I received this email from Church, which I am copying here, since I think it is of interest to all members:
...Getting to many people involved in working out the clarity makes it difficult.
This is where it gets a little confusing to me, maybe a lot.
The GAWR front and rear: 3950 lbs.
Why weight the truck? Are they not rated when full tanks, fluids and driver?
The hitch weight ( tongue weight ? ) according to spec sheet is 520lbs.
You have the tongue weight @ 700lbs., how did you calculate that?
Just for round figures, let's say additional 800 lbs, passengers and gear.
Not sure what the propane tanks and battery weigh in at, but aware of the additional lbs for the hitch.
Again I thank you for reply.
I want to make sure that we are all safe on the roadways.
Tom
This was my reply:
The GAWRs on your truck are pretty good, better than the ones on my F150. You might find that the maximum gross vehicle weight rating of your truck is actually more than the sum of those two ratings, which makes no sense to me, even though I saw an explanation for this once.
But, why weigh the truck? Because you may well find your truck weighs more than you think it does, based on the specs you see. As I recall, my truck is about 1000# heavier than I expected. Some of that is caused by the bed cap I have, but that is only about 250#. My experience is that vehicles are heavier than what the manufacturers say they are. Weigh it with a full tank of gas and you in the truck, as well as any ordinary equipment you always have aboard.
Now, tongue weight: Ideally, you want the tongue weight to be about 12.5% of the trailer's gross weight and NO LESS THAN 9%. You gave me a trailer weight of around 4500# so I just did a quick calculation in my head and got ~700# (450 + half of that).
The trailer spec sheets are SUPPOSED to include the weight of the two propane tanks and all standard equipment including the battery. You have either 20 or 30# propane tanks, and a lead-acid battery is about 70#. My trailer is SUPPOSED to weigh about 3000#, but actually weighs about 3500# with an empty water tank. If I fill the water tank, it weighs 3800#, which is its max gross weight. Others have found their trailers are heavier than "spec" too.
As an aside, my trailer was initially constructed badly from HiLo and the axle was too far back. This gave me a tongue weight of slightly over 600# which was way more than its "listed" weight. I had the axle moved forward to correct this.
Yes, you should probably weigh the trailer too, but basing the tongue weight off the trailer's max gross weight is a safe bet. And, the tongue weight should NEVER be less than 9-10% of the gross weight, or you can get trailer sway, which is VERY dangerous!
I hope this explains things a bit better. If not, ask for clarification.
I know it was long, and possibly tedious, but I've found that things seem to weigh quite a bit more than they are supposed to and if you want to be safe, you need to respect those weights.
- Jack
