Trying to figure out what trailers I can tow

[uses1823]

Hello friends!

I'm looking for purchasing my first truck and then I'd like to shop for an RV. I have no preferences at the current moment, but I'm in love with Airstreams.

So, I've found the Ram truck:

2019 RAM 1500 LARAMIE CREW CAB 4X4 5'7" BOX
8-Speed Automatic 8HP75 Transmission
5.7L V8 HEMI MDS VVT eTorque Engine-3.92 Rear Axle Ratio

It has 7100 GVWR according to Ram's Towing Chart.



I'm trying to match this value with GVWR requirements for Airstreams (https://www.airstream.com/blog/the-complete-airstream-towing-guide/).

As I understand that I can tow only trailers that have less than 7100 GVWR in their charts? I'm I, right?

I need some real-world experience with these numbers, thanks! 🙂

[ken56]

I spent the last 12 years out of my 32 years working at GM at the Flint Assembly plant and I never did see where those trucks were weighed and stickered. I was on skilled trades and was everywhere in that plant. No idea how they figured out the weight of those trucks with their different options as they rolled off the line. Maybe I just didn't pay attention.....

[Bob_Olallawa]

At what point does the fuel weight change? 10 miles from fill up? common sense has to come in somewhere

[bgum]

Thank you valhalla360. Many women are or exceed 150 pounds. Never ask and they don't volunteer that information. Men and teen age boys commonly exceed that 150 pound figure. You are right that 4 pack of people is closer to 800 pounds than 600.

[Grit_dog]

Y'all realize, basically the same cast of ding dongs year after year has tanked the OP's thread by barely the start of the 2nd page, arguing the semantics of what minor factors may or may not be included in a particular rating....as if they have any measurable real world significance.
Good job guys! LOL

[valhalla360]

Gdetrailer wrote:

bgum wrote:
Who weights 150 pounds?

"ASSUME" 150 lbs was considered and "average" adult.. For testing purposes to get some sort of available cargo weight on must assume some hypothetical numbers like how much and adult may weight.. Since everyone has a different weight there had to be some guestimate and if you think about it, unless you weight 400+ lbs it won't make a big impact on the final numbers..

A family of 4 with 2 teenage boys can easily push 800lb. That's almost half the 1700lb payload used up before hooking up or putting a single piece of firewood in the bed.

150lb is a number that has been used for years and they don't want to increase it because it makes it look like they payload has gone down.

[Grit_dog]

bgum wrote:
Who weights 150 pounds?

Who cares...new RV season, new weight cop season apparently...

[toedtoes]

The way I see it, the 150lbs for "driver" is minimal. If you are so close to the payload of the vehicle that adding that 150lbs to the numbers puts you over payload, then you need a bigger truck.

For that reason, I would calculate payload by subtracting the full weight of the driver along with everything else.

Fuel is included in the curb weight, along with all other operational fluids.

Payload - weight of driver and all passengers (pets included) - weight of everything put in or on the vehicle - 15 percent of the trailer's GVWR (or actual loaded weight). If less than zero, you have too much trailer for the truck.

Truck towing capacity - trailer GVWR (or actual loaded weight). If less than zero, you have too much trailer for the truck. If you will be driving long distances and/or hilly/mountainous terrain, it's good to keep the trailer weight to 80 percent or less of the truck's towing capacity (some will go right to the limit, but they are either very experienced towers OR idiots.

[Gdetrailer]

MFL wrote:
Gdetrailer wrote: "Truck has 35 gallon fuel tank and at roughly 8 lbs per gallon that is 280 lbs."

A bit of miscalculation here! Water weighs about 8.5 lbs per gal. A gal of gasoline 6.3 lbs.

I DID write ROUGHLY as in an approximation, rough estimate, general weight.

In the realm of thousands of pounds of cargo capacity even missing 100 lbs in the calculation should not make enough of a difference and being this petty about is rather silly.

I get it, folks want to tow their McMansions with the smallest cheapest tow vehicle possible.

The reality is you no longer HAVE to get the curb weight, subtract it from the GVWR then subtract the fuel, the driver.. The YELLOW sticker has done that work for you already.

Even if you took the vehicle to the scales you will end up with some differences in curb weight since you will need to either have a full tank of fuel or an empty tank of fuel..

The work has been done, the yellow sticker states to not exceed the number on it, don't exceed that number and all will be fine.. Why make folks jump through hoops when all the work has been done?

This yellow sticker has been in use since around 2004 and up and so far, when I have manually done the calculations it is right on the money within a few lbs.

[Gdetrailer]

MFL wrote:
Boomerweps wrote: "Easiest no cost weigh (pun intended) to get the factory built curb weight is subtract the factory Load Capacity from the GVWR, looking at two door frame stickers."

^^This....When vehicle is built, each vehicle is weighed, ready to ship. Using this weight, subtracting from GVWR is that exact trucks payload. So above example from Boomerweps is correct.

OP should choose the camper he wants, then buy the proper truck to tow it.

Jerry

You obviously did not read my examples above.

PA does list the curb weight on the registration card, not all states do this.

My examples above shows there is a discrepancy of 458 lbs between the curb weight reported on my official registration and the yellow loading sticker.

The weight listed on my PA registration IS the scaled shipping weight of the vehicle as it left the factory. The factory does not include a full tank of fuel, might be 1 or 2 gallons but that is it.

That unladen weight clearly does not include a FULL TANK OF FUEL.

The yellow sticker does indeed take into account a FULL TANK OF FUEL PLUS DRIVER WEIGHT OF 150 lbs.

