Quote:
Originally Posted by ken in md
Question - our TV is rated for 7k lbs and the actual TBUD we're looking at is 5600. TV is an GMC Envoy XL, but it has the 5.3 V8 and 3.73 rear end. I wish it were 500-1000 lbs lighter, but - what do you guys think? Am I nuts to think we will do OK? Dealer (Randy) doesnt think itll be a problem. I would hate to find out the hard way.
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Hello from a neighbor just a little ways to the east. For towing, you're likely borderline if not going to be a bit over your payload ratings. The problem is in the advertising - the Envoy being rated for 7,000 pounds should have a little asterisk next to it. * should say,
with only a 150 pound driver, no passengers and nothing else in the vehicle.
The next catch - the TBUD being 5,600 pounds - is that the advertised unloaded vehicle (aka dry weight)? Is it the actual weighted weight on the yellow sticker on the camper? Or, is it your estimate (dry weight + about 1,000 pounds)? The problem is, you're never going to see the dry weight - that's because it's usually measured before adding propane, batteries and of course- your stuff. The camper's gross weight is the only absolute- but usually (and hopefully) is unlikely that you'll ever hit that.
So, where does it leave you? A camper will usually have 10%-15% of it's weight pushing down on the rear of your tow vehicle (called tongue weight). You need to make sure that you have enough cargo carrying capacity (aka payload) after adding the whole driver, passenger(s) and stuff you carry in the vehicle left over for that 10-15% of tongue weight.
Usually SUVs don't have enough to carry anything except pretty small campers.
I wrote up a "
What Can I Tow?" blog post for my father-in-law when he was asking what his 4Runner could tow. It should help you determine how much payload capacity you have and what kind of camper that translates to. I did a
second entry that took his real-world numbers so you can see how I put it all together.
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