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Old 03-22-2019, 01:43 PM   #1
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Yet another newbie question about towing

According to the specs for my TT. The hitch weight is 832 lbs. This is about 200 lbs more that 20% of the dry weight.


SO should I not load it with most of the weight towards the front? We have a weight dist. hitch but I'm just curious. It seems to be heavy in the front if the stats are accurate.


It's a Coleman 295QB
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Old 03-22-2019, 02:58 PM   #2
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A quick search shows these as specs for that TT.

Dry Weight 6,260 lbs. Hitch Weight 832 lbs.

832 divided by 6260 is 0.13, or 13 percent.
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Old 03-22-2019, 03:03 PM   #3
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You're right there. Most "experts" say between 9 and 15% Your spec tongue weight is probably based on an unloaded trailer so as you add "stuff" to your trailer try to work out how you'll load it.
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Old 03-22-2019, 06:20 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Manana View Post
According to the specs for my TT. The hitch weight is 832 lbs. This is about 200 lbs more that 20% of the dry weight.


SO should I not load it with most of the weight towards the front? We have a weight dist. hitch but I'm just curious. It seems to be heavy in the front if the stats are accurate.


It's a Coleman 295QB
You are looking at the wrong stats. The dry weight (UVW) is 6,231 lbs. But that the dry weight number is useless in determining tongue weight or towing weight. You need to know the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR). The cargo carrying capacity (CCC) is 3,449 lbs. Add the 6,231 lb UVW and the 3,449 CCC to get the 9,680 lb GVWR for a potential tongue weight of 968 lbs (9,680 lbs x 10%).

However, the 3,449 lb CCC is quite large. If you load it with less cargo, then the required 10% tongue weight goes down. It does not do any harm to have a tongue weight over 10%. I aim for 12% just to give myself a safe margin. I suggest you take the fully loaded trailer to a CAT scale so you get an accurate gross weight once it is loaded for camping.
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Old 03-22-2019, 06:39 PM   #5
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You need to look at the actual loading sticker on the trailer. It would be quite rare for a trailer to have over 3000 pounds of cargo capacity unless it was a toy hauler. My guess is it will have an unloaded weight far heavier than what the brochure states, which is pretty common. In either case it is advisable to load most of your weight a bit forward of the axles. Too little tongue weight will make it sway, possibly dangerously.
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Old 03-22-2019, 07:03 PM   #6
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Dry tongue weight is based on UVW (dry weight)


Using the dry numbers will give you an idea what WET Tongue weight percentage will be (guesstimate)


UVW....6231
Dry tongue....814
That is 13%

GVWR 9680 at 13%...1258 wet tongue on full loaded trailer
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