Tow Vehicle / Travel Trailer Qualification 101
It's best to dispense with any guesswork and speculation and know for
certain if your specific tow vehicle is qualified to pull your specific travel trailer. Here's how. This is a condensed guide but it covers the basics. You can read more in-depth articles on this elsewhere.
Towing Specs
First, you need to have the
exact towing specs for your specific tow vehicle
right down to your VIN. Never use a ballpark published spec for your truck model, your actual towing specs are specific to your VIN due to your selected options and final build weights. You'll have a maximum towing capacity and a maximum payload specification for your specific VIN. Look for a label on the truck, or contact the vehicle manufacturer. RAM has a
website that allows you to look up your specific towing specs via your VIN.
Ford,
GM, etc. should have some similar service.
Once you know your exact towing specs, you can start figuring out which TTs you can safely tow.
Towing Capacity
Towing capacity is the maximum amount of weight your vehicle can tow. This is dependent upon the powertrain, the vehicle's weight, rear-axle ratio, and more. It can vary widely even within a vehicle model due to numerous option selections. You don't need to worry about calculating it, the manufacturer does that for you for your specific VIN. You need to know this specification.
The towing capacity qualification is vital. The maximum towing capacity weight of the tow vehicle must
always be greater than the Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) of the TT, and it's best to include a safety margin.
To determine the TT's GVW, you first need to know the weight of your TT as it was delivered from the factory. Do not use the manufacturer's published figure, this is only an estimate and may not include your options and other factors. The
actual build weight of your TT should be listed on a yellow label attached to the side of it.
Now you must add the weight of
everything you put into or onto the TT including
all cargo and any water in the tanks. You can figure this out either by weighing all cargo you add or using a
CAT scale if you're lucky enough to live near one. If not, then it's not as hard as you may think to weigh everything if you start from scratch. I do this and keep a google spreadsheet on it. It's a bit of a pain, but it's doable. For variable things like groceries, just leave a practical allowance. For water, you can use 8.4 lbs per gallon, but it's usually best to tow with the tanks empty if you can, unless you are boondocking. It's ok to add some fresh water if you have enough weight capacity.
Once you determine the GVW of the trailer, compare it to the maximum towing capacity. The general recommendation is to leave at least 20% capacity for safety. So, if your towing capacity was 12,000 lbs for example, you're qualified to safely tow a TT with a GVW of 9,600 lbs or less. For this example, let's say your TT GVW was 7000 lbs. You're qualified concerning tow capacity.
Before we move on, we also have to consider the trailer's GVWR. This is more of a qualification for the trailer than the tow vehicle, but a lot of people confuse GVW with GVWR. The GVW of a trailer can be less than its GVWR, but never vice versa and the GVWR should not be used to definitively select a tow vehicle because the GVW can be way under the GVWR. Read on.
Trailer GVWR
You must never exceed the Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) of the trailer itself. GVWR is the maximum GVW the trailer is rated for. If your trailer weighs 6000 lbs empty, and its GVWR is 7500 lbs, then you have no more than 1500 lbs cargo capacity. Try to keep it significantly lower for a margin of safety.
You sometimes hear that a tow vehicle's towing capacity must always be greater than the TT's GVWR. I've even seen this in published articles on towing specs. While this may be a somewhat decent estimate in some situations, it is not a hard and fast rule. Some dual axle trailers have an exceptional GVWR giving them a cargo capacity of 2000 lbs or more. However, if the actual GVW never exceeds the tow vehicle's towing capacity with a margin of safety, this would not disqualify the tow vehicle. So, be aware of that. It's the
actual TT GVW that's the qualifier for the tow vehicle, not the TT's GVWR.
Payload Capacity
This is the tough one and the primary limiting factor for most tow vehicles, even for 3/4 and 1-tons as well as half-tons. HD trucks obviously have payload capacities too and they often tow massive TTs and fifth-wheels. So
all towing vehicles need to pass these qualifications, not just half-tons. You're not out of the woods simply because you own an HD truck. Once you have the payload capacity for your VIN, you can start.
You must first subtract the weight of
all cargo and passengers you have in the tow vehicle from its max payload. This weight will vary widely. Some people tow with two adults, a few kids, and a couple of big dogs, whereas others have no additional passengers or pets. Some will load up the bed of the truck with all kinds of cargo whereas others will leave it almost empty. Whatever passengers and cargo you put in your truck is payload and
must be subtracted off of the max payload capacity. Even the weight of the WDH is cargo. It should be noted that many manufacturers do not include the driver's weight with the max payload whereas others may. Check your owner's manual for this. Fluids, including a full tank of gas, are usually not considered payload, but again always check your owner's manual.
