Bobo
Your ½ ton Chevy is it a pickup or a SUV? The pickup can handle the heavier tongue better than the SUV. The SUV just plain weighs more by the truck itself and the PU is sprung heavier.
If and when you get into this and need any help, let me know. I have had some experience on GM’s suspension and how WD affects them.
When you pulled your camper home from the dealer it was empty and then you where no where near your 1,000# bar ratings.
It’s when you load the camper and where you can put it that raises up the tongue weight. I know on the T2499 that when filling the 45 gallon fresh tank, the tongue increases 200# by itself. Towing with fresh water is a choice and pending where you camp is not needed. Unless you have a sulfur water park or some other not great water source.
That nice beautiful front pass thru cargo hole we have allows us to add a lot of weight in there. In my case I had 308# of “stuff” that in that hole, added 206# to the tongue. Basically for every 1 # you add in the cargo hole, it adds 0.669# to tongue weight.
I know 308# of stuff sounds like a lot, but it isn’t really. It all adds up 20#, + 15# + 22# etc.
See the pics here of mine. That is 308# of stuff on the floor. The propane and WD bars are not part of that.
And looking in the hole
This is the way the camper is built.
Once you know the distance from the ball and axles we can calculate where the weight will add or not to tongue weight. The way the T2499 is made, the kitchen is over the axle which is the heaviest part. A good design. And as you move forward in the camper, the bath cabinet, the storage under the bed, the bed room cabinets. All that storage area adds some level to tongue weight. The closer to the front you get, the higher the % to the tongue.
Now behind the axles we have some over head cabinets and the TV cabinet. There we add more gear. But we can’t add much as the rear dining area and great big rear window area just does not have much storage to offset the weight we can add forward of the axles.
Key point in all this, just realize it. Your stuff and my stuff will be different and how we load the camper and what we put in, affects it more on this layout as most of the bigger storage areas are forward of the axles.
You may be able to manage to a 1,000# tongue, but towing to camp with fresh water most likely not.
If you need any more help on this, let me know. I have measured mine about 6 ways from Tuesday… and glad to share. I even wrote a few letters to Sunline on this to make sure I was not out in left field as my TT dealer gave me 800# bars on this camper and said I would be just fine with lot’s to spare. But I wasn’t. And I learned a whole lot in the process.
Happy camping. Hope this helps
John
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