Towing capacity

[stormvan]

I ordered a 2025 transcend one 161bh. The dry weight is 4784, the gross weight is 5500. I assume the tongue weight falls in between 500 and 575. TV (2019 f150stx) has capacity of 7700lb. That puts tongue between 770 and 825. Approximately. So if I understand the weights my TV is sufficient to tow the trailer and be able to put couple hundred pounds in truck bed. Also should WDH be rated for 800 or 1000lbs. New to travel trailers and want to get it right. Thank you.
Warren

 

[sande005]

What is the payload capacity listed on the door sticker? That will be what the truck could carry when it left the factory floor. Dealer and other add-ons subtract from that (running boards, bed coatings and covers, tools, floor mats, french fries, etc.). It does account for full gas and a 150 lb driver.
Plan for the tongue weight of the trailer to be ~12-13% of the GVWR, so about 690. You may not load all the way to the GVWR, but you will get closer than you think!
Best would be to weigh the truck as is now (with full gas and you in it) and subtract that from the 7700 (which I assume is the truck GVWR). That will be the amount for passengers, trailer tongue weight, and any other camping gear to be kept in the truck. I think you will be surprised at how close to the limit you may be. All trucks can pull a huge amount, most cannot carry much.

 

[stormvan]

Thank you for the info. GVWR 6530 and payload of 1675. I will have to find somewhere to weigh truck.

 

[classicrockguy]

Thank you for the info. GVWR 6530 and payload of 1675. I will have to find somewhere to weigh truck.

You should be fine. Trailer tongue weight should be 700-800 as long as it’s loaded correctly (proper weight distribution up to the 5,500 gvw limit). Watch how much (heavy) water you carry. That leaves at least 1,675 - 800 = 875 for passengers and gear in the truck. Best to load “thoughtfully” and verify on the CAT scale, but your combo should be fine.

I would go with a 10,000/1,000 WD anti-sway hitch. 8,000/800 is ok too, but best to have a little room. Note that max tongue weight (the second number) always sets the hitch size vs total trailer gvw (the first number).

 

[stormvan]

Great! Thank you for the feedback. Its great to have a forum to go to for answers to question. It will be exciting to be part of the GD family.

 

[goducks14]

I hope you don't plan on taking much with you in the TT. The payload capacity will be around 600 lbs after a battery and propane tank are filled.

 

[stormvan]

Yes I know. That was the one drawback! But the layout was good and GD did a great job on designing this TT. So I will have to take some things in truck and transfer to trailer afterwards. Just pack trailer wisely!

 

[WhittleBurner]

Great! Thank you for the feedback. Its great to have a forum to go to for answers to question. It will be exciting to be part of the GD family.

We also have a thread in the Reference section that explains things pretty well along with external links. Well worth the read for those new to towing
How To Determine Your Truck's Trailer Towing Capability

 

[VickeyC]

We recently bought a 22MLE, which has a GVWR of 6995. We had a 2021 F-150 STX with the 2.7L engine and no added towing features. When we towed the trailer home, we noticed that the truck really seemed to struggle. We traded up for a 2024 XLT with the 3.6L V6 Ecoboost, along with all of the available towing features, and we couldn't be happier! While the STX was technically capable of towing our trailer, we had concerns about how it would perform on the road.

 

[retired_engineer]

The 161BH is similar in size and its GVWR is close to the loaded weight of our old Micro Minnie 2106FBS. We towed it with a 2015 F-150 XLT 2.7L w/53A tow pkg that had about the same payload capacity as the OP's truck. We were satisfied with the performance of the truck even when driving in the mountains. One thing is our truck had a 36 gallon gas tank which I was happy for since normal towing mpg ranged between 10 an 12 mpg.

We recently bought a 22MLE, which has a GVWR of 6995. We had a 2021 F-150 STX with the 2.7L engine and no added towing features. When we towed the trailer home, we noticed that the truck really seemed to struggle. We traded up for a 2024 XLT with the 3.6L V6 Ecoboost, along with all of the available towing features, and we couldn't be happier! While the STX was technically capable of towing our trailer, we had concerns about how it would perform on the road.

We had a 2015 F-150 2.7L with 53A tow package when we purchased our 22MLE. We had towed our Micro Minnie just fine with it and while acceptable the performance with the 22MLE wasn't what we wanted. We ended up replacing the 2015 with a 2023 3.5L max tow and performance is much better especially when we head up into the mountains.