|
RV Trailer Hitch/Tongue weight:
Because the trailer manufacturer publishes a recommended hitch/tongue weight it generates questions about it’s validity. Mostly from new owners.
It is a valid recommendation. With extreme care in balancing the trailer’s cargo loads, the recommended hitch/tongue weight will work. If it could not be balanced out, the trailer manufacturer wouldn’t be allowed to certify the trailer until it was worked-out.
So the recommendation is not hypothetical. It’s just not practical once you get the trailer home and start loading it. Only the owner knows what they are going to carry as cargo for each trip they make and they are sure not going to load to a tongue weight ever time they move the trailer. So, a ballpark figure needs to be established. It comes from experience and how the owner loads the trailer. After a few times at the scales or with your own tongue scale you can get the average tongue weight you carry.
You might ask, why does the trailer manufacturer publish a hitch/tongue weight? It’s a mandatory weight requirement they must use to ensure the GAWR axles have the necessary load capacity to support the trailer’s GVWR. In simple terms it goes like this. The published hitch/tongue weight, when added to the trailer’s total certified GAWR weight (s) must equal GVWR.
|