HowMuchIt / Towing
How much can I tow?
As much as your vehicle's tow rating allows, counting the whole loaded trailer, and as long as the tongue weight fits in your payload. The calculator checks both from the numbers on your door label.
Check your trailer
Tongue weight on a bumper-pull trailer runs roughly 10 percent of the loaded trailer, often up to 15. It counts against your payload, with passengers and cargo.
Where the numbers are
The tow rating is in the owner's manual, the maker's towing guide or on the label in the driver's door jamb, which also lists the GVWR: the most your vehicle may weigh fully loaded. The GCWR is the most the loaded vehicle and the loaded trailer may weigh together. Payload is what the vehicle may carry: passengers, cargo, and the trailer's tongue weight pressing on the hitch.
Weigh the trailer loaded
Brochure weights are dry weights: no cargo, no battery, no propane, no water. Every trailer differs once it is packed, so weigh it loaded. The whole loaded trailer must stay under the tow rating, and on a bumper-pull trailer about 10 to 15 percent of it presses down on the hitch: a 5,000 pound trailer puts roughly 500 to 750 pounds on your payload.
Questions people ask
What is towing capacity?
The heaviest loaded trailer the maker says your vehicle can pull, with its own empty weight and everything in it.
What is GCWR?
The most the loaded vehicle and loaded trailer may weigh together.
Does tongue weight count against payload?
Yes, along with passengers and cargo.
Good to know
- Find your vehicle's tow rating in the owner's manual, on the driver door jamb label or in the maker's towing guide; the door jamb label also lists GVWR.1,2
- The tow rating counts the whole trailer: its own empty weight plus everything loaded in it must stay under the rating.1,3
- GVWR is the most your vehicle may weigh fully loaded, with passengers and cargo.1,2,3
- GCWR is the most the loaded vehicle and loaded trailer may weigh together.1,3
- The trailer's tongue weight counts against your payload, along with passengers and cargo.1,2
- On a conventional (bumper-pull) trailer, tongue weight runs roughly 10 percent of the loaded trailer weight, and often up to 15 percent.3,4
- Weigh the trailer loaded: brochure dry weights leave out cargo, battery and propane, and every trailer differs.4,5
How we checked this page
Checked on October 27, 2026. We kept a fact only when two independent publishers agree, and each one is numbered to its sources below. Where sources give different numbers, we keep only what they share. We never write a price. This page was written with an AI assistant and checked against the sources below.
Sources
- How to Measure Towing Capacity, GVWR, GCWR - Towing 101, CURT Manufacturing
- Towing Dictionary, Ford Motor Company
- Ram Towing - What to Learn Before You Buy - FAQs, Ram Trucks (Stellantis)
- Frequently Asked Questions, Equal-i-zer Hitch (Progress Mfg)
- A Guide to Trailer Weights by Trailer Type, CURT Manufacturing