Assuming ignorance before malice, sometimes sales people are just ignorant of towing requirements. That being the case, there is no excuse for you to be ignorant too. There is plenty of information available on safe towing and towing weight limits.

This guide is biased towards 5th wheel towing. You may need to do a little interpreting for conventional or gooseneck towing. It is not exhaustive, and it might have mistakes. Use the information here to do more research.

These are terms you should be familiar with when looking into a trailer that has more than a trivial weight.

• 5th Wheel Towing – This refers to towing using a kingpin and coupler that connects in the bed of a pickup truck centered over the rear axle. The tow rating can be lumped with Gooseneck towing. The ratings for this should significantly exceed conventional towing.
• Cargo Carrying Capacity (CCC) – The weight of passengers and materials that the vehicle can carry. This term is used for RVs. Payload capacity is used for tow vehicles. Typically, GVWR = UVW + CCC.
• Conventional Towing – This refers to towing from a bumper or frame mounted receiver where the trailer connects to the rear of the vehicle behind the rear wheels. Frequently, it is a ball style hitch.
• Dry Vehicle Weight – The weight of the vehicle with no fluids, no cargo, and no passengers.
• Gooseneck Towing – This refers to towing using a ball style hitch that connects in the bed of a pickup truck over the rear axle. The tow rating can be lumped with 5th wheel towing. The ratings for this should moderately exceed 5th wheel tow ratings.
• Gross Axle Weight (GAW) – The weight applied to the front or rear axle. This is the actual weight, not the weight rating. This should not exceed the weight rating.
• Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) – The maximum weight for which the front or rear axle is rated. Both the towing vehicle and trailer will have this rating, but the tow vehicle will be the primary one to watch.
• Gross Combined Weight (GCW) – The combined weight of the towing vehicle and trailer. This is the actual weight, not the weight rating. This should not exceed the weight rating.
• Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR) – The maximum combined GVW of the towing vehicle (i.e., truck) and trailer (i.e., RV).
• Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) – The total of the unloaded vehicle weight, cargo weight, and passenger weight. This is the actual weight, not the weight rating. This should not exceed the weight rating.
• Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) – The maximum GVW for which the vehicle is rated. Both the towing vehicle and trailer will have this rating. Typically, GVWR = UVW + CCC.
• Hitch Weight – The weight that the trailer applies to the hitch or coupler.
• Hitch (Weight/Tow) Rating – The weight and tow rating of the hitch or coupler used to tow the trailer.
• Loaded Hitch Weight – The weight that the loaded trailer applies to the hitch or coupler.
• Maximum Loaded Trailer Weight – The maximum GVW of the RV being pulled by the towing vehicle.
• Payload Capacity – The weight of passengers and materials that the vehicle can carry. This term is used for tow vehicles. Cargo carrying capacity is used for RVs.
• Receiver (Weight/Tow) Rating – The weight and tow rating of the receiver attached to the vehicle. This receiver is the square hole in the back of many pickup trucks that holds the hitch. Sometimes used interchangeably with tongue (weight/tow) rating. See Tongue (Weight/Tow) Rating.
• Tongue (Weight/Tow) Rating – The weight and tow rating of the tow bumper attached to the vehicle. This is often just a hole, for a ball hitch, through the bumper in the middle near the license plate. Sometimes used interchangeably with receiver (weight/tow) rating. See Receiver (Weight/Tow) Rating.
• Unloaded Hitch Weight – The weight that the unloaded trailer applies to the hitch. Typically, the hitch weight reported in the RV specifications is this value.
• Unloaded Vehicle Weight (UVW) – The weight of the vehicle with no cargo and no passengers. Typically, GVWR = UVW + CCC.
• Weight Distribution Hitch (WDH) – A conventional towing hitch that forces some of the hitch weight to be distributed to the front of the towing vehicle. Some WDHs include a mechanism to reduce trailer sway.

At a weigh station, you will need to take two measurements of your tow vehicle – with the trailer and without the trailer. Across the two measurements, the tow vehicle load should be identical – same occupants, same cargo, same fuel volume. At the weigh station, the front tires, back tires, and trailer tires will all be on different scales. If weighed again within 24 hours, a re-weigh at the same location may be less expensive.

Table 1 shows the calculations for the weigh station readings to convert to tow vehicle weights. The “no trailer” weighs and calculations are also shown, but they are only for reference. The “no trailer” weights should be below any weight ratings, if not, you have a bigger issue.

