Owning an RV is a chance for your family to travel, camp, and satisfy their adventurous spirits. According to the RV Industry Association, more than 11 million Americans now own their own RV, and countless others rent for their excursions.
While owning or renting an RV is as liberating as it is memorable, it can also be very stressful, particularly when you’re towing it down the road.
RVs can weigh up to 20,000 pounds, and learning how to tow them safely and responsibly can be a daunting experience–especially if you’re in the early stages of learning how to drive an RV.
But with these expert tips in your passenger seat, you’ll be well on your way to a smooth towing experience.
Understanding Your RV and Tow Vehicle
The first step in safely and easily towing an RV has to do with matching up your RV with a suitable towing vehicle. Obviously, the bigger your RV is, the more towing capacity and power your towing vehicle needs to have. To ensure you have the right setup, there are a few numbers and terms you’ll need to know.
Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (GVWR)
Gross vehicle weight rating applies to both your RV and your towing vehicle. GVWR refers to the maximum total weight that a vehicle can handle. When calculating the GVWR of your RV specifically, you’ll want to include the weight of the rig itself as well as everything you have inside of it (aka cargo).
For your towing vehicle, GVWR includes the combined weight of everything in the vehicle, including passengers, cargo, and the tongue weight of your RV.
It’s essential to know how much weight each of your vehicles can handle and to stay within that weight limit if you want to tow safely.
Towing Capacity
If you’re towing a travel trailer or fifth wheel, the maximum towing capacity of your towing vehicle is the most important number to know. A vehicle’s towing capacity refers to the maximum weight that it can safely tow behind it.
To find your vehicle’s towing capacity, you will need to check the owner’s manual or with the manufacturer.
Most mid-sized trucks and SUVs, for example, have a towing capacity of 5,000 to 7,500 pounds, whereas half-ton and three-quarter-ton trucks can tow from 9,000 to 20,000+ pounds.
Make sure that the gross trailer weight is less than the towing capacity of your towing vehicle. Attempting to tow too much weight will put excess strain on the towing vehicle and present a higher risk of swaying. It will also make it more difficult to stop your vehicle as you come to a light or get into a traffic jam.
Tongue Weight
Tongue weight isn’t quite as important as towing capacity and GVWR, but it’s still relevant. Tongue weight refers to the total weight on the front of the RV that will sit directly on top of the hitch. You can find the tongue weight of an RV listed in the owner’s manual or by asking the manufacturer.
While your towing vehicle typically won’t list a maximum tongue weight, as it does with towing capacity and GVWR, you should estimate it as 10% to 15% of the towing capacity. In other words, if your truck has a towing capacity of 10,000 pounds, your RV’s tongue weight shouldn’t be more than 1,000 or 1,500 pounds.
Different Types of Hitches
Now that you know more about towing capacity, tongue weight, and gross vehicle weight rating, let’s dig into the different types of hitches.
Fifth-Wheel Hitch
If you own a fifth-wheel camper, you will need to invest in a fifth-wheel hitch. These types of hitches sit in the bed of a pickup truck and get fastened in place. The ball hitch of the fifth-wheel camper then lowers down on top of the fifth-wheel hitch and gets fastened to it using a kingpin mechanism.
Fifth-wheel hitches can handle anywhere from 10,000 to 25,000 pounds because they sit directly above the rear axle. Therefore, they have more support, and there is less strain on the towing vehicle.
As far as popular models go, a Curt Q25 5th Wheel Trailer Hitch is a well-known fifth-wheel hitch on the market.
Image Courtesy of Trailer (Product pictured: Curt Q25 5th Wheel Trailer Hitch)
Weight Distribution Hitch
If you have a large travel trailer, a weight distribution hitch is an absolute lifesaver. Weight distribution hitches attach to the rear of your towing vehicle, much like a standard bumper hitch. However, weight distribution hitches also include a pair of bars and chains that attach from the tongue of the travel trailer to the hitch.
These bars and chains take much of the weight off the bumper of the towing vehicle and distribute it to the rear and front axles. This helps take the stress off of the bumper and makes for a much smoother towing experience.
I can vouch firsthand for the wonder of weight distribution hitches. The difference in towing a 10,000 pound RV with a standard bumper hitch versus with a weight distribution hitch is like night and day. Weight distribution hitches help prevent sway, level out your truck and camper,
and make for a smoother and safer overall towing experience.
A popular model of weight distribution hitch is the Reese Pro Round Bar Weight Distribution hitch (as seen below).
Image Courtesy of Trailer (Product pictured: Reese Pro Round Bar Weight Distribution hitch)
Bