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Before buying a camper, it’s important to find out whether your truck can even tow it in the first place.
If you don’t, your great adventure could end before you even set out.
Fortunately, given the incredible variety of campers and trailers on the market, if you have a pickup truck then there’s a camper out there that will work for you.
The first step is to find out if your truck can pull the camper that has your eye.
Below, we’ll take you through:
- How to figure out how much your truck can tow
- As well as your camper’s total weight (whether you’ve purchased it already or not)
- And other weight-related factors to make sure you’re safe before setting out.
Can Your Truck Pull Your Camper? How to Figure Out How Much Weight Your Truck Can Pull
Let’s jump straight to the answer, then we’ll dive into how to find the pieces of the equation you need to make a safe calculation.
To figure out if your truck can pull a particular camper or travel trailer, you need to know:
- Your truck’s towing capacity (the maximum amount of weight your truck can tow)
- Your total cargo weight (estimate is fine here, usually about 1,000 lbs)
- The camper’s dry weight (or UVW)
With these pieces together, you can calculate your camper’s GVWR or Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, i.e. how much your trailer weighs with all your cargo loaded onto it, and compare it to your truck’s towing capacity.
The first and easiest place to find your truck’s towing capacity is within the truck itself.
Sometimes, your vehicle’s towing capacity will be listed in your vehicle’s use manual. Other times, it may be listed on the vin plate itself.
If not, the next best option is to contact your manufacturer directly. In some cases, the dealer may have this information so you can try that if the manufacturer doesn’t get back to you right away as well.
If you go either of the latter routes, make sure to match the exact year, model, and trim as well as features to get a 100% accurate rating as all of these features will impact the final number.
How to Find Out Your Camper’s Weight
There are a few ways to find out your camper’s weight.
The first and most reliable (though it takes the most work) is to weigh your trailer at a weighing station.
In some areas, there are mobile weighing stations (like RVWeigh), which will come to you and weigh your camper for you.
This is the most reliable way to get your camper’s weight as it will be a 100% accurate number.
Alternatively, if you can’t get to a weighing station or simply haven’t purchased the camper yet, you can depend on the dealer or manufacturer’s information.
Ideally, you contact the manufacturer of the camper directly and give them the exact year, model, trim, and features. This is about as close to an accurate number as possible without physically weighing the camper itself.
Important RV Weight Terms to Know
Whether you’re shopping for a camper/trailer or a truck to pull that camper or trailer, there are some important terms you’ll want to know before shopping.
There is more than one term to refer to RV weight. In fact, there are several terms used to explain different types of RV weight.
If you’re searching through RV forums and Reddit trying to find RVers with your same experience (same truck + camper), you may have seen terms like “dry weight” and “GVWR” thrown around.
Knowing what these mean will help you in figuring out if your truck can pull a particular camper.
Those terms are:
1. Dry Weight (Unloaded Vehicle Weight or UVW)
The most common term you’ll find online, “dry weight” refers to the weight of your RV directly from the manufacturer.
This is without additions, any of your cargo, fluids, or passenger weight. Nothing but the camper itself.
It’s important not to purchase a camper based on the dry weight alone, however. That brings us to…
2. Gross Cargo Carrying Capacity (GCCC)
Gross Cargo Carrying Capacity, or GCCC, is the maximum cargo capacity of the camper.
We mentioned that dry weight is the total weight you’ll be towing. The actual weight you’ll be is likely to be 1,000-2,000 lbs higher than the dry weight when factoring in the extra weight via cargo. Such as:
- Passengers
- Fluids
- Supplies
- etc.
That 1,000 – 2,000 lbs needs to fit within the camper or RV’s GCCC rating (which should be several thousand lbs unless it’s a very small trailer).
3. Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)
Bringing it all together, Gross Vehicle Weight Rating, or GVWR, is the maximum weight of the RV with everything loaded up (passengers, fluid, etc).
In other words, GVWR is: dry weight (UVW) + GCCC.
This is the single most important number you’ll need when figuring out if you can tow a particular trailer. So, make sure to add that estimated 1,000-2,000 lbs of cargo onto the trailer’s dry weight number if you haven’t yet purchased it and can’t get an exact weight.
4. Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR)
Another important term Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) is the amount of weight that each axle can carry.
If you haven’t purchased your camper yet, this won’t be immediately useful. However, it’s important to know that you can’t load up your camper unevenly on one side.
This can potentially cause damage to your RV or camper and even potentially cause tipping in extreme scenarios.
5. Hitch Weight (or Tongue Weight)
Another important term, hitch weight (often referred to as tongue weight) is how much of your trailer’s weight your hitch is carrying.
This is important for the same reason as knowing your truck’s overall tow rating: your hitch has a maximum weight limit you need to stay under.
Carry too much weight and you risk damaging your hitch– or worse.
Typically, your hitch will be taking about 10-15% of your trailer’s total weight, so you can take your trailer’s GVWR and divide by 7 to get a general number.
6. GCWR or GCVWR
Gross combined weight rating, or GCWR, is the maximum combined weight (the GVWR) of your camper + tow vehicle.
Why is this important? Because the total weight of your tow vehicle actually impacts the maximum towing capacity of your tow vehicle itself.
More specifically, the amount of cargo you have loaded onto your truck fluctuates the base towing capacity of your towing vehicle.
7. Towing Capacity
Towing capacity refers to how much weight your vehicle can tow.
As noted above, certain factors may be affecting your vehicle’s max tow rating such as cargo, vehicle updates, and mods.
Trucks can take heavy loads, but a trailer or camper is a lot to carry. It’s vital to stay under your vehicle’s towing capacity and pay close attention to see how your vehicle is handling the tow job periodically.
If you carry weight above your vehicle’s towing capacity, it can lead to issues such as engine and hitch damage, trailer sway, and more.
Learn more about RV weight, including a breakdown based on RV type, here: How Much Does an RV Weigh? (Every RV Class + Important Terms).
And learn if your F-150 can tow the camper or travel trailer you’re looking to get here: Can a Ford F-150 Pull a Camper?
This post may contain affiliate links. Check out our disclosure for more information.