Some vehicle manufacturers publish extensive information on their vehicle tow ratings. If you Google “2024 Ford towing guide”, it will direct you to a PDF file with 40+ pages of information about Ford vehicle tow ratings. As an example, the 2024 Ford towing guide is here. Ford has them for at least a few years back.

We have a 2022 Ford F350 4×4 crew cab with 8 foot bed down-graded from 12,400 pound to 11,400 pound GVWR. Table 2 shows the weight ratings gathered from the truck safety sticker, RV safety sticker, the 2022 Ford RV and Trailer Towing Guide, and the hitch documentation.

Rating	Weight	Location
Front GAWR	5,600	Truck Safety Sticker
Rear GAWR	6,780	Truck Safety Sticker
Truck GVWR	11,400	Truck Safety Sticker
Trailer GVWR	13,935	RV Safety Sticker
Maximum Loaded Trailer Weight	20,700	Tow Guide (pg 29)
GCWR	30,000	Tow Guide (pg 29)
Maximum Loaded Trailer Weight	20,000	5th Wheel Coupler Documentation
Coupler Weight	5,000	5th Wheel Coupler Documentation

The first thing to notice is that the coupler is rated for a lower weight than the tow vehicle. With receivers, hitches, and couplers, the lowest weight rating is used as the overall weight rating. The maximum loaded trailer weight that the truck can tow is 20,700 pounds, except the 5th wheel coupler is only rated for 20,000 pounds. The 20,000 pounds is the limit for our setup.

Table 3 has an old set of measurements for our truck and 5th wheel RV. These measurements will be used to calculate the vehicle and trailer weights to compare to the weight ratings. These measurements are based on two occupants, a mostly full tank of diesel, no cats, and a modified mostly loaded trailer.

A	B	C	D	E
5200	6100	10100	5140	3540

Using the weigh station readings, table 4 shows how the vehicle and tow weights can be calculated from the weigh station readings and compared to the ratings.

Remember that this is the tow vehicle weight ratings. The fact that the tow vehicle can tow a 20,000 pound 5th wheel trailer does not mean that you can load your 13,935 GVWR 5th wheel up to 20,000 pounds. Well, you can. But, it might not make it out of the driveway.

In addition to the weight ratings above, the loaded 5th wheel hitch weight should be 15% – 25% of the GVW of the trailer to ensure the trailer is not unsafely back loaded. Back loaded trailers are unsafe because they are more likely to sway uncontrollably. The 20.6% (2620 / 12720) shown above is acceptable because it is greater than the 15% requirement and none of the other weight ratings are exceeded. In general, you should probably keep it at or above the unloaded hitch weight ratio. Our trailer is is about 18.7% (1935 / 10338), so the fully loaded hitch weight should be around 2,608 pounds.

The truck GVWR is close to the 11,400 pound limit. Since the truck GVWR is close to the rating and the loaded hitch weight is a bit high, some cargo could be moved/added to the back of the RV to reduce the loaded hitch weight. For our truck, the GVWR is less concerning because the safety sticker was down graded to 11,400, but the actual GVWR is 12,400 pounds. Slightly exceeding 11,400 should be safe, but there might be a ticket in our future.

There is no way to exactly determine what your weights will be before towing a trailer, but you can make reasonable estimates. If the weight estimates for a trailer are close to your weight ratings, you might want to look for something else. For the estimate calculations below, you will need to weigh your tow vehicle with the same cargo and passengers that you expect when towing. If weight without the cargo, spouse, pets, and kids, your estimate will be less accurate or completely wrong. This weight measurement, without the trailer, measures D and E.

Most RV manufacturers will provide some specifications on their website. Some of them provide a subset that makes the RV look lighter than it is. You will need the trailer GVWR, UVW, and (Unloaded) Hitch Weight. If the manufacturer only provides UVW and CCC to make the trailer seem lighter, GVWR = UVW + CCC. This example uses our truck and a 2025 Arctic Wolf 331BH 5th wheel. Table 5 shows the relevant 331BH specifications.

GVWR	UVW	Hitch Weight
11,845	9,914	1,645

Table 6 shows the calculation and estimates of the weigh station measurements. D and E were actually measured at a weigh station, so only A, B, and C need to be estimated. The estimates of B and C are created by calculating a loaded hitch weight that is proportional to the increased trailer weight due to fully loading the trailer. The loaded hitch weight estimate is (Hitch Weight) * GVWR / UVW. The loaded hitch weight is added to the tow vehicle rear axle and subtracted from the trailer weight. This calculation may be less accurate for conventional towing than it is for 5th wheel and gooseneck towing. A weight distributing hitch will make conventional towing weight distribution more like 5th wheel and gooseneck towing by redistributing some hitch/tongue weight to the front tires.

