kcstrom
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Re: Purchasing first TT, need a bit of sanity checking advice
GrandpaKip wrote: kcstrom wrote: GrandpaKip wrote: Maybe I missed it, but have you looked at the door sticker on your truck? Yep. It matches the info from the towing capacity sheet I included before. GAWR: 3900 for both front and rear GVWR: 6800 Requires PSI of 39lbs/in in tires. It doesn't state an actual weight from the time of manufacturing. What about the payload? -It doesn't say anything about payload or measured weight at manufacturing. Only the GAWR and GVWR and require tired pressure.- Edit: I looked again and found there is another sticker on the body inside the door, apart from the stickers on the (end of the)door itself. This does state a payload of 1139. You learn something new everyday! So, this indicates it had a known difference of (1390-1139 =) 251 from what the spec sheet says. I guess additional options or just variance in weight as manufactured account for 251 pounds of mystery weight. Only ~300 more to find! lol745Views0likes0CommentsRe: Purchasing first TT, need a bit of sanity checking advice
GrandpaKip wrote: Maybe I missed it, but have you looked at the door sticker on your truck? Yep. It matches the info from the towing capacity sheet I included before. GAWR: 3900 for both front and rear GVWR: 6800 Requires PSI of 39lbs/in in tires. It doesn't state an actual weight from the time of manufacturing.745Views0likes0CommentsRe: Purchasing first TT, need a bit of sanity checking advice
I appreciate all the feedback from the responses on this thread. Even though there isn't perfect consensus and some differing opinions on importance of the various considerations, I really appreciate everyone taking some of their time to share their knowledge with me. Clarifying which truck I have exactly: 2013 RAM 1500 6'4" Crew Cab BigHorn 5.7L There is an entry in the 2013 Ram towing capacity chart for each piece of that line. So the numbers I've copied from there are pretty specific to my truck options and trim package. As mention earlier though, my actual measured base weight is unfortunately much higher than the spec sheet says. :S Repasting the limits from OP with some additions: Towing capacity: 6500lb Payload: 1650lb GAWR (rear): 3900lb GAWR (front): 3900lb GVWR: 6800lb Measured weight (rear): 2580lb Measured weight (front): 3480lb I estimate the actual payload I'll have available after SO and kids are in truck, and there is a full propane tank and a battery on the TT tongue is going to be closer to 300lb taking into account the extra mystery weight my truck has over the spec sheet. If I wanted to be 100% sure to stay under GCWR, this means loaded hitch weight would have to be less than 300lbs. There are very few small trailers that sleep 5 that meet that. I'm leaning towards not trying to stay completely with GVWR but trying to keep reasonably close to it as I definitely don't want to severely overload my truck and risk a lot of damage to it, or worse, causing it to be uncontrollable and leading to accident. I didn't mention before that I rented a Wolf Pup 16BHS last year, and it seemed like it towed very well. I didn't feel like my truck was handling badly or lacked power or torque. That's part of why I started looking at "bigger" trailers. I wasn't going up and down mountains though, just some smaller hills in SD. Going through this exercise, I realize I was almost certainly over GVWR some last year as well. So...looking through a new set of TTs, I'm now thinking about going with the Wolf Pup 17JG (or 17JGBL). UVW: 3879lb Hitch weight: 430lb This would leave about 1664lb before meeting the GCWR of 12100 for my truck. I don't see us packing more than 1000lb . I know I'll be over GVWR by a couple hundred pounds, but I should still be within GCWR by several hundred. Is this still too stupid to be considering? Should I only be considering something smaller like the Wolf Pup 16BHS that will exceed GVWR less? UVW: 3097lb Hitch weight: 377lb Estimate GCW left with this: 2446lb I feel like the 16BHS was fine last year and pulled much easier than I thought it would. My basis for reference is probably not great though. I grew up on a farm and I'm pretty sure far exceeded GVWR/GAWR many times hauling cattle around. Those were much shorter trips though, and I have to consider possibly stranding myself and my kids hundreds of miles from home now. Is the hitch weight difference of 53lb between the 17JG and 16BHS going to really matter that much? I'm guessing the UWV difference of 782lb is going to make a bigger difference. Appreciate all the feedback. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!519Views0likes0CommentsRe: Purchasing first TT, need a bit of sanity checking advice
Gdetrailer wrote: What you are missing is that spec on paper is BASE WEIGHT. Base weight means and is derived from the absolute barebones configuration of the "base" of the vehicle. The "base" of the vehicle is 4x2, smallest engine, regular cab short bed with the lowest trim level offered and zero other options. Buy a crew cab, that adds weight. Buy a long bed, that adds weight. Buy 4x4, that adds weight. Buy the larger engine above the base engine and that adds weight. Buy the top level trim package with all the trimmings and that adds weight. Buy any dealer add on options, that adds weight. Add up all of those options above the "base" and there is your 600+ lb discrepancy and reduction of your available cargo weight of that amount.. Folks get caught up with that supposed tow rating advertised on paper while never reading and comprehending that the number thrown out there is not what you are going to get once you doll the thing up like a Christmas tree. That "tows up to number" is a number used to "market" the vehicle. The real number is just how much cargo capacity you have to work with which unless you bought