Towing Basics

Easily mastered, but practice makes perfect

Steve Temple / autoMedia.com

Master tow-vehicle drivers appear to have the skill to thread a needle with their trailers. Whether it's a boat, cargo trailer or camper in tow, the trailer seems psychically connected to the driver's brain, rather than hitched to his tow vehicle. For beginners, towing can be intimidating, but even experienced trailer operators have had their learning curves and difficult experiences. Outfitted with the right information, the right equipment and diligent practice, you too can readily master the art of towing.

Weight Capacities

The most valuable rule of thumb for towing is to coordinate the weight capacities of the equipment so the entire rig is stable, allowing for a ride that's not significantly different than if the vehicle were towing nothing at all. This arrangement gives drivers the advantage of a predictable response to traffic maneuvers, so all they have to think about is a smooth, even ride. Experienced drivers have all seen trailers that threatened to pass the tow vehicle or wiggle like hyper-happy puppies, or tow vehicles riding painfully high in the front and awkwardly low in the rear. These are examples of mismatched pieces: too much or too little tongue weight, too heavy a trailer weight for the vehicle, and so forth.

Tow Terms

The first step before hitching up a trailer to your vehicle is to spoon through a bowl of alphabet soup of terms for towing. Knowing how to decipher these acronyms for capacities and weights and how they relate to one another takes the guesswork out of towing and helps the driver progress to master-tower.

GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating): The total allowable weight of a fully loaded vehicle, including driver, passengers, cargo, fluids, accessories and tongue weight. Beefy aftermarket shocks or airbags won't change the vehicle's GVWR, they just make the ride more comfortable. One of the biggest mistakes amateur towers make is to underestimate the total weight within the tow vehicle.

GAWR (Gross Axle Weight Rating): The maximum weight a single axle is designed to safely carry. This rating is provided to prevent single-axle overloading.