(Sorry, I needed to recap for myself. This all says what you said.)
The FR site says the following:
- Gross trailer weight: 16,132 lbs.
- Hitch weight: 2,452 lbs.
- Dry weight: 14,037 lbs.
- Cargo carrying capacity: 2,095 lbs.
I see that you're saying the yellow sticker weight of the unit that you like is 14,960 lbs. The GVWR minus the yellow sticker weight is 1,152 lbs. (which is right near what you reported as 1,053 lbs.).
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Taking what FR tells us is the pin weight percentage (17%), your dry pin weight of this particular unit is likely around 2,613 lbs. This means that the axles are carrying 12,347 lbs. Unfortunately, without weighing the wheels individually- you have no way of knowing what each wheel is carrying; there can be large discrepancies between side to side and front to back (I had up to a 400 lb. swing).
Now, here's the rub- you have no way of knowing if the tires are weak link. And, good luck getting FR to ever give you a definite ruling on why the GVWR is what it is. Is it the tires? Is it the pin box? Is it the frame itself? Is it the framing for the walls?
I know that owners of the Sierra/Sandpiper 365SAQ were eventually able to get FR to replace 6,000 lbs. axles with 7,000 lbs. axles as a warranty item when they were in a similar situation as you describe (super low cargo carrying capacity). I've heard the switch to 8,000 lbs. axles is a bigger switch than going from 6-7,000 lbs. but really don't understand the terms well enough to say either way.
It's easy for me to say (sitting in this chair in the middle of the night in my camper in sunny Florida), but I'd walk from a 43' unit with such low cargo carrying capacity.
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Looking at tires, though- you can potentially look at the Goodyear G614 or Sailun S637 and get a jump in the tire's capacity. An even larger jump can be had by going to commercial trailer tires and jumping up to load range H or J -- I did it, you can
read about it here.
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