Towing capacity calculator
Can your truck tow this trailer?
Enter the truck’s ratings and the trailer you have in mind, and you’ll get a straight answer — plus which limit runs out first and by how many pounds.
Quick start
Pick a truck and enter a trailer weight for an instant first answer.
- 01Payload
- What the truck carries — the tongue included.
- 02Tow rating
- What it may pull, for your exact configuration.
- 03GCWR
- Truck and trailer together, fully loaded.
- 04Trailer GVWR
- The trailer and everything packed in it.
The full check
Three steps. Every limit.
Start with the truck picker or your door sticker, add the trailer and what rides in the cab. The panel names the first limit you run out of.
Why the advertised number is rarely your limit
Manufacturers publish a maximum tow rating for the configuration that tows best — a specific cab, bed, axle ratio and engine, with a driver aboard and nothing else. It is a real number. It is just not a description of your truck on a Friday afternoon with four people, a full tank, a loaded bed and a trailer on the ball.
Four separate ratings apply at once, and they run out at different times. Tow rating caps what you pull. Payload caps what the vehicle carries — including the 10–15% of a travel trailer that presses down through the tongue, or the 15–25% of a fifth-wheel that lands on the pin. GVWR caps the loaded vehicle. GCWR caps both together, which means every pound you add to the truck is a pound you can no longer put behind it.
The gap between those numbers is where overloaded rigs come from, and payload is usually the one that gives first. That is the whole job of the calculator above: enter what you actually have, and it names the first limit you run out of and by how much.
Two things can turn a “yes” amber. One is margin: inside the ratings but past 80% of the tow rating or the payload, where a forgotten cooler or a full fresh-water tank is enough to tip you over. The other is tongue weight outside the usual band. Too little weight on the ball — under about 10% on a bumper-pull — is a well-known cause of sway, and too much overloads the rear axle and lightens the steering. Both are worth fixing before the trip rather than on the shoulder.
A worked example
The numbers are illustrative, not a particular truck: a half-ton with an 11,000 lb tow rating, 1,650 lb of payload on the door sticker, a 7,250 lb GVWR, a 17,000 lb GCWR and a 5,600 lb scale weight. Behind it, a travel trailer that weighs 7,200 lb loaded on a 7,800 lb GVWR. In the truck, 450 lb of people, 150 lb of cargo and a 100 lb weight distribution hitch.
- 1Loaded trailer = trailer weight + water (gallons × 8.34 lb) + gear packed in it. Here it is a 7,200 lb scale weight.
- 2Tongue weight ≈ 13% of the loaded trailer = 936 lb (band 10–15%; a fifth-wheel pin is 15–25%).
- 3Payload used = tongue + people + truck cargo + hitch hardware.
- 4Combined weight = truck weight + people + cargo + hitch hardware + loaded trailer. The tongue is already inside the trailer weight, so it is not added twice.
- 5Tow rating at full payload = GCWR − GVWR = 9,750 lb — 1,250 lb less than the headline rating, because a truck carrying its full payload has that much less of its combined rating left.
Share of each rating used
| Limit | Used (lb) | Rating | Left |
|---|---|---|---|
| Payload | 936 + 450 + 150 + 100 = 1,636 | 1,650 | 14 |
| Tow rating | 7,200 | 11,000 | 3,800 |
| GCWR | 5,600 + 700 + 7,200 = 13,500 | 17,000 | 3,500 |
| Trailer GVWR | 7,200 | 7,800 | 600 |
The trailer is 3,800 lb under the tow rating and the truck has 14 lb of payload left. A second cooler puts it over. Payload is the binding limit here, which is a common pattern for half-tons pulling a mid-size travel trailer — and the reason the answer above names a limit rather than quoting a tow rating. Load these numbers into the calculator.
Where your real numbers live
Every figure this site works with comes from you, from a manufacturer towing guide, or from an official source linked on the page. Nothing here reads your vehicle. The truck picker fills in the best-equipped version of each model, so treat it as a starting point and overwrite it with the numbers printed on your own truck.
- 01Driver-door jamb stickerGVWR, GAWR and the payload line that begins “The combined weight of occupants and cargo…” That payload figure is for your truck as it left the factory, options included.
- 02Owner’s manual towing chartGCWR and tow rating for your exact configuration, not the headline one. Find the row for your engine, axle ratio, cab and bed; the difference between rows can be thousands of pounds.
- 03Trailer data plateIts GVWR, which is what to plan against rather than the brochure’s dry weight.
