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Truck Weight..For information only

TAK

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Just had the truck weighed...1/2 tank of gas and only me. Nothing else in the cab or bed. Minus my weight (180) 5900. According to my vin# I have 1,235 # cargo capacity and 11,135 towing. Next thing is to get my Airstream weighed and set up the tongue weight.
 

squid013

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Light weight....i kid its good information to have. Im just approximating my power wagon. It is 7200 with a full tank and my toolbox loaded os just shy of 400.

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Golferdawg17

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What model & size Airstream do you have? I'm hoping to get one...just researching right now. They seem to be much lighter than other travel trailers. Also, what is your rear axle ratio, do you have the 3.92? I read where you want to keep a 20% cushion under your maximum tow capacity for a comfortable margin of safety. I also read on this forum that the 3.92 adds 3000 lbs. to your towing capacity; is that in addition to the 11320 that the website indicates? (I'm not taking into consideration the payload and tongue weight of the trailer, which I understand is about 10% of the weight of the trailer.)
 

Dusty1948

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What model & size Airstream do you have? I'm hoping to get one...just researching right now. They seem to be much lighter than other travel trailers. Also, what is your rear axle ratio, do you have the 3.92? I read where you want to keep a 20% cushion under your maximum tow capacity for a comfortable margin of safety. I also read on this forum that the 3.92 adds 3000 lbs. to your towing capacity; is that in addition to the 11320 that the website indicates? (I'm not taking into consideration the payload and tongue weight of the trailer, which I understand is about 10% of the weight of the trailer.)
"I also read on this forum that the 3.92 adds 3000 lbs. to your towing capacity; is that in addition to the 11320 that the website indicates?"

At 11320 that is probably the maximum towing weight WITH the 3.92 axle.

Best regards,
Dusty
2019 Ram 1500 Billet Silver Laramie Quad Cab 2WD, 5.7 Hemi, 8HP75, 3.21 axle, 33 gallon fuel tank, factory dual exhaust, 18” wheels. Build date: 03 June 2018. Now at: 045573 miles.
 

devildodge

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His truck has 3.92. So the 11320 is for 3.92. If the truck had 3.21 it would be 8320.

You can find your base weight by taking payload from GVWR.

In this case 7100 minus 1235 for 5865. Base weight is with a full tank of gas. So it looks like your numbers worked out

You need to realize though...11320 is not trailer weight. It is everything added to the truck or trailer from base weight to GCWR.

So if you have 400lbs of passengers and WDH at about 110lbs you already lose that. And a camper has about 13% tongue weight. And an airstream is closer to 15%.

You need to make sure the tongue weight and passengers do not exceed the GVWR of the truck.

Hope this makes sense. We have lots of threads that describe it in detail.

But as far as truck weight for information only...good job going to weigh it. Did you get axle weights...or just total?
 

cj7

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My Laramie 5.7 4wd short crew at the scales, full tank, w/o me, 5940.
3200 front, 2740 rear.
 

TAK

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You need to make sure the tongue weight and passengers do not exceed the GVWR of the truck.

Hope this makes sense. We have lots of threads that describe it in detail.

But as far as truck weight for information only...good job going to weigh it. Did you get axle weights...or just total?
Just total...See if this makes sense but from a different view. Cargo capacity including tongue weight. 1235# So I can load the truck up with gear and passengers to approx. 800# and have a tongue weight of 400# (lets say this is correct tw) Now I could theoretically tow 11000#? We know on 11000# tw should be at 1100#. So that being the factor the driver could only be 120# and no cargo...is this correct. On a side note my airstream is a vintage model renovated...I am guessing under 4000#.
 

devildodge

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Yes. I believe you are stating it correctly.

If you load your truck with 800lbs of cargo and have the 435 lbs left you can tow a trailer with a TW of 435lbs. A camper/travel trailer will have about 13% TW. A car hauler will have say 10%. So this means you could tow a 4300lb car hauler type trailer or a light camper with a TW of 435 lbs. Which would be around a 3000lb gross.

The max towing figure is done with a 10% TW. So yes an 11000 lb trailer would have 1100lb tongue weight. Which would mean 135 lbs left for driver and hitch.

So you see that payload and max tow are mutually exclusive.

For instance. Lets say you have a 7000lb camper. 13% TW 910lbs. 100lb hitch for 1010lbs. You can only load 225 lbs into the truck then.

Make sense?

I have a 2500. A 6000ish lb trailer. When loaded for camp. We have about 2400lbs of payload and tongue weight. So even though my truck is "rated" for almost 13k max tow...my 6000lb trailer almost maxes us out. But I can always limit cargo and raise that number.

Hope this makes sense. I explain it in great detail in many threads. But if you have any questions...we can easily explain in more detail.

The thing to remember is the max tow number...it is not the weight of the trailer...it is the combined weight of all cargo, passengers, tongue weight, hitch etc.


This is a big mistake plenty make.

This said. You will find people towing above ratings all the time. You have to make that decision on your own if you want to go over them. I have made the decision after years of ignoring them...that I no longer will. But we camp every weekend so I do not want to stress my mind or my truck worrying about it. If we only camped a few times a year...i may be more prone to skirt the edge.
 

TAK

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Update on this thread...I took my truck and Airstream to the weigh station. The combined weight of the two was 9620#
The trailer weighed in at 3640 # un hitched. Hitched up it weighed 3240#...So that tells me that there is 400# of torque weight. If I keep it balanced then I should be good to go! Side note doing the math from first post, truck difference was only 10 #. Everything checks.
 

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