Type in the two figures printed on your truck and your trailer's weight. The calculator checks the trailer against your tow rating and the weight it puts on the truck against your payload, and shows which limit you hit first. Payload often runs out before the tow rating does.

1. Your truck

On the yellow Tire and Loading sticker in the driver's door jamb: "The combined weight of occupants and cargo should never exceed ..." Where to find it

The towing guide row that matches your engine, axle ratio, cab and bed. How to find your row

2. Your trailer

Cargo is food, bedding, gear, batteries and anything you add. 1,000 lb is the figure Airstream uses in its own worked example; use yours if you know it. Weighed the loaded trailer at a scale? Enter that weight as dry weight and set cargo, water and propane to 0.

Makers put a travel trailer's tongue weight at 10% to 15% of its loaded weight; Ford uses a flat 10%. Tongue weight explained

3. What rides in the truck

Ford and Chevrolet assume 150 lb per person when they set their ratings. Use your real weights.

A weight distribution hitch's own weight is on its box or listing.

Enter your payload, maximum trailer weight and the trailer's dry weight to see the result.

How the calculator works

It does the same arithmetic the truck makers print in their towing guides, with the figures you enter. Nothing is looked up for you except the optional best-case figures, which come from our model pages.

  1. Loaded trailer = dry weight + cargo + water (8.3 lb per gallon) + propane. This is what the tow rating has to cover, not the brochure dry weight.
  2. Weight on the truck = tongue weight (or king pin weight on a fifth wheel) + people + gear + hitch hardware. All of it comes out of the payload on your door-jamb sticker. Why payload runs out first
  3. Verdict: under 90% of a limit fits, 90% to 100% is tight, over 100% is over. The dashed line on each bar marks 80%, a margin many owners plan for. No truck maker prints an 80% rule.

Ratings assume a nearly empty truck. Ford's maximum trailer weights assume a 150 lb driver and passenger, no cargo and few options, so the figure on your own sticker and in your guide's row is the one to trust. Before a long trip, weigh the loaded rig at a truck scale; our setup guide explains how.

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