Towing guides
Each guide answers one question with a worked example, then hands you the free calculator to run your own numbers.
What is payload capacity?
Payload capacity is GVWR minus curb weight — what your truck can carry, tongue weight included. How to find yours and why it runs out before towing capacity.
How much tongue weight should a trailer have?
Tongue weight should be 10–15% of loaded trailer weight (15–25% pin weight for a fifth wheel). How to measure it, and what too little or too much does.
Can my truck tow a travel trailer?
A half-ton, a 7,000 lb travel trailer, four people and a dog, worked step by step. Why the answer is usually payload, not the brochure’s tow rating.
How to read your truck’s door jamb sticker
Your door jamb labels hold every truck-side number a payload check needs: GVWR, GAWR, and the occupants-and-cargo figure that is your payload. Where each is.
Is my truck overloaded?
Rear squat, sway, braking and light steering are the signs. The check is arithmetic: everything in the truck plus tongue weight against your payload capacity.
What is GCWR?
GCWR is the most your truck and trailer may weigh together. How it differs from GVWR and the tow rating, where to find it, and when it binds first.
How do I read a CAT scale ticket?
STEER, DRIVE and TRAILER explained, the two-pass weigh that separates truck from tongue weight, and the arithmetic that turns a $15 ticket into real numbers.
Dry weight vs GVWR: which trailer number matters?
Dry weight is the trailer before water, propane, options and everything you own. GVWR is the ceiling. Plan with GVWR, and here is why the gap is so large.
Fifth wheel vs bumper pull: how the weight differs
A fifth wheel puts 15-25% of its weight on the truck instead of 10-15%, and puts it over the axle rather than behind it. What that does to payload and sway.