Need advice: Is my TV suitable for prospective TT ?

[stantyszka]

This is such a hard question to "answer" correctly because of how many different scenarios come into play as well as differing opinions on what can be pulled with a half ton vs 3/4 and 1 ton trucks. It really comes down to A) the combined cargo capacity of the TV vs wether or not you are comfortable exceeding that number if the situation arises.

I am towing a 30 footer weighing in at about 6500 with a half ton. While I am nowhere near towing capacity for my truck, I do put about 675 on the tongue leaving roughly 800 pounds leftover for cargo/humans/animals.

Three seasons into owning both the truck and the camper and I have to say I should have bought a larger truck but hindsight is always 20/20. That being said, I finally learned how to load better and realized that we were NOT using space as best we could. This season I started loading a lot of what I would put in the truck bed directly into/onto the camper. The primary load in the bed typically consisted of 2-3 bikes adding about 50-60 pounds in load. I put a bike rack on the tongue of the trailer and they go there, now they are towed instead of hauled and only add 6-10 pounds onto the tongue weight. There used to be a lot of other odds and ends that got chucked in the back of the truck totaling 200-300 pounds. Stashed and secured them into the trailer and further lowered the cargo weight. We never run at capacity on the trailer and now I regularly run at 200-300 pounds under on cargo weight in the truck.

I used to haul firewood to campgrounds but so many places we have been there are locals that sell it outside the campground so I just buy it and burn it there.

Like another poster suggested, see if you can get airbags in the back coils on the TV, and better tires. Neither change your weight limit but both give you a better ride and better control.

Our half ton has pulled our trailer as far north as Niagara Falls and as far south as Staunton Virginia. Towed around 3000 miles this season and never really felt like we were "spiraling out of control" on the road. Always felt in charge averaging between 65 and 69 MPH.

[CurtPutnam]

An easy way to figure if you need the hassle of going to the scales if the sticker does not give you a payload.: the two axle ratings added together give you a GVWR. From that subtract the dry or curb weight for your vehicle. The result is a payload estimate.

[Shamrockthecasbah]

Originally Posted by CurtPutnam

An easy way to figure if you need the hassle of going to the scales if the sticker does not give you a payload.: the two axle ratings added together give you a GVWR. From that subtract the dry or curb weight for your vehicle. The result is a payload estimate.

My experience has been that the individual axle ratings added together gives a number that's actually higher than the GVWR of the vehicle.

[CurtPutnam]

Originally Posted by Shamrockthecasbah

My experience has been that the individual axle ratings added together gives a number that's actually higher than the GVWR of the vehicle.

Very interesting - and in my case, possibly disturbing. Do you know by how much they are/were high?

[Arctic Wolf]

Originally Posted by Shamrockthecasbah

My experience has been that the individual axle ratings added together gives a number that's actually higher than the GVWR of the vehicle.

That's because the whole is less than the sum of it's parts... Just because each axle has a limit doesn't mean the whole system is able to support to the max of all axles added together.

[Shamrockthecasbah]

Originally Posted by CurtPutnam

Very interesting - and in my case, possibly disturbing. Do you know by how much they are/were high?

The amount depends on the vehicle, but I have always seen it to be the case for every sticker I have looked at. Here are numbers for 2 of my vehicles.

2003 Suburban 1500
GVW front: 3450
GVW rear: 4000
GVWR vehicle: 7200 (individual axles would total 7450)

2002 F150 Supercrew
GVW front 3600
GVW rear: 3800
GVWR vehicle: 6750 (individual axles would total 7400)

[Arctic Wolf]

2005 F250
Front axle 5600
Rear axle 6100
GVWR 9600
Axle total 11700 wow

[thebrakeman]

Originally Posted by IslandVic

Greetings!

I need some advise on whether my tow vehicle is suitable for a travel trailer I may be purchasing.

Tow Vehicle: 2017 Chevy Silverado 1500 2wd, 5.3, 3.42, towing package (not the NHT package). I believe the trailer rating is either 9100-9300#. It has the 20" Continental tires.

Travel Trailer: 2015 Coachmen Freedom Express 282BHDS, dry weight 5874#, GVWR 7700#.

I don't agree with always assuming you need to protect for the full trailer GVWR. Some trailers have 1000 lbs CCC. Some 5ers have 3000 lbs or more. You certainly can be that conservative, but you don't have to. Lots of historical information on these sites say that a conservative number for a loaded TT (protecting for non-standard options and cargo) is 1000 lbs over empty weight. 5ers and toy haulers don't apply. if you expect to pack heavy, 1200 lbs, etc.

In this case, dry is 5874, allowing 1826 lbs for options and cargo in the trailer. Sorry, they simply will not put that much in the trailer, unless they like to collect lots and lots of rocks.

7000 lbs is a very conservative loaded estimate, which is more than 2000 lbs under max tow rating.
x 12.5% = 875 lbs TW. Subtract that, and the 75lbs hitch, from the 1681 (? I forget exactly) payload, leaves 731 lbs for passengers and cargo in the truck. I don't see a problem here.

[shadows4]

I think you will be fine. I feel as long as you don't exceed the axle ratings of your tow vehicle you will be fine. Good luck, let us know what you decide and include a couple of pics of your set up after you get it.

[IslandVic]

Thank you for all of your great responses!

I have read (and sometimes re-read) everyone's responses and I have learned a lot over the past few days.

I am going to pack gear smarter and make sure I get the WDH and sway bars dialed in right.

I can put the majority of gear in trailer now, vs the bed when we had our pop-up!

Also going to invest in a decent tire gauge. The TV has TPMS with psi readouts, but I will still check manually along with the TT.

Hopefully by spring, I may upgrade to LT tires.

I will post picks after we make our purchase.

Thanks!

[rsdata]

Hopefully by spring, I may upgrade to LT tires.

the stability in towing you will get with LT tires will make all the difference in the world. If you have P rated tires on the SUV then the tire swap should be the first thing that you do... IMO...

but somehow I think you may already have LT tires on that big hunk of iron...