Shipping wt. is dry wt. W/options. For all practical intents and purposes it is the same, still dry wt. You should be looking at GVWR, that is the MAX your TT should ever weigh. Start with this wt. and you will have a better idea of what you will really be towing at any time. If you load lighter all the better but if you don't at least you will know where you stand. The 80% rule of thumb is 80% of GVWR that others have mentioned.
Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know much, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.
What you will be comfortable towing is obviously hard to answer. Where will you be going? Short trips to the KOA, or long trips thru the mountains. Also, define "comfortable." Does that mean strictly from a safety standpoint (eg, will the TT push the truck off the road, will the truck self-destruct due to the stress) or more of a comfort standpoint (eg, will it be a pleasant, reasonable speed, low stress situation).
I'd say if there is any question of what you'd be comfortable with, start small!
Have you checked out the hybrid trailer? They have the tent-ends and are a good substitute when you have weight restrictions. We have had ours for 7 seasons. Have been thinking about moving up to a TT but everytime we go camping we seem to enjoy the hybrid more and more.
2010 Toyota Tundra 4.6 V8 8600lbs tow capacity
2003 SL190T Surveyor(Hybrid)
You can tow what your truck is rated to tow. The so-called 80% rule is totally unfounded. I have yet to see any logical reason for it and believe that it is one of those things that someone said, and others thought it sounded good so it continually gets repeated. I will gladly change my opinion if facts can be presented to the contrary.
The manufacturers go to great lengths to determine safe vehicle ratings and this is what you should go by. You may run into the issue of reaching your GVWR before you get near you tow rating. For a little more info regarding TT towing, click here.
Whatever you TV capacity is, it will be less in the real world because almost every pound you put in it will have to be subtracted from that. With the TT dry weight the practice has been to give an estimated dry weight on the sticker, not a measured weight when it left the factory, although a few manufacturers do give the real weight. Then the dealer may put some add-ons on, like an awning, and that’s not reflected on the sticker. Then you add water, propane and all your gear and weights shoot up. That’s why the TT GVWR is the best figure to use. I see your issue with the variation in GVWR’s, though, and you could probably add your 1100# of gear to the dry weight, if you had confidence the dry weight wasn’t understated and you didn’t take everything but the kitchen sink with you.
I agree with LoudDog’s comment that the lighter the TT, the happier you will be. I’m only pulling roughly about 45% of my capacity and it works great for me. But I spend an inordinate amount of time pulling grades in the Rockies where weight really shows up. Other people pull max and they seem happy. But they often say that you won’t win any races on the hills, which I translate in plain English as meaning climbing a grade at low speed with the rpm wrapped up. Very annoying to me, but many people take it in stride.
No one can tell you what your max weight should be, it’s an individual decision. If you’re pulling a heavy weight it’s probably a bigger rig with a lot of amenities and you have to balance that off with the pluses of a lighter TT. I think pulling a light TT would be more pleasant, especially in the hills, with less wear and tear on the TV and better gas mileage – I get 14mpg with my 3000# TT. The 80% of capacity oft referred to is an attempt to quantify the unquantifiable. I take it as don’t pull near max; have some slack if you want to enjoy it. Good luck with your decision.
The other advantage of small trailers is that they are not as expensive -- so if you are not sure about whether you will like camping, maybe start small. And they are easy to store, and they fit into into tight campgrounds.
sonicsix wrote: You can tow what your truck is rated to tow. The so-called 80% rule is totally unfounded. I have yet to see any logical reason for it and believe that it is one of those things that someone said, and others thought it sounded good so it continually gets repeated. I will gladly change my opinion if facts can be presented to the contrary.
The manufacturers go to great lengths to determine safe vehicle ratings and this is what you should go by. You may run into the issue of reaching your GVWR before you get near you tow rating. For a little more info regarding TT towing, click here.
Here's one combined reason:
High altitude and hills! My previous TV was a '97 F-150, 4.6L V-8, rated for 7000lbs, pulling a 24' TT weighing about 5500lbs.
Between Clayton and Des Moines, New Mexico, Hwy 64 climbs from 5100' to 6600'. There were many stretches of road where I was rolling along at 45-48mph in D about 3000rpm! I could have dropped to 2 and reved the engine to about 4000rmp go faster. I don't want to even think how bad it would have been with a TT close to the 7000lbs rating! It will be interesting to see what my new combo of 8200lbs/5600lbs will do.
There's a hill on Colorado 12 climbing out of Stonewall that my 24' 460CI Ford class c pulling a Suzuki Samuri went up at 20-25mph. The previous TV/TT could barely make 12-15mph up that hill!
sonicsix wrote: You can tow what your truck is rated to tow. The so-called 80% rule is totally unfounded. I have yet to see any logical reason for it and believe that it is one of those things that someone said, and others thought it sounded good so it continually gets repeated. I will gladly change my opinion if facts can be presented to the contrary.
The manufacturers go to great lengths to determine safe vehicle ratings and this is what you should go by. You may run into the issue of reaching your GVWR before you get near you tow rating.
I'm not a big proponet of the "80% rule" either, but you cant just look at the published tow rating and make your decision. Max weight ratings of the TV, individual axles, and gross combined ratings all should be taken into consideration. A 1/2 ton like the Tundra may have a 10,500 tow rating, but only allow 1300 lbs payload in the truck, including passengers, fuel, etc. -- where do you find a 10k trailer w/ only 500 lbs tongue weight, and if you found one, how would it tow? That's the problem when you take a 5800 lb truck, give it a 7200 lb GVWR. You can disagree with the GWVR and decide not to follow it, as many do (go look at a Tundra forum), but it is what it is.
For me, I was pretty clueless getting set up to tow the TT in my sig w/ the 1/2 ton Suburban. 8400 tow capacity - 5050 dry weight = fine. But after weighing my setup a few times, I realized that I was regularly exceeding the GVWR of the truck. Did we have any problems as a result? Not really. But I made it a priority to upgrade to a bigger TV as soon as reasonably possible. Now, towing well within all of my 2500HD's ratings, the experience is much more pleasurable.
2 campers ago, in our first camper we left a 5 gallon water dispenser on the counter. When we arrived we discovered it had spilled all over the floor. :-(
Remember to put such things in the bath tub during travel.
And be sure to take up your chocks before driving away. heh
2003 Avalanche
1992 29S Wilderness
Him 47, Me 47,
DS 18, DD 16, DD 13, DD 11
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