Community Forums

SouthpawHD · 10-03-2015, 07:48 AM

Toyota is telling you your truck weighs more because of factory added options. The weight you are referring to from the web is a stripped down version of the truck before they leave the factory.

Your second number of around 1400 pounds of payload is likely closer to your actual payload.

Is there a sticker on your door jamb? Take a look, some will give payload, and all will give the total weights of the truck.

As for towing vs payload - they all do that. My last Chev "could" tow around 9500 pounds, but payload of 1700 was its limiting factor. I was fortunate to be able to trade it in and only take a small hit.

daveRG · 10-03-2015, 07:50 AM

Thanks CCH, and everyone else for the help.
I did take his advice and weighed us all w/ a mostly full tank of gas and the hitch. It was 6450. Add the 615 advertised tongue weight, and I am at 7065. Assuming Toyota tells me the sticker means 395 off the GVWR, I am a couple hundred pounds over and I'll look for another TT. If they tell me its still 7200, I'll be about 130 under (not including incidental crap in the truck obviously).

So I know I don't want to be at the limits for the other weight tolerances, but how important is it to be well below the GVWR when I have plenty of cushion in the other areas?

Also, is there any solution to this? Stiffer suspension, etc? The Jayco I want is a very good deal on an extremely clean and barely used TT...

I'm new to this, and am just surprised that my truck that is supposed to tow over 10000lbs cant tow a TT that weighs below 5000lbs dry. Is the problem just that this trailer has a very heavy tongue weight for its size?

Thanks again.

CCH · 10-03-2015, 08:13 AM

Your "in use" tongue weight is recommended to fall somewhere between 10-15% of the loaded trailer weight - where your needed tongue weight will fall in that range depends a lot on the specific TV and TT combination. Insufficient tongue weight can turn the trailer into an undriveable truck shaker. BTDT. Safest bet is to use the full 15% when calculating what you can tow.

Many of us push the envelope sometimes, but there is no deal good enough to risk wife and kids. And BTW - I'm running a half-ton now and quite successfully, but will upgrade to a 3/4 as soon as I have the chance.

Mich F · 10-03-2015, 08:29 AM

Let me try to explain this again.

Your GCWR is 16,000#. Your truck is rated to pull 10,100#. The only way you could tow the full 10,100# without exceeding your 16,000# GCWR is if your truck fully loaded with people, and your stuff and the tongue weight weighs 5,900# or less.
I'm just about positive your truck's 7,200# GVWR is not going to change. As has been stated your truck as equipped weighs more than the original 5,200# or whatever amount you thought it weighed.
I'd also count on the tongue weight of that particular trailer being more than 615# after you start loading it up.

puttin · 10-03-2015, 08:46 AM

Sounds like the O.P.'s got his answer but here's a handy calculator in case anyone else is curious:

RV Tow Check | Towing Guide Eliminator

1bigmess · 10-03-2015, 09:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by puttin

Sounds like the O.P.'s got his answer but here's a handy calculator in case anyone else is curious:

RV Tow Check | Towing Guide Eliminator

Use this. Don't play with the limits, keep honest. The lives of all involved are worth it.

daveRG · 10-03-2015, 09:38 AM

Thanks for the additional reply Michf,

Sorry if I'm still not following this, but I didn't think I had a GCWR problem, but a GVWR problem for the truck itself.
I never plan on being near that 10,100 towing limit. The TT weighs 4988, and even if I load to its max capacity, it will only weigh 7500 pounds. If I maxed out the weight of my truck to its GVWR of 7200, the combined weight will still be 14,700, well below the GCWR. Again, I'm not concerned about going over the GCWR, as I will never be towing anywhere near 10,100.

After reading the posts, I thought my problem was that I would be too close to the GVWR of my truck with all the weight in it and the tongue weight of the TT. Am I still not understanding the issue here?

Safety is definitely my paramount concern...

Thanks for the patience.

1bigmess · 10-03-2015, 10:05 AM

Just to be clear, if you max out the truck before you add the trailer, as soon as you hook up the trailer you will be over the GVWR for the truck.

I only put this out there in case you forgot that after you put your stuff in the truck, you still have to add the weight of the trailer tongue to it.

