Clean the muddy tow vehicle water

[phillip252]

Ok, I have looked through a lot of the post on tow vehicles. Ford, chevy, gas, disesil, Dodge, 1500, 2500, f250, f150. I have owned Chevy s. My TV is a expedition, with 4.6 / 3.55 gear, TT is a wildwood 261BH xl dry 4500lbs. I will be replacing the TV , I'm going to look at a Chevy 1500 tomorrow. Please help clear the cloudy water fellow towers?????

[bikendan]

What's the factory yellow sticker weight of the Wildwood?

[ependydad]

Assuming you put 1,500 lbs of options, water, and cargo into it- you can likely expect to have a tongue weight around 760 lbs.

Since you own the camper (I think/am guessing), I'd suggest you weigh the tongue weight to get a real number.

Then, add up the following:
- tongue weight
- driver's weight
- passenger(s) weights
- pets weights
- extra cargo in/on the truck (or heavy add-ons like a topper or bed cover or running boards)
- weight for what you typically carry in the truck bed (cooler, firewood, chairs, tools, bikes, etc)
- weight of the hitch itself

Add those all together and when looking at trucks, find one that has a cargo carrying capacity higher than that number. This will be a white sticker on the door jamb.

Tongue weight estimated from:
http://towingplanner.com/Estimators/...52&lw=5852&a=3

With specs from:

[asquared]

Easiest thing to do is to go weigh your current setup. Weigh just the tv with the front axle on scale pad 1 and rear axle on scale pad 2. Make a second pass with unhooked to tt wdh not hooked up. Tv front axle scale pad 1, rear axle scale pad 2, all tt axles on scale pad 3. You can then get your true tongue weight and trailer weight. You can find your closest scales here.

When looking at a new tv you need to look at tow capacity and payload. since Chou will likely run out of payload before you run out of two capacity, the best thing is to look at the tire loading sticker inside the drivers door. You will see "occupants and cargo should not exceed x lbs". This is your payload. Subtract the weight of all occupants, pets and gear you plan to have in the tv when towing from that sticker number. What is left needs to be higher than your scaled tongue weight.

Without a scale I would estimate a 6000 lb loaded tt weight for the wildwood. Given an ideal 13-15% tongue weight, I would guess your tongue weight to be somewhere between 700-900 lbs.

Remember the more options on the tv the lower the payload.

[thoremilly]

Originally Posted by phillip252

Ok, I have looked through a lot of the post on tow vehicles. Ford, chevy, gas, disesil, Dodge, 1500, 2500, f250, f150. I have owned Chevy s. My TV is a expedition, with 4.6 / 3.55 gear, TT is a wildwood 261BH xl dry 4500lbs. I will be replacing the TV , I'm going to look at a Chevy 1500 tomorrow. Please help clear the cloudy water fellow towers?????

Don't let the salesman say 1500 will work nonsense 2500 heavier braking, suspension overall everything. I drove for 25 yrs learned a lot oh yeah tires are heavier too. The difference is not a bank breaker either, just the safety factor and the piece of mind.

[thoremilly]

Originally Posted by phillip252

Ok, I have looked through a lot of the post on tow vehicles. Ford, chevy, gas, disesil, Dodge, 1500, 2500, f250, f150. I have owned Chevy s. My TV is a expedition, with 4.6 / 3.55 gear, TT is a wildwood 261BH xl dry 4500lbs. I will be replacing the TV , I'm going to look at a Chevy 1500 tomorrow. Please help clear the cloudy water fellow towers?????

I just sent a reply I had 2500 gmc with the 6.0 373 rears, purchased a 2500 ram with the 6.4 373rears day and nite, the ram outperforms it hands down. The gmc now uses 4.10 rears to compensate for lack power. I come out of Easton, pa going to Gettysburg you could run 80 without any kind of loss.