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Under 1500lb payload capacity: what travel trailers are you towing?
As with most of us I am limited in my towing by payload capacity/tongue weight. Our 2.7 SCrew 302a has 1431 lbs payload capacity which - after you add it all up - leaves us with just under 700lbs for tongue and cargo. Wondering what travel trailers/campers people are towing who are similarly payload limited. And how do you manage your cargo?
Towing capacity is not an issue. Trailers we are looking at have GVWR well below our 7600lb towing capacity.
Last edited by McGuillicuddy; 07-18-2020 at 11:10 AM.
As with most of us I am limited in my towing by payload capacity/tongue weight. Our 2.7 SCrew 302a has 1431 lbs payload capacity which - after you add it all up - leaves us with just under 700lbs for tongue and cargo. Wondering what travel trailers/campers people are towing who are similarly payload limited. And how do you manage your cargo?
Towing capacity is not an issue. Trailers we are looking at have GVWR well below our 7600lb towing capacity.
700 lb is after accounting for the WDH weight or before?
I think Andersen is the lightest WDH I can think of. Some think they are the Cat's Meow and some hate them so I'm not going to advise beyond that.
I pulled a Jayco 21FB with about 775 lb loaded with full fresh water with a truck with only a couple hundred more payload accounting for the Line-X. I think you can find something larger with less tongue today (It's an older trailer).
You might manage a Keystone Passport 239ML but it's going to be really close. I wouldn't buy without scaling it first. It is a no slide trailer. That helps on maintenance and weight but is a deal killer for some.
Forgot to add a friend said his was a about 600 lb tongue loaded for a weekend for two. I believe that's without water in the fresh tank. His truck is an older Chevy with a 600 lb WC rating so he pulls without a WDH and says the spread axles really help with stability.
DISCLAIMER: This is all hearsay so trust but verify!
What ever you choose actually go weigh before buying because brochure tongue weights are notorious for being very optimistic compared to real world. I've been looking myself and haven't found anything I really like I'm willing to tow with a Half-Ton.
I have a 2018 F150 XLT SCAB, 2.7l 4x4. My Payload capacity is 1379. GVWR is 6500. Towing a Grand Design XLS 22MLE. Had everything weighted with me and passenger and a modest amount of supplies in the trailer. No water in the tank. GCW was 11,300. Tongue weight 680 (12%). Truck weight hitched and WDH engaged was 6160. So I have 340# to play with.
Prior to the 2016, I towed this trailer with a 2014 F150 that had 1470 pounds of payload. It had the standard tow package and 3.15 gearing with a 3.5 Ecoboost. Towed it from IL to Utah and back, and stayed under GVWR. It is a 274BH with a 7600 GVWR, UVW of 5100 pounds, wet and loaded between 6200 and 6400 pounds during the 4 years of owning it, just sold it last month to upgrade to a 5th wheel.
I think the 2016 pictured was just shy of 100 pounds more payload.
7000 - 1494 = 5506. That was the weight of your truck with a full tank of gas when it left the factory. All brochure data is guesses based on basic or average options included.
Once you start carrying extra stuff in the truck, your best bet is to weigh the truck to know.
The Load Capacity sticker clearly states “Not including occupants.” Your dealer saying otherwise is either a lier, stupid, or both.
I towed this trailer with a 2014 F150 that had 1470 pounds of payload. It had the standard tow package and 3.15 gearing with a 3.5 Ecoboost. Towed it from IL to Utah and back, and stayed under GVWR. It is a 274BH with a 7600 GVWR, UVW of 5100 pounds,
Your combo and success is why I laugh at some of the weight police group think. If I would ask if it's doable on for example the forest river forum the "experts" would quickly take 13% of 7600 then add 100lbs for the WDH. Tell you the dry weight is worthless use the GVRW. Puff their chest and proclaim you have ONLY 382 lbs of payload left before you and the family get into the truck. "you'll be endangering yourself and everyone on the highway" "tail will wag the dog" all the usual nonsense. I'm done rant over.
Your combo and success is why I laugh at some of the weight police group think. If I would ask if it's doable on for example the forest river forum the "experts" would quickly take 13% of 7600 then add 100lbs for the WDH. Tell you the dry weight is worthless use the GVRW. Puff their chest and proclaim you have ONLY 382 lbs of payload left before you and the family get into the truck. "you'll be endangering yourself and everyone on the highway" "tail will wag the dog" all the usual nonsense. I'm done rant over.
Actually, that is exactly HOW I came to decide on the trailer for the truck. Took GVWR of the trailer multiplied by .13 and found 988 pounds TW. Since the CCC of the trailer was nearly 3000 pounds, I knew that I had enough payload since I would not be maxing out the weight of the trailer. I never use "dry weight" when calculating the pin or tongue weight, but max it could potentially weigh, then look at cargo capacity, and estimate what it could potentially weigh. That also assumes that the TW would be 13%, because in most cases it can be higher. Mine actually came out closer to 14% after a couple trips.
The only people who care what the dry weight is are the people shipping them. They will never weigh that little once ready for the road, so why guess at what it might be, when you know what it could be? Why would you buy a trailer that has a UVW close to the weight range of the truck? It is so easy to drop 1200 pounds of "stuff" in a trailer and not realize it. Unless you know exactly how much "stuff" yon put in the trailer, the UVW is a useless number.
When I started looking for the 5th wheel I did the exact same thing, GVWR. Whats the most it could weigh, and knowing what my truck had in payload after everyone was in the truck and the tank was full, I could then look for trailers at or under that GVWR range. I also look at what they calculated the pin weights at, some are 20%, some 22%, some 18%, and some just a bit over 15%. The one I chose has a 15.8% pin weight, so using the UV pin weight, and the GVWR, boosting the pin to 18% told me my truck can pull it within ratings, even at it's GVWR. Now that I have the trailer fully loaded, I weighed the pin and it came out right within the range I was hoping for, and still have payload available.
IOW not a thing wrong with using GVWR when shopping for a trailer, it keeps one well within specs of the truck, provided one knows what is actually available in the truck.
07-18-2020, 10:55 AM
Under 1500lb payload capacity: what travel trailers are you towing?
