How to Determine the Towing Capacity for a Recreation Vehicle

Towing a vehicle should be done with safety in mind

If you want to tow a car behind your motorhome, it is important to know your motorhome's towing capacity. This will help you determine what size vehicle you can tow or if you're already carrying too much weight with your current tow vehicle. Towing a car that is too heavy for your motorhome can cause engine problems, overall wear and can even be dangerous. As everyone carries different loads, depending on how they live and vacation, weighing your loaded motorhome will give you the best calculation.

Things You'll Need

• Your motorhome's Gross Combined Vehicle Weight
• Your motorhome, fully packed
• The vehicle you wish to tow
• Towing equipment
• A full tank of fuel for your motorhome
• A full tank of fuel for your tow vehicle
• A commercial vehicle scale (found at truck stops)

Instructions

Prepping and Weighing Your Vehicles

1. Load your motorhome. Pack your motorhome with all of the things that you would normally bring with you on a trip. Fill your water and propane tanks. Get a full tank of fuel. Remember that you want to know how much weight you normally carry, so try to be realistic when you pack.

2. Load your tow vehicle. If you use your tow vehicle to carry anything, such as bicycles, boats or extra stuff, add it. Include any braking equipment that you use, such as a Brake Buddy or similar system. Hook up the towing equipment to the tow vehicle so that weight is included in your calculation. If you tow your car on a dolly, put the car on the dolly and hook it up to the motorhome. Fill your gas tank.

3. Drive both vehicles to the commercial vehicle scale. Most truck stops have these on site and will allow you to weigh your vehicles for a fee. There are also weigh stations along the freeway system. Their charge may vary by state.

4. Weigh each vehicle. You will have to go into the truck stop store and request to be weighed. Let them know you wish to weigh two separate vehicles. They will give you instructions for their scale. Following their instructions, weigh each vehicle. You will be given a receipt for each vehicle with the GVW or gross vehicle weight listed.

Calculating Your Towing Capacity

1. Find your motorhome's GCWR or gross combined weight rating. This is the total amount of weight that your motorhome can transport. This information is usually located on the manufacturer's panel on the outside of your motorhome. Some manufacturers list it on a sticker inside one of the cabinets. It is also available in your owner's manual and on the website of your motorhome manufacturer, listed by model number.

2. Subtract your GVW from your GCVW. Take the gross vehicle weight number from your commercial scale receipt and subtract that number from your motorhome's gross combined vehicle rating. The number remaining is how much towing capacity you have.

3. Compare your available towing capacity to the weight of your tow vehicle. If your tow vehicle weighs more than your current available towing capacity, then perhaps you should unload some of what you normally carry to balance things out.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are doing this to determine what kind of vehicle to tow, then make sure you find out how much all of the towing equipment that will be installed on your new tow vehicle will weigh, so you can take that into consideration when purchasing a vehicle.

• Car dealerships should be able to tell you the gross vehicle weight of any car they sell you. If not, you can look it up on the car manufacturer's website.

• The company from which you intend to purchase your towing equipment should be able to estimate the overall weight of the added equipment.

References

• Motor Home Magazine: Calculating Capacity for Towing