Tow Guides: How to Safely Tow Your RV

When it comes to RVing, the first thing you want to check before you purchase is how much weight your vehicle can safely tow. Thanks to our easy-to-use tow guides, you can find your vehicle towing capacity quickly. Learn more about how to tow your RV below safely.

Understanding Terms

Before you can start to tow your RV safely, you need to understand a few basic terms for RV weight and towing capacity.

Dry Weight/Shipped Weight – The weight of the RV as shipped from the manufacturer without any passengers, cargo, liquids, or additional accessories or dealer installed options.
Gross Vehicle Weight (GVW) – The current combined weight of the RV (dry weight) plus passengers, cargo, and liquids.
Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR) – The maximum allowed weight of an Vehicle/RV, including passengers, cargo, fluids, etc..
Cargo Weight – The total weight of all passengers, food, clothing, liquids, accessories, etc.. that you might put into your RV.
Tongue/Hitch Weight – The weight/pressure applied from the trailer tongue/coupler to the conventional/bumper hitch on your vehicle.
Pin Weight – This is often referred to as the weight/pressure applied from fifth wheel king pin to the hitch in the bed of your truck.
Payload Capacity – For Trucks the amount of weight you can safely add to the bed of the truck. Your Fifth Wheels Hitch Weight or Pin Weight plus the actual weight of hitch plus any other accessories you have in the bed of the truck must not exceed the Payload Capacity amount. Confirm Payload Capacity with your vehicle’s manufacturer.
Max Towing Capacity – The maximum weight limit that can safely be towed by your specific vehicle. This weight is calculated by adding the RV’s GVW with weight of all passengers, cargo, and liquids in your tow vehicle.

Choosing Your Towing Vehicle

Depending on the size of your RV, you may need to upgrade your towing vehicle to be able to tow safely. At Leo’s Vacation Center, we have an easy-to-use towing capacity tool that helps you find your vehicle’s towing capacity in just a few moments! All you need is the make, model, and year of your vehicle to determine the estimated towing capacity.

Finding Your RV

If you already know what your vehicle can safely tow, it’s time to find the perfect RV for your family! You can shop an incredible selection of fifth wheels, travel trailers, and toy haulers at Leo’s Vacation Center today. If you still aren’t sure what size RV is right for you, we can help! Just contact us, and we’ll work with you to find the perfect combination of features in an RV your vehicle can tow.