Table 7 shows the expected maximum weights for the tow vehicle and trailer. The loaded hitch weight estimate is the value added and subtracted in Table 6 to get the B and C measurement. The actual weight measurements will vary based on how much weight is in the trailer and where the weight is in the trailer. These estimates are not perfect, but they are probably better than you will get from the sales people.

To reduce the chance that you are over your ratings, you should have an error margin between the estimates and ratings. Aim for no more than 90% of your Rear GAWR and Truck GVWR. The Front GAWR is unlikley to change much. You should not even be looking at a trailer that exceeds your tow vehicle Maximum Loaded Trailer Weight or This is not a guarantee that the actual values will work for your tow vehicle, but it decreases the chance of buying a trailer you can not safely tow.

Even the knowledgeable truck sales people seem to know nothing about vehicle cargo and towing configurations. I worked up truck specifications with a commercial truck “expert”. The “expert” guaranteed me that the truck would have a nearly 4000 pound cargo capacity, when I said it needed to have at least 3250 pounds of cargo capacity. The truck they delivered was rated for about 3150 pounds. Part of the problem was my ignorance about the difference in unloaded vehicle weight and dry vehicle weight. The dry vehicle weight excludes fluids. If it was water, the 48 gallons of diesel, 12 quarts of oil, 8 gallons of def, 30 quarts of coolant, 1 gallon of washer fluid, and 18 quarts of transmission fluid would weigh about 600 pounds. My 3750 pound cargo capacity was only 3150 pounds because the “expert” did not know the difference in the dry (shipping) vehicle weight and unloaded vehicle weight.

Some RV sales people or companies know nothing about towing and weight limits or expect you to verify that your vehicle can safely tow. Never assume that the sales people have determined that the trailer they are selling you is safe for your vehicle to tow. Always check the numbers yourself.

The cargo capacity of your trailer probably includes your fresh water. If your trailer claims an 1800 pound cargo capacity with a 50 gallon fresh water tank, your cargo capacity is really closer to 1400 pounds. Even if you never plan to fill your RV with fresh water, you need to reserve that capacity for waste fluid weight between your campsite and dump station. If you plan to leave your trailer stationary at an RV park with full hook-ups, you might be able to safely ignore part of the water weight by draining the tanks before they are full. It is possible that the extra support of the stabilizers could allow for more weight, but it is safer to assume the frame is the limiting factor.

Most trailers include a hitch weight value in the specifications. Unless specifically documented otherwise, you should assume that this is the unloaded hitch weight. The loaded hitch weight will depend on several things – how much weight is added to the trailer and where the weight is added to the trailer. Conventional towing assumes 10% of the trailer weight is on the hitch. In reality, it seems to be in the range of 10% – 15%. 5th wheel and gooseneck towing assumes 15% of the trailer weight is on the hitch In reality, it seems to be in the range of 15% – 25%. In general, the unloaded hitch weight can not be used to decide that a trailer is safe to tow. You can get an estimate of the fully loaded hitch weight using: (Unloaded Hitch Weight) * (Trailer GVWR) / (Trailer UWR).

Some states require a non-commercial CDL license for a total GVWR exceeding 26,000 pounds. Unfortunately, Maryland has this requirement. We down graded the truck from 12,400 pounds to 11,400 pounds because the RV we wanted was about 14,000 pounds. This took the total GVWR from 26,400 down to 25,400, which does not require the non-commercial CDL. The disadvantage is that it limits the possible weight of our RV more than it needs too. Check your state requirements before you buy an RV.

For conventional towing, the receiver, hitch, and ball can all have different weight ratings. The tow weight rating is the smallest of all of them. For example, our F250 has a 3″ receiver rated for 21,000 pounds, a 2″ up/4″ down hitch rated for 7,000 pounds, and a 2″ ball hitch rated for 6,000 pounds. The overall rating is only 6,000 pounds.

Your safe tow vehicle weight is limited by both the maximum loaded trailer weight and the gross combined weight rating (GCWR). Assume that we have a tow vehicle with a 30,000 pound GCWR and a 20,000 pound maximum loaded trailer weight. With a 10,000 GVW, you can tow the rated 20,000 pound trailer. If you add 1,000 pounds into the back of the tow vehicle, you can only have a 19,000 pound (= 30,000 – 11,000) trailer. This issue will the caught, if you use the loaded tow vehicle weight readings and calculations above.