The simple thing is to take the yellow sticker weight and subtract your passengers and additional cargo you add to the vehicle. to get your final available cargo weight for the trailer tongue.

Very cut and dry..

The old ways of doing things don't die easily..

I get it, folks mistrust that yellow sticker and by trying to manually calculate it so it looks like you have more cargo capacity than what the yellow sticker reports..

[MFL]

Gdetrailer wrote: "Truck has 35 gallon fuel tank and at roughly 8 lbs per gallon that is 280 lbs."

A bit of miscalculation here! Water weighs about 8.5 lbs per gal. A gal of gasoline 6.3 lbs.

[MFL]

Boomerweps wrote: "Easiest no cost weigh (pun intended) to get the factory built curb weight is subtract the factory Load Capacity from the GVWR, looking at two door frame stickers."

^^This....When vehicle is built, each vehicle is weighed, ready to ship. Using this weight, subtracting from GVWR is that exact trucks payload. So above example from Boomerweps is correct.

OP should choose the camper he wants, then buy the proper truck to tow it.

Jerry

[Gdetrailer]

Boomerweps wrote:


You start out so well and then, in the words of the J. Gail’s Band, “must have got lost, somewhere down the line”.
First, all liquids, including a full gas tank, are part of the factory curb weight and not part of the Load Capacity.
Second, for clarity, the 150# driver (& now 150# single passenger in 2020+ for Ford) is only allowed for in the tow rating ONLY. SAE tow test standards also allow for a 100# Weight Distributing Hitch but that is not always referenced by truck makers.
Easiest no cost weigh (pun intended) to get the factory built curb weight is subtract the factory Load Capacity from the GVWR, looking at two door frame stickers.

No, I think you went right off the rails so to speak.

You live in PA, right?

You do realize PA does include the unladen weight of your vehicle right on the registration card, right?

OK, so I will take my newest truck for example..

GVWR listed on the door is 10,000
Unladen weight listed on PA registration card is 5,742
Yellow loading sticker states 3,800 lbs

10,000 - 5,742 = 4,258 (cargo)

But, wait.. there is a discrepancy between what your manual calculation is..

calculated cargo 4,258 - yellow sticker 3,800 = 458 difference..

Truck has 35 gallon fuel tank and at roughly 8 lbs per gallon that is 280 lbs..

458 - 280 lbs = 178 lbs..

The 178 lbs is pretty darn close to the 150 lbs specified as the DRIVER.. and the 28 lbs discrepancy is most likely due to rounding the fuel weight..

For the record, the truck I used IS a 2020 F250..

So, my math says that the yellow sticker does account for the full fuel tank and driver and using the CURB weight of the vehicle does not take into account full tank of fuel or driver..

This makes sense since the factory does not ship ANY vehicle with a full tank of fuel, they ship it with just enough fuel to load and unload and get it to the dealers lot. Dealer is responsible for filling the tank the first time when you buy it.

Pretty clear.

[time2roll]

I would choose any Airstream GVWR up to the truck rating of 11,190 unless payload will be significantly reduced with additional passengers or cargo.

[Boomerweps]

Gdetrailer wrote:

camp-n-family wrote:


You’re both wrong here. Payload of a vehicle is simply the GVWR minus the empty weight calculated with full fluids. There is no allowance for driver or passenger in this. This is commonly mixed up with the Tow Rating which is the number that accounts 150lbs for a driver and passenger.

In the past, you would be correct that would be the following..

GVWR - Curb weight = "Payload"

The problem with this method is the "curb weight" often is not included on the basic white sticker so to get the curb weight one must take the vehicle to the scales.

But, between 2003 and 2006 the "yellow tire and loading" sticker became required for all vehicle manufacturers.

This sticker IS customized to your specific vehicles configuration as built by the factory.

If you were to scale your vehicle as equipped from factory with a empty fuel tank, no one in it and no cargo you would discover that there is a weight discrepancy between your manual GVWR - Curb weight = Payload calculation vs what the yellow stick says you have for payload.

Your manual calculation will show a higher available payload than the yellow sticker.

So how do we know which is true?

Take the payload you computed from GVWR - curb weight and subtract the yellow sticker payload weight.. That difference you will discover is the weight of your vehicles full fuel tank (gallons x roughly 8 lbs per gallon) and there still will be a discrepancy of at least 150 lbs (driver) and possibly another 150 lbs for a passenger..

While you could manually compute the payload, then subtract the fuel weight and subtract the driver weight, why bother when it is already done for you on that yellow sticker?

The yellow sticker gives you everything you need to know on what your vehicle is capable of hauling or towing and you didn't need to scale it or do any math.

You start out so well and then, in the words of the J. Gail’s Band, “must have got lost, somewhere down the line”.
First, all liquids, including a full gas tank, are part of the factory curb weight and not part of the Load Capacity.
Second, for clarity, the 150# driver (& now 150# single passenger in 2020+ for Ford) is only allowed for in the tow rating ONLY. SAE tow test standards also allow for a 100# Weight Distributing Hitch but that is not always referenced by truck makers.
Easiest no cost weigh (pun intended) to get the factory built curb weight is subtract the factory Load Capacity from the GVWR, looking at two door frame stickers.

[Gdetrailer]

bgum wrote:
Who weights 150 pounds?

"ASSUME" 150 lbs was considered and "average" adult.. For testing purposes to get some sort of available cargo weight on must assume some hypothetical numbers like how much and adult may weight.. Since everyone has a different weight there had to be some guestimate and if you think about it, unless you weight 400+ lbs it won't make a big impact on the final numbers..