In the processing of buying our first and a little nervous...need some reassuran

[joe.valleroy]

It's great to say we've finally committed and purchased a new Wildwood X-Lite 281QB (5438 lbs dry). We have a 2006 F150 Supercrew 4x4 with a 3.73 gear ratio and three boys (15, 12, and 1) to share this adventure with. The boys with have a great time and I we're hoping the Ford has a wonderful time as well. The Ford website lists the GVWR for our rig at 9200 lbs; however, the door shows 7200 lbs.

Please help ease the nerves a bit and confirm the rig has all the requirements necessary to make a man's trip pleasureable......

 

[donn]

Remember trailer dry weights are pretty much useless. What you need to do is load the truck with everything you will be traveling with, including the entire family and get to the scales.  Once you have an accurate weight, you can get your vehicles GVWR from the drivers door post.  Subtract b for a and you will have the amount more weight you can load before you exceed the mfg ratings.  Next go online and look up your trucks GCWR.  Subtract your scaled weight from that and you will have the maximum amount of weight you can tow. It is very simple actually.  Use the trailers GVWR as your loaded ready to camp weight and even if you are under that number you will know you are on the safe side.

 

[Alfa38User]

The Ford website lists the GVWR for our rig at 9200 lbs; however, the door shows 7200 lbs.

That seems to say that you may have looked something up incorrectly on the web site as it is not too likely the door post GVWR number is that far off being correct.

But... in talking of exceeding the trucks GVWR, the total weight of the trailer is not considered if that is what you are worried about,  only the tongue weight counts which should be around 10-15% of the loaded trailer weight. The trucks GCWR, on the other hand, does consider the loaded weight the trailer including 'stuff'.... and is a much bigger number usually. Easy to mix up all these terms eh??

 

[ArdraF]

Easy to mix up all these terms eh??

Joe.valroy - You might be interested in going to the top of the RV Forum screen and checking all the buttons.  The two in the middle marked Library and Glossary are loaded with tons of information that is useful to new RVers.  In the Glossary you might want to look at the various definitions of Hitch which includes Hitch Ratings and Hitch Weights.

Welcome to the RV Forum and things will work out.  You're going to have some wonderful adventures with your family.  They might not all be entirely stress free initially, but will get better as you learn about your rig.  Enjoy!

ArdraF

 

[joe.valleroy]

Makes sense now....thanks for the insight. You've eased my worries. Although we will be at the top end of our GCWR of 15000 lbs (7611 lbs loaded  for trailer and 7200 for truck); I think we can keep the weights low enough to facilitate and enjoy the trip. Will post our adventures regularly as we have a few weekenders planned this month