Will a Weight Distribution System Allow You to Tow More than Tow Vehicles Weight Rating
Question:
Hopefully a quick question. Just wondering if the WDH setup affects the payload impact of the tongue weight amount on the tow vehicle? I own a 2014 Ram 1500 Sport 4x4 with 3.92 gearing in it and it is rated to pull 10k lbs. The GCWVR is 15,650 lbs and GVWR on the truck is 6900 lbs both axles rated at 3900 lbs. I had the truck weighed with me in it and full tank of gas and was 6000 lbs so my understanding is that I am left with 900 lbs of payload capacity the difference between the GVWR of 6900 lbs and the actual at 6000 lbs. The trailer that I want to buy has a dry weight of 6135 lbs with a hitch weight of 610 lbs, which would likely bump up to around 7000 lbs when loaded and ballpark of around 700 lbs for the tongue weight. So my issue is that I have 900 lbs payload capacity on the truck, if I assume the 700 lb tongue weight of the trailer is 700 lbs of payload on the truck, that leaves me 200 lbs of payload capacity for the wife, kids, and WDH. Assuming they are closer to 300 lbs actual weight, it leaves me about 100 lbs overweight on the GVWR, but under on all other capacity metrics ie. GAWR, GCWVR I have seen a Cat scale example from a TT forum that indicates about 20 of the tongue weight is applied against the trailer axles vs the tow vehicle axles and was wondering if this is a reasonable assumption. Using 20 of the 700 lbs would mean that my tow vehicle payload impact would only be 560 lbs and I would be under the GVWR by 40 lbs. Looking forward to your response…
asked by: Chris T
Expert Reply:
If you check the hitch or owners manual of your vehicle there should be separate towing capacities listed for if you use a weight distribution system with the vehicle. The manufacturers will have already determined how using a WD system will affect the towing capacities for the vehicle so that you don't have to do any physics equations.
With that being said, I can't recommend you exceed any of the towing capacities that your vehicle has. If your total weight ends up exceeding the GVWR I can't recommend you tow that setup.
I have tried to ask the same question you asked to our weight distribution manufacturers before and they have told me that there is no way to know exactly how much of the tongue weight gets transferred to the front axles of a tow vehicle and they won't say exactly how much it would be or what percent it would be since that depends somewhat on how the system is setup.
