Customer Service Experience

 

I hate to tell you that your trailer will not be hauled empty.  That said, the limiting factor of most 1/2 ton trucks is their payload, not their stated towing capacity.  Most trucks do not haul the max capabilities they state (this is true w/ 1/2 ton, 3/4 ton and 1 ton trucks as well as SUV's).   What does the sticker on your trucks door say for payload?  Then you need to subtract from that the weight of everything and everyone in the truck (w/ the exception of the 150 lb driver that is usually included in that weight).    This will give you your available payload.  Another way to find your available payload is to go weigh your truck w/ a full tank of gas and everyone and everything in it you will take camping.  Subtract that weight from your vehicles GVW, this is available payload.   The tongue weight from the trailer and WDH will be deducted from your payload as well.    A good example of a vehicle limited by payload is my new to me F250.  It is a truck rated to tow 12,500 lb trailer.  The problem is due to the long bed, crew cab, and 4x4 this truck only has an 1800 lb payload.  Subtract from that, the weight of my family and dog and gear in truck, I only have about 1300 lbs of available payload.  That means that the max trailer I can tow is a loaded weight of under 9000 lbs. 

 

 As to the trailer, what does the sticker in the trailer say is the true unloaded weight w/ dealer added options/equipment (this includes batteries, propane, and anything else they put on the TT).  You will then be adding cargo to it.  This stuff adds up quickly. Most people add somewhere between 1000-1500 lbs of gear to their TT but everyone is different. some add more, some add less.  plated, cups, toiletries etc really do add up fast.   The real tongue weight of your TT will be somewhere around 13-15% of the loaded trailer weight.  The original weight they list is actually quite useless.  I can tell you my zinger was listed at 810 lb tongue weight and before we finished loading our trailer, out tongue weight came in at 920 lbs.  Knowing what we have added to the trailer, our TW is now probably over 1000lbs, this doesn't include the weight of our WDH. 

 

A great real world example of all of this is the situation we found ourselves in:  When we bought our TT, we had a 2004 nissan armada that was rated to tow 9100 lbs.  Great, I could buy a pretty big trailer.  I shopped according to GVWR because I knew that if I did that, then I wouldn't go over the SUV's capacity.  I knew UVW was  a useless number.   I bought a zinger w/ a 7700 lb GVWR and a dry TW of 810 lbs (I knew nothing about TW's when I bought the TT).  Should be a great match for my armada.  No.  Because the  armada was rated for a TW of 910 lbs and actually only had an 800 lb available payload.  Not good.  My armada never handled that TT well.  The trailer pushed that armada all over the road and even pushed me down a 7% grade.   There were a variety of reasons for this. I was over on payload.  I was over on TW.  My armada itself had a mechanical problem that prevented the rear end from being properly aligned (this was only figured out recently).  I tried everything, E rated tires, lots of hitch adjustments, new brake controllers. Only thing I didn't add was airbags but that was because the armada had a load leveling suspension.  I lasted 1 year of white knuckle driving before upgrading to a 3/4 ton.   I'm getting off track here.  Point is, a vehicle can be overloaded in one aspect but not another.  This can affect the safety of the whole set up.  I hope for your sake, everything is ok for you.  Many dealerships will say a TT is half ton towable but that is based upon an unrealistic dry weight number.  Most who fall into this trap end up upgrading their TV within the first year or so terrified to drive their rig, they stay local and never tackle big hills.  I know, I was one of them.  I wish you the best of luck and a better towing experience than I had.