What is a lite weight trailer.

[linux3]

I think I spend too much time on this forum but I have learned a lot and thank all the members.
Now, what is a lite weight trailer?
I'm pulling around 50% of the max rating of my TT. That's lite weight.
1500, 2500 HD, 3500 HD DRW and on and on, IMHO happiness is a under stressed truck and time to explore.
Big long debates about weight police and do I have enough truck and should I spend $mega bucks to me just are not where the fun is.
We travel 8 ~ 9K miles a year with no particular plan but to see stuff and have fun. That is what lite travel is all about.
Get a 1500 truck, get a ~ 5k lbs trailer and go explore. Great fun and no worries.

[DocP]

To each their own.

[sourdough]

Your question is dependent on many variables because every situation is different IMO.

To me, for a really quick, simplistic idea, take the payload of the given truck then consider it fully loaded when you reach 70% of the payload number. Not just the trailer tongue/pin weight....total load for the payload. Off the top of my head with a 3200lb. payload that would give you approx. 1000 lb. cushion - probably a little too much; at 1600 lbs. it would leave about 480 lbs. - not much. With that as a benchmark, a lite weight trailer would be something that came in substantially less. I'm afraid that is probably in the minority of thinking though. I suspect many would think the guidelines proposed above would be "lite weight" and "normal" would be at payload max. or gvw max.

As the previous post stated, to each their own, as we've seen so many times. But reality is that many, many times so called "lite weight" trailers are in fact very heavy trailers for some trucks.

[linux3]

This thread didn't start quite like it did in my mind.
I had just spent too much time talking with someone about their 2010 Silverado single cab with the 4.8L V8.
Just because a salesman said that truck to haul anything he didn't believe me that a 27.5 foot (box length) 7200 lb dry trailer was going to be no fun to tow. Could it do it? Maybe but it would be stressful.

The interesting thing I learned here, or never considered before, was not just tow weight but what the truck could carry. Hitch weight, 10 ~ 15 % of total weight as tongue weight yada, yada we went outside and looked at the sticker on the door frame. Not even close.

With all that he still bought the trailer and figures maybe he'll add a leaf or 2 to the rear springs.

Maybe I should have just let it roll off me but I was a little frustrated and vowed to never go camping with them.

Sorry if I came off as kinda a jerk.

[chuckster57]

I don’t think you came off as a jerk. Your just better educated, and tried to pass that knowledge on. I see it all the time, “I’ll add this or change that and it’s all good”. You can still go camping with them, just don’t go at the same time.

[sourdough]

You didn't sound like a jerk to me either. It IS frustrating at times when folks seem to blow off what is very important, helpful information if they are going to tow a RV. And as Chuck says, continue to camp with them....just don't drive along with them.

[notanlines]

I also didn't see you as acting like a jerk. You simply voiced your opinion. It is threads like this that keep members interested. And, I might add, better educated.

[DocP]

I didn't take what you said as being a jerk either! Early on, I fell victim to what RV salespeople told me about towing capabilities (on more than one occasion, I'm sorry to say), and I paid the price (buy more truck or a smaller trailer). Some folks, sadly, just won't listen to the advice of others, and life is too short for me to waste any more oxygen on them.