Pulling weight limits?

[nao57]

So I have a question on trailer pulling weights? I feel like I don't understand it well.

So you have the weight limit your car, truck, suv, etc can pull. You also have a weight limit for inside the car but that is separate from the towing/pulling weight allowance. Then you have the 'tongue weight' allowance. And you also have the trailer's real weight.

Are you supposed to take ONLY the tongue weight and use that against your car's towing limit? Or do you use ONLY the trailer's real weight against the towing capacity? Or both?

And I realized in the math of things that if you are driving uphill that its completely different also. Like because of... trigonometry, if you are going up hill the angle of the uphill slope would basically be as if its adding weight against what you can pull. Do people factor that in also?

 

[Debbie292d]

So I have a question on trailer pulling weights? I feel like I don't understand it well.

So you have the weight limit your car, truck, suv, etc can pull. You also have a weight limit for inside the car but that is separate from the towing/pulling weight allowance. Then you have the 'tongue weight' allowance. And you also have the trailer's real weight.

Are you supposed to take ONLY the tongue weight and use that against your car's towing limit? Or do you use ONLY the trailer's real weight against the towing capacity? Or both?

And I realized in the math of things that if you are driving uphill that its completely different also. Like because of... trigonometry, if you are going up hill the angle of the uphill slope would basically be as if its adding weight against what you can pull. Do people factor that in also?

When we pull our camper, it's the weight of the camper, including what stuff we put in it. There's no consideration as to the ball or whatever is used to pull it, but there may be some state law requirement for certain weights. You could find that out at your state DMV site.

The terrain isn't considered per the state but you'd have to consider it when pulling whatever with your vehicle. Ie. We can pull the scamp camper with our car, but only if it's pretty much a straight trip. If it was hilly, we'd use our SUV.

 

[Coops Dad]

The key word is "combined". You need to know the actual weight of the tow vehicle and the actual weight of the trailer. Together, they cannot exceed the gross combined vehicle weight limit of the tow vehicle . The actual tow vehicle weight plus the actual weight of the trailer equals the combined vehicle weight. For example let's assume your tow vehicle has a max gross vehicle weight limit of 5,000 lbs and a gross vehicle combined weight limit of 8,500 lbs, and your trailer weighs 5,000 lbs loaded. To legally tow the trailer, your tow vehicle's actual weight must be 3,500 lbs or less.

You also cannot exceed the gross weight limit of either the tow vehicle or the trailer. "Gross weight" = the tow vehicle as it is ready to embark/the trailer as it sits ready to be towed.

"Gross vehicle combined weight" = both the above weights added together.

The tongue weight is a separate issue. Staying at or a little below that value prevents two things: it keeps your trailer from tearing the hitch or bumper off, and it keeps the trailer from swaying and fishtailing.

Hope that helps.

Hills mean very little in regards to weight limits- I drive a tractor trailer and my truck's computer shows me the weight on the hitch at all times. The steepest grades show me a variance of +/-2%. That doesn't mean hills don't make a difference in performance since even a shallow grade can slow me down significantly, and a steep downhill can cause me to overspeed and burn my brakes.