@Zeronet Your responses have been very helpful to get me to think about this a different way. Hopefully it is the right way. The tongue weight on the hitch isn't really my concern. Yes, the hitch has a certain limit but I am not going to get anywhere near that. My concern is keeping the gross weight on my truck axles below the maximum. The WD hitch helps by taking some of the forward trailer weight which would otherwise sit on the hitch and shifting it backwards to the trailer axle. So, this has changed my criteria somewhat for a trailer. Now what I am looking for is something with a reasonable tongue weight BUT I also want something with a high CCC and a higher dry tongue to UVW percentage. My thinking is that if the trailer starts with an 11 - 12 % dry ratio, I can shift more weight back thereby reducing the GVWR of my truck. I can't shift too much weight back and still maintain the recommended minimum 10% ratio. Does that all sound right?
Yes, I agee with with most of your train of thought. A couple of things I’d like to highlight.
Truck axle capacities - I would never exceed an axle’s GAWR. The front axle normally isn’t an issue. It’s the rear axle that’s the concern. A good quality WD hitch will help a lot here. I would get spring bars that are at least 20% higher capacity than your anticipated loaded tongue/hitch weight to allow some room for adjustment. Too stiff a bar will give a rough ride so keep that in mind also.
Trailer CCC - the trailer should have enough CCC and adequate axle ratings to carry your cargo as well as the weight transferred by the WD hitch. Many people don’t consider this, smart that you are. If you have the capacity, in a pinch you could even load some water in your rearmost tank (usually sewer tank) to use as ballast to further reduce tongue weight.
Tongue weight - having too little tongue weight is rarely a problem with a loaded travel trailer. There’s usually plenty of opportunity to add weight to the front of the trailer (think propane,batteries, camping gear in the pass through storage area). With your payload limitations I would look for the lowest tongue weight trailer that meets your camping needs. A lower dry tongue weight will give the best opportunity to avoid overloading your truck. I’d also look for a trailer that has good storage opportunities above and a few feet behind the axles. This will provide flexibility in loading cargo to meet your weight balance needs. My experience, it’s a challenge to keep tongue weight down. In my case 13.2% when loaded but like I said my model is tongue heavy to start with at 12.7% dry.
It’s good that you’re thinking about all these things before buying the trailer. The RV salesperson definitely won’t know what your trucks capabilities are. Since you’re doing your homework you can make an educated purchase decision. Just don’t let all this technical stuff drive you crazy. We had a great time shopping for our camper even though we did have to make some compromises. Now we’re thoroughly enjoying it.
