Towing Payload & Trailer Calculator
Check user-entered payload and tow ratings, tongue weight, optional vehicle ratings and remaining margins.
Your towing load
- Payload used
- lb
- Payload remaining with trailer attached
- lb
- Payload used
- %
- Loaded trailer
- lb
- Tow capacity remaining
- lb
- Tow rating used
- %
- Tongue weight
- lb
Entered rating checks
Payload
Tow rating
Bars stop at 100%; the percentages above show actual usage, including when exceeded. Near means at least 90% used; this is informational, not a safety standard.
GVWR:
GCWR:
- Estimated loaded vehicle
- lb
- Estimated combined weight
- lb
These estimates depend on baseline vehicle weight being entered before the added loads. Combined weight subtracts tongue weight once to avoid counting it twice.
Closest current calculated limit
Closest means the smallest remaining margin in pounds among the ratings calculated. This can differ from the limit with the highest percentage used, or from the reverse estimate below.
Payload available before adding the trailer
- People, cargo, hitch and other payload
- lb
- Payload available for tongue weight before trailer
- lb
- Payload-limited trailer weight estimate
- lb
- Payload/tow-rating ceiling
- lb
This estimate uses only payload and tow rating at the selected tongue percentage. It is not a manufacturer tow rating. Optional GVWR/GCWR and axle, tire, hitch or trailer limits may lower the allowable trailer weight.
How it works
We add people, cargo, hitch equipment, other loads and trailer tongue weight to calculate payload used. The loaded trailer is compared separately with your tow rating. Optional GVWR and GCWR checks require a baseline vehicle weight.
Why payload matters when towing
Trailer tongue weight pushes down on the tow vehicle and consumes payload along with passengers, cargo and hitch equipment. A vehicle can reach its payload limit before reaching its maximum trailer weight.
Dry trailer weight is usually not the number to plan around. Gear, water, batteries, propane, tools and cargo add weight; this worksheet uses actual loaded trailer weight.
Assumptions and useful information
All ratings and weights come from you. No vehicle specifications are inferred. Baseline vehicle weight must exclude the loads added here; count installed equipment only once. Tongue weight contributes to vehicle load and is already part of loaded trailer weight, so combined weight subtracts it once.
Percentage-mode reverse estimates use payload available before adding the trailer, not remaining payload with the current trailer attached. Hitch hardware and tongue weight are not removed from payload just because weight distribution is used.