Vintage Travel Trailer 2500 lbs or under?

[cassieann]

Hi all, does anyone have experience finding weights of vintage travel trailers? I have a Jeep Grand Cherokee with ClassIII hitch and read in another forum that the max trailer weight I'd want (dry) is 2500. Trouble is, most sellers are unaware of their vintage trailer weights (some of these trailers being 30+ years old, that comes as no surprise). Aside from hauling to a weigh station (something I've not been able to convince any sellers to do or let me do!) is there any way to find these weights out? Extensive google searches come up empty for the non-top 10 brands. Anyone know of any trailers 2500 or less (maybe 3000 max)? Thanks so much in advance!
PS: The weights I'm currently trying to find are a 1968 Driftwood and a 1965 Layton, both 16'

[westend]

Gde hit all the good points, look at the axles. Starcraft used to have excellent customer service. They emailed to me the original sales brochure and owner's manual. Maybe other companies would do the same. In the brochure was listed the GVWR of five configurations. My 24','71 Starcraft Wanderstar had an original dry weight of 4300 lbs.

[Gdetrailer]

Most information on older trailers typically has vaporized, most had a plastic sticker on the side of the trailer which would have stated the tire size, GVWR and such..

Those stickers over time peeled, cracked, faded until nothing is left.

You WILL have to look sub 15 ft size and SINGLE AXLE to get to the weight you are seeking.

A good hint to figure out the MAX weight of the trailer is to look at the axle/rim/drum.

2,000-2,500 lb axles tend to use 14" tires and the drum/rim will be a 4 bolt hole configuration.

3,000-3,500 lb axles can use 14" or 15" tires but the drum/rim will have FIVE bolt holes.

Keeping in mind that there a couple of exceptions you might run into which are obsolete drum/rims which are often called "star" rims, these have a very large center opening and the bolt holes are rather close to the tire away from the center of the rim.

Star rims are hard to read because you can have 14" or 15" on a lighter axle..

Alternately, take a look UNDER the trailer at the axles, there SHOULD be a aluminum metal band on one the sides of the axle. This band WILL contain the name of the axle manufacturer AND the max GVWR of the axle.

Those bands may or may not be still in tact.

For my 1981 TT, both axles had the bands still attached.

You could check the tire specifications to see what the max GVWR is for each tire, that can give you a hint provided that the owner put the CORRECT tire with the CORRECT weight rating for the trailer.

Some states like PA, ALL the information you seek IS clearly put on the TITLE and yearly registration card, many states, however do not.

If you can determine the max GVWR of the axle, you can then add tongue weight to the mix, tongue weight NEEDS to be 10%-15% of the weight on the axles.

With a single axle, I would HIGHLY recommend 15%, less than that can get squirmy in the handling department.

Dual axle trailers tend to trailer much better than single axle trailers.

Not sure as to why you want such an old trailer, you do realize that 30+ old trailers tend to be built a bit heavier and they WILL need a lot of repairs from hidden water damage..

Hope you are extremely handy with power tools, they WILL be your friends..

[afidel]

If I was looking for something ultra light to tow I'd look at a 13' Scamp, Burro/U-Haul, or Boler fiberglass trailer. The 13' models run about 1,600lbs ready to camp. The 16/17' models tend towards 2,500-3,000 GVWR and are going to be pretty darn close ready to camp so probably over your capabilities.

[Second_Chance]

First of all, forget about dry trailer weights. What really matters is the gross weight or loaded weight of the trailer (and estimate 12% of the trailer's gross weight for tongue weight). The class of hitch is also not nearly as important as the specifications of the tow vehicle, especially the payload numbers. Finally, on true vintage trailers, you're going to have a hard time finding out weights without towing them to a scale. Just guessing, a Grand Cherokee should have no problem with a 16' camper.

Rob