Go look at the calculator just a couple posts or so above this one. See what you get from it.

daveRG · 10-03-2015, 10:29 AM

Thanks, I was including the tongue weight. I did use the calculator, and it said 4330 lbs. Is that really the max I can tow?

Mich F · 10-03-2015, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveRG

Thanks for the additional reply Michf,

Sorry if I'm still not following this, but I didn't think I had a GCWR problem, but a GVWR problem for the truck itself.
I never plan on being near that 10,100 towing limit. The TT weighs 4988, and even if I load to its max capacity, it will only weigh 7500 pounds. If I maxed out the weight of my truck to its GVWR of 7200, the combined weight will still be 14,700, well below the GCWR. Again, I'm not concerned about going over the GCWR, as I will never be towing anywhere near 10,100.

After reading the posts, I thought my problem was that I would be too close to the GVWR of my truck with all the weight in it and the tongue weight of the TT. Am I still not understanding the issue here?

Safety is definitely my paramount concern...

Thanks for the patience.

No, GCWR will not be an issue. You posted that your truck was rated to tow over 10,00#. I was just trying to point out the caveat, that you can only tow that amount if the total weight of the loaded up truck is 5,900# or less.

1bigmess · 10-03-2015, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveRG

Thanks, I was including the tongue weight. I did use the calculator, and it said 4330 lbs. Is that really the max I can tow?

As long as you entered info into all of the required fields, yes.

Read the explanations on the site for the calculator. It will explain why.

daveRG · 10-03-2015, 12:02 PM

Thanks guys...

SmokeyWren · 10-03-2015, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by daveRG

My TV: 2009 Tundra Crewmax 5.7 w/ Tow Package

GVWR-7200

GCWR- 16,000

The GVWR and GCWR are your hard weight limits. Those are not estimates but hard engineered facts.

GVWR is the max weight on your two truck axles, including all the people, pets, cargo, and hitch weight you can haul without being overloaded.

GCWR is the max weight of your combined truck and trailer when wet and loaded on the road you can pull without overheating anything in a well-maintained drivetrain

Quote:

Towing Capacity-10,100

That one is an estimate, and it's a myth. Ignore it and calculate your own accurate tow rating. Here's how.

Load the truck with everything and everybody that will be in it when towing, including your weight-distributing hitch (but not the trailer). Drive to a truck stop that has a certified automated truck (CAT) scale, fill up with fuel and then weigh the wet and loaded tow vehicle. Subtract the weight of the wet and loaded truck from the GVWR of the truck and the answer is the max hitch weight you can have without being overloaded.

Divide that max hitch weight by 0.15 and the answer is the max GVWR of any TT you want to buy if you don't want to be overloaded.

Notice the above doesn't include GCWR in the computation. That's because 99% of the time GVWR and not GCWR is your limiter. If you don't exceed the GVWR of your truck, then you don't have to worry about exceeding the GCWR.

Quote:

Curb weight of truck- 5200 (+/-, can't get a straight answer from Toyota)

Nobody can guess the curb weight of your truck without weighing it on a CAT scale. So weigh it per above to get the actual curb weight, not somebody's guess.

Quote:

TT I plan to buy in the next couple days:

2008 Jayco Jayflight G2 27BHS

GVWR: 7500

Write this down. That trailer when wet and loaded with your normal camping stuff will overload your half-ton pickup.

Quote:

Dry Weight: 4988
Tongue Weight: 615

Useless info. What is the wet and loaded weight? Wild guess says about 7,000 pounds. Average hitch weight is about 12.5% of wet and loaded trailer weight, or 875 pounds.

After weighing your wet and loaded truck, do you have over 875 pounds of payload capacity available for hitch weight? Probably not. My F-150 is overloaded with my small TT that has only 650 pounds hitch weight.

daveRG · 10-03-2015, 04:49 PM

Thanks SmokyWren,

I actually had the thing weighed by the time you responded, and I got the info. So the question I'm hoping someone will jump on is whether I can do anything about it, or is the only hope a) to get a truck with higher GVRW (or better payload numbers), or b) search for a trailer with much lower hitch weight?

Or there add-ons or modifications? Its just that I've read so many posts from Tundra 5.7 owners, who are towing trailers much heavier and sometimes longer than what I'm looking at and say their just fine.

I'm not asking b/c of the particular TT I'm looking at, I'm trying to see if I need to be searching for a whole different type of TT.