Excursionator

I'd like additional confirmation/opinions on trailer shopping.

Additional info not found in my signature: GCWR=17,100, GVWR=7700, Payload (yellow sticker)=1449, GVW wet but no people= 6560. GVW is actual scale weight. Add 330 lbs for my girl and I plus another 50# for a cooler and suitcase in truck itself and 75# for hitch and I come up with having about 685# of payload left for tongue weight. (Sounds like I should look for a trailer with water and holding tanks toward rear to lighten tongue??) Running stock 20" tires now but I will replace them before getting a trailer. Most of my towing will be in the midwest. Comments? Any suggestions on size/brand of trailer? Thanks, Jim

Excursionator

SO my calculations are correct? No suggestions on a trailer?

Norotso

Easy math would suggest that your remaining payload ÷ by 13% allows you a trailer no heavier then 5270# loaded

acadianbob

Yes. Which means a dry weight somewhere around 4,000 to ,4400 depending on how you load. That's a pretty small trailer. This is the sad reality of a heavily optioned truck.

I commend you for checking into all of this now before you get in over your head on trailer weight. You are focusing on the right thing; Payload. You are doing your research up front; good for you.

P.S. Don't forget other weight added to your truck; like that BackFlip; step bars?, etc. The best thing is load everyone and everything in the your truck in camping form and then go to a scale. Subtract your weight from the GVWR. That is your remaining payload.

sunofabeach

if you bothered to read the OP, it says that he did scale his truck.


my question is why wouldn't the suitcase and cooler go into the trailer? why bother with a suitcase if you have a spot in the trailer for your clothes? and food? and drinks? none of that stuff needs to be in the truck.


maybe a drink for each and a small snack for the drive out. I just don't understand the need to have your stuff in the truck instead of in there trailer where you'll be using it when you get to your destination?

smokeywren

I tried to reply to your e-mail, but ole fumble fingers lost it somehow.



You're in about the same boat as me. Payload 1,566. Hauling wife and 50 pounds in dogs, plus a toolbox, spray-in bedliner, bed rug to cover my 5er bedrails, and a cap to keep the weather out of the bed. Overloaded by 100 pounds with my TT that weighs 4870 when wet and loaded on the road. Without the cap I could probably tow a 5,000-pound TT without being overloaded.


So since you have less payload than I have, if you go easy on the tools and jacks and don't haul a cap or tonneau cover, you can probably tow a 5k TT without being overloaded.


But warning that a wet and loaded TT that grosses only 5k is rare. It probably has a single axle instead of tandem axles, and it will be in the 17' length range.


My Skyline Nomad Joey 196S is about 20' long not counting the tongue or rear bumper. GVWR is 5,600, but we load it to only 4,870 for travel. But they don't make mine now. A similar floorplan is the Nomad Dart 188RB, with GVWR of 6,200 pounds
http://www.skylinerv.com/page/441/188RB

Excursionator

Thanks to all the replies. Much appreciated!

schmenke

I tow a 2010 Rockwood Minilite, 23'; twin axle, no slides. Gross (loaded) weight is just over 4,800 lbs.


Having said that, with my '13 ecoboost (max tow package) it's just on the limit of what I can safely tow with all the gear that comes along with a family of four.

schmenke

Excursionator, one thing that may ease your towing woes a bit, although not your payload, is swapping to a smaller, say 18" diameter tire.

smokeywren

I suspect you meant 18" wheel. An 18" tire would be an itty bitty thing.


But wheel diameter is not the whole story. Tire diameter is the key. You can have a low-profile tire on 20 inch rims that are not as tall as a high-profile tire on 18" rims.


Better yet, go by the tire revolutions per mile. The fewer the revs/mile the taller the tire and the less feeling of power and torque you will have.


Example:
Goodyear Wrangler SRA size P265/70R18 is about 32.2" diameter with 640 revs/mile.


Goodyear Wrangler SRA size P265/50R20 is about 30.5" diameter and has 682 revs/mile.

So the tire for 20" rims is shorter than the tire for 18" rims.


So if you like your 20" rims, but want shorter tires for towing power, then simply buy lower profile tires that will fit your 20" rims.