rickhise wrote:
FINALLY!
After 20+ new posts ON THE SAME SUBJECT and you FINALLY got the RIGHT information..
THIS is the important sticker that gives you the correct information on what your truck can haul/tow.
1604 lbs IS you MAXIMUM ALLOWED CARGO.
You trailer tongue weight when hitched becomes part of your trucks "cargo".
This sticker takes into consideration of ONE person( driver) at 150 lbs AND your fuel tank (full) which also are "cargo" but this sticker has already assumed that and the result is the leftover CARGO your truck can haul.
In a nutshell, manufacturer took your vehicles curb weight (unladen weight or empty weight)+ one 150 lb person + fuel weight then subtracted that from your vehicles GVWR.
NOW, EVERYTHING you put INTO the truck (passengers, gear) MUST be subtracted from this cargo weight on this sticker.
Now, IF it is YOU and YOU alone with NOTHING ELSE added to the cab or bed the max tongue weight would be 1604 lbs, BUT we know that rarely happens.
Assuming you most likely will take at least one passenger and say a couple of bicycles, perhaps a gas grill and propane and perhaps a few other items you can't fit in the trailer we will say about 400 lbs in cargo..
That now gives you 1204 lbs of cargo left.
You will most likely want a Weight Distribution hitch, figure about 100 lbs there.
This leaves you 1104 lbs of cargo left.
Now, we know tongue weight of a bumper pull trailer MUST be 10%-15% of the trailer weight, ideally 13%-15%..
However it is BETTER to error at the top of 15% which may give you a little margin.
So, we now can work back words by using the leftover cargo of 1104 lbs by dividing that by .15 (15%).
The result is 7,360 lbs as your Max trailer weight.
To be extremely clear, this is the maximum LOADED weight of the trailer, not the "dry weight".
You WILL need to select a trailer with a DRY WEIGHT WELL BELOW THIS NUMBER!
If I was a betting person, you WANT COMFORTABLY a dry weight NO MORE THAN 5,000 LBS!
Yeah, I know there will be plenty of folks ready to blast me for this, saying they tow a trailer of 6,500 lbs empty, well that is good for them, but will THEY be willing to help YOU to pick up the pieces and help you when things goes sideways and you damage your truck, your trailer or hurt/kill someone in the process..