ANOTHER Towing Question.

First of all, I don't understand the whole weight rating deal. So much crap, loaded, unloaded, curb weight, gross weight, GCVRW or whatever. Kinda tired of reading about it so I'm just gonna ask and hopefully get some help.

The truck: 2017 Toyota Tundra Crewmax with towing package.

Trailer: 24' car hauler - 3600lbs empty

Car: 1967 Camaro Racecar - 2800lbs

Gear: About 1k lbs worth of tools, fuel, tires, generator, battery charger, canopy tent, wife, kids, food, drinks, etc.

Question: Will this exceed the (insert appropriate legal weight) or will I be good.

I don't want to get in an accident, someone die and go to jail for negligent homicide because I wanted to go racing. I know its a stretch but lets be honest, it could happen. I don't wanna take the risk. BUT I don't wanna sell my Tundra either.

I know the truck CAN tow it but I need to make sure I can LEGALLY tow it.

 

I just wish Toyota would be like "Look MF, don't put a trailer behind your truck that weighs more than xxxx lbs" or you might go to jail. Or maybe they do and I'm too Mississippi to understand that lol.

 

As long as most of your gear is in the trailer with the car, you should be good.

 

Get your gcwr gross combined weight rating number and work backwards from there. Your truck probably weights about 6200lbs for 4wd give or take. Thats the total they want the truck and trailer to weight altogether

 

The payload rating will be the issue. Really need to move as much of the weight to the trailer as possible and not in the truck. Any idea the hitch weight with the car loaded? Keep in mind you need at least 10% of the total trailer/car weight on your hitch to have proper control. A hitch scale might help you balance this all out.

 

Luckily you can move the car on the trailer to get the perfect hitch weight

 

But not too far back where you end up with too much weight behind the trailer axle. Key word “perfect”.

 

Def find out your capacity weight on the inside of your drivers door. Don’t exceed that. That’s the issue I have right now. I’m only allowed 1270lbs. My trailers hitch is 705lbs, then I add the myself, wife & kids. I’m only like 150lbs shy of going over. Tundras payload is garbage. Didn’t really notice until u want to finally buy something to tow.

 

Somewhere on here someone said the spec includes a 150lb driver and passenger. I never found that info myself on the spec web for sae j2807 though.

 

Ya I never saw anything like that, even my manual says to include all passengers

 

that spec is for towing capacity, not for payload.

 

you are probably good. put all the gear that you can into the trailer to keep that weight off the truck. a 7400 pound trailer load means at least a 740 pound tongue weight. look at the yellow sticker on your drivers side door jam. there will be a Payload number. it is probably around 1200-1300 pounds. subtract 740 from the Payload and that is how much weight you have left for your family and other gear in the truck. with your trailer setup, you can move the load around to lower or increase your tongue weight.

it is good that you are asking and learning now instead of just loading up and heading out without understanding your setup.

good luck

 

it really is. Mine is a whopping 1145 lbs. subtract my weight and a few passengers and I’m not left with much.

 

Figured he was talking about towing since he mentioned a trailer and hitch weight. The thread is about towing as well. You have to consider both when calculating the numbers.


Found this:

In addition to a vehicle’s base curb weight, the “Tow Vehicle Total Weight” (TVTW) for testing for ¾- and 1-ton trucks allocates 150 pounds for the driver, 150 pounds for a passenger, the weight of all tow package equipment, and 100 pounds of optional equipment (hitch ball, weight distribution bars, and such) split evenly between the front and rear axles.

http://www.trucktrend.com/how-to/towing/1502-sae-j2807-tow-tests-the-standard/

 

So is this just for 3/4-1 ton trucks then? Doesn’t specify 1/2 ton

 

I don’t know. That might be where some of the confusion is from too. I’ve seen both sides on here. Some say it includes it and some say it doesn’t.

 

Ok. So after looking at my door,

GVWR is 7000.

GAWR FRT 3900

GAWR RR 4150

Yellow sticker: Reduced payload capacity by 163lbs

The trailer I'm looking at is a 24' enclosed car hauler that weighs 3600lbs empty.

 

I havent bought a trailer yet because I want to make sure I can tow it safely and legally. No I dont have an ATC trailer. The ATC in my user name stands for Air Traffic Control. I am not set on a specific manufacturer but I'm gonna buy the lightest trailer that will support weight I put in it. So whoever has that, has my business lol.

 

There should still be something on the sticker stating the capacity of cargo/passengers then you have to minus that yellow sticker from it. That’s should be your actual payload your allowed.

 

This is what’s inside the door.

 

The sticker just below the one in your photo (the one with the tire pressure data etc.) will have the truck’s payload capacity. Subtract the 163 pounds from that number to get your net payload capacity.

Assume a minimum of 10% of your total towed weight as payload. 10 - 13% of trailer weight is considered acceptable tongue weight to prevent sway and handling issues. You have some leeway in how you load your trailer to get the correct tongue weight.

 

So 1360 minus 163 is 1197

So I can only carry 1197 lbs including the tongue weight? WTF am I supposed to do with that? Lol.

I’m sure a trailer that weighs 7k lbs is gonna have a tongue weight of more than 1000 lbs. right?

 

You have the correct number. That’s what the payload is- it’s a weak point of the Tundra.

13% of 7000 is 910- that would be the high side, 700 would be minimum for proper loading. Less than 10% can lead to sway. You can adjust the load in your trailer by moving the load forward or backward of the centerline of your axles.

Providing you don’t have to haul the whole family and the dogs in the cab, you should be fine with your planned load.

 

Welcome to tundra life. Once the trailer is hooked up and you put your family in. Your ice chest and bbq in the truck bed put you over the weight limit.

ive never understood why both gawr combined don’t equal the gvwr

 

Well I doubt I can get 750 tongue weight.

Guess I’m buying a diesel lol.

that’s crazy “it’ll tow 10,500”...... “kinda”

 

That’s where they get you on the towing claims. It’s a problem in the 1/2 ton market. You’ll run out of payload before you reach tow capacity.

Can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard a F150 owner tell me they can tow 13k because the commercial said it can. Then the argument ensues about it only applying to the 2wd regular cab long bed work truck package with the max tow and payload options, not the Platinum crew cab 4wd bells and whistles model they’re driving. The 13k rated F150s are unicorns- good luck finding one on the lot.

A diesel can surprise you also as they’re heavy and subtract from your GVWR. Many times a gasser 3/4 or 1 ton has a better payload than the diesels- but the tow rating is far less.