RV towing guide: hitches, weights, brakes, and driving

The single most important number in RV towing is your tow vehicle’s GVWR (gross vehicle weight rating) and the trailer’s GVWR added together vs the tow vehicle’s GCWR (gross combined weight rating). If trailer GVWR plus tow vehicle GVWR exceeds tow vehicle GCWR, you are overloaded regardless of what the brochure says about “tow rating.”

Most accidents involving travel trailers come from either being overloaded, fishtailing because of bad weight distribution, or running out of brakes on a long downhill. The setup matters more than driving skill.

Sizing the tow vehicle

Tow ratings are advertised. GCWR is the hard limit.

The numbers vary by trim, drivetrain, axle ratio, and tow package. The exact rating for your specific VIN is on the door jamb sticker and the manufacturer’s tow guide.

For a typical 30 ft bumper-pull travel trailer (loaded weight 6,500 to 8,000 lbs), a properly equipped F-150 with the Max Tow Package is the realistic minimum. A non-Max-Tow F-150 is borderline. A half-ton crew cab without the tow package is overloaded.

The four weight numbers you need

• GVWR. Maximum the vehicle (or trailer) can weigh fully loaded. On the door jamb.
• GCWR. Maximum the tow vehicle plus trailer plus passengers plus cargo can weigh combined.
• Payload. GVWR minus curb weight. This is what you can put inside the truck, including passengers, fuel, gear, and tongue weight.
• Tongue weight. The weight pressing down on the hitch ball. Should be 10% to 15% of trailer weight. Below 10% the trailer fishtails. Above 15% the tow vehicle rear sags and steering goes light.

A 7,500 lb trailer should have 750 to 1,125 lbs of tongue weight. That tongue weight comes out of the tow vehicle’s payload, not its tow rating. People miss this constantly. A truck with 1,800 lbs of payload, four passengers (700 lbs), gear in the bed (200 lbs), and a 900 lb tongue weight is at 1,800 lbs of payload and exactly at the limit before you add a single drop of fuel.

Hitch selection

The hitch type depends on the trailer and the tow vehicle.

Weight-carrying (WC) ball hitch

The standard ball-and-coupler setup. Fine for trailers up to about 5,000 lbs. Anything heavier feels squirrelly without weight distribution.

Weight-distribution (WD) hitch

Spring bars that shift tongue weight forward onto the tow vehicle’s front axle and rearward onto the trailer axles. Required by most manufacturers above 5,000 lbs trailer weight. Brands worth knowing: Equal-i-zer, Reese Strait-Line, Andersen, Blue Ox, Curt TruTrack. Most have built-in sway control. Adds $400 to $1,200 to the setup cost.

Fifth-wheel hitch

Sits in the bed of a pickup. The trailer’s kingpin drops into the fifth-wheel head. For 5W RV trailers up to 24,000 lbs. Brands: B&W Companion, Reese 18K/20K, Curt A20/A25. Cost $800 to $2,000 installed.

Gooseneck hitch

A ball mounted to the bed of the pickup. Used with gooseneck horse and stock trailers, and as a fifth-wheel adapter with a gooseneck-to-5W converter (B&W Companion, etc). Cleaner truck bed when not towing.

For most travel trailers in the 4,000 to 10,000 lb range, a weight-distribution hitch with integrated sway control is the right answer.

Brakes and brake controllers

Any trailer over 3,000 lbs in most states must have brakes operable from the tow vehicle’s cab. That means an electric (or hydraulic) brake controller wired into the tow vehicle. Options:

• Factory integrated brake controller. Standard on most modern HD trucks with a tow package. Just plug the trailer in.
• Aftermarket proportional controller. Tekonsha P3, Redarc Tow-Pro Elite, Curt Echo (wireless). Proportional means it senses tow vehicle deceleration and applies trailer brakes accordingly. Far smoother than the older time-delayed controllers.

Adjust the brake gain so the trailer brakes hard enough to pull on the tow vehicle when you hit the brake pedal, but not so hard that the trailer locks up. Test in an empty parking lot at 25 mph before you leave.

Every trailer also needs a breakaway switch: a pull-pin attached to the tow vehicle that locks the trailer brakes if the trailer separates. Check it before every trip by pulling the pin with the trailer chocked.

Loading the trailer

Sixty percent of the cargo weight goes ahead of the trailer’s axles. Heavy items (water tanks if full, batteries, generator) belong forward and low. Heavy items behind the axles drag tongue weight down toward zero, which is what causes fishtailing.

Travel with fresh water tanks empty unless you have no choice. One gallon of water weighs 8.34 lbs. A 40-gallon fresh water tank fills you with 333 lbs of poorly-distributed weight.

Black and grey tanks should be dumped before towing. Heavy water sloshing around in the rear of the trailer is exactly the wrong place for weight.

Driving with a trailer

Honest, useful guidelines:

• Speed. Most trailer tires are rated ST (Special Trailer) and capped at 65 mph. Newer ST tires are 75 mph rated. Check the sidewall. Driving past the rating overheats the tire and causes blowouts. 60 to 65 mph is the sweet spot for fuel economy and tire life regardless of rating.
• Following distance. Double what you would do without a trailer. A 30 ft travel trailer behind a half-ton will not stop in less than 1.5x the distance the tow vehicle alone would.
• Lane changes. Signal early, change slowly, look twice. Trailer mirrors (clip-on or replacement tow mirrors) are not optional for anything wider than the tow vehicle.
• Hills. Going up: drop to a lower gear before the engine starts to lug, not after. Going down: lower gear engine-braking does most of the work. Save the foot brake for short, hard applications. Riding the brake pedal down a long grade boils brake fluid and fades the brakes.
• Cruise control. Fine on flat highway. Turn it off in rolling terrain because cruise control will downshift aggressively and accelerate up hills, costing fuel and stressing the transmission.
• Turns. Wider than you think. A 30 ft trailer needs to swing significantly wider than a car to keep the trailer wheels off the curb.
• Backing up. Hand at the bottom of the steering wheel: move your hand in the direction you want the trailer to go. Practice in an empty parking lot. Backing into a campsite is the part of RV ownership that takes the longest to get good at.

What to check before every trip

• Tire pressure on tow vehicle and trailer (cold, before driving). Both should match the sticker on the door jamb (vehicle) and sidewall (trailer).
• Lug nut torque on trailer wheels (newer trailers especially: lug nuts can loosen for the first few hundred miles).
• Trailer light function: running, brake, left turn, right turn.
• Breakaway switch test.
• Brake controller gain setting.
• Hitch coupler latched and pinned.
• Safety chains crossed under the tongue, in a hammock pattern.
• Weight-distribution bars properly tensioned.

The trip starts at the campsite or driveway, not when you pull onto the highway. Five minutes of checks prevents a lot of bad afternoons.

Insurance and registration

Trailer registration requirements vary by state. Most states require registration on travel trailers and fifth-wheels, with some exempting small utility trailers and farm trailers. Check your state’s rules separately.

Most auto insurance policies extend liability coverage to a trailer in tow but do not cover damage to the trailer itself. For anything more valuable than a basic utility trailer, get a dedicated RV insurance policy. Progressive, Geico, and National General all write RV policies. Expect $400 to $1,500/year depending on the RV’s value and use.