Help with tralier and tow vehicle weight calculation

[lundy30]

Hello. New to this forum, and travel trailers in general. My wife and I are looking at a 224 BH but I'm worried about weight. My 04 Toyota Tundra (114k miles and well maintained) has a GVWR of 6600lbs, a towing capacity of 6700 lbs, and a payload of 1525 lbs. The trailer dry weight is 4330 lbs and GVWR is 6,000 lbs. I'll be using a weight distributing hitch. Am I within a reasonable Tralier weight for my tow vehicle assuming we have a standard load of stuff for a family of 3 and won't be planning to travel with anything in the tanks? Or is this pushing it? We are also looking at the 174BH or one of the starcraft BH models as a lighter weight option. Appreciate any advice. I know there is a ton of info out there but despite my research I"m not sure I'm doing the calculation correctly. Also, is there a certain amount of "buffer" you should plan for in weight vs your max as a general rule? I'm fairly certain I'm within the max weights my vehicle can pull, but is this pushing it too much if we plan to go on long trips?

[morleyz]

Your biggest limiting factor is really going to be the payload. If you load up that trailer, your hitch weight is going to upwards of 600 lbs, leaving you with 900 lbs for people, gear, WD hitch, etc. It'll get eaten up fast.

I'm always one to say that you can tow anything as long as it's within all the specs of the TV, but I think if you load up this combo for a long trip you'd be maxing out the truck and it would be a white knuckle towing experience.

[Doug]

I have a 2016 Tundra with Max Towing (10,500) and Max Payload (2060).
I have a 24' Jayco (GVWR 7500) usually load out at 6,000, just me and my wife.
That set up is pretty stable, but wouldn't want to have any less truck or anymore trailer

I think your set up is going to be hard to stay within specs and if you do, it will be a hand full.

I'll try to attach my Towing Calculator. It will be .pdf. Forum error when loading excel file.

[lundy30]

Thanks for the replies. I tried to replicate your calculator in excel but not sure I got it right. It does look like payload is the concern if i get above about 5000lbs in the trailer and considering my passengers and gear. Crazy that a V8 truck cant handle that size trailer with no slide outs. So dont I get a benefit from the equalizer and 1000lb bars?

[rkresge]

You should plan for the tongue weight of that trailer to be up to 900 pounds; usually runs 10-15% of the trailer's weight, and you should plan against the GVWR number. 15% of 6000 lb. is 900 lbs on the tongue. That's a big hit on your Tundra's payload capacity, leaving you about 600 pounds for passengers and cargo. You're going to be close to maxing out the truck's payload capacity.

Suggest you try loading it all up and taking it to a CAT scale to see exactly where you are fully loaded.


Roger

[lundy30]

Thanks. So what would you all suggest I shoot for as far as max GVWR? I really like the 8ft wide options but the only other SLX 8 would be the 212QB which is 5,500 GVWR, is that reasonable? From there one step down in Jayco would be the 7ft wide 174BH but then I'm losing a ton of things, full size fridge, central heat/air (it's a window ac unit), fresh water capacity is down a ton, bed is a queen that is side oriented where you have to crawl over. The dealer also has starcraft, the 19BH and 20 BH are options and the 20 has a full size fridge and big tank capacity. Was hoping to go Jayco.

[rkresge]

Originally Posted by lundy30

Thanks. So what would you all suggest I shoot for as far as max GVWR? I really like the 8ft wide options but the only other SLX 8 would be the 212QB which is 5,500 GVWR, is that reasonable? From there one step down in Jayco would be the 7ft wide 174BH but then I'm losing a ton of things, full size fridge, central heat/air (it's a window ac unit), fresh water capacity is down a ton, bed is a queen that is side oriented where you have to crawl over. The dealer also has starcraft, the 19BH and 20 BH are options and the 20 has a full size fridge and big tank capacity. Was hoping to go Jayco.

Work it backwards. Try to target a tongue weight of 750 pounds, perhaps. That's a trailer with a GVWR of 5000 pounds. The 5500 GVWR would give you a tongue weight of 825 pounds, which would certainly be better than 900.

My own rig gives me over 1000 lb for cargo, based on my trailer's GVWR of 5995 lb. You're going to have people telling you it'll be just fine, that truck can handle it. It's up to you.

Good luck! It's a challenge!

Roger

[NYMarty]

I am an advocate of staying within the capacities of both the vehicle and trailer.

As far as the numbers go it looks like you will be close to the payload capacity of your truck depending on the amount of cargo you will be packing

Regarding the tongue weight of your trailer it can vary from 430 - 650lbs based on 10-15% of the advertised dry weight to 600-900lbs based on 10-15% of the GVWR. The only true way to determine the tongue weight is a CAT scale which you cannot do without the trailer.

My TT has a dry weight of 6539 and a GVWR of 8250. The tongue weight can vary from 654 (10% of dry weight) to 1237 (15% of GVWR). That's a huge difference.

My advice is to load up your truck as you would to camp, full fuel, family & cargo and weight it. Then you will have a real world payload number. Subtract that and the hitch weight (roughly guesstimating hitch weight of 80lbs) from the payload capacity and you will have your answer to the tongue weight.
I aim for 12% of TT weight on the tongue figuring roughly 7700lbs for my TT weight which put me at 924lbs tongue weight.

In your scenario if you aim for 12% of the 6000lbs GVWR you will be around 720lbs tongue weight plus the 80lb hitch weight (I like round numbers) to subtract off the payload capacity which equals 800lbs, leaving 725lbs of truck capacity. Subtracting the CAT weight from your truck as mentioned above you will have your answer.

Of course if you don't load your trailer to the listed GVWR it leaves even more for payload.
Again, you will be close but if you pack judiciously it should be doable.
So it can be really confusing to get an absolute answer and as I said earlier, can only be determined by you.

Hope this helps

[Jopopsy]

A Sherline Tongue Weight scale will get you well within the ballpark w/ regards to your tongue weight. Handy thing to have around if you tow.

https://www.amazon.com/Sherline-LM-1...e+weight+scale

They also carry a 2k version.

[lundy30]

Thanks for all the input. Going with 5000lbs max GVWR and I will go to a scale as well.