Rate my tow calc.

[skates15]

Hello.
I'm looking for help verifying my tow vehicle calculations before buying a TT. Am I safe to tow it being only under 6% of max GCVWR, or am I in for white knuckle ride towing in Wisconsin and Minnesota?

What I have figured so far:
Trailer:
GVWR is 7256, including payload and hitch.
Tongue weight 697

Truck is 23 1500 5.7 4x4 crew cab 5'6" bed GEAR ratio is 3.21 (which kills my max tow)
GVWR is 5685, including payload.
Max tow is 8120 - trailer GVWR of 7256 = 864lbs under max.
Max GCVWR is 13900 and actual is 12941 = 1k under max.
Max tongue is 1,130 and trailer tongue weight is 697 = 433 under

The problem I see is that my GCVWR is only 6% under max and from what I've read it should be 20%

My payload numbers are close to actual for both truck and trailer, including hitch weight, half fresh water tanks, LP, food, clothes, toys and 'stuff'.

We plan to tow around Minnesota, wisconsin, Michigan and later east coast smiley mountains. We will not be going over anything larger than Smokey mountains. Trailer will spend most of the time on land we plan to buy.

Thank you for any help before purchasing.

 

[06 Dodge]

Hello.
I'm looking for help verifying my tow vehicle calculations before buying a TT. Am I safe to tow it being only under 6% of max GCVWR, or am I in for white knuckle ride towing in Wisconsin and Minnesota?

What I have figured so far:
Trailer:
GVWR is 7256, including payload and hitch.
Tongue weight 697

Truck is 23 1500 5.7 4x4 crew cab 5'6" bed GEAR ratio is 3.21 (which kills my max tow)
GVWR is 5685, including payload.
Max tow is 8120 - trailer GVWR of 7256 = 864lbs under max.
Max GCVWR is 13900 and actual is 12941 = 1k under max.
Max tongue is 1,130 and trailer tongue weight is 697 = 433 under

The problem I see is that my GCVWR is only 6% under max and from what I've read it should be 20%

My payload numbers are close to actual for both truck and trailer, including hitch weight, half fresh water tanks, LP, food, clothes, toys and 'stuff'.

We plan to tow around Minnesota, wisconsin, Michigan and later east coast smiley mountains. We will not be going over anything larger than Smokey mountains. Trailer will spend most of the time on land we plan to buy.

Thank you for any help before purchasing.

Where did you get the 697 number from? My guess is tongue weight will be closer to 800 Lbs, I'm using 11% of trailer GVWR, my number is lower then some who use 15% or 1088 Lbs for estimating tongue weight, I'm going to guess that have not scaled the truck & trailer fully loaded including number of people and anything you may want to put in the bed of thew truck.... If you have not scaled it you need to do so to be sure your not over your GRAWR and or CGVWR...

 

[crash68]

The problem I see is that my GCVWR is only 6% under max and from what I've read it should be 20%

Sounds like your using the gross vehicle weight ratings and not actual weights, if the trailer is at or under the ratings of the truck you'll be fine once actually loaded unless you overload the trailer. Find a local CAT scale to set up the WDH and adjust the load. The more consistent you set up truck/trailer, the better experience you'll have towing.
As for the 20% rule that rule of thumb that people used before all trucks were SAE J2807 rated. Ram starting doing this with the 2015 model year.

 

[JayLeonard]

My guess, based on my TT, is that your tongue weight will be close to 1000 lbs when loaded based on tje factory spec.

 

[dhay13]

As already said, guessing you are at least 800lbs on loaded tongue weight. 10-15% TW is the goal but in my experience 12.5 is about perfect. At 7000lbs you should be at about 850lbs TW to get close but may be ok with anything over 700. If you are going by the advertised TW you are off by probably 100lbs. To get an exact number you need to take the TT to a CAT scale loaded as you would for a trip and also the truck loaded the same. Weigh everything on the scales then pull off and unhook the trailer and weigh just the truck. Take your total weight of both truck axles with the camper connected then both truck axles with just the truck and subtract that from the numbers with the trailer. That will give you your true TW.
If you go to the same CAT scale within either 12 or 24 hours you are only charged like $3 for the 2nd weigh in so you can do this for under $20 but it will be worth it to get it to tow comfortably. But without actual numbers you are just guessing.

 

[nlambert182]

If your TW comes in at 15% of GVWR you're at just shy of 1,100 lbs. I'd parrot dhay13 and say you need to go to a CAT scale and confirm your weights.

 

[Farmer Fran]

Unless i am looking at something wrong i do not understand this...

"GVWR is 5685, including payload."

The truck alone should weigh more than that.

 

[crash68]

Unless i am looking at something wrong i do not understand this...

"GVWR is 5685, including payload."

The truck alone should weigh more than that.

It's the new math...LOL
The OP has most likely confused the vehicle weight with the GVWR for his configuration of 7100 lbs. That 5685 lbs probably a fairly close to the actual weight of his truck, the 6.4' bed trucks are closer to 6K and most HD trucks are almost 2K more and greater.
His original post sounds like he was speculation of what the trailer is going to weigh, so it's a good thing he's here asking if his maths are correct.

 

[star_deceiver]

Your trailer ‘book’ specs look very similar to this 233rbs. Loaded up, this 23’ trailer weighed 5500lbs with 935lbs tongue.

Your similar trailer will tow just fine. Get your weight bars and front end height set properly and you’ll glide down the road. If semis passing you are causing you to white knuckle, for whatever reason, speed up so you don’t become a hazard in the right lane.

 

[tron67j]

Where did you get the 697 number from? My guess is tongue weight will be closer to 800 Lbs, I'm using 11% of trailer GVWR, my number is lower then some who use 15% or 1088 Lbs for estimating tongue weight, I'm going to guess that have not scaled the truck & trailer fully loaded including number of people and anything you may want to put in the bed of thew truck.... If you have not scaled it you need to do so to be sure your not over your GRAWR and or CGVWR...

I am one who goes with 15% only because many trailers have one of the biggest storage areas in the front and always see so much in them. If storage is middle or back then I use the lower number. FWIW just saw someone pull a broken down moped out of one on Saturday. That was a new one for me.

 

[nlambert182]

I too use 15% for all my TT calcs. 11% is LOW on tongue weight for a travel trailer. I wouldn't want to try and get the tongue that light. Good chance to introduce some sway. 15% seems to be the sweet spot on a lot of travel trailers.