RV towing calculator. Can your truck tow it?
Enter the numbers printed on your truck and trailer, and we'll tell you if it's safe. If a number is hard to find, every box says where it is.
Fields marked with a star are required. The rest are optional, but the more you fill in, the more accurate the answer.
Your tow vehicle
Your trailer
Tongue or pin weight is estimated for you automatically, travel trailers run 10 to 15% of loaded weight, fifth wheels 20 to 25%. A certified scale gives the exact number.
Your cargo
Anything extra you pack goes in one of two places: the truck or the trailer. Add each once.
Everything recomputes as you type. No button.
Most towing math is a guess wearing numbers
Dry weight is what the trailer weighed leaving the factory, before water, propane, bikes, camp chairs, and whatever your family loads in. RV Safety & Education Foundation reports that over half the RVs they weigh exceed at least one safety rating. This calculator does the loaded math, against the 80% rule that keeps the margin real.
Where to get the real numbers
This calculator gives estimates. Weighing at a certified scale turns them into facts. No public API exists for any of these networks, so this is a curated map with links to each source's own locator.
Prefer to find it yourself? Search scale near me and any certified truck-stop scale works for an RV. Weigh as a normal axle group and read the printout against your ratings.
How to weigh your RV at a CAT Scale
Truck drivers have used these certified scales for decades. With CAT Scale's free Weigh My Truck app, the whole thing is contactless, and your weight ticket is emailed to you. Here is exactly how it works for an RV.
Install the free Weigh My Truck app (iOS and Android) and create an account with a payment card. Add your RV's details. Do this at home, not while parked on a scale with a line of trucks behind you.
Fill the truck's fuel tank. If you normally travel with water in the fresh tank, fill that too. Load your gear and passengers. Weigh the setup you actually drive, not a bare one.
Drive slowly over the yellow lines so the truck's front axle sits on one platform, the rear axle on the next, and the trailer axles on the third. Stop with each group centered on its platform. You can hop out and eyeball the lines before you settle.
The app uses your location to find the scale. If it does not auto-detect, enter the scale number printed on the intercom sign. Confirm your truck's details and follow the prompts. You do not leave the cab and you do not need the intercom.
The app captures the weight, charges the card on file, and emails you a PDF of the official CAT Scale ticket showing each axle group and the gross total. The first weigh runs roughly $11 to $14.
Drive fully off the scale first, park the trailer in the lot, then drive the truck back onto the scale. Reweighs at the same location within 24 hours are only a few dollars. The difference between the truck's rear axle loaded and unhitched is your real tongue or pin weight. Never uncouple while on the scale.
Put this calculator on your page
It is free, and it works the same wherever it runs. One line, wherever you want it:
<iframe src="https://originrv.com/tools/weight-calculator.html?embed=1" style="width:100%;height:900px;border:0;border-radius:14px" loading="lazy" title="RV weight calculator"></iframe>
A credit bar is part of the calculator itself, so it travels with it.
Towing terms, explained without the jargon
Every weight number on your tow vehicle and trailer has a name, and most of them sound alike. Here is what each one means and which is which, so the ratings on your stickers make sense.
Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)
The most your vehicle is allowed to weigh when fully loaded. It includes the vehicle itself, everyone inside, and everything carried. Think of it as the ceiling: you are not allowed above it. Every truck and trailer has its own GVWR, printed on a sticker.
Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR)
The most the whole RV may weigh, truck, trailer, people, and cargo all added together. It is the ceiling for the entire combination, printed in the truck's owner's manual towing table.
Towing capacity (max towing rating)
The most weight your truck is rated to pull behind it. This is usually the number people quote when they say "my truck can tow 10,000 pounds." It only tells part of the story, which is why the calculator checks the rest.
Payload capacity
How much weight your truck may carry inside it and in the bed, including passengers, cargo, and the tongue weight pushing down on the hitch. Found on the yellow and white sticker inside the driver's door.
Curb weight
How much your vehicle weighs empty, with a full tank of fuel and no people or cargo. It is listed in the owner's manual or the maker's spec sheet, and it matters because payload capacity equals GVWR minus curb weight.
Dry weight, unloaded vehicle weight (UVW)
How much the trailer weighs empty, as it left the factory, with no water, no propane, no gear. Printed on the trailer sticker. It is almost always lighter than what is actually rolling down the road.
Tongue weight
The downward weight the trailer puts on your hitch ball. For a travel trailer it usually runs 10 to 15% of the loaded trailer weight. Too little and the trailer sways, too much and it overloads the back of your truck.
Pin weight
The same idea as tongue weight, but for a fifth wheel. The trailer pins down into a hitch in your truck bed instead of a bumper ball, and the weight is higher, usually 20 to 25% of loaded weight.
Bumper pull (travel trailer)
Any trailer that hitches behind the truck on a receiver ball. That is the classic camper with a hitch tongue, as opposed to a fifth wheel.
Fifth wheel
A trailer with a kingpin that locks into a hitch mounted in the center of the truck bed, not on the bumper. It rides more stably and puts less sway on the truck, which is why large trailers are usually fifth wheels.
Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR)
The most weight a single axle may support. Each axle on the truck and trailer has its own rating, in case a heavy load is not split evenly. This is what a certified scale's per-axle printout checks against.
Weight distribution hitch
A hitch with bars that spread the tongue weight between the truck's front and rear axles, instead of dumping it all on the rear. Common on travel trailers when the truck and trailer are close in weight, it keeps the steering and braking predictable.
The 80% rule
A safety guideline: keep trailer weight at or under 80% of your truck's rated towing capacity. Ratings are based on perfect conditions with no wind or hills, and real roads have both. The margin is what keeps you safe.
The questions everyone asks
What's the 80% rule?
Max towing ratings are measured on ideal roads, flat, no wind, sea level. Real driving has hills, passes, gust fronts, and panic stops. The 80% rule keeps loaded weight at or under 80% of rated capacity so the margin survives reality.
Why is tongue weight estimated instead of asked?
Almost nobody knows their trailer's tongue or pin weight without a scale, and a guess typed into a box would just be echoed back. So we estimate it from the loaded weight, travel trailers run 10 to 15%, fifth wheels 20 to 25%. Weighing at a certified scale gives the real number.
Dry weight vs loaded?
UVW (dry weight) is the factory-empty weight. Loaded adds water at 8.34 lb per gallon, propane at about 4.24 lb per gallon, and everything you carry. A lightweight trailer can gain hundreds of pounds before it ever sees a hitch ball.
Is this a guarantee?
No, nothing here replaces a certified scale and your owner's manuals. This is informational math to catch the obvious mismatch before you buy, pack, or tow. Weigh loaded at a certified scale whenever the load changes.