Looking at buying a new Truck camper. One of them I looked is BIG and really nice inside called a Host Mammoth dry weight of 3955 lbs. But I also pull a car trailer with a 1969 I'm sure of the weight but guessing close to 6000 lbs, so maybe 600 Lbs tongue weight. But here is another thing to think about, with my current camper I use a 2' receiver extension on the truck. I wonder what that does to the tongue weight?

Searching on the internet for answers hasn't helped much either to explain how it all comes together with camper and trailer. I have a 2012 F350 DRW truck, on New-Cars dot com it says the GVWR is either 13,000 Lbs or 13,300 lbs I can't find the weight of my truck. Maybe it's on the door jam I should go look! The web site also states that the Payload is either 5,320 or 5,990 Lbs

Anyway so here is what I think. The payload is the passengers, all the other stuff in the cab, the camper and tongue weight of the trailer? The GVWR is the payload plus the weight of the truck? It looks like I would be able to pull a trailer that weight 17,500 lbs

With all that being said, it looks like I got it figured out? It also looks like I would be able to handle the Mammoth of a camper but how well is another question. We are looking at a smaller camper now that only weights in at 3,340 Lbs dry. I just don't think I would be happy with the handling of the truck with that Mammoth camper.

 

Go take a look at your door jamb. It will have GVWR and Payload shown.

 

Take your truck to the scales!

Weights to consider;
1) Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)
2) Payload capacity and Axle ratings (CC and GAWR)
3) Gross Combination Weight Rating (GCWR)
4) Hitch capacity (Receiver Trailer and/or 5th Wheel / Goose neck)

The reason for all this is LIABILITY

Trailer Life publishes these ratings every year. They have current and past years stored on their web site. Trailer Life | Everything about Travel Trailers and How To RV from Trailer Life Magazine

 

Yes, definitely check the door jamb. Post a picture here too.

Borrowing eZAK's list:
1) Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) - Total weight of this vehicle as perceived by the dirt that the tires are on.

2a) Payload capacity - Weight of everything you put into the truck, including passengers, campers, cargo, etc.

2b) Axle ratings (GAWR) - Maximum weight of the axle. If your GVWR is 15,000 pounds and the truck weighs 8,000 pounds empty, you can't add 7,000 to the front axle and call it good. It would be under GVWR but would be over GAWR on the front axle. On the other hand, if your GVWR is 15,000 pounds and your GAWR Front is 6,000 and your GAWR Rear is 12,000 , you can't load both of those to the maximum at the same time or your GVWR would be overloaded by 3,000 pounds. This allows you some margin when distributing weight.

3) Gross Combination Weight Rating (GCWR) - Total weight of this vehicle combined with any other vehicles and cargo attached to it (such as trailers, junk in the trailers, tow dollies, cars on tow dollies, etc.) as perceived by the dirt that the tires (of the entire combination of vehicles) are on.

4) Hitch capacity (Receiver Trailer and/or 5th Wheel / Goose neck) - Limits on weight the hitch is designed to carry both in tongue weight and in overall towed weight.

Back to your original post:

How much of this weight goes to the front axle and how much goes to the rear axle? For this, go to the scales with your truck empty and with full fuel tanks. Weigh the front and rear axles independently. Subtract these weights from your GAWR for each axle. Separately, subtract the overall weight from your GVWR. Now you know what your remaining capacity is per axle as well as for the overall vehicle.

You should find this out. I'm not sure what 1969 it is, but if the engine is in front and the car rides on the trailer facing forward then tongue weight is probably higher. For this, go to the scales with your trailer loaded as you intend to tow it. Weigh the whole trailer (yes, unhitch it from the truck with the landing gear on the scale), then weigh it again with only the trailer load axles on the scale (yes, unhitch it from the truck with the landing gear OFF the scale). The first weight is the trailer's GVW. Subtract the second weight from the first and you'll have the tongue weight.

This increases the tongue weight as perceived by the rear axle as well as the hitch, and it also decreases the axle weight of the front axle. The math is a little less simple here. Best to go back to the scales with the trailer loaded as you intend to tow it while hitched to the extension. Weigh the front and rear axles of the truck as I advised above. Weigh it again the same way withOUT the extension. Do a little math and you'll be able to see the effect the extension has on GAW and GVW. For the hitch limitations, I've seen a chart (and can't seem to find it right now) that explains the "derate" of receiver tongue weight based on extension length.

Hopefully this helps.

These are very general. Consult your sticker for the real deal.

. . . and the stuff in the camper including water and sewage and propane and gasoline for the generator and the paper plates and the video game and the silverware and the stack of DVDs and the cans of soda and etc.

. . . and the effect that the extension has on the tongue weight.

Yes.

Look at your sticker and go to the scales and then come back and ask this question. In the meantime, remember that this isn't just about what you can pull. It is also about what you can brake, steer, and control in crosswinds and bad road conditions. A two foot extension gives the trailer a lot more leverage over the back of the truck.

Mostly. We'll help you get the rest.

Spitballing here: 3,955 versus 3,340 . Kind of depends on where the weight is carried. Is the extra 615 pounds way up high? . . . or extending back behind the rear axle? . . . or in the front overhang? . . . or down low? . . . or some combination of these? Overall the big one is only 18% heavier. On your truck, that wouldn't change my mind towards the little camper all by itself.

Anyways, go hit the scales and come back. We can help you out from there.

 

 

Thanks CathedralCub, That's a lot of info, I'm not in a position to due any of those measurements right now. But I am going to print your post out and save it for reference this spring. Oh and by the way the 1969 is a 1969 Bronco currently under going a complete rebuild / custom build, so it might be even longer for that. I guess I was thinking faster then I was typing. LOL

Thanks again for the info, I'll go get a picture of the door jamb sticker and post it here in a few.

Tim

 

Yep, They state that also, that it is before options.

So I figured that the big that we have decided against, for more reasons then just the weight. But here is my rough estimate of weight, 5,307 lbs.

The smaller on 9.5' Host Rainier https://www.hostcampers.com/product-...rainierlb.html with a dry weight of 3,340 lbs probably going to come in at 4,692 lbs. I can't tell you how the weight is distributed.

 

Door jamb sticker!

 

So on the larger camper it is 2' longer in the back, behind the back bumper. It has a rear slide, so I am thinking most if not all of the weight is back of the rear axle. Also with the 2 extra feet of camper would require another 2' of extension which I never even looked into before ruling out the Mammoth camper.

 

 

Agree entirely. Closest I've heard of was still about fifty pounds over the sticker.

 

Cool!

Any chance the Bronco can be flat-towed? That eliminates the tongue-weight problem. Add a Blue Ox Patriot and you eliminate the braking problem.

I figured it was something like that. Fortunately, in 1969 they didn't build many vehicles that don't weigh a lot, so I could assume in that direction.

 

Logical, but just know that sometimes they move other weight forward because they know they're adding weight in the back. Not sure on yours, but I'd guess at least 300 goes into the back including the slide.

Looks like you ruled it out anyways, but just for posterity's sake: Never use stacked extensions. That creates a lot of slop in the assembly that will cause a bunch of issues. It's always better to get the correct extension for the length. Also, at that length you'd probably want a Superhitch.

 

I currently have a two foot Superhitch that I use. If needed I could pull the rear drive line and flat tow. I just don't want to very bad.

I took a photo of the other sticker today, as Don had mentioned! By looking at that I would have been overloaded with the big camper anyway!

 

Wow. Yeah. That's for sure.