Fortkentdad
Alberta Canada
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I've been reading through the 18 pages under the Weight Distribution Hitch sticky post - and OH my Goodness, I forgot my calculus and trig before I left high school.
I would love a simple Yes or No answer to what I hope is a simple question.
Problem:
My TV (a half ton Dodge) has a payload of 1214#.
My wife and I, her three little dogs and our recumbent trikes weight about 570#. This leaves me all of 644#'s of payload.
I understand that tongue weight is to be included in the payload.
THE QUESTION:
Will this W.D. Hitch allow me to reduce the payload weight on my truck?
Will it let me stay within the GVWR for the truck, by transfering some of the trailers tongue weight to the trailer's axles?
Follow Up Question
I understand that tounge weight should be 10-15% of trailer wieght.
Using all the 640# of "payload/tongue weight I have, and going for 10% this would mean the max trailer weight wouild be 6,400#.
How is it that most "half ton towables" are more than 6,400# loaded weight. Something is not adding up here???
Fort Kent Dad aka FKD
Fort Kent, Alberta Canada
09 Rockwell 8319SS
08 Dodge Laramie 1500 QC 4x4, 3.92 gears with the Hemi.
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Ductape
On the Road
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First, I suggest disregard the claimed payload. Marketing hype combined with optomistic assumptions. Load up the wife, dogs, bikes and hit the scale. GVWR from your door sticker - scale weight is your real number left for tongue weight.
Q1- Mfr. literature I've read says to treat the tonque weight as dead weight for loading purposes. Yes, WD will move some of the TW forward and some back to the trailer axles. If you scale truck and trailer dead weight and then hook up the WD the trailer axles will load up more.
Q2- your math is correct. But some "half tons" have more load capacity than others.
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Previously a fiver crew.
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NHguy
NH
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Curb weight before payload is normally a full tank of fuel and a 150 lb driver. So you just gained another 150 lbs of payload.
But, I suggest going to a weighing station or the dump to get actual weight before you spend money. Published values are usually for a stripped vehicle that no one actually has.
My half ton has a similar capacity and my 5988GVWR trailer tows fine now that I did a Dual Cam HP hitch, figured out it was tongue light, and put my carried weight forward.
There is a guy next to me with the same truck as mine towing a 9500 lb GVWR TT, his truck must be hot as a pistol when he pulls over. Crazy.
05 F150 FX4 Supercrew, 5.4, 3.73 LS, Jordan Ultima 2020 Brake Controller,
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kaydeejay
SE Michigan, USA
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Fortkentdad wrote:How is it that most "half ton towables" are more than 6,400# loaded weight. Something is not adding up here??? Quick answer - you have a truck that is at the very low end of 1/2 ton payloads. It's going to be very difficult to stay within your ratings with the majority of towables.
There are trailers out there that will work but you need to watch your weights very carefully.
And don't try to substantially lighten your hitch weight by loading the trailer to the rear - that is a recipe for sway. You need to be in the 10 to 15% range.
Keith J, Retired from GM Engineering
2005 GMC Sierra 2500HD SLE 2WD/CC/SB/DA.
1999 Sunnybrook 27RKFS Fiver
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JIMNLIN
Big Cabin, OK
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Joined: 09/14/2003
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Fortkentdad wrote: (snip)
How is it that most "half ton towables" are more than 6,400# loaded weight. Something is not adding up here???
thats because payloads are figured from GAWRs not GVWR or the vehicle advertizing numbers from a web or a brochure. Payload has no legal meaning other than a advertizing number from the vehicle manufactor. Not sure about your country but in the some of the states we can uprate GVWR to a higher number. For that reason the trucks GAWRs are used to determine the payload. The rear axle carries the load so pay particular attention to RAWR numbers which are on your drivers side door tag. Your vehicles payload is simple to figure if you have the vehicle empty rear weights. Just subtract that number from RAWR number will give the max payload for that particular vehicle.
