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Hello all! I am looking to buy a travel trailer and want to make sure I get something that is “practical” for my needs. I want to travel across the country, be able to fit in all campgrounds, and not have anxiety about being too heavy/overloaded, but I still want to be as comfortable (with my wife, newborn, and 2 dogs) as possible. I have researched pretty extensively about the matter, and to be honest, I’m still a bit confused/unsure what exactly my truck can handle so I figured I could reach out to you fine folks. I have the following truck: 2016 F-150 SuperCrew (MOAB Edition by Regency)
• 5.0 V8, 35” tires, 4” suspension lift (I know I know, the lift and tires will degrade towing performance), 3.55 axel, 145 WB, 4x4,
• According to the information on my door jam, I have a payload capacity of 1848lbs (This reflects the 35” tires) and the manual says 9,000lb towing capacity.
My questions are the following: 1- What weight trailer should be my “practical” cutoff?
a. Again, I expect to do a lot of traveling and don’t want to have anxiety about a too heavy load or too much stress on my truck, but still want to be as “comfortable” as possible.
b. I’ve been looking at many 27-30ft trailers at about 5000lbs dry, but one 6,000lb trailer has caught by eye, but I’m afraid its too heavy. Or am I being overly optimistic about my truck’s capabilities and I should be looking at 20-25ft trailers @ 4000lbs?
c. I don’t expect too heavy of a payload (Me, my wife, and my newborn – all of us are small people! – plus two 15lb dogs.)
2- Should I put air bags on my truck? I expect to have some major sagging with my lift. Any recommendations?
3- This is the part that really confuses me…tongue weight, weight distribution hitch, drop hitch….
a. Is a weight-distribution hitch used in lieu of a drop hitch? Since I have a 4” lift and big tires, is a certain hitch preferable for my truck?
b. Is tongue weight something that I worry about AFTER I buy a trailer and I reconfigure my weight distribution?
OK, the major limitation you will have is the tongue weight of the trailer you choose. It puts its weight on your truck's axles. A 4,000# trailer will have around 600# of tongue weight and you need this value to keep the trailer from fishtailing, which can cause you to lose control, wreak your trailer and truck, and possibly damage or kill yourself, your family and other motorists around you. A 5000# trailer will have a "dry" tongue weight of around 750#. Notice I'm giving you a 15% figure in both cases - you should plan on that because in my experience all trailers weigh MORE than their "dry" weight, and if you add anything, like full water in the fresh water tanks or, any cargo, the weight increases even more.
Without a weight distributing hitch, ALL the tongue weight is placed on your truck's rear axle, which has a weight limit of 3800#. The front can only hold 3450#. Again, in my experience, and certainly in my truck, the "dry" weight is much lower than its actual weight and you really need to find out what load is already on your truck's axles by taking your truck to a CAT scale and weighing the load on each axle with you, your wife and child, dogs, and all the camping equipment you would be taking on board. That will tell you how much additional weight you can place on each axle. It will be smaller than you think. You may find the front axle is your limiting one.
DO NOT even think of using airbags! They are only good for leveling the truck if you put a heavy load in the bed, such as 1000# of concrete in bags. To tow a trailer of the size you are considering, you absolutely need a Weight Distributing Hitch (WDH)! This will not only level the truck (and trailer) when towing, but it will also move about half the tongue weight off the rear axle and put it onto the truck's front axle. Without a WDH, your rear axle will probably be overloaded, your front wheels will be lifted some off the road (which hurts steering), and limits the braking effectiveness of the front wheels, where most braking occurs. This is further aggravated by the fact that if you brake without a WDH, the trailer nose-dives, pushing your truck's rear down more, and lifting your front end more! All told, it's an accident waiting to happen.
An Ideal WDH should be rated to carry the tongue weight, so for the two loads I gave you at the beginning, you would want one rated at 800-1000#. You'll probably need a drop shank on the towbar since your truck is lifted. The WDH should include sway control too, even though your truck MAY be equipped with builtin sway control if you have the tow package.
Your truck will easily pull a 6000# trailer, but the tongue weight would be 900# or more. I think that would overload your axles, even with a WDH. Again, DO NOT use airbags when towing, They don't let you set up the WDH properly and you probably would eliminate all the benefits of the WDH if you used them.
One more small point - the trailers you are considering probably have tandem axles (two axles). You must have the trailer level when you tow it or the weight of the trailer will be shifted toward only one of the trailer's axles, overloading it and the tires on that axle. And, if the nose of the trailer is high, you will increase the tongue weight of the trailer on your truck! So, you must get a hitch shank that puts the towing ball at the right height.
- Jack
Last edited by JackandJanet; Dec 14, 2020 at 11:53 PM.
OK, the major limitation you will have is the tongue weight of the trailer you choose. It puts its weight on your truck's axles. A 4,000# trailer will have around 600# of tongue weight and you need this value to keep the trailer from fishtailing, which can cause you to lose control, wreak your trailer and truck, and possibly damage or kill yourself, your family and other motorists around you. A 5000# trailer will have a "dry" tongue weight of around 750#. Notice I'm giving you a 15% figure in both cases - you should plan on that because in my experience all trailers weigh MORE than their "dry" weight, and if you add anything, like full water in the fresh water tanks or, any cargo, the weight increases even more.
