Driving your vehicle
1986
Trailer Towing
Weight of the trailer
What is the maximum safe weight
of a trailer? It should never weigh
more than the maximum trailer
weight with trailer brakes. But even
that can be too heavy.
It depends on how you plan to use
your trailer. For example, speed,
altitude, road grades, outside tem
-
perature and how often your vehicle
is used to pull a trailer are all impor
-
tant. The ideal trailer weight can
also depend on any special equip
-
ment that you have on your vehicle.
Weight of the trailer tongue
The tongue load of any trailer is an
important weight to measure
because it affects the total gross
vehicle weight (GVW) of your vehi
-
cle. This weight includes the kerb
weight of the vehicle, any cargo you
may carry in it, and the people who
will be riding in the vehicle. And if
you will tow a trailer, you must add
the tongue load to the GVW because
your vehicle will also be carrying
that weight.
The trailer tongue should weigh a
maximum of 10% of the total
loaded trailer weight, within the lim
-
its of the maximum permissible
trailer tongue load.
After you've loaded your trailer,
weigh the trailer and then the
tongue, separately, to see if the
weights are proper. If they aren䳓t,
you may be able to correct them
simply by moving some items
around in the trailer.
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