- 04A CAT scaleThe only one of these that is a measurement rather than a rating. Weigh the truck alone with a full tank for its real curb weight, then the whole rig loaded for the trip. Worth the few dollars when a margin looks tight.
Find your truck’s rating
Each truck page lists tow rating, payload, GVWR and GCWR by model year and engine, with a link to the manufacturer guide the figures were checked against. Use it to find the row that matches your configuration, then confirm it on the door sticker.
Compare every truck in the database
“Up to” figures are the highest published configuration of each model in the picker — your truck’s own door sticker and towing chart decide.
Towing laws by state
Weight is only half of a legal setup. Each state sets the loaded trailer weight above which the trailer needs its own brakes, and most also have rules on safety chains, breakaway systems and towing speed. Every state page cites the statute or the official publication its rules come from, and where we could not find the official text, the page says so rather than guessing.
Compare all 50 states on one page- Alabama
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
When you need one number in detail
The calculator above answers the overall question. These go deeper on one part of it.
Weight and payload
- 01Payload calculatorItemise what the truck carries, from the family to the hitch head.
- 02Tongue weight calculatorWork out tongue weight from a scale reading or a percentage.
- 03GCWR calculatorCombined weight of truck and trailer against the combined rating.
- 04GVWR calculatorCheck the loaded truck, axle by axle if you have a scale ticket.
- 05Truck and trailer weight calculatorAdd up a CAT scale ticket into every rating at once.
- 0680% rule calculatorHow much trailer leaves a fifth of the rating in reserve.
Brakes
Guides worth reading before a first tow
All guides
- Truck payloadWhy payload is the number that usually runs out first, and where to find yours.
- Payload for a travel trailerTongue weight, passengers and gear added up against the door sticker.
- Tongue weightMeasuring it with a bathroom scale or a CAT scale, and fixing it when it's off.
- Weight distribution hitchesWhat a WDH spreads around — and the payload it does not give back.
- Weighing at a CAT scaleHow to run the three weighings and read the ticket.
Questions people ask
Why does the calculator ask for my truck's weight instead of working it out?
Because the only figures available to work it out from don't describe the same truck. The published maximum payload belongs to the lightest, best-equipped configuration, while GVWR belongs to whichever configuration the brochure lists — subtract one from the other and a 2021–2023 F-150 comes out at 3,815 lb, a number that describes no truck anyone can buy. Some trailering labels print the curb weight of your exact truck; otherwise the owner's manual gives a range, and a CAT scale gives the real number with fuel, tools and accessories included.
Should I plan with the trailer's dry weight or its GVWR?
Plan with the GVWR, or with a scale weight once you have one. The dry or unloaded weight on a brochure usually leaves out dealer options, batteries, propane, water and everything you pack, and together they can add well over a thousand pounds — 30 gallons of fresh water alone is about 250 lb. If the truck can handle the trailer at its GVWR, you never have to wonder how much you loaded.
Does a weight distribution hitch let me carry more?
It changes where the tongue weight lands, not how much of it there is. A weight distribution hitch shifts some of the load from the rear axle back toward the front axle and the trailer's axles, which levels the truck and restores steering feel. Count the full tongue weight against payload anyway, the way truck owner's manuals do, and add the hitch head and spring bars too: they have weight of their own, listed on the hitch maker's spec sheet.
Can airbags, heavier springs or bigger tires raise my payload?
They can make a loaded truck sit and ride better, but they don't change the ratings. GVWR, GAWR, payload and GCWR are set by the manufacturer for the whole vehicle — frame, axles, brakes, bearings, cooling — and the certification label keeps saying the same thing whatever is bolted on afterwards. If the numbers don't work, the fix is a lighter load or a heavier-rated truck.
Is the 80% rule a legal limit?
No. It is a planning habit: keep the trailer under about 80% of the tow rating, and the payload you use under about 80% of the sticker figure, so there is room for the cooler you forgot, a full fresh-water tank, a headwind or a long grade. The legal and warranty limits are the 100% ratings. The calculator marks a result amber when you are inside the ratings but past that line, so you can decide how much margin you want.
What does this calculator not check?
Axle ratings (GAWR), the hitch receiver and ball ratings, tire load ratings, and any frontal-area limit the manufacturer sets for tall trailers. Those are printed on the receiver, the ball, the tire sidewalls and in the towing guide. A setup can pass every number here and still overload the rear axle if the load sits behind it, which is one more reason a scale ticket beats arithmetic.
Truck ratings last checked against manufacturer guides