Just purchased a 33' transport wagon by thor. I would like to know how the hitch weight 1500# per manual is fiqured? Is this based on gvwr of 13,500 of the trailer? Does loading either more forward or towards the rear effect the hitch weight? Sorry for all the guestions, i am new to this! I would just like to know the proper location's to put my four sports quads. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

If this is a conventional bumper pull trailer the hitch weight you should shoot for is 12-15% of the actual loaded trailer weight. Best thing you can do is load it up as if you were going on a trip (dont forget to fill the water tank) and take it to a truck scale and weigh it with the truck unhitched, so there's no guessing and you know exactly what you're working with. Then weigh just the trailer axles (or just the tongue) and find your actual tongue weight.

Loading weight behind or ahead of the trailer axles does effect tongue weight, so play with different positions of the ATV's untill you find one that gives you the weight you want on the tongue. Best place to put them is probably just ahead of and over the trailer axles.

It's anybody's guess exactly what hitch weight percentage and what trailer weight the manufacturer used to figure the hitch weight if they didn't state that in the information they provided. With the trailer loaded to it's GVWR of 13,500 lbs, the hitch weight at 15% would be about 2000 lbs. If the trailer weighs 10,000 lbs empty, 15% of that is 1500 lbs.

You probably already know this... with a trailer that heavy, you will want a weight distributing hitch and some kind of sway control for it. Check out www.reeseprod.com which is the Reese hitch mfg's website to check out different weight dist hitches. There is also a section that explains what thier purpose is, how they work and how to set them up for best results. A good place to buy a hitch is www.thetowzone.com they have good prices, descent shipping rates and usually good delivery times.

Have fun with the new trailer!

 

Thanks for the great response! I failed to mention on my post that my trailer is a 5er. Does this same formula of 12-15% work on the 5ers? Thanks again DesertRider for your reply!!!

 

5 ers can carry more weight up front over the hitch than a bumper pull. i dont know the percentage though, something like 15-20 i think.

 

20-25% pin weight is what most recommend. Where you run into problems with 5'vers is the truck's payload capacity to handle the heavy pin weight of a big trailer. Sometimes 3/4 ton trucks just don't have the axle/payload capacity for it. A dually is recommended for towing a big 5th wheel. That listed 1500 lb pin weight for a 13,500 lb GVWR'd fifth wheel sounds awfully low to me. 2000 lbs unloaded (assuming a 10000 lb dry weight) up to 3300 lbs fully loaded pin weight would make more sense.

 

Rechecked the manual and UVW is 8690,so 17.5% of 8690 is 1520# close to the 1500# that is listed as hitch weight. So using this same calculation on GVWR of 13,500#, is it safe to assume that hitch weight would be approxiately 2365#. My tow vehicle is a 2003 CC dually 6.0 with the auto trans.Weighted truck with hitch and 1/2 tank of fuel at 7740#. So I guess my next question, other that going back to the truck scale and re-weighting truck and fully loaded toyhauler. Can I safely tow with this truck and trailer combo? Thanks again for all your comments!!

 

Forgot to add that the truck is a 4x4.

 

I think the GCWR (rating for combined weight of truck and trailer together) for that truck is 20,000 lbs, so as long as you don't load the trailer up to it's full rated weight, you'll be within the weight rating for the truck. The diesel should have enough power to pull it and the dual rear wheel axle, which is rated at 9750 lbs max axle weight, will have the capacity to carry the pin weight. I suspect the pin weight percentage will go up once you load your toys in the trailer, depending on where you load what in relation to the trailer axles. The 12,500 lbs GVWR of the truck will allow plenty payload capacity (~4700 lbs, according to your scale weight) to carry your family and the hitch weight with no problems. Excellent choice on the truck!!

Have fun with your new trailer!