[RVNoob]

Originally Posted by JRTJH

You left out a pretty important bit of information. The number of people that will be in the truck when towing and how much they weigh. As an example, if it's you and your DW (dear wife) and you weigh 175 she weighs 125, that's 300 pounds. On the other hand, if you have 4 teenage boys, each weighing 175 pounds, your DW weighs 150 and you weigh 275, well, now you're talking a significant problem adding another 1000 pounds of "trailer tongue weight" to the mix. The "people weight of 1125 pounds would significantly impact your towing ability.

So, how much do you and your passengers weigh, how much cargo do you intend to put in the truck and in the bed, how much does the actual hitch weigh? To that, add 10-15% of the trailer GVW as an estimated tongue weight. That will give you a pretty accurate "guesstimate" of how you're going to impact your 1710 pounds of payload. Also remember that everything you've added to the truck since you bought it new is also deducted from the payload. Things like running boards, bed liner, chrome steps, tool box, floor mats and other things all come "right off the top" of your payload.

Remember that the tongue weight listed in the specs is the "shipping weight" which does not include propane, battery, hitch or any cargo and with all the tanks empty. So you can expect to add 60 pounds for propane and 40 pounds for a battery to that 650 pounds before you hitch up your truck. Then add the hitch weight (another 100 pounds and you're going to be close to 825-875 pounds of tongue weight with no cargo in the trailer.

You can estimate your trailer tongue weight to be somewhere between 780 and 1170 pounds.

Thanks for the great info it really helps a lot!