Dead Weight Hitch Tongue Weight Vs Wt Distribution Hitch Tongue Weight

[flips805]

Greetings!

 

Ran across these numbers while looking at Nissan NV specs (See attached).

 

Does this mean that if its dead weight the max tongue wt is 870lbs however if you have a weight distribution hitch you can have up to 1305lbs of tongue weight?

 

Please say yes please say yes :)

[andy_george]

That's exactly how I understand it. Pretty standard for the tongue weight rating to be considerable higher with a wd hitch.

 

Now go buy your toy!;)

[flips805]

Haha. I know right! My wife says the same thing. She's ready to have her husband back and participate in family activities instead of looking at specs and trailers 24/7.

 

We found the floor plan we like. Just can't find any close to us.

 

Getting there though. I'll have a tow report soon enough

[Chris_CommercialManager]

Just seconding andy_george.  WD hitch raises the max tongue weight.

[sampson]

To move our TT around the yard, or manuver into/out of camping spots I remove the WD bars. And the NV is happy enough to take all 1050 pounds of actual tongue weight, albeit sitting lower in the rear end. With the bars on, and the van riding level, the WD sends about 350 pounds of the loaded 1050# to the the front axle, leaving 700 sitting on the back end.

 

Nissan uses the 10% of total trailer weight guideline for the tongue weight to set their recommended tongue weight limit. IE 8700 max tow for NVP 3500SL = 870 pound max tongue weight. Same vehicle in cargo version 9500 pound max tow equals.... 950 pounds. Class 4 hitch on there is rated for 10,000/1000. The area you are likely to encounter a hard limit, is with the GVWR (vehicle+seats+passengers+cargo+fuel+tongue weight+weight of actual WD hitch, etc) or the separate axle ratings depending on how you load the van itself with seats/passengers/cargo, etc and distribute the weight.

 

IF you use the WD hitch to take the 1305# tongue weight, and there is a 13000# trailer attached (most tongue weights are 10%) which will put you WAY over the 16,000 GCVWR for the NV = a bad a idea. 

 

I feel like I'm "pushing it" with our 8200# empty trailer. My 2 cents, value accordingly :)