Jim
'03 2500 QC Dodge/Cummins HO 3.73 6 speed manual Jacobs Westach Linex
'97 Park Avanue 28' 5er with two slides 16" BFG Commercial LTs
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kaydeejay
SE Michigan, USA
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JIMNLIN wrote: thats because payloads are figured from GAWRs not GVWR or the vehicle advertizing numbers from a web or a brochure. Payload has no legal meaning other than a advertizing number from the vehicle manufactor. Not sure about your country but in the some of the states we can uprate GVWR to a higher number. For that reason the trucks GAWRs are used to determine the payload. The rear axle carries the load so pay particular attention to RAWR numbers which are on your drivers side door tag. Your vehicles payload is simple to figure if you have the vehicle empty rear weights. Just subtract that number from RAWR number will give the max payload for that particular vehicle.
Jim Gonna disagree with you here Jim. Payload is simply the Manufacturer's GVWR minus the curb weight of the truck with 1/2 tank of fuel minus 150# for the driver.
eg. I have a 9200# GVWR, truck weight with 1/2 tank of fuel is 6550#. That leaves 2650# so subtracting 150# for the driver results in my official payload of 2500#. Simple math.
(I have to reduce that some 'coz it's been a lot of years since I weighed 150 but we won't go there!)
Loading to max RAWR will usually exceed GVWR but that is a choice for each individual to make.
And to the OP, as you live in Alberta, which is right next door to BC, be aware that exceeding Manufacturer's GVWR IS (or at least was) an offense in that province.
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donn0128
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Hey kaydeejay, where you been?
Have not seen you posting in a while.
Donn
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Ron Gratz
full time RVer
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Joined: 12/27/2003
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Fortkentdad wrote:THE QUESTION:
Will this W.D. Hitch allow me to reduce the payload weight on my truck? Yes. The amount of vertical load carried on the hitch is part of the total load carried by the truck. When the WD system transfers load to the TT axles, the amount of vertical load carried by the truck is reduced.
Quote:Will it let me stay within the GVWR for the truck, by transfering some of the trailers tongue weight to the trailer's axles? The WD system will reduce the load carried by the truck. A properly sized and adjusted WD system should be able to transfer 20-30% of the "tongue weight" to the TT axles. Only way to know if you are within truck's GVWR is to weigh the loaded TV and TT with the WD system activated.
Quote:Follow Up Question
I understand that tounge weight should be 10-15% of trailer wieght.
Using all the 640# of "payload/tongue weight I have, and going for 10% this would mean the max trailer weight wouild be 6,400#. I would not recommend going for 10% "tongue weight". I would shoot for 12.5% TW. Then, if your WD system is able to transfer 20% of the TW to the TT axles, the resulting vertical load on the hitch would be 80% X 12.5% = 10% of the TT weight.
Ron
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kaydeejay
SE Michigan, USA
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donn0128 wrote:Hey kaydeejay, where you been?
Have not seen you posting in a while. Dunno Donn, I have logged 34 posts this month so far.
Where YOU been? 
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JIMNLIN
Big Cabin, OK
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kaydeejay wrote: (snip)
Loading to max RAWR will usually exceed GVWR but that is a choice for each individual to make.
And to the OP, as you live in Alberta, which is right next door to BC, be aware that exceeding Manufacturer's GVWR IS (or at least was) an offense in that province.
guess you didn't read the part where I mention we may in some states uprate the trucks GVWR. If your 2500 GM truck was registered in TX for example, you may uprate GVWR in increments (read TX 621 motor vehicle regs). If it was registered at 15000 lbs for example, for its GVWR thats where GAWR come to play. Loading to max axle weights won't, in this case, exceed GVWR if GVWR has been uprated. Payloads aren't figuered from GVWR for that reason. Stay within the manufactors GAWRs and he won't have any problem in the states.
Figuring payloads using the trucks GVWR will be about 80 percent of its capacity is also a choice folks can make. Figuring payloads per GAWR is another choice we can make. Both will satify any new truck warranty issues and any state weight regs.
Jim
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