jlp16au

I am looking at a travel trailer with a gvwr of 9995 lbs. I have a 2011 f-150 EB 2wd with the 3.73 rear end and the max tow package. I expect the tongue weight of the trailer to be around 1200 lbs. My payload sticker says the weight of the occupants and cargo should not exceed 1630 lbs.

My questions is this, with the weight distributing hitch should the load added to the truck be less than 1200 lbs. I am thinking the load added to the truck should be more in the 800 lb range as roughly 1/3 of the tongue weight should be transferred back to the TT axels. Am I thinking about this correctly?

Thanks,
Josh

mbopp

The WD hitch will put some weight back on the trailer axles but I don't think it'll be 1/3. It's more for transferring weight from the rear axle to the front axle on the truck.
And the weight of passengers and "stuff" adds up quick. My guess is you'll be at or over on the GVW when it's all said and done.

brulaz

^^^^^

You'll be close or over.

magblue10

You don't loose tongue weight with a WDH. Are u counting the hitch as part of the tongue weight cuz that is also part of payload. I am by no means the weight police I'm just trying to answer your question I would think that if you put most of the stuff in the trailer you would be ok. It's close with that heavy of tongue weight and your payload sticker. If you have 3 or 4 occupants and the trailer tongue weight is what you said than your at or above your payload. If you haven't bought the trailer maybe look around a bit more. You can probably find a 28-30ft trailer lighter that meets your needs. Or if your set on that TT then get it. Your truck won't have trouble pulling it. Trust me there are a lot of people that are exceeding there weight limit a lot more than you might be just go to a good size campground and look at some of the tow vehicles pulling some of these monster TT good luck of course these are just my opinions

jlp16au

The tongue weight is a guess on my part right now. The TT is 8700 lbs dry with a GVWR of 9995 lbs. I based the tongue weight on about 12.5 % of 9500 lbs.

For a tongue weight of 1200 lbs is the following true?

Without weight distributing hitch all 1200 lbs would be added to the trucks rear axle adding 1200 lbs to the trucks weight.

With a WD Hitch, a portion of the 1200 lbs will be distributed to the trucks front axle, the trucks rear axle, and the trailers axels. There by reducing the payload of the truck by some amount (making the effective tongue weight < 1200 lbs) and spreading the reduced payload amount between the front and rear axles.

I think if I can keep the effective tongue weight on the truck under 1000 lbs, I will be within the limits.

magblue10

I get what your saying but its still 1200lbs of payload whether it's on the front or rear axles. WDH is the help distribute the weight for safer travel and controll of the tv

brulaz

Actually a bunch of weight will also be lifted off the front axle (guessing 300-400#??) and also put on the truck's rear axle. In this scenario your rear GAWR will be WAY exceeded.


True. The WDH removes some of the weight off the rear axle and puts it onto the trailer's axle. May be you can move 200# off the truck and onto the trailer's axle. The WDH itself does weigh something though (75#?).

MagBlue, I do think the payload can be reduced a bit with a WDH.

I don't think of the WDH reducing just the tongue weight though, rather it reduces the rear GAW (which can come from the tongue weight, cargo, whatever). Theoretically a very strong WDH could lift the rear wheels right off the road, reducing the rear GAW to zero.

magblue10

I'm not a hundred percent sure but I think the majority is still payload if you did have a hitch strong enough to lift a truck then all the weight I would think is on the front of the truck. This is the reason without the hitch your truck squats when a WDH is added it distributes the weight to the front of the truck. I would call curt manufacturing they have a very helpful customer service dept I'm sure they would no the correct answer

willieboy

About 1/3 of the weight will be distributed evenly between the front truck axle and the trailer axles. So figure ~200 lbs taken off truck. WDH hitch weighs in around 75 lbs on the truck. So you are looking at 1075 lbs (minimum) of total payload in the truck. Figure 200 per person by the time you figure gear and people. You are in the doable range, you will just have to pay attention to loading.