Not the brochure tow rating — the numbers on your door sticker, your hitch label, and your trailer's data plate. This page checks what you enter against the ratings you enter, shows its work, and tells you plainly what it hasn't checked.
Built from federal definitions + OEM towing guidesEstimates never upgrade to verifiedFree — no signup
PLANNING CHECK ONLY — NOT PERMISSION TO TOW. This page estimates selected weight checks from the values you enter. It does not measure axle loads, tire loads, side-to-side loading, hitch setup, braking, mechanical condition, or stability.
1 · Your truck's carrying capacity
2 · The trailer
3 · The ratings to check against
From your vehicle's trailering label / owner's manual and the labels on the hitch parts themselves. Leave blank = NOT CHECKED (the verdict will say so).
Enter your numbers above — blanks become "not checked," never "assumed fine."
LOW MARGIN — result is sensitive to loading and measurement changes. A small calculated margin can disappear with ordinary loading variation.
Not yet verified — requires scale measurement
Actual tongue/pin weightNOT CHECKED
Front & rear axle weights vs GAWRNOT CHECKED
Tire loads at your tire & inflation specNOT CHECKED
What a result here means: this page identifies whether the weights you entered exceed the specific ratings you entered — nothing more. It is not a finding that the combination is safe, suitable, or compliant under any operating condition. Estimates never substitute for weighing the actual loaded combination.
Definitions: 49 CFR 571.3. Placard: FMVSS No. 110 (applies ≤10,000 lb GVWR — heavier trucks use the GVWR fallback shown). Tongue weight consumes payload: Ford 2026 & GM 2025 towing guides. Ranges: GM/CURT 10–15% (Weigh Safe 9–15%), GM 15–25% fifth-wheel — authorities differ; we show the band and never average it away. Reviewed July 2026
Why the tow rating usually isn't the number
Ford's 2026 towing guide computes maximum trailer weight assuming "no cargo, tongue load of 10%... and driver and passenger (150 lbs. each)." GM's guide uses the same two-people-no-cargo basis. That's the brochure number. Your truck — with the family, the dog, the firewood, and a weight-distributing hitch — is a different truck. Every pound of that, plus the trailer's tongue weight, comes out of one budget: the payload number on your door sticker.
Worked example
Placard 1,614 lb. Family + gear 780 lb, WDH 100 lb, trailer at its 7,600-lb GVWR (max-load scenario). Across the published tongue range: at 10% → ~30 lb over; at the 12.5% midpoint → ~220 over; at 15% → ~410 lb over. Over across the entire range — while the same truck's advertised tow rating might read 11,000+. The tow rating was never the binding number. (Internal math is exact; displayed overages round up.)
And when the answer isn't over across the whole range — when 10% squeaks under but 15% doesn't — this tool won't guess. It says result depends on actual tongue weight, and sends you to the scale page, because a $15 pair of weigh-ins beats a $65,000 truck-buying mistake in either direction.
What this tool refuses to do
It won't estimate your truck's ratings from its make and model — options change the sticker, so we ask for your sticker. It won't turn a green light on from estimates — there are no green lights here at all. And it won't say "safe" or "legal," because a payload check can't see tire condition, axle loads, hitch setup, or the wind. The honest product is a list of which ratings you've checked, which you've exceeded, and which you haven't measured yet.