Proper Tongue Weight and How to Measure It

[baktasht]

I have always just gone off of the eyeball measurement and the "feel" of the truck once loaded. But this is the first time I have actually used a trailer tongue weight scale.

If you tow often I highly recommend grabbing some sort of a tongue weight scale and giving it a shot. You never know how far off you are until you measure. Did a video on it as well, incase it's useful to you.

Here is the video
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[Tuscany]

The more tongue weight, the better.
When you start messing with trailer weight, you get that uneasy and dangerous squirmy feeling.

[baktasht]

The more tongue weight, the better.
When you start messing with trailer weight, you get that uneasy and dangerous squirmy feeling.

Usually. But I've found that limit of too much tongue weight a few times over the years as well. Particularly on any SUV that has independent rear suspension.Too much squat ends up getting pretty unstable too. Airbags sometimes help, but it's a balancing act for sure.

[bruceb58]

I use a Sherline scale
www.amazon.com/Sherline-LM-2000-Trailer ... 3401034024
or
www.amazon.com/Sherline-LM-1000-Trailer ... 119&sr=8-2

This is my R5


I use a WDH since the tongue weigh is above the 500# max that my hitch is rated for dead weight. I tow with a 2018 F-150

[Snowman73]

I use a Sherline scale
www.amazon.com/Sherline-LM-2000-Trailer ... 3401034024
or
www.amazon.com/Sherline-LM-1000-Trailer ... 119&sr=8-2

This is my R5


I use a WDH since the tongue weigh is above the 500# max that my hitch is rated for dead weight. I tow with a 2018 F-150

Do you have electric brakes? Typically a wdh is not recommended with surge brakes and boat trailers for a variety of reasons. I’m genuinely curious as I have an R5 and a 2021 F150.

[bruceb58]

Electric over hydraulic.

You can use a WDH with surge brakes if the bars are the ones that slide on a perch.

https://www.equalizerhitch.com/faqs/

Funny a hitch company misspells them as "breaks"

Capture6.JPG

[baktasht]

Gotta love it when the company's content is written by overseas cheap labor

Do you really need a WDH with just an R5? Seems like that is adding more complexity to things where it is unnecessary. I tow our 292 with an LX570 and am able to keep all the suspension in perfect geometry with the stock setup and a regular hitch. Your truck should be plenty capable of towing that load without a WDH.

[bruceb58]

Gotta love it when the company's content is written by overseas cheap labor

Do you really need a WDH with just an R5? Seems like that is adding more complexity to things where it is unnecessary. I tow our 292 with an LX570 and am able to keep all the suspension in perfect geometry with the stock setup and a regular hitch. Your truck should be plenty capable of towing that load without a WDH.

There are a lot of people in the US that spell it out breaks as well. It's a pretty small company in Utah. I would be very surprised if they have someone overseas write it for them.

Depends if you follow the hitch spec. I could have replaced my hitch with a higher class hitch with a larger dead weight spec. For me, it was actually cheaper to buy a used E4 Equilizer hitch on eBay.

I have towed with and without the WDH, It is way more stable with the WDH.

I am kinda surprised you can tow with a LX 570 and stay within payload limits. What does your payload sticker inside your door say? I have seen an LX570 with as low as 1000# payload capacity which means if you have 700#, that's only 300# for all the people and cargo inside the truck.

Also, what is the deadweight spec of your hitch? Should be a sticker on it. I would be extremely surprised if it was more than 500 or 600 pounds.

[baktasht]

Gotta love it when the company's content is written by overseas cheap labor

Do you really need a WDH with just an R5? Seems like that is adding more complexity to things where it is unnecessary. I tow our 292 with an LX570 and am able to keep all the suspension in perfect geometry with the stock setup and a regular hitch. Your truck should be plenty capable of towing that load without a WDH.

There are a lot of people in the US that spell it out breaks as well. It's a pretty small company in Utah. I would be very surprised if they have someone overseas write it for them.

Depends if you follow the hitch spec. I could have replaced my hitch with a higher class hitch with a larger dead weight spec. For me, it was actually cheaper to buy a used E4 Equilizer hitch on eBay.

I have towed with and without the WDH, It is way more stable with the WDH.

I am kinda surprised you can tow with a LX 570 and stay within payload limits. What does your payload sticker inside your door say? I have seen an LX570 with as low as 1000# payload capacity which means if you have 700#, that's only 300# for all the people and cargo inside the truck.

Also, what is the deadweight spec of your hitch? Should be a sticker on it. I would be extremely surprised if it was more than 500 or 600 pounds.

Good question. It's a 2009 LX570. I just went out and checked. The hitch came from the factory, only sticker on it says to check the manual. The payload is 1421 lbs. And max tow rating is listed as 8500 lbs.

[bruceb58]

That's pretty good payload for that model. Newer ones are a lot lower.

[baktasht]

That's pretty good payload for that model. Newer ones are a lot lower.

Also I think that payload rating takes into consideration the factory spec tires. The stock Michelin Latitude Tour HP tiers are rated at 2245 lbs per wheel. The tires I run now are the Michelin Defender LTX which are rated at 2679 lbs per wheel, they made a considerable difference when towing. Much more firm feel than the stock spec tires.

Overall, it handles our 292 fine. The only thing that seemed lacking was braking power, even with electric brakes on 2 of the 3 axles on the trailer. But once I upgrade the brakes on the LX it made a big difference.

But, our LX is definitely maxed out on it's limit of towing capacity with the 292. But it does well enough for now that I don't see a good reason yet to buy a 3/4 ton to tow with, and the boat ramp we use is only 20min away. 208k miles on her and counting. Maybe next year we'll look at replacing it, not sure yet.

[dsthomas]

Just my two cents… when I ordered my truck I was really surprised to see that (back in 2019, who knows now) it was only a few hundred dollars, literally $200 to go from a 3/4 to a 1 ton or F250 to F350. It’s really nice to not have to worry about payload When we pack up for a week at the lake :0). 700-800 lbs of tongue weight and 200-300 lbs of gear plus basically four adults it adds up quick and before you know it your over grossed. Just saying if your gonna upgrade go all the way.

If anyone is interested here is a really good YouTube about payload and towing capacity.

https://www.keepyourdaydream.com/payload/

[bruceb58]

That's pretty good payload for that model. Newer ones are a lot lower.

Also I think that payload rating takes into consideration the factory spec tires. The stock Michelin Latitude Tour HP tiers are rated at 2245 lbs per wheel. The tires I run now are the Michelin Defender LTX which are rated at 2679 lbs per wheel, they made a considerable difference when towing. Much more firm feel than the stock spec tires.

Overall, it handles our 292 fine. The only thing that seemed lacking was braking power, even with electric brakes on 2 of the 3 axles on the trailer. But once I upgrade the brakes on the LX it made a big difference.

But, our LX is definitely maxed out on it's limit of towing capacity with the 292. But it does well enough for now that I don't see a good reason yet to buy a 3/4 ton to tow with, and the boat ramp we use is only 20min away. 208k miles on her and counting. Maybe next year we'll look at replacing it, not sure yet.

Its a combination of everything but the axles are usually what limits the payload. What is funny is that people add things like helper springs, air bags...of course all these things they put on the truck actually reduce the payload by the weight those items add.

[baktasht]

Just my two cents… when I ordered my truck I was really surprised to see that (back in 2019, who knows now) it was only a few hundred dollars, literally $200 to go from a 3/4 to a 1 ton or F250 to F350. It’s really nice to not have to worry about payload When we pack up for a week at the lake :0). 700-800 lbs of tongue weight and 200-300 lbs of gear plus basically four adults it adds up quick and before you know it your over grossed. Just saying if your gonna upgrade go all the way.

If anyone is interested here is a really good YouTube about payload and towing capacity.

https://www.keepyourdaydream.com/payload/

My neighbor did the exact same in 2020 when he bought his F350. I had no idea the difference was so narrow.

Its a combination of everything but the axles are usually what limits the payload. What is funny is that people add things like helper springs, air bags...of course all these things they put on the truck actually reduce the payload by the weight those items add.

Good point on the add-on's. Any sprung weight is going to reduce your payload.

[dustinm]

Just my two cents… when I ordered my truck I was really surprised to see that (back in 2019, who knows now) it was only a few hundred dollars, literally $200 to go from a 3/4 to a 1 ton or F250 to F350. It’s really nice to not have to worry about payload When we pack up for a week at the lake :0). 700-800 lbs of tongue weight and 200-300 lbs of gear plus basically four adults it adds up quick and before you know it your over grossed. Just saying if your gonna upgrade go all the way.

If anyone is interested here is a really good YouTube about payload and towing capacity.

https://www.keepyourdaydream.com/payload/

My uncle also buys F350s for the same reason. He told me the only real difference is the frame, which would explain the small difference in price.

I also have a story. When the half ton Dodge diesels came out I was very interested in purchasing one. When our local dealer finally got one in it was parked next to a medium optioned 3/4 ton Cummins. After looking that loaded up 1/2 over for quite sometime I thought maybe I would just see how it compared to the 3/4, the list prices were within 1k. At this point I was just dumb founded, why would I (or anyone) spend 1k more for a pickup that I literally could haul less than the cheaper pickup, it even had less overall power too. After some more research (finding the 1/2 ton oil changes at the time were $100) I never did buy either diesel, most of it due to that initial sticker shock.