the absolute barebones vehicle configuration will be considerably less in real life. Fortunately you have discovered this before committing to a trailer which will be over your available cargo rating.. That all makes sense, but the RAM 1500 towing capacity sheet, I'd link but it looks like forum will remove the link (sigh), lists the different base weights of all of those variants you mention: engine/transmission/length of box/4x4 or 4x2/and base trim level package. The only exception I can think of is things like audio and comfort packages. Seems hard to believe the ones in my truck add up to at least 400lbs...but it's in the somewhere. Actually, most definitions I see online of base/curb weight should include a full tank of gas and a driver. This spec'd weight would be off more than 700lbs if that's the case here. It's not real clear on the towing chart sheet. I do see it says "NOTE: BASE WEIGHTS CAN CHANGE". I guess they can change by a lot.441Views0likes0CommentsRe: Purchasing first TT, need a bit of sanity checking advice
valhalla360 wrote: GVWR =/= GCWR - Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (Truck by itself or trailer by itself at max loading) - Gross Combined Weight Rating (Total of both truck and trailer combined at max loading) Though you will struggle with the GCWR as you found. Keep in mind battery, propane and water count against the trailer payload, so the odds of you staying within the GCWR is basically nil before you add clothes, food, cooking utensils, kids bikes, firewood, etc... But that still leaves the GVWR as a potential issue....If the 6800 GVWR I found online is correct (check the sticker on the door jam), you have less than 400lb of payload in the truck, once you put the family in it. That's way too light of a hitch weight assuming you put nothing else in the truck. If I already had the truck and was legitimately within a couple hundred pounds, I might try to make do but you are likely going to be over by 800-1000lb if you are very strict about not taking anything unless it's absolutely needed. If you aren't careful, you could easily be 1500-2000lb over some of the limits. That's not something I would be comfortable with. That all makes sense. GVWR of trailer wasn't a major consideration for me since I planned to not pack it to the gills. Also not planning on boondocking, so I shouldn't need to haul the weight of water around except maybe at campsite, and I could keep it unpacked while doing so. GVWR of the truck alone is also concerning as you point out (in addition to the GWCR0. The thing I'm struggling a bit with now is figuring out why my truck weighs in 653lb more than the spec'd base weight. Ram's towing capacity chart specs a base weight of 5407, but my truck weighed in at 6060lbs with the excess pretty evenly split across both axles. I'm about 50lb more than the "driver" used for the spec'd base weight. I do have a few things in the cab, Line-X spray in bedliner, rubber bed mat, bed rails, and ~180lbs of gas. I don't think those should add up to near 653lbs though. If that's normal, I don't see how a 1500 can really tow much of anything unless the trailer has a hitch that weighs pretty much nothing.441Views0likes0CommentsRe: Purchasing first TT, need a bit of sanity checking advice
Thanks for the responses and thoughts folks; sounds like I should probably look at a smaller trailer (don't really want to buy new trailer and new truck at the same time). I realized I left some info out of the OP: * GCWR is 12,100 from the 2013 Ram 1500 Towing chart (my links are removed from some reason, guess I'm too new) * 6'4" bed * Rear axle ration: 3.21 I wasn't using the GVWR of the trailer since I would make sure not to put 2300lbs on it. If I have a smaller trailer with a lower CCC, I would be limited by how much I could put on there. GCW left from truck itself for trailer would be 12100 - 6060 = 6040. Add 350lb for family to truck = 5690. Hmm, I guess I didn't do this arithmetic before convincing myself I really wanted this trailer. Dang it. This math would work out a lot better if I didn't have 8-speed transmission with the lowest axle ratio. 6-speed transmission with its lowest axle ration would have increased GCWR and towing capacity by 2000lb.225Views0likes0CommentsPurchasing first TT, need a bit of sanity checking advice
I'm looking to purchase my first travel trailer. SO and I have narrowed down the choices to the ***Link Removed***. This has all the main features we're looking for and I think should be towable by our truck okay. I'd like some sanity checking on this by others more knowledgeable and experienced in this area than myself. Edit: Re-evaluated. New trailer I'm looking at is in this post further down. Freedom Express 238BH: UVW: 5314lb Hitch weight: 694lb Length: 25'9" Truck: 2013 RAM 1500 4x4 Crew Cab 5.7L Towing capacity: 6500lb Payload: 1650lb GAWR (rear): 3900 GAWR (front): 3900 Measured weight (rear): 2580lb Measured weight (front): 3480lb This was only with me in the truck and 3/4 tank of gas. SO and kids will add ~350lb total. I am planning to get a 2 or 4 point weight distribution hitch. Unloaded TT is 81.75% of the max towing capacity. The hitch weight was a bit concerning to me at first, but it seems like a properly adjust WD hitch should alleviate that by placing ~20% back onto front axles and ~20% onto trailer axles. I would need to keep additional weight loaded onto trailer and truck bed to less than 1K lbs to stay under max towing capacity. I live in a flat area, but am planning to drive to hilly areas (like SD and Wyoming/Yellowstone), so it'll see some decent grades. This trailer is heavier than I originally set out to look at, but seems like we can keep within all the max weights with a bit of planning. Am I making a stupid decision if I buy this and pull with my truck?7.6KViews0likes37Comments
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