Tow capacity questions

[ryguy76]

I'm sure glad I've decided to do my research about this before making any purchases, as it's proven to be a lot more complicated than I first imagined.

I have another thread were I was discussing a Honda odyssey as the tow vehicle, but that is going to change. It's just not logical for what we're after.

we were initially trying to find a trailer in the appropriate weight range so that my parents Odyssey could accommodate it. after learning more, it's just not feasible or logical. aside from physical variables, we were also sacrificing our "wants" in order to fit into that weight range.

we're looking at buying a used truck now, possibly a Frontier. From my research I see that they have a tow cap. of 6300 and a payload of 1100. The trailer that we've found that meets ALL of our requirements, is dry at 3800. Now of course there is the add-ons and the potential for fresh water weight of another 300lbs, and lets say 500lbs of cargo. So we can figure 4600lbs total. The dry hitch weight is 420, and if I'm using 12% of 4600 to roughly calculate my tongue weight, I'm sitting at 500+lbs. If I am correct, that 500 is subtracted from the 1100 payload cap., leaving me with 600lbs. I weigh 200, my wife, 130, and my small children equate to about 100lbs together. this leaves me with 170lbs, which isn't much room for them to grow and leaves not a whole lotta room for vehicle cargo. Am I going about this thought process correctly? And what about the tow cap. with a fully loaded payload cap.?

Can someone give me some clarification on this? Maybe I just need a F150.

[Cumminsfan]

You won't have enough truck. while your on the right track in doing research before buying, some of your figures won't work. 1st is the dry weight from the TT's sticker or the brochure? Brochure weights are always low. 2nd you'll take more than 500lbs, especially with kids. The wife and I take 11-1200lbs. It adds up to more than you think. 3-4 yrs from now those kids will weigh 80+ lbs each just guessing so theres more weight. Don't forget to add 100lbs for the WD hitch too. I towed a 22' 4050lb TT with an 06 Frontier and didn't like it. I got 7-9mpg. With the small gas tank I had to look for gas too often. I upgraded to an 08 F150 5.4 and got 10.5 mpg because the truck didn't have to work as hard. It also had more room to carry things and we didn't have to decide what to bring and to what not bring. JUst made camping more fun.

[jimcumminsw]

Now one more thing, how long will you keep the original trailer before up grading and then not having enough truck for the next size trailer?

As an example we had a ¾ ton Chevy 6.0L, 2001 extended cab gas truck. We decided to buy a 2007 Summit Ridge Ameri-Camp in 2008. The truck would pull this fine but filling up the gas tank drove me nuts with the 10K 5er attached. So we traded in for a 2008 Ram Mega Cab with the 6.7L Cummins diesel engine.
In 2010 we bought a new Keystone Cougar 318SAB weighing in at 11,5K GVW. There are only two of us but the Summit Ridge did not have enough room for the DW; so we upgraded in less than 2 years of ownership.
So my advice is to buy a big enough truck so you will not need to buy another tow vehicle when you upgrade to a new camper again.
Jim W