Fuel 305 tongue weight issues

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Doug777

Guest
Has anyone had issues with factory posted tongue weight being less than the actual real weight?
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Hi Doug,

Tongue weight, Pin weight, and the empty weight shown on the website are all based on early production, and sometimes perhaps on prototypes. Sometimes it reflects a base configuration that you may not be able to buy because there are "forced options". The base configuration allows manufacturers to sell private label versions of the trailer that are configured to the private label specs.

So the one thing you can count on is that the actual measured tongue weight of your trailer is not going to be exactly what the spec says.

On our 2011 Landmark, the pin weight spec was 2,620 lbs. But we added the generator option and the washer/dryer option up front. And we load up the basement. Our actual pin weight is around 3,700 lbs. That's not at all uncommon.
 
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Doug777

Guest
Hi Doug,

Tongue weight, Pin weight, and the empty weight shown on the website are all based on early production, and sometimes perhaps on prototypes. Sometimes it reflects a base configuration that you may not be able to buy because there are "forced options". The base configuration allows manufacturers to sell private label versions of the trailer that are configured to the private label specs.

So the one thing you can count on is that the actual measured tongue weight of your trailer is not going to be exactly what the spec says.

On our 2011 Landmark, the pin weight spec was 2,620 lbs. But we added the generator option and the washer/dryer option up front. And we load up the basement. Our actual pin weight is around 3,700 lbs. That's not at all uncommon.


Thanks for replying , to me that is miss leading advertisement and a safety issue ,my trailer is stock with nothing extra and empty from Camping World , everything that is on the trailer is what is listed on the Heartland web site, there is no add on options.
It makes a big difference when your truck is only rated for a certain weight limit and then you find out that the trailer is out of spec.
Hitch wise also needs to be factored in to the actual tongue weight to get the correct hitch for safe towing.

Just wanted to see if there are other folks out there with the same issue, I am sure there are others owners that are not even aware of the issue.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Thanks for replying , to me that is miss leading advertisement and a safety issue ,my trailer is stock with nothing extra and empty from Camping World , everything that is on the trailer is what is listed on the Heartland web site, there is no add on options.
It makes a big difference when your truck is only rated for a certain weight limit and then you find out that the trailer is out of spec.
Hitch wise also needs to be factored in to the actual tongue weight to get the correct hitch for safe towing.

Just wanted to see if there are other folks out there with the same issue, I am sure there are others owners that are not even aware of the issue.

Many owners are aware of weight issues and go by the numbers. Many others are only concerned with how the trailer tows and if tows ok, they don't seem to care if the numbers don't work.

For example, there are many people towing 16,000 lb. 5th wheels with 3/4 ton trucks. From a numbers standpoint, their pin weight, when added to weight of everything else in the truck, is typically seriously over the truck's rated payload capacity. Many times this causes the truck to "squat" on the rear wheels. It's quite common for owners to find this overload acceptable, or to address it with air bags to level the truck without fixing the weight imbalance.

RV sales people rarely provide any useful information or guidance.

Another complication is that truck companies usually advertise tow capacity and payload as "up to xx,xxx lbs.". When we bought our 2014 RAM, the advertising was tow capacity up to 30,000 lbs. and payload up to 7,000 lbs. For our actual configuration, it's actually rated something like 24,000 and 5,400.

Car/Truck sales people also rarely provide any useful information or guidance.

Do you have a specific problem with your trailer and tow vehicle, or is this hypothetical?
 
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Doug777

Guest
Many owners are aware of weight issues and go by the numbers. Many others are only concerned with how the trailer tows and if tows ok, they don't seem to care if the numbers don't work.

For example, there are many people towing 16,000 lb. 5th wheels with 3/4 ton trucks. From a numbers standpoint, their pin weight, when added to weight of everything else in the truck, is typically seriously over the truck's rated payload capacity. Many times this causes the truck to "squat" on the rear wheels. It's quite common for owners to find this overload acceptable, or to address it with air bags to level the truck without fixing the weight imbalance.

RV sales people rarely provide any useful information or guidance.

Another complication is that truck companies usually advertise tow capacity and payload as "up to xx,xxx lbs.". When we bought our 2014 RAM, the advertising was tow capacity up to 30,000 lbs. and payload up to 7,000 lbs. For our actual configuration, it's actually rated something like 24,000 and 5,4

Car/Truck sales people also rarely provide any useful information or guidanc

Do you have a specific problem with your trailer and tow vehicle, or is this hypothetical?

This not this hypothetical, real world,not OK with my front end up in the air and fear end down on the ground with the weight distribution hitch installed , tongue weight out of spec period.
Maybe a big corporation like Dodge lied about there truck rating?
 

danemayer

Well-known member
This not this hypothetical, real world,not OK with my front end up in the air and fear end down on the ground with the weight distribution hitch installed , tongue weight out of spec period.
Maybe a big corporation like Dodge lied about there truck rating?

Look for a label inside the driver's door to see what the payload is for your truck as configured.
 
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Doug777

Guest
Look for a label inside the driver's door to see what the payload is for your truck as configured.

Dan you are just joking right?
HaHa very funny.
11900lbs towing weight ,1900 payload.
payload being the most important for tongue weight .
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Dan you are just joking right?
HaHa very funny.
11900lbs towing weight ,1900 payload.
payload being the most important for tongue weight .

Is 1900 the payload spec on the label inside your driver side door, or something else? Maybe post a picture.

Have you weighed the trailer using standard weighing techniques to find out the actual tongue weight? What does the printout show? You can post that as well.
 
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Doug777

Guest
Many owners are aware of weight issues and go by the numbers. Many others are only concerned with how the trailer tows and if tows ok, they don't seem to care if the numbers don't work.

For example, there are many people towing 16,000 lb. 5th wheels with 3/4 ton trucks. From a numbers standpoint, their pin weight, when added to weight of everything else in the truck, is typically seriously over the truck's rated payload capacity. Many times this causes the truck to "squat" on the rear wheels. It's quite common for owners to find this overload acceptable, or to address it with air bags to level the truck without fixing the weight imbalance.

RV sales people rarely provide any useful information or guidance.

Another complication is that truck companies usually advertise tow capacity and payload as "up to xx,xxx lbs.". When we bought our 2014 RAM, the advertising was tow capacity up to 30,000 lbs. and payload up to 7,000 lbs. For our actual configuration, it's actually rated something like 24,000 and 5,400.

Car/Truck sales people also rarely provide any useful information or guidance.

Do you have a specific problem with your trailer and tow vehicle, or is this hypothetical?





Many others are only concerned with how the trailer tows and if tows ok, they don't seem to care if the numbers don't work.



As the moderator of this site do you not care about the safe towing of travel trailers by the members of this site?or it doesn't matter?

- - - Updated - - -

Is 1900 the payload spec on the label inside your driver side door, or something else? Maybe post a picture.

Have you weighed the trailer using standard weighing techniques to find out the actual tongue weight? What does the printout show? You can post that as well.

will do post pic soon as a can figure out how, any help will be appreciated.
 

danemayer

Well-known member


As the moderator of this site do you not care about the safe towing of travel trailers by the members of this site?or it doesn't matter?

- -

Many people on this forum care about safe towing. One of our owners created a website to assist purchasers in this area.

We have several volunteer moderators on this forum and yes we try to help people. But our forum members provide most of the answers when people have questions. And while we have opinions, no, we're not the safety police.


insert image.jpg
 
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Doug777

Guest
IMG_0313.jpg
Many others are only concerned with how the trailer tows and if tows ok, they don't seem to care if the numbers don't work.



As the moderator of this site do you not care about the safe towing of travel trailers by the members of this site?or it doesn't matter?

- - - Updated - - -



will do post pic soon as a can figure out how, any help will be appreciated.
 

danemayer

Well-known member
Looks like around 1630 actual tongue weight. Where did you come up with the truck's tongue weight rating of 1,900?
 
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Doug777

Guest
Looks like around 1630 actual tongue weight. Where did you come up with the truck's tongue weight rating of 1,900?

From the online truck towing capacity, where you have to input your vin number?
Why exactly are you doubting what I am saying?
....

Even if it was 1630 which it is not, it still over the online posted spec of 1380 and have brochure in hand that says 1380.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

danemayer

Well-known member
From the online truck towing capacity, where you have to input your vin number?
Why exactly are you doubting what I am saying?
....

Even if it was 1630 which it is not, it still over the online posted spec of 1380 and have brochure in hand that says 1380.

Doug,

I'm asking because my assumption is that you want help. Sometimes people have wrong information, or don't understand the numbers. I don't know you, so I have no idea what you know. That's why I'm asking for the numbers and where they came from.

If 1,900 is your payload spec, that includes everything you put into the truck, not just the trailer weight on the hitch. If it's the tongue weight spec, it would seem like it's enough to easily take the weight of your trailer.

What am I missing?
 
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Doug777

Guest
Doug,

I'm asking because my assumption is that you want help. Sometimes people have wrong information, or don't understand the numbers. I don't know you, so I have no idea what you know. That's why I'm asking for the numbers and where they came from.

If 1,900 is your payload spec, that includes everything you put into the truck, not just the trailer weight on the hitch. If it's the tongue weight spec, it would seem like it's enough to easily take the weight of your trailer.

What am I missing?
Dan trailer is completely empty, haven't got one use out of it.
Thanks for your help, I came to the wrong place.
 
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