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FIrst, please pardon our ignorance....this whole truck and towing item is new to us and we are hoping to learn from the enthusiasts.
My. husband and I have a 2018 F350 6.7L Diesel SRW Super Duty (not sure what all information to give you). The GVWR is 11500, 3.55.
We are looking to buy our first 5th wheel. We are having MAJOR disagreement in understanding GVWR, GCWR, towing capacity, etc.
One of us says, the truck weight, occupants, cargo, and hitch height cannot exceed 11500. One of us says, the curb weight of this F350 is 8000 and leaves us about 2K for the tongue weight. That would put us at a max trailer weight of around 9-9500 lbs. One of us says this CANNOT be right. Please help us settle this so we can make educated decisions when purchasing a 5er.
Trailer Pin Weight, All Cargo, and Occupants should not exceed the sticker in the drivers door jamb. Here is a picture of said sticker (3480lbs is my payload limit).
FIrst, please pardon our ignorance....this whole truck and towing item is new to us and we are hoping to learn from the enthusiasts.
My. husband and I have a 2018 F350 6.7L Diesel SRW Super Duty (not sure what all information to give you). The GVWR is 11500, 3.55.
We are looking to buy our first 5th wheel. We are having MAJOR disagreement in understanding GVWR, GCWR, towing capacity, etc.
One of us says, the truck weight, occupants, cargo, and hitch height cannot exceed 11500. One of us says, the curb weight of this F350 is 8000 and leaves us about 2K for the tongue weight. That would put us at a max trailer weight of around 9-9500 lbs. One of us says this CANNOT be right. Please help us settle this so we can make educated decisions when purchasing a 5er.
You should absolutely not exceed the GAWR axle ratings on the white sticker, beyond that there is a GCWR on the ford website they say not to exceed. Beyond that the GVWR is your legal registered max weight you can put on the road.
Once you hook to a trailer make sure your combined weights are not over your GVWRs (pay your taxes).
Do not overload axles as that could become an immediate safety issue.
Boy, this is confusing for this old girl! There are so many darn numbers and weights. Gross weights, axle weights, towing weights, curb weight, hitch weight, etc. It makes my head swim and I just don't want to be sold a trailer that is over our limit. We had to walk away from a nice deal, with a "nice" salesperson....the 5er was 16K lbs and 45'. First, we don't believe it would be safe to pul 45' with a SRW truck and 2). THAT'S A LOT OF WEIGHT! Way to big of a rig when we are newbies to this.
Thanks for keeping everyone on the road safe by helping up idiotic newbies. LOL
An easy way to do it is find the yellow payload sticker. Add the cargo/passenger weight in the truck plus the advertised pin weight on the trailer then Add 10%.
Deduct that from the yellow sticker and dont go below 0 much unless you are good at scales and pulling trailers.
Typool figure 20-25% of the trailer gvwr to be your hitch weight. The most often busted weight is the rawr. It is hard to get enough weight on the front, without a snowplow Ford issues a gcwr, but legally it means nothing, except maybe a warranty denial. Your gcwr is the gvwr of the truck and the gvwr of the trailer or Fords whichever is greater, according to the Feds.
If you aren't sure of the hitch weight, have them scale it before buying.
FIrst, please pardon our ignorance....this whole truck and towing item is new to us and we are hoping to learn from the enthusiasts.
My. husband and I have a 2018 F350 6.7L Diesel SRW Super Duty (not sure what all information to give you). The GVWR is 11500, 3.55.
We are looking to buy our first 5th wheel. We are having MAJOR disagreement in understanding GVWR, GCWR, towing capacity, etc.
One of us says, the truck weight, occupants, cargo, and hitch height cannot exceed 11500. One of us says, the curb weight of this F350 is 8000 and leaves us about 2K for the tongue weight. That would put us at a max trailer weight of around 9-9500 lbs. One of us says this CANNOT be right. Please help us settle this so we can make educated decisions when purchasing a 5er.
There are others, but I prefer to recommend this one because that guy tends to try to make it simple, and explain what the different values mean.
When you really break it all down, in a SRW, there’s a good chance you might only be looking at 9000 lb trailer, if you want to keep it under every posssible limit, depending on how much you intend to carry. For instance, if you’re planning on running around with 3 teenage linebackers and a couple of Great Danes, you’re going to need a much smaller trailer compared to just the two of you, due to the amount of extra weight in the truck, meaning less of a hitch weight you can carry.
GVWR 11,500 lb. This sticker is in the driver door jamb.
Highlighted in green is my never exceed ‘removable’ load weight of 4130 lb. This is the other sticker in the door jamb.
You would use the values on the stickers on your truck.
When you add together all of the ‘removable’ load (kids, dogs, fuel, hitch, travel goodies and toys loaded on the truck) you will subtract this number from the number above highlighted in green. Whatever is left over is your allowance for your 5th wheel pin weight.
Ford has a towing guide online that gives the GCVWR (Gross Combined Vehicle Weight Rating) which is the maximum recommended weight of your truck, 5th wheel and ‘removable’ cargo. Included in that table is the maximum recommended weight (gross weight) of the trailer that can be towed by your truck.
I looked up the guide Click here. It appears your GCWR is between 28,200 and 28,700 lb. The GVWR of your 5th wheel is between 20,000 and 20,400 lb. depending on your options.
These are the hard numbers provided by Ford and the easiest way to figure these weights. There are other ways to figure these weights but, as a beginner, they will keep you well within the margin of safety for your desired rig.
When you go looking for your 5th wheel use the GVWR (NOT the dry weight!) of the trailer in your calculations. The sticker with this information will be on the street side, front area of the trailer. For what you are doing approximately 20-25% of the GVWR will be the pin weight on a 5th wheel.
Do not let the salesperson try to sell you on the dry weight. Depending on his/her level of knowledge and honesty you will probably be overweight.
Please PM me if I can be of further assistance. I hope this helps.
Mr. King
Last edited by Mr. King; Mar 19, 2019 at 11:57 AM.
Reason: Add info.
the ford tow charts are pretty accurate...there's a Colum for the different cabs, axles, short.long, and as you go thru it you wind up with a number. its hard to talk about the correct answer then there's a half a dozen possible truck configs.
also, towing the max on a flat and level trip is not as scary as hills and mountain trips...factor in if you have anti sway, tow prep packages, special equipment for ride leveling,
towing a 18K 5th wheel with a truck that has 3.73 rear gears is no fun....
some of these superdutys come with light duty (8 bolt hubs) tires some come with medium duty tires (10 bolt hubs)
GVWR