Without a weight distributing hitch, ALL the tongue weight is placed on your truck's rear axle, which has a weight limit of 3800#. The front can only hold 3450#. Again, in my experience, and certainly in my truck, the "dry" weight is much lower than its actual weight and you really need to find out what load is already on your truck's axles by taking your truck to a CAT scale and weighing the load on each axle with you, your wife and child, dogs, and all the camping equipment you would be taking on board. That will tell you how much additional weight you can place on each axle. It will be smaller than you think. You may find the front axle is your limiting one.
DO NOT even think of using airbags! They are only good for leveling the truck if you put a heavy load in the bed, such as 1000# of concrete in bags. To tow a trailer of the size you are considering, you absolutely need a Weight Distributing Hitch (WDH)! This will not only level the truck (and trailer) when towing, but it will also move about half the tongue weight off the rear axle and put it onto the truck's front axle. Without a WDH, your rear axle will probably be overloaded, your front wheels will be lifted some off the road (which hurts steering), and limits the braking effectiveness of the front wheels, where most braking occurs. This is further aggravated by the fact that if you brake without a WDH, the trailer nose-dives, pushing your truck's rear down more, and lifting your front end more! All told, it's an accident waiting to happen.
An Ideal WDH should be rated to carry the tongue weight, so for the two loads I gave you at the beginning, you would want one rated at 800-1000#. You'll probably need a drop shank on the towbar since your truck is lifted. The WDH should include sway control too, even though your truck MAY be equipped with builtin sway control if you have the tow package.
Your truck will easily pull a 6000# trailer, but the tongue weight would be 900# or more. I think that would overload your axles, even with a WDH. Again, DO NOT use airbags when towing, They don't let you set up the WDH properly and you probably would eliminate all the benefits of the WDH if you used them.
One more small point - the trailers you are considering probably have tandem axles (two axles). You must have the trailer level when you tow it or the weight of the trailer will be shifted toward only one of the trailer's axles, overloading it and the tires on that axle. And, if the nose of the trailer is high, you will increase the tongue weight of the trailer on your truck! So, you must get a hitch shank that puts the towing ball at the right height.
- Jack
Jack,
Thanks for taking the time for your detailed response. Follow up question, do they make weight distribution hitch systems with the appropriate shank I need or will that be a separate purchase ( buying 1- the correct WHD weight and 2- the appropriate drop shank)?
I think they do - mine does. I have an Equal-I-Zer brand hitch and that company sells a big variety of shanks that can be mounted "up or down" to provide the needed rise or drop: I suspect your truck would have a 2" hitch receiver, so this page at Equal-I-Zer shows what they have: https://www.equalizerhitch.com/store/shanks. I think you might be able to order the shank you need with the rest of the hitch. It not, the page shows the prices.
What you would need to do is measure the height of the ball receiver on the trailer tongue with the trailer level. That will tell you how high you would want the ball of your hitch to be (it could be maybe 1/2" higher due to the drop when trailer weight is applied"). This height would tell you how much drop in the shank you would need. I suspect a dealer or a representative from Equal-I-Zer could help you with this.
I like Equal-I-Zer because it has integrated sway control and the spring bars don't have to be disconnected when backing, like some other designs require. Note: I am not affiliated with Equal-I-Zer in any way, I just like their products. There are certainly other brands that work as well, This page tells you everything you might need to know about WDHs: https://campaddict.com/weight-distribution-hitch/, and recommends some brands.
GirlTows - I'm glad you have had a great esperience towing and traveling with your trailer. I'll just point out that you do NOT have a "SuperDuty" truck if you have an f150. A SuperDuty (F250) would have a much higher towing capacity (but primarily due to the heavier suspension which allows it to carry a heavier tongue weight).
The tongue weight you gave for your trailer seems low to me. 610# for a 6000# dry weight trailer is only about 10% of the trailer's gross weight. It is usually listed at about 12% of the gross weight, which would put it at 720#. However, most of us who have trailers and have actually weighed the tongue, have found it is even higher than that. Additionally, you don't really tow your trailer empty, do you? So, anything you add to the load in the trailer also adds to the trailer's tongue weight.
And please, don't even think of using airbags to level the trailer when towing! Yes, they can raise the rear end of your truck, but they do NOT transfer any of the tongue weight off the rear axle of the truck. And, if you employ airbags with a WDH, the leveling effect will keep you from setting up the WDH properly to transfer that weight away from the rear axle.
GirlTows, I'm not trying to give you a hard time, I'm just trying to make sure others reading this thread are aware of the considerations needed when towing. Towing a trailer can be very dangerous if not done properly. There are numerous utube videos showing what can happen with a trailer that is too big for the tow vehicle, is not set up correctly for towing, is towed too fast, is towed up too steep a slope, or is driven into a place where the combination cannot be turned around.
...and don't listen to all the yahoos who tow overloaded trailers with under spec trucks (or SUVs). Oh, and know too that airbags can cause your front end end weight to move back (@JackandJanet above) resulting in loss of steering control and most importantly, braking!
Looks like you found the right drop, that looks pretty level.
I agree, your setup looks very good, from that angle. One more thing that might help you: I found, that even with my trailer and truck set up so it looked right, I had a slight steering pull when towing. As I recall, I lowered the ball one step and then re-leveled everything and now the steering tracks straight ahead when I'm towing and when I'm not. So, what I'm suggesting is the setup is a bit of trial and error and may take further adjustments even when it looks right.
