I've been researching pop-ups, and looking at which ones might work for me. My car's tongue weight rating is 165lbs which is on the lower side. I've looked at a lot of brands, and for some reason the Fleetwood Coleman pop-ups have much lower advertised tongue weight ratings than the comparable competition. Does anyone know why this is?
For example:
2010 Coleman Bayside
Closed Length - 19' 2"
Unloaded Vehicle Weight - 2,655lbs
Hitch Weight - 160lbs
2007 Jayco Jay Series 1008
Closed Length - 16' 3"
Unloaded Vehicle Weight - 1,880lbs
Hitch Weight - 165lbs
2011 Palomino Y-Series Y-4102
Closed Length - 15' 10"
Unloaded Vehicle Weight - 1,953lbs
Hitch Weight - 152lbs
I get that those are all different years and not directly comparable. I also understand that tongue weight is affected by a lot of factors. From what I've seen though, Fleetwood/Coleman is the only brand that has large +2,000lb pop-ups with light tongue weights. I'm just struggling to see why this is. Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.
Tongue weight is a function of loading and weight distribution within the unit. That being said the industry standard for ANYTHING tow-able says that in order to have adequate towing control of a unit that a minimum of 10% of the weight has to be on the tongue - so I think those numbers are very very suspect.
Since the range can be 10-15% most max weight calculations are based on 12.5%. This becomes really critical when you are getting close to the "payload" amount. The amount of weight you tow vehicle is with vehicle, passengers, fuel, baggage and tongue weight.
In my humble opinion, I think those numbers are marketing numbers only. I think you have to weight it or as a minimum have a dealer prove it. (They all have tongue weight scales.
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Alright, that's what I was wondering. So even for some of the smaller ones they are under that 10% ratio (again that's published numbers). If it ended up being measured and those weights were accurate, would it be unsafe to tow it that way? I could see how one or a few manufacturers would list low tongue weight ratings in order to make it look more attainable for people's tow vehicles, but there is a large number of trailers among various manufactures that list tongue rating under 10% of the unloaded vehicle weight. Are manufacturers just expecting you to have accessories and or gear loaded in the trailer that increases the tongue weight and brings it closer to that ideal ratio?
If you are at the low side of the 10% then you HAVE to have a sway bar, not matter what the weight. In the 10% - 15% tongue weight category, then sway control would be determined by gross weight of the trailer.
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The happiest people don't have the best of everything, they just make the best of everything that they have! |
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