FitsMyTruckWhat fits your pickup, by truck and bed

By the FitsMyTruck team. Every figure in this guide comes from a maker, automaker or standards document named at the end, and the guide is reviewed before it goes up. How we check what fits.

Tongue weight basics and the 10 to 15 percent rule

Tongue weight is the downward force the trailer coupler puts on the hitch ball. Reese's install sheet says it should be about 10 to 15 percent of gross trailer weight for most trailers. Ram's 2025 Ram 1500 chart and Ford's 2025 Super Duty specifications both calculate it at 10 percent for conventional hitches. Measure it with a tongue weight scale, a bathroom scale on a lever, or a vehicle scale.

The rule and what breaks it

Reese's 2020 Round Bar Pro sheet says tongue weight should be about 10 to 15 percent of the gross trailer weight for most trailers. It adds that too low a percentage often produces a tendency to sway, and that excess weight on the tongue can also lead to sway and damage the hitch or tow vehicle. CURT gives the same range and says too little lets the trailer sway back and forth, while too much makes the vehicle less responsive when turning and braking. Arithmetic on a 5,000 lb trailer gives 500 to 750 lb.

Ford's 2025 Super Duty specifications state that conventional tongue load should be 10 percent of loaded trailer weight, and 15 percent for 5th-wheel and gooseneck towing. Ford also says payload must cover the tongue load, so it counts against the truck's payload and GVWR.

How to measure it

MethodHow CURT describes it
Tongue weight scaleA small scale made for the job, set under the trailer jack, then read.
Bathroom scaleUnder 300 lb expected, set the tongue or jack directly on the scale. Over 300 lb, use boards and pipes and multiply the reading by 3.
Vehicle scaleWeigh the tow vehicle alone and again hitched. The difference is the tongue weight.

CURT's Understanding Towing guide says to take the reading with the coupler at towing height, and that tongue weight changes with where the load sits in relation to the trailer axles. Weigh Safe also lists the drive-on method and says a bathroom scale suits only small trailers.

Where the rating comes from

CURT says most vehicles list towing capacity in the owner's manual, on the driver-side door jamb, or in a towing guide on the maker's website. Ford says the axle and vehicle weight ratings sit on the Safety Compliance Certification Label. The hitch has its own label: the label text in CURT's install sheet for part 13393 (2019 and later Silverado 1500 and Sierra 1500) gives 6,000 lb trailer weight and 600 lb tongue weight as a weight carrying hitch. Reese's sheet says not to exceed the lower of the towing vehicle maker's rating or the trailer rating. CURT says never to exceed the lowest-rated component.

Truck examples

Maker documentStated figures
Toyota, 2024 Tacoma brochureMaximum towing weight 3,500 to 6,500 lb across ten columns; maximum tongue weight 640 or 650 lb. The 6,500 lb columns list 650 lb, which is 10 percent.
Nissan, 2025 Frontier press kitKing Cab S 4x2: maximum capacity 7,150 lb, tongue load 716 lb, which is 10 percent.
Ram, 2025 Ram 1500 payload and towing guideChart tongue weight calculated as 10 percent; maximum tongue weight for a Class IV receiver limited to 1,100 lb.

The percentages in the table are arithmetic on the makers' figures. The receiver can set the limit before the truck does. Ram's chart lists trailers up to 11,550 lb, and 10 percent of that is 1,155 lb, above the 1,100 lb receiver cap.

The vehicle's door-jamb sticker, owner's manual and the hitch maker's labels govern. A rating shown here is the maker's published figure, not a guarantee for a specific truck.

Use it with

The hitch tables list each hitch's tongue weight rating. When the trailer's tongue weight exceeds a hitch's weight carrying rating, read weight distribution hitches, and check receiver adapters in hitch receiver sizes.

Sources

Products named above

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