- Joined
- Aug 5, 2022
- Messages
- 106
Something that has struck me as odd recently is that all truck manufacturers list the towing capacity of the truck at X pounds and then the max tongue weight as X/10 pounds. So for instance my GMC Sierra 2500HD has a max towing capacity for conventional trailers of 18,500# and maximum tongue weight of 1,850#. So the maximum is only 10% of the trailer weight.
However everything I have read is that the expected tongue weight for a trailer should be between 10-15% of the loaded trailer weight, and that towing a trailer with less than 10% tongue weight is considered unsafe. So if I actually DID have a fully loaded trailer of 18,500# attached to my Sierra 2500HD, the likely tongue weight could be anywhere from 1,850# minimum up to 2,775#! And anything less than 1,850# would actually be considered not safe?
So what am I missing then? If the maximum tongue weight is only 1,850# for my truck, then really I can only tow up to a 12,333# trailer behind it if the tongue weight is up to 15% of the trailer weight.
The only thing I can think of is that this is for conventional towing WITHOUT any weight distribution. Is that how this works? Clearly for larger trailers weight distribution is pretty much a requirement unless you are towing with a 1 ton dually (and even then I think you would be silly to tow without weight distribution?).
When I need to tow my Grand Design Momentum 31G toy hauler travel trailer with no toys in the back (such as towing it to the dealer), the tongue weight is potentially going to be > 1,850#, maybe even close to 2,000# unless I remove cargo from the front of the trailer. So my question is am I overloading the truck at that point, or am I good as long as I am fully distributing the weight forward correctly (getting the front wheels back close to their original location) and I am not surpassing the maximum payload capacity of the truck?
I know my max payload is 2,970# so given that some of the tongue weight gets distributed back to the trailer and some gets distributed to the front wheels, I would likely not be close to my max payload as my truck is likely also going to be empty anyway of cargo when towing to the dealer.
Thoughts?
However everything I have read is that the expected tongue weight for a trailer should be between 10-15% of the loaded trailer weight, and that towing a trailer with less than 10% tongue weight is considered unsafe. So if I actually DID have a fully loaded trailer of 18,500# attached to my Sierra 2500HD, the likely tongue weight could be anywhere from 1,850# minimum up to 2,775#! And anything less than 1,850# would actually be considered not safe?
So what am I missing then? If the maximum tongue weight is only 1,850# for my truck, then really I can only tow up to a 12,333# trailer behind it if the tongue weight is up to 15% of the trailer weight.
The only thing I can think of is that this is for conventional towing WITHOUT any weight distribution. Is that how this works? Clearly for larger trailers weight distribution is pretty much a requirement unless you are towing with a 1 ton dually (and even then I think you would be silly to tow without weight distribution?).
When I need to tow my Grand Design Momentum 31G toy hauler travel trailer with no toys in the back (such as towing it to the dealer), the tongue weight is potentially going to be > 1,850#, maybe even close to 2,000# unless I remove cargo from the front of the trailer. So my question is am I overloading the truck at that point, or am I good as long as I am fully distributing the weight forward correctly (getting the front wheels back close to their original location) and I am not surpassing the maximum payload capacity of the truck?
I know my max payload is 2,970# so given that some of the tongue weight gets distributed back to the trailer and some gets distributed to the front wheels, I would likely not be close to my max payload as my truck is likely also going to be empty anyway of cargo when towing to the dealer.
Thoughts?