Towing weight limits

[Lisa661]

Hello all,

I have a 2022 242BHSW with a GVWR of 7250. I don't travel with fluids, and I just weighed it at 5200 empty. My question is, on the tow vehicle do they consider the drive axle weight anything behind the rear tires? Or does that also account for weight inside the cabin area? I am getting close to my max GAWR on my rear axle, and need to properly disburse my cargo weight. I have the E2 WD hitch and will load the trailer with about 450 pounds of cargo. Currently, my tongue weight is 850 empty which was set by the dealer. Question #2, If I load the trailer over its axel with cargo, will that decrease my tongue weight?

CAT Scale weight 2/14/22 (2 passengers and a full tank of gas)
Steer Axel = 2760
Drive Axle = 3720
Trailer Axle = 5200
Gross Weight 11,680

Ram specifications
GVWR = 6800
GAWR Front = 3700, Back = 3900
Trailer weight = 7350
GCWR = 12,500
Payload = 1830


I appreciate any information

[NERVA]

Originally Posted by Lisa661

Hello all,

I have a 2022 242BHSW with a GVWR of 7250. I don't travel with fluids, and I just weighed it at 5200 empty. My question is, on the tow vehicle do they consider the drive axle weight anything behind the rear tires? Or does that also account for weight inside the cabin area? I am getting close to my max GAWR on my rear axle, and need to properly disburse my cargo weight. I have the E2 WD hitch and will load the trailer with about 450 pounds of cargo. Currently, my tongue weight is 850 empty which was set by the dealer. Question #2, If I load the trailer over its axel with cargo, will that decrease my tongue weight?

CAT Scale weight 2/14/22 (2 passengers and a full tank of gas)
Steer Axel = 2760
Drive Axle = 3720
Trailer Axle = 5200
Gross Weight 11,680

Ram specifications
GVWR = 6800
GAWR Front = 3700, Back = 3900
Trailer weight = 7350
GCWR = 12,500
Payload = 1830


I appreciate any information

Great job getting the truck and trailer weighed it helps a ton. If you got a weight of the truck without trailer it would help even more. But from what I can see here are a few things you could do.

The tongue weight is on the heavy end, at 5200lbs you should be at 780lbs at 15% tongue weight.

To adjust this park the trailer 100% level and park your truck in front of it. Set the ball height up 1/8” per every 100lbs of tongue. Meaning if your trailer is at 24” top of coupler, set your ball on the truck to 25” at the top of the ball.

Now measure the distance from ground to fender front and rear, after doing so load trailer onto hitch of truck.

After loading trailer onto hitch measure front and rear fenders again from ground.

Adjust your weight distribution bars to get the numbers back to as close as it was before putting trailer onto truck.

Hope this helps some and gets you in the right direction, sounds like the dealer set your ball too low and not enough weight distribution.

[HAL9001]

Originally Posted by Lisa661

Hello all,

I have a 2022 242BHSW with a GVWR of 7250. I don't travel with fluids, and I just weighed it at 5200 empty. My question is, on the tow vehicle do they consider the drive axle weight anything behind the rear tires? Or does that also account for weight inside the cabin area? I am getting close to my max GAWR on my rear axle, and need to properly disburse my cargo weight. I have the E2 WD hitch and will load the trailer with about 450 pounds of cargo. Currently, my tongue weight is 850 empty which was set by the dealer. Question #2, If I load the trailer over its axel with cargo, will that decrease my tongue weight?

CAT Scale weight 2/14/22 (2 passengers and a full tank of gas)
Steer Axel = 2760
Drive Axle = 3720
Trailer Axle = 5200
Gross Weight 11,680

Ram specifications
GVWR = 6800
GAWR Front = 3700, Back = 3900
Trailer weight = 7350
GCWR = 12,500
Payload = 1830


I appreciate any information

With your specific RAM, you cannot exceed a payload of 1,830 lbs. That includes anything you put in the truck, including passengers and cargo, and the tongue weight of your trailer. That's primarily what you need to focus on here.

You can move the cargo of your trailer front and back to increase or decrease the tongue weight. However, it's vital to ensure that the tongue weight is 10-15% of the Gross Trailer Weight (GTW) to reduce trailer sway. GTW includes the factory measured weight of the trailer, which you will find on the yellow RV Data sticker attached to the TT, and any accessories, options, water, cargo, or any other weight that you add to the TT. Proper tongue weight is very important. Too little and you may get dangerous trailer sway, too much and you may overload your truck's payload. You must always carefully balance this correctly.

A proper Weight Distribution Hitch will distribute some of the tongue weight to the front axle of your tow vehicle and some to the trailer's axle(s). The tongue weight distributed to the trailer's axle(s) (~10-25% depending on the WDH and TV/TT set up) can be deducted from the tow vehicle's payload.

Finally, never exceed the TT's GVWR, any TV axle's weight rating, or the maximum rated towing weight of your tow vehicle.

If you get all the numbers to work correctly, you should have no towing issues with either the TV or the TT.

[Lisa661]

Thank you