Now it's time to consider the TT. The TT's tongue weight is also payload so whatever you have left from your max payload spec is now your maximum allowable TT tongue weight.
A TT's tongue weight can also vary widely depending upon the weight of the TT, its build weight distribution, the cargo weight, and the cargo's weight distribution. However, the tongue weight
must remain in the range of 10-15% of the TT's GVW to mitigate trailer sway. So, if its GVW ends up being 7000 lbs, for example, the tongue weight must be between 700-1050 lbs. The trailer manufacturer should have distributed the build weight to fall into this range, but you are responsible for correctly distributing whatever cargo you add to maintain it. Cargo weight and distribution can add or subtract from the TT's unloaded tongue weight. You should have some way to measure the tongue weight to determine this. You can purchase a
tongue weight scale for this or easily make one of your own as I did (instructions available upon request). I know of one
WDH that has a tongue weight scale built-in. You should try to distribute the cargo to achieve a tongue weight of around 10-11% of the GVW if you can as a starting point. This will be within the safety margin and provide the minimum payload to the tow vehicle. You always can tweak this if necessary by further moving cargo around.
So, for example, if your tow vehicle had a maximum payload of 1850 lbs and you subtracted say 700 lbs for all truck passengers/cargo, that would leave you with 1150 lbs of payload left for tongue weight. If the tongue weight of your 7000 lb GVW TT was 11% of the GVW, it would be 770 lbs. If you use a 20% payload safety margin, that would leave 920 lbs. out of the 1150 lbs. So, your 770 lb tongue weight is well within the maximum payload spec with a safety margin.
Your tow vehicle is now qualified. However, if any of the qualifications are out of spec for your tow vehicle and/or TT, or if you are in spec but pushing it way too far to the high end, you need to move up to the next size tow vehicle or a smaller TT and start over. Hopefully, you realized this before you purchased a tow vehicle and trailer because starting over can be very expensive and not to be taken lightly. Many people can find themselves in this situation if they didn't properly run all the numbers beforehand.
You
must always qualify your tow vehicle for your TT. Even if safety is not a primary concern for you, as it should be, you can void your truck's/TT's warranty. Worse yet, if you get into an accident and they do an investigation that concludes your tow vehicle and/or TT was not properly qualified, your insurance may not cover it and you may be liable for all damages which could be financially devasting. You may even face criminal charges, especially if someone was hurt or worse. Never tow overloaded.
Tow Vehicle / Travel Trailer Qualification 102
All tow vehicles should use a Weight Distributing/Sway Reducing Hitch. Not only do WDHs distribute weight from the tow vehicle's rear axle to its front axle to help re-level it, but they also distribute weight from the tow vehicle's rear axle to the trailer's rear axle(s) to help reduce the load on the tow vehicle. This cannot increase your towing capacity but it can help with your payload as well as help ensure you don't exceed the truck's gross axle weight rating (GAWR). The distributed weight to the trailer's axle(s) can be as much as a few hundred pounds. This reduces the payload on the tow vehicle for an additional margin of safety. A lot of people don't realize this and never take it into consideration, but it is an important factor, especially for half-tons. You can verify this with the proper use of a CAT scale.
Watch this well-done video explaining exactly how this works with an actual, precise empirical demonstration. The video is about Airbags vs a WDH but it covers weight distribution equally as well.
Finally, consider TT length. There aren't many great rules or calculations for this so use common sense. Just because you might find a modern TT using ultralight technology to build a very long TT in your weight range, does not necessarily qualify it for use with a lighter duty tow vehicle. For example, the latest generation of half-tons should probably not go beyond 32-34 feet or so (IMO). You probably need an HD truck for anything longer. Again, use common sense. If you have any doubts or it's too close to call, go with a bigger tow vehicle if you can afford it or select a smaller TT provided it meets all your other practical considerations such as fuel economy, ride, and use as a daily driver and TT size/features. It's not easy making everything work together, so you have to prioritize your requirements and work within your individual situation. Compromises may need to be made. This is why no one set of advice or opinions applies to everyone.
Once you've very carefully considered all the towing specifications and weights involved and calculated the math, you now know if your specific tow vehicle is qualified to pull your specific travel trailer. You don't need guesswork, speculation, or to rely upon others' opinions to know if you're qualified or not. You should never rely on those. Always do your own thorough research and measurements and consider everything involved. It can take months to research and decide.
Don't stop here, this is just a primer. There is no shortage of good articles on this to cover anything I may have missed.
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Ford F250 6.2 Gas, 4X4, Short Bed, Companion Hitch
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