Use this RV tongue weight calculator to find how much your trailer should weigh on the hitch. Enter your trailer’s weight to see your target range, and add the tongue weight you measured to check whether it is in range.
How to Use the Calculator
Enter your trailer’s loaded weight and choose its type. Leave the measured field blank to see your target range in pounds. If you have already weighed your hitch, add that number too, and the calculator tells you whether it is In Range, Too Light, or Too Heavy, and how many pounds to add or remove from the hitch.
What Is Tongue Weight?
Tongue weight is the downward force your trailer puts on the hitch. It rides on the back of your tow vehicle, not on the trailer’s own tires. On a fifth wheel or gooseneck, the same force is called pin weight, and it works the same way.
Use the trailer’s loaded weight when you can. If you do not know it yet, use the GVWR to stay on the safe side, then weigh the trailer once it is packed for a trip.
The 10% to 15% Rule
The Autopian and Lippert both put the target for a travel trailer at 10 to 15 percent of the trailer’s weight. A 7,500 lb trailer should press down 750 to 1,125 lb, and a 10,000 lb trailer should press down 1,000 to 1,500 lb on the hitch.
A fifth wheel presses down harder. TowingSpecs says pin weight is typically 15 to 25 percent of the loaded trailer weight, so a 12,000 lb fifth wheel lands between 1,800 and 3,000 lb. The calculator uses that same 15 to 25 percent range for gooseneck trailers.
A Quick Example
Say your travel trailer weighs 6,500 lb loaded, so your target is 650 to 975 lb on the hitch. You weigh it and get 500 lb, which is 8 percent. That is 150 lb short, so the calculator says Too Light and warns that the trailer may sway on the highway.
If you had measured 1,100 lb instead, that would be 17 percent and 125 lb over the maximum. The calculator would say Too Heavy, because that much weight overloads your tow vehicle’s rear axle and makes steering feel light.
What Happens With Too Little or Too Much
Lippert warns that a trailer with too little tongue weight becomes vulnerable to sway, especially at highway speeds. The Autopian explains that a downward hitch load is what lets the trailer’s weight oppose a swinging motion once it starts.
Too much tongue weight overloads the tow vehicle’s rear axle, according to Lippert, which reduces steering control and strains suspension parts. The Autopian adds that it lifts the front end, so a heavy hitch is a safety problem and not only a payload problem.
How to Measure Tongue Weight
The easiest way is a tongue weight scale. Weigh-Safe says to place the hitch on the scale, and it will show your exact tongue weight.
No scale? Use a public CAT scale. Weigh your tow vehicle alone, then weigh it again hitched to the trailer with the trailer’s wheels off the scale, and subtract the first number from the second. For a light trailer, Weigh-Safe also describes a lever method.
How to Fix Your Tongue Weight
Too light? Move heavy gear forward. Lippert advises moving some heavy items slightly forward in the trailer, ahead of the axles, which adds weight to the hitch.
Too heavy? Move gear back. Lippert says to redistribute some weight farther back, and then weigh again to confirm you did not overshoot.
Weigh again after each change. Small shifts can change tongue weight a lot, so move a little, then check the number before you hit the road.
Do not lean on a weight distribution hitch. Lippert says one should not be used to correct an improperly loaded trailer, so fix the load first.
Tongue Weight, Payload, and Your Hitch
The weight on your hitch also counts against your truck’s payload, so a tongue weight in range can still overload a truck that is already full. Check it next with our payload calculator. Your hitch has its own tongue weight limit on its label, and your number must stay under it.
Your Next Step
Run your trailer’s loaded weight through the calculator for your target, then weigh the hitch once the trailer is packed. If the verdict is In Range, you are set. If not, move a little gear, weigh again, and check our towing capacity calculator next.