Are you wondering if you should get that dump trailer or not? Are you concerned about whether or not your vehicle can tow it? Are you unable to tell which trailer is the most suitable for you?
This is the right place to be. In this post, we discuss everything weight-related when it comes to dump trailers.
We’ll tell you how to know if that trailer is the one for your vehicle or not. Let’s begin with a quick word about dump trailers.
What Is a Dump Trailer?
A dump trailer is a type of container with wheels that you can attach to your vehicle. They come in various shapes, sizes, designs, and load capacities.
Most dump trailers now come with a hydraulics system with which they can be inclined. This allows for an easier loading and unloading process.
Dump trailers can carry anything that can fit inside them without exceeding the safe weight. You can carry some luggage, furniture, construction materials, ATVs, and even buggies.
Can Your Vehicle Pull the Dump Trailer
This is probably the thing you should be focusing on the most when you decide to latch a dump trailer to your vehicle.
There’s no point in getting a trailer that your car can’t pull. Additionally, your car should be able to pull the trailer with plenty of power left to spare.
The reason behind this is that you should keep in mind the average weight of passengers, and the average weight of luggage inside the car.
Add to that, even if a car is full of passengers and luggage, you still have to keep in mind the weight of the load you’re planning to add to your trailer.
How to Know Your Vehicle’s Weight Limit
There are multiple weight ratings for every vehicle. However, there are two main things you should focus on: the GVWR (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating) and the GCWR (Gross Combined Weight Rating.)
The GVWR is how much your vehicle can safely carry without a dump trailer attached. This usually includes the weight of the vehicle, passengers, and cargo.
The GCWR is how much weight your car can safely carry with a trailer included. It has a considerable margin of error since it doesn’t take into account the weight of your trailer or the load you’re planning to place on it.
We will explain shortly how to know the safe weight your car can handle with a loaded trailer attached, but if you don’t have time for this or simply don’t want to do the math, you can simply refer to the manufacturer’s GCWR.
That being said, we’ll keep our main focus on the GVWR to be more accurate in our measurements.
How to Calculate Your Suitable Trailer Weight
We need to know how to calculate the safe limit of both the trailer and the expected load on top of it.
The average GVWR is around 6,000 pounds in normal sedan cars, and around 10,000 pounds on trucks. On the other hand, the average trailer weight is 4,500 pounds.
It’s easy to conclude that sedans aren’t the best candidates to handle dump trailer weights. They can still get the job done if the weights are manageable, but trucks are the way to go.
Say that you own a sedan with a GVWR of 5,500 pounds and that you purchased a trailer that weighs 3,700 pounds.
To get the weight your car can safely handle after you attach your trailer, subtract the trailer weight from the sedan’s GVWR.
In our example, that would be 5,500 – 3,700 = 1,800 pounds.
That means that you have approximately 1,800 pounds of weight that your car can handle for long trips without potential damage.
Keep in mind that those 1,800 pounds include the weight of the passengers, the luggage, and the load.
Let’s try that again but with a truck. We’ll assume that we have a truck with a 10,000 GVWR that is going to tow the same trailer which weighs 3,700 pounds.
The spare weight you will have in this scenario would be 10,000 – 3,700 = 6,300 pounds.
That means you have approximately 6,300 pounds of weight that you can distribute among the weight of passengers, luggage, trailer load…etc.
The reason we keep saying “approximately” is because we have another factor that goes into the formula, which is the tongue weight.
The Tongue Weight
Don’t worry, this won’t mess up our calculation; it’s just a small but very important factor to consider.
The tongue is the device that connects your vehicle to the trailer. It goes without saying that it should be sturdy.
For a tongue device to be strong enough, its weight should be 10-15% of the trailer weight. So, our 3,700-pound trailer would require a tongue that weighs around 555 pounds.
It’s not that much, but it’s another weight factor you shouldn’t forget about.
The Tongue Weight Distribution
It’s not only the tongue weight value that matters, but also its distribution.
Even if your tongue weight meets the required criteria, poorly distributing your load could theoretically reduce your tongue weight.
This won’t affect your vehicle’s carrying capacity, but it will drastically affect the driving balance and could be very problematic if not handled correctly.
Watch this video to have a better understanding of the tongue weight distribution.
That’s All You Need To Know!
We’ve covered all the basic information on how to calculate the correct weight that your vehicle can tow.
However, it’s difficult to weigh everything at home. If you’re loading an ATV, for example, you should consider taking your ATV to a local truck stop that has a cat scale. That way, you’ll know the exact number of pounds.
Always double and triple-check the weight measurements. Unsafe loads won’t only harm your vehicle, but you run the risk of having your tongue device breaking. This could be disastrous at high speeds.
Take your time in preparing, drive carefully, and stay safe.