I'm rather ignorant on figuring out total payload capability of my F-150 and the weight of the travel trailer I should be looking at as we'd like it to be rather roomy with actual bedrooms and slide outs.

I've seen various numbers on max towing weight for my truck. To be on the safe side I'll use the lowest number (7900 lbs) and drop it to 7500 lbs as I'd prefer not to actually be maxed.

Is this the number I need to deduct passenger and stuff from? I'd say the additional weight over the truck itself would be 500-550 lbs.

Is there an average weight of stuff that people keep in their trailer? If I deducted 500 lbs of additional truck weight leaving me with 7000 lbs would it be safe to leave a padding of 2000 lbs of stuff and look for a max trailer weight of about 5000 lbs?

 

This is what you need to do.

Load up the truck with everything you would be taking with you in the truck when you hit the road with the trailer (including people), fill the gas tank, and go find a truck scale. Weigh the truck. Subtract that number from the GVWR on the door jamb sticker.

The result is your recommended maximum tongue weight of the trailer. Tongue weights average about 12% of the gross trailer weight. So - if your weight and math say you have 600# left, your max recommended trailer weight would be 5000#.

If you have a 03, regardless of how it's equipped, your max recommended trailer weight is going to be a lot less than you want, reading your wishes for real bedrooms and slideouts. You can improve this somewhat by stowing everything you can in the trailer instead of in the truck, only 12% of the weight of the stuff in the trailer will affect GVWR as long as you stow it correctly so the tongue weight is not too high or too low.

 

Thanks!

Doing some rough math things just don't look right.

According to the registration the truck weighs 4700 lbs. We weigh under 400 but I wrote it as 450 plus 100 lbs in an ice chest, kid entertainment, and firewood in the bed. Googling the weight of gas puts a full tank at about 155 lbs. This totals 5405 lbs and the GVWR is 6600 lbs leaving a balance of 1195 lbs.

 

You ARE driving a 1/2 ton pickup! Actually, I would not be surprised if you found your truck's delivered "dry" weight was more than 4700#. Mine is higher than I suspected.

You could find the actual weight of your truck (either with just you and and a full tank of gas) or loaded the way you plan to have it by driving to a CAT scale and weighing it there. I've done that - the cost was about $15 as I recall. You could also get the weight by driving it to a landfill that charges you for the weight you are dumping. They have scales too. My landfill charges me $5 for the "minimum" weight dumped at the landfill, which I think is 500#. You could simply drive your truck in, turn around and drive it out, not dumping anything and they'd give you the weight both times. My landfill scale is very accurate.

Recycling yards, landscaping gravel yards, feed lots, and so on also have scales. Find one and learn what the actual weight of your truck is. Then, pay attention to what glc told you!

I personally think the heaviest trailer you should be considering is 5000#, due to the tongue weight. In addition to the tongue weight of the trailer, you must also add in the weight of the Weight Distributing Hitch you will need. A WDH weighs between 50-100#.

- Jack

 

Another option to consider if you're right on the boundaries of the vehicle capacity is driving to your destination and then renting a trailer once you arrive

 

I don't care what your registration says, you need to weigh it with a full tank of gas, loaded with cargo, passengers, and with you sitting in the driver's seat.