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Old 01-13-2016, 06:37 AM   #1
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Tongue Weight

So here's a strange questions. Does the weight of a distribution hitch count towards "Tongue Weight"? I know it will add payload to the TV, but when a Hitch says 1250 lbs max tongue weight using WD, do you include the weight of the WD hitch itself? Because that could be anywhere from 70-130 pounds looking at the equalizer, or Husky Centerline options.

Crossroads just updated their Website yesterday to a new format and Tongue weights have jumped drastically for the Super-Lite models. a 250RB used to be 582 lbs. Now it says 764! So add say 40 lbs for LP, plus another 50-60 for Battery. Now add 100 for the hitch. You are left empty with nothing in it roughly 1,000 lb tongue weight. Better load everything over the axles and no water in the tanks!

I guess I'm trying to figure out how anyone can not exceed their tongue weight even if you have an F-350 because even theirs is limited to 1250 pounds if you are using a 2" shank, because I don't see equalizer, or husky offering a class V 2.5" shank receiver for their products.

Am I over thinking this?
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Old 01-13-2016, 08:06 PM   #2
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Knowing the wdh moves some of the tongue weight back to the trailer axles I personally cancelled it in my math but I always went by true scaled weights instead of trying to add it up. Ideal loaded tongue weight for a tt is 13-15% of loaded tt. Looking at gvwr of 7764 lbs and max percentage of 15% would give you a high end tongue weight (including LP, battery etc) of 1164 lbs. Judging by the dry weight numbers, that trailer is currently set up with a 14% dry tongue weight. Knowing average cargo added to tt us typically 1000-1500 lbs, you are more likely looking at 950-1000 lbs loaded tongue weight depending on how you load.

As for receivers on the truck, my chevy 2.5" has a sleeve to decrease it to 2". My receiver is rated to 2000 lbs. When I was truck shopping in spring 2014, I learned The biggest difference between a short bed chevy 2500/3500 and a long bed chevy 2500/3500 was the hitch receiver capacity. The short bed 3500 and 2500 had a 2.5" receiver capacity of 1500 lbs. The long bed 2500 and 3500 had a 2000 lb receiver capacity. I got the long bed thinking I was going with a very heavy (10,000 lb gvwr tt). We ended up with a fiver instead but a long bed is good for a fiver anyway.
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Old 01-14-2016, 08:58 AM   #3
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Thanks for the info. I agree about wanting real weights. However, being as this will be my first purchase, I kinda needed to have a good idea of what those weights might be so I don't fall into the trap of having "To Much Trailer Not Enough Truck."

I was curious as well about if indeed any tongue weight is pushed back to the trailer axle when using WD. I keep seeing conflicting info from vendors and campers alike.

The Ford Superduty diesel series, non dually are equipped with a class V hitch. Gas is only Class IV. When I looked at the diesel it showed that if the sleeve was used that the max tongue weight was reduced down to 1250, from 1,400. Which in essence brings it back down to the same max tongue weight as the class IV.

So many dang numbers! I'm starting to feel that unless you have an F-350, or 3500 series dually truck, your going to be overweight on something no matter what trailer you get.
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Old 01-14-2016, 07:20 PM   #4
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A short answer is yes, but not for the purpose of selecting hitch.

Hitch weight needs included with tongue weight when dealing with payload. Conservatively, entire weight, or you could say 70% since some is taken up by trailer.
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Old 01-15-2016, 04:36 PM   #5
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You also need to be aware of your payloAd. Your signature implies you have an F150 max tow but doesn't indicate HD.

You can weigh your truck loaded with a full tank if fuel, all passengers, pets and gear you plan to have in the truck when towing. Weigh the front axle on scale pad 1 and rear axle on scale pad 2. The weigh ticket will then give you 3 weights, 1 for each axle and a total truck weight.

Front axle weight us helpful when setting up your wdh as ideal setup gets your front end back as close to unloaded weight as possible without going heavier. The rear axle weight will show you how much weight you can apply to the rear axle (this is especially helpful for fiver pin weights).

The gcwr - the total truck scaled weight will give you your adjusted towing capacity. The gvwr - the truck scaled weight gives you your available payload. Your loaded tt weight needs to be within all if these numbers.

As stated above, average people tend to add 1000-1500 lbs of stuff (chairs, dishes, tools, clothes etc etc) into a trailer. Being it us your first trailer I tend to recommend calculating 15% of tt gvwr to give you a worst case scenario.

The caveat being if a trailer has a cargo capacity of 3000 lbs, you are not likely to add that much weight to it. As I stated above with this tt worst case scenario would be 1164 lbs.
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Old 01-15-2016, 05:25 PM   #6
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Poof...that just made my head explode...get in and drive!
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Old 01-15-2016, 05:55 PM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blkdth1313 View Post
Poof...that just made my head explode...get in and drive!
In the wrong circumstances that can be dangerous advice... been there done that, had to change my underwear at the bottom of the mountain. My first ft/tv combo was a poor match by all numbers except tow capacity. Learned the above way to figure out towing combos and never had another issue.

Seeing as you seem to have the same setup, you could probably be of great help to the OP about how well or poorly your combo tows. If you know loaded weights like he is asking about that could be very helpful to the OP as well.
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Old 01-18-2016, 10:55 AM   #8
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First thing I did when I drove it off the lot was scale the truck with a full tank of gas no one in it to see how it matched up with the tire and loading info. I'm fine on payload as I have 1820 lbs. And there will only be 500 lbs between myself, wife and 2 dogs. I know the tongue weight counts towards payload, but I was more concerned does the weight of the hitch count towards max "tongue weight" IE if I have 1,000 lbs of tongue weight from my trailer, my receiver is really holding 1,1000.
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