Gvwr doesn’t add up

[nighthawk87]

My trailers gvwr on sticker says 7750. It has two 3500 axles. Math don’t add up.


Am I missing something?


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[Atlee]

The manufacturer will tell you the tongue weight is not on the axles, so therefore the trailer is under the 7000# the axles total.

Originally Posted by nighthawk87

My trailers gvwr on sticker says 7750. It has two 3500 axles. Math don’t add up.


Am I missing something?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rkresge]

Originally Posted by nighthawk87

My trailers gvwr on sticker says 7750. It has two 3500 axles. Math don’t add up.

Am I missing something?

Travel trailers are designed so that 10-15% of the weight is on the hitch. So it looks like the math does work. I forget the exact numbers, but it's similar math on mine, too, although it's got a GVWR of 5995.

This is why we get so emphatic about payload capacity of the tow vehicle - it has to be able to carry your passengers, luggage and other baggage, fuel, etc., PLUS the tongue weight of the trailer.

In your case that's up to 1162 pounds of tongue weight depending on how you load the trailer.

Relax and enjoy!

Roger

[Kravchenko]

I am so glad you asked this. I have been thinking the same thing. Thought it was a major derp moment that I was just not smart enough to figure out, haha.

[Crabman]

It's true they assume X amount of lbs. will be on the hitch and therefore the axles and tire ratings in many cases do not add up to GVWR. My thought is the axles and tires should be rated to carry the full GVWR to allow some margin of error and not be maxed out.

[norty1]

Also don't make the mistake of loading the axles to the max. There should be some extra capacity figured into the equation. Your tires should be able to handle the total axle capacity plus some.

Like a chain, the weakest link will be the overloaded area.

Once you are loaded for travel, drop by a scale and find out exactly what the axles and hitch weight are. You may be surprised.

[Scott_Trailer_Newbe]

My White Hawk 28RL has a max weight of 8,100 and has 4,500 lb. axles.

[LiftedAWDAstro]

My 28BHBE is rated at 9250# but has 2 - 4400# rated axles. Would have been nice if they put 2 - 5000# axles on it!

[repacs0103]

This doesn’t just happen on RV’s- most trailers including semi trailers are built the same way.


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[norty1]

Originally Posted by LiftedAWDAstro

My 28BHBE is rated at 9250# but has 2 - 4400# rated axles. Would have been nice if they put 2 - 5000# axles on it!

There are many things they could do to build it to over capacity but competition likely negates the value. I do know some who have changed 6K axles to 7K axles and upgraded the brakes and tires.

You would be able to do that in a custom build but then there is the competition.....The wife and many buyers do not care about that, just the counter tops.

[Kenelz]

Hit the CAT scale and see. Also, don't forget the WDH moves tongue weight to the TV front axle, and also back to the trailer's axles, adding to the axle weight.

[vcbice]

So, yes, they could put 4000lb axles and rate the trailer at 8000lb, but, then someone would load the trailer so that all 8000lb was on the axles. Then they'd sue the mfg when their rig becomes unstable and they crash.

This way if you load the trailer to GVWR and stay within axle limits then you will have at least the minimum amount of weight needed on the hitch to make the trailer at least somewhat stable for towing.

I think their method of calculating GVWR is correct. They have axles made for the load specified. Why should they do more? If they used heavier duty axles they would just raise the GVWR to the amount the new axles could carry.

FYI, as a mechanical engineer I am confident that axles rated for a certain weight will reliably carry that weight for the life of the trailer. It is not rocket science (yep, I've done that before too).