. Do not pay attention to the listed tongue weight. It is almost always too low.
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