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RV glossary · Weights & towing limits

Hitch weight

Also called: Tongue weight

The downward force a bumper-pull trailer puts on the tow vehicle’s hitch, typically 10–15% of the trailer’s loaded weight. Too little tongue weight can cause sway; too much can overload the truck’s rear axle and payload.

Manufacturers usually publish the hitch weight of the empty trailer. Loading gear into a front storage compartment, filling a front-mounted fresh tank or adding batteries and propane on the tongue raises it, often by a few hundred pounds.

Tongue weight counts against the tow vehicle’s payload and rear axle rating. A weight-distribution hitch spreads some of it to the front axle and the trailer axles, but it does not reduce the total payload used.

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Related terms

Pin weight
The weight a fifth wheel puts on the hitch in the truck bed, usually about 15–25% of the trailer’s loaded weight. It is the fifth-wheel equivalent of tongue weight and often decides whether a truck has enough payload.
Payload capacity
How much weight a truck or SUV can carry: its GVWR minus its curb weight. Passengers, cargo, the hitch itself and the trailer’s tongue or pin weight all count against payload.
Weight-distribution hitch
A hitch with spring bars that shift some of a trailer’s tongue weight forward to the tow vehicle’s front axle and back to the trailer axles. It levels the rig and restores steering and braking. Many vehicles require one above a certain trailer weight.
Sway
Side-to-side movement of a trailer behind the tow vehicle, often triggered by wind, passing trucks or too little tongue weight. Sway control devices and correct loading reduce it; if it starts, ease off the accelerator and apply the trailer brakes gently using the brake controller.

More weights & towing limits terms

GVWR · UVW · Dry weight · CCC · OCCC · GCWR · GAWR · GVW

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