2 GTOs

My car and trailer are about 4,500 lbs. am I correct that I should be targeting tongue weight of 450-600 lbs? The max for my tow vehicle is 900.

Is there a benefit to being at the higher or lower end of this range?

Also, I have a tongue scale that is 0 - 2,000. Should I expect it to be accurate in the 400-600 range?

Thanks

c4cruiser

Tongue weight should be 10 to 15% of the trailer gross weight. Given the weight, you should be OK. Tongue weight can affect vehicle handling as it has to be added to any cargo weight in the tow vehicle. So if the tow vehicle (say a pickup) is going to have 700 lbs of cargo in the bed, then the tongue weight has to be added as cargo weight.

I would look at getting one of the lighter duty weight distribution hitches. A WD hitch will allow the tow vehicle to remain very close to the normal ride height and the WD hitch is designed to carry the load over all 4 wheels. It can also help with handling.

Towing capacity is based on total gross trailer weight and not tongue weights specifically. With the weight of the trailer you mentioned, you will need, at a minimum, a Class III hitch. This class will handle trailer weights of 5000 lbs and a tongue weight of 500 lbs. With a WD hitch, this class hitch will tow much higher loads and greater tongue weights, in fact double the load.

What is your tow vehicle??

Gary2KC5

a WD hitch, to me, seems to be a little over kill. I have a 22' enclosed trailer that weighs about 3k, with my car and a little stuff probably 7,500 lbs. that I tow with a 1500 Avalanche.

I have a sway control but no WD hitch. the trailer is designed for a car so it's sitting right on the axles. I'm careful where I put the stuff, tires in the back tools in the front.

How do you measure tongue weight if you don't have a scale?

c4cruiser

Look here for a neat way to measure tongue weight. All you need is a a bathroom scale.

My trailer is a 20' enclosed and the gross loaded weight is right at 6700. The trailer has a gross weight rating of 7000 lbs (2 3500lb axles). I tow with a Silverado 1/2 ton 4WD that will tow 8500 lbs as configured (4WD, 6.0L motor, and 3.73 gears). I never considered towing without a WD hitch simply because the gross trailer weight exceeds the factory Class III hitch rating. The WD hitch increased the hitch rating to nearly 12K lbs capacity.

The biggest help with the WD hitch is the fact that it distributes weight on the truck. My WD setup only lowered the rear by about 3/4" and the front by 1/2" What is important is that weight is added so that the truck sits level and that weight on the front wheels is still there for steering (and braking) response.

I don't use a sway control as I haven't seen a need for it so far. Most trips are relatively short and even on the freeway, I have not been bothered by being passed by big rigs.

Gary2KC5

Thanks for the tip on measuring tongue weight

My trailer is very similar with with a gross weight rating of 7,500 lbs (with the C rated tires it came with, I've upgraded to D"s)

My 1500 2011 Av (3.42 gears) will pull 8k with a total GVW of 14k, which is a little better than the 03' I pulled with before.

The car is 3,200 lbs, so with and extra set of tires and some tools I figure I'm right at the limit.

I've used a WD hitch once, when I borrowed a trailer from by brother once.

I log just over 3,000 miles towing to 4 track events per year, which i've done for the last 10-11 years.

I wouldn't tow without a sway control; a van passing me doing 80 is going to push a lot of wind.

I think the bars on the WD hitch help prevent sway...tow without a WD or sway control and you would see how much the sway control or the WD helps.

I don't know about the rating on the factory hitch...I'm assuming that if GM says it will pull 8k/14k that the hitch would be rated up to that.

davidfarmer

if you go too low, you will sway out of control very quickly. Go to the higher side if your tow rig can handle it.

You can always drive across a set of scales at a truck stop. Get split weights, then drop the trailer and go across again. Usually, you pay for 2 weighings (tractors often weigh before and after and bill by net freight weight)