# Weight Calculator



## Ridger (Apr 8, 2011)

I came across this Weight Calculator website a few months back which contains the following 4 calculators;


Travel Trailer Weights
Fifth Wheel Weights
Adjust GVW
Liquid Weights
... and I thought I would share. Seems to work very well and accuracy increases with the amount of information you input. Also has an adjustable "safety margin" factor you can incorporate (20% is recommended) as well as an adjustable "tongue weight percentage" override (defaults to 15% if left empty). I also really like the "scenario's" at the bottom of the page that provides an example calculation (i.e. Dodge Ram 1500 is ued in the TT calculator) which is a real eye opener.

I would be interested to see how this calculator compares to others used.

Trailer Weight Calculator


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## Ridger (Apr 8, 2011)

An interesting thing I found about this weight calculator is that you can really see how tow vehicle payload (or lack thereof) can have a huge impact on your towing capability.

For example, I have a 2006 4Runner Limited with the following specs;
GVWR - 6,0008lbs
GCWR - 12,000lbs
Max Trailer Weight - 7,000lbs
Max Tongue Weight - 700lbs
RGAWR - 3,296lbs

And I weighed my 4Runner with a full tank and me and my wife (5,150lbs) add in 150lbs for my two small kids and small dog (5,300lbs).

Entering the above specs into the calculator and increasing my "actual" TV weight in 50lb increments, here are the results of the calculated "max" trailer weight (Note: I used a 12.5% tongue weight - half way between recommended 10%-15%);

Actual TV Weight - Max Trailer Weight
5,300lbs - 5,600lbs
5,350lbs - 5,264lbs
5,400lbs - 4,864lbs
5,450lbs - 4,464lbs
5,500lbs - 4,064lbs
5,550lbs - 3,664lbs
5,600lbs - 3,264lbs

Note that for every 100lbs of gear/weight added to the actual tow vehicle weight, the max trailer weight dropped by approx 800lbs, as the lack of available payload was restricting towing capacity. Adding 200lbs of gear to my 4Runner would drop the max loaded trailer weight allowance from 5,600lbs to 4,064lbs, while adding 300lbs would take it to 3,264lbs.







I assume this is due to payload restriction by factoring in the tongue weight.

(PS: Admins - feel free to 'sticky' this thread if you wish to)


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Ridger said:


> ... I assume this is due to payload restriction by factoring in the tongue weight.
> ...


This is exactly the problem with most tow vehicles. The cargo capacity is your limiting factor. People tend to ignore that fact and will state that they are within their limits when acutally they are over. Then they wonder why the rear end failed, or stability is an issue...


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