Ball recommendations, payload, and other newbie towing questions

[devildodge]

Interesting. Their brochure, which does have weights, does not list a 2550BHS

 

[Rau]

This is what I have for the bunkhouse I mentioned above.

 

[RunsWithBeer]

I had a Coleman TT 15 years ago (when they first started putting their name on TT's). It was designed with the fresh water tank BEHIND the TT axles. I tried to tow it ONE time with the freshwater tank filled. As soon as I got up to speed on I-40 and a wind gust hit me, oh boy, the swaying nearly wrecked me due to poor weight distribution. We quickly pulled over to the emergency lane and drained the tank.

That same trailer had to be sent back to the factory to replace the flooring due to a design flaw that sent rain water into the flooring, rotting it out. Later, its circuit panel had to be replaced (AC/DC failure). The water heater failed, the insulation in the stove door fell out, the door handle to the bathroom came off with our 3 year old on the other side of the door and locked inside. Lastly, external stove gas line separated at a crimp connector starting a fire under the stove running back toward the camper. We were outside. I should have let it burn to the ground.

Travel Trailers are sometimes not well engineered.

 

[Justinwvu]

I found this thread through a google search. Just wanted to thank you guys for all the useful information.

I also made a similar mistake as others on this forum, buying a jeep gladiator overland this year based on the ”max payload” thinking it could haul 1700 pounds and it can only haul 1023! I had planned to get an airstream bambi or caravel, but most of these have tongue weights of ~500 pounds. I really messed up, not realizing that my “trailer tow package” was not the same thing as the “max tow package” only available on sport model. I can’t really pull anything with my wife and kids and gear.

They were offering such good rebates due to COVID, I was blinded by the awesome deal and made an uninformed purchase.

Started looking at trading to get a limited ram 1500 and realized how low the payload was on these thanks to this forum. Will probably not get a limited unless I can find one with no other options. Most of them have moon roof, etc with payloads around 1200 pounds!

You guys have helped me tremendously.

Scary how many trucks I see on the interstate that have to be seriously over their safe payload. I will be sure to keep my family far away from all these jokers from now on.

 

[jdefoe0424]

I meant on the sticker. The base weight and the payload capacity should add up to the gross. The axles have a capacity of 4000lbs each...the gross is 8800...800 pounds more than both axles.

The dry capacity just doesnt make sense compared to the max.

Sad thing is I see many travel trailer stickers where they state the GVWR being higher than the GAWR can support

I'm guessing they are taking into account the estimated tongue weight that would be on the tow vehicle...Who knows where that number actually comes from though...
And you would think that they wouldn't be misleading like that considering how dangerous it is to have an axle rip off a trailer at highway speeds...

 

[JJRamTX]

Well first of all you won’t be able to max that trailer weight to 8800 lbs because according to your pic the axles are only rated to 4000 lbs each or 8000 lbs total. Second I would be shocked if you added 2k worth of gear and supplies. I would think 1500 or less. But it still comes back to the fact that your truck doesn’t have enough payload.

Don't forget that the 8800 is not taking into account the weight on the tongue so a Travel Trailer that weighs in at 8,800 would be 1,056 on the tongue and then 7,044 between the two axles (3522 each) which distribute equally with the swivel in the middle between the axles.