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Originally Posted by Hollyrambler
Ok we are up grading to a 5 th wheel. My truck is currently f 350 4x4, crew cab, srw, 3.73, 6.2 v8. This is where I can not figure it out-- GCWR is 12000 on web and ford book says. 19000. GVWR is 10800.
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You're reading something wrong - probably confusing GCWR with tow rating. GCWR is 19,000. That's a real number and a real limit. When you cross the CAT scale, the combined weight of the truck and trailer should not exceed 19,000 pounds.
Your "tow rating" is 12,100. That's not a real number. It's an over estimated WAG assuming there is absolutely nothing in the truck but a skinny driver. You cannot tow a trailer that grosses 12,100 without exceeding the GVWR and GCWR of your tow vehicle, because your truck will have something in it besides a skinny driver.
Tow rating = GCWR minus the wet and loaded weight of your truck. So in order to tow a trailer that grosses 12,100 pounds, the wet and loaded truck would have to weigh only 6,900 pounds. Weigh your truck when it's ready for towing, including driver, passengers, tools, options such as bedliner or bedrug (or both which I have), 5er hitch, and a full tank of gas. You'll see it weighs a lot more than 6,900 pounds.
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Looking at-----
Can this tow Jayco Eagle 31.5 fbhs --- hitch 1650
Dry. 8490
Gross. 11200
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That hitch weight is the dry hitch weight. Your actual hitch weight will be closer to 1900 pounds. And ignore the dry trailer weight - nobody tows a dry trailer. Use the GVWR of the trailer as your expected wet and loaded trailer weight.
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Will I be to heavy for this trailer and need to look at shorter lighter ones?
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You'll probably be very close to the limit if you load the trailer so it weighs 11,000 pounds. 19,000 GCWR minus 11,000 trailer = 8,000 max truck weight before you tie onto the trailer.
To double check, load the truck with everything that will be in it when towing - driver, passengers, pets, tools, 5er hitch, whatever. Go to a truck scale and fill up with gas. Then weigh the wet and loaded rig. If it weighs more than 8,000 pounds, one fix is to change out the 3.73 ring gear and pinion for a 4.30 ratio. That will increase your GCWR by almost 3,000 pounds. The other option of course is to look for a lighter trailer.
If you're slightly overloaded over the GCWR of the truck, that's no disaster. It just means that you'll be the slowpoke in the right lane when climbing hills and mountain passes. Plus you'll have to pay close attention to your gauges when towing to be sure you don't allow something in the drivetrain to get too hot. Especially watch your tranny temp gauge and never allow it to get into the yellow zone. Ford's tranny temp gauge colors are misleading. Yellow means you're too hot, so back out of the go pedal, downshift, and look for a safe place to stop. Then elevate the idle to about 1,200 RPM and sit there until the gauge falls back into the green zone. Red means it's too late - you've probably already toasted your tranny.
Next subtract the weight of the wet and loaded truck from the GVWR of the truck. The answer is the max hitch weight you can have without being overloaded.
10,800 GVWR minus 8,000 pound truck = 2,800 pounds max hitch weight. Your hitch weight should be around 1,900 pounds, so you should be well below the limit if you keep the weight of the wet and loaded truck down to 8,000 pounds.
So for your truck, GCWR is probably your limiter. A oversimplified rule of thumb is to subtract the GVWR from the GCWR and the answer is the most trailer you should try to tow. 19,000 minus 10,800 = 8,200 pounds. So if you limit your trailer weight to 8,200 pounds, you should never be overloaded. But that's oversimplified. In your case, your truck can probably tow a 10,000 pound 5er with no problem. 11,000 pound 5er means you'll have to be careful what you haul in the truck and the trailer if you don't want the CAT scale to show you're overloaded.
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