How Large of an RV Can Your Vehicle Tow?

August 27th, 2024 by

Driver front 3/4 view of 2023 GMC Sierra 3500HD towing a fifth wheel Dealing with the typical 9-5 grind, traffic, taking and picking up the kids from school, grocery shopping, errands, and so much more can really take a toll on your mental health over time. This is why it’s good to find time to get away from the daily grind. That’s why so many people love to get in their GMC Sierra, tow their RV to a campsite or park, and relax for a weekend or more. But, what is the most RV you can safely tow?

2024 GMC Sierra 2500HD AT4X AEV Edition towing an off-road trailer through rugged terrain.

To Know Is To Safely Tow

While it may take longer to get started, it is important to calculate your weights to tow safely. It is absolutely vital that drivers know their vehicle’s limits while also understanding how to tow for the safety of themselves and others on the road around them. Depending on the trim and options, a Sierra can tow over 13,000 lbs, but does that mean you should? 

Glossary of Terms

When you start towing semi-regularly, there are a number of terms you should get to know, such as Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR), Gross Combined Weight Rating (GCWR), hitch weight, tongue weight, Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) or axle weight, and payload capacity. 

2024 GMC Sierra 2500HD AT4X towing a trailer through rocky mountain terrain.

What Do These Terms Mean?

Defining each term is pretty easy. However, some of them feel like they are the same thing, but they indeed have their own definition. GVWR is the maximum weight your truck can carry, which includes people and luggage in the cab and the bed. GCWR is the maximum weight you can carry and tow at the same time. The hitch weight is the amount of weight that is pushing down on your hitch from the trailer. Tongue weight is the downward pressure from your trailer onto your hitch ball. The axle weight is the maximum amount of weight that can be placed over each axle on your truck. There are legal limits to this, too, so it’s super important that you know what you are doing here. Finally, payload capacity is the maximum weight your vehicle can carry. 

Let’s Break It Down

While this may seem like an overload of information, it is all helpful and important. Plus, once you start using the terms and doing the math a few times, it becomes second nature. Let’s start slowly and break it down. A travel RV that you tow can vary in weight, but let’s say you are going to tow one that is 5,000 lbs, and your truck is able to tow 9,200 lbs. Seems simple enough. However, you still need to think about your GCWR. The easiest way to put this is to take the maximum weight of everything in your vehicle – people, luggage, fuel, everything, which, let’s say, is 6,300 lbs, including the truck (truck weight of 5,300 lbs for the 5.3-liter V8 plus 1,000 lbs of people, luggage, and gas, etc.). 

GMC Sierra Towing a LArge Camper on a rural road

So What Can I Tow?

Once you come upon the weight of the vehicle, including all of the cargo and people onboard, you take that number and subtract it from your GCWR, which is the combined weight of your gross vehicle weight and your towing capacity. Then, you will get the true weight that you will be able to tow. In the case of a 5.3-liter Crew Cab Sierra with a standard-sized bed, the GCWR is 15,000 lbs. If you take away 6,300 lbs of payload from that, you get 8,700, which is the most weight you can safely tow. This means that your 5,000 lb RV will be just fine to tow. 

Now You Have The Basics Covered

There are still more things to learn. However, this covers the basics that are the most important to understand properly. Once you get farther along, there are great resources and companies that offer weight distribution hitches to help keep weight properly centered over the axles for safe driving. You can also check out this website from Chevrolet that helps break down the various weight ratings for different models. 

Towing ratings delineated on the door sticker of the GMC Sierra

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