Category Archives: Travel Trailer

How Much Trailer Can You Tow (Part 3)?

2013-12-16 Clip Art Weight LifterIn Part 1, I discussed some general thoughts on matching a tow vehicle and a trailer, to include tongue weight and gross weight specifications.

In Part 2, I took a deeper dive into tongue weights and presented the idea that a tow vehicle’s maximum tongue weight specification is usually the limiting factor in how large a trailer you can tow.

The conclusion in both is that perhaps we bought a trailer that is too heavy for our Ford Expedition; although I shared that I understood all the weight implications before we purchased.

So here is the rest of the story, as Paul Harvey used to say.

Continue reading How Much Trailer Can You Tow (Part 3)?

How Much Trailer Can You Tow (Part 2)?

Before we discuss trailer weight, tow vehicle weight, and total combined weight, a discussion about hitches is in order. There are a lot of misconceptions about trailer tongue weight, hitch weight and how to calculate what you have in your rig.

This is not meant to be a technical “White Paper” but just a general overview. If you need more information, then Google is your friend. But this article might help you sort out the sea of confusion that is the Internet.

Once the concepts are understood, we can discuss our “too heavy” trailer in Part 3.

Continue reading How Much Trailer Can You Tow (Part 2)?

How Much Trailer Can You Tow (Part 1)?

Anaza Borrego Oct 2013-1 smaller

Since we recently bought a new trailer and a new tow vehicle, I thought I would share some information about matching trailers and tow vehicles. In my research for both, I came across a lot of bad information. Before we bought, I knew what to take into consideration when matching a trailer and something to tow it with. This will lay out some basic information the buyer should know before he or she ever steps onto a car or trailer dealership lot.

Part 1 (this post) will cover tow vehicles. I will discuss trailers in part 3. Part 2 will discuss trailer hitches.

Continue reading How Much Trailer Can You Tow (Part 1)?