Tongue Weight Clarification - 3 passes at CAT Scale

[Smiletwice]

I've done a ton of reading to make sure I understand the whole combination of weight factors when determining safe towing. I started by asking the dealer when we upgraded our trailer. He looked at me like I was an alien and said my pickup could pull anything in the showroom up to 20,000 lbs. Don't worry about the tow capacity. That's propaganda! OK...I exaggerate.

I did the three pass thing at the CAT scales and came away confident I'm within limits but wanted to clarify one thing about my payload. I weighed truck and trailer fully loaded with passengers, cargo, full tank of gas in the truck and full propane tanks on the trailer.

So my questions are as follows:

1. Am I correct that my remaining payload in the truck is based on the GVWR of the truck minus the weight of the truck WITH THE WDH ENGAGED as opposed to the GVWR of the truck minus the calculated tongue weight?
2. The actual tongue weight is the weight of the truck WITHOUT THE WDH minus the weight of the truck alone?
3. Assuming GCWR is ok, the ACTUAL tongue weight is what you want to keep between 10-15% of trailer weight to control sway (and not the NET tongue weight you might be tempted to calculate using difference between weight of truck alone and weight of truck with WDH engaged)?

Thanks to all for your patience in answering a question I know you've seen many times in many different forms!

[clarkbre]

1. Your remaining payload is GVWR minus your weight on the front and rear truck axles with everything in the truck and WDH engaged.

2. Correct

3. The 10%-15% tongue weight should be calculated from the sum of two weights:
- a: Trailer axle weights without the WDH engaged
- b: Calculated tongue weight calculated from question #2.

Download this WEIGHT DISTRIBUTION SPREADSHEET, plug your truck, trailer and scale #'s in and see what it comes up with.

Here's how it looks for my rig:

[lbrjet]

Yes, yes and yes.

[2Evil4U]

Looks solid. I'd only suggest cranking up the wdh bars a tad to transfer some weight from drive axle to steer axle. Move about 200# and you'll be perfect.

[TitanMike]

Originally Posted by Smiletwice

I started by asking the dealer when we upgraded our trailer. He looked at me like I was an alien and said my pickup could pull anything in the showroom up to 20,000 lbs. Don't worry about the tow capacity. That's propaganda! OK...I exaggerate.

In the alphabet game regarding weights and trucks, there is another term, GCWR or sometimes GCVWR. (which you did mention).

This is the total weight of truck and trailer, regardless of tongue weight. It's determined by the manufacturer and is controlled by HP, Torque, Transmission (durability), rear end ratio, and most importantly, brake efficiency.

Salesmen often ignore some important safety and durability factors in their zeal to sell vehicles. Yes, your truck may be able to tow the space shuttle but will it do so up an average highway grade? Will you be able to stop it without relying totally on the trailer brakes? Will your transmission and differential carry the load, mile after mile. Is the cooling system for both engine and transmission rated for the GCWR you are planning on driving down the road with?

Might want to look at the owners manual and see what it says and place more credibility in that than what a Salesman tells you.

FWIW, that "Propaganda" is put together by the people who've actually tested the vehicles under all the conditions we will eventually see and have set these combined vehicle weight limits for a reason.