blkZ28spt

520 lbs is the tongue weight of the trailer (plus the 100 of the WDH)

4,000 lbs trailer X 13% tongue weight = 520 lb tongue weight (from the trailer)

You just worked 'backwards' (not really) to find the max trailer weight available to you based on a good tongue weight and your leftover payload capacity

Qubie77

ok....looking underneath the Ford Class IV trailer hitch, the label says....

Max Gross TRLR WT Max Tongue WT
Wt Distributing 11,600 lbs 1160 LBS
WT Carrying 5,000 lbs 500 lbs

So what is the part called ( I feel so stupid) that goes inside the channel with the trailer hitch ball on it?

Anyone Recommend a Wt Dist Hitch...On Amazon.com, I am looking at Equal-i-zer 4-point Sway Control Hitch, 600/6,000 lb rating w/out a hitch ball....I want to include a hitch ball but what size?

link to Amazon.com....https://tinyurl.com/yxtmb39v

I am definitely going to look for a trailer under 4000 lbs....you nice folks agree?

acdii

True, but Smokey, based on what the op was looking at, I doubted it would need a WDH! Wont have enough payload for a heavy enough trailer to require one.

The part that goes into the receiver is called the shank. Usually trailers that require a WDH use a 2 5/16" ball, and you want one rated @ 10,000 pounds, some are not rated that high, so read descriptions thoroughly. The Equilizer is a decent hitch, and the bars can be upgraded down the road.

blkZ28spt

Yeah if you are only going to be at ~520 lbs of trailer tongue weight and under 5,000 lbs total for the trailer, you won't need a WDH. Up to the roughly 500/5000 the weight carrying is rated for not using the WDH allows a litlte heavier trailre even since you aren't adding 100 lbs of WDH to the tongue weight/payload

This is rather illustrative of how/why payload is the limiting real world factor on trailer weight. If this was an otherwise identically equipped 7,000# GVWR truck with an extra 400 lbs of payload the 4,000 lb number would instead be about 7,000

Qubie77

So if I get or rent a 4000 lb trailer, just a shank, ball, safety chains would it? 1 and 7/8" or 2" ball?

acdii

You would have to talk to the renter on the size ball it needs. 4000 @ 13% is 520, not going to worry about 20 pounds, but I have never towed something in that weight as large as a travel trailer without a WDH, so can't say how it would handle, but that would be more for handling, than anything. Maybe others have towed an equivalent trailer like that and can answer.

Can you tow that without a WDH? Yes, Should you? That I cannot answer.

Riggodeaux

Smolenr, I have followed this thread with interest as a refresher on towing capacity. Read Smokey's #4 post carefully, and think about it this way: GVWR ['gross vehicle weight rating'] is only incidentally connected to the gross road weight of the trailer you want to tow. I think you may be confusing GVWR with the physical weight of the trailer you can tow. I'll try to approach it in a slightly different way. Think instead of the weight added to your tow hitch by that trailer. The rule of thumb with travel trailers is that 13% of the loaded weight of your trailer rests on that hitch, which should be a weight distribution hitch [WD] for most all travel trailers.

What this means: Say you have a travel trailer [TT] that weighs three tons [6,000 lbs] when loaded with gear. That's a 23-25 ft. Airstream, as an example. That means your trailer adds approximately 780 lbs [13% x 6,000] through the hitch, to your GVWR. The WD hitch adds another 100 lbs. To estimate, you take the GVWR from your white door sticker [on my new-to-me 2014 5.0L 4x4 s-cab, 7350 lbs] and reduce that by the loaded weight of your truck to determine whether you can tow that 6k lb. trailer. The yellow door sticker doesn't call it 'payload,' but gives you an estimated number [on mine, 1648 lbs] of the maximum payload [gear, people, pets, WD hitch, and 13% of the TT weight] you can carry. SO:

Given that my truck's empty weight is 5400 lbs or so [subtract that from the 7350 GVWR], and the TT and WD add 880 lbs to that 5400 lbs, I've got maybe 1,070 lbs of people, pets and stuff I can carry in the truck when towing the 6k [loaded] TT.

Note that I say maybe. Its an estimate. The test is hitting the Cat scales fully loaded and fueled, adjusting the WD hitch to distribute the trailer tongue weight optimally. As others have noted, this is the most accurate measure of what you can tow. Smokey and others have described the 'three pulls onto the Cat scale' to properly set up your rig.

There are other limiting factors that could come into play, after the above. For example, tire load ratings and rear axle weight rating [rear gawr], which limit how much of that WD-distributed weight can ride on the rear axle [on mine, 3850 on the scales, once weight is distributed]. The last factor rating you usually get to is the advertised stuff used to sell trucks: GCVR [weight of truck, stuff and trailer] and the trailer towing rating in the Ford towing pamphlet. With my relatively wimpy 8.8", 3.55 rear axle/differential, Ford tells me my max trailer weight is 7800 lbs. If mine had the 3.73 rear diff [i assume on the beefier 9.75 rear axle] the Ford table tells me I could tow 9400 lbs,

I hope this helps!

Riggodeaux

And I left out the hitch's max rating. Mine reads V-5/10,500 of max trailer weight, far in excess of the 7800 Ford says I can tow.

Boomerweps

The shank is the tube portion of the Trailer or Tow Ball Mount or even just the hitch (which really confuses).

Boomerweps

Correct. The hitch is stronger than the truck towing capacity. F-150s have 3 different frame thickness, different springs, axles, etc., but just two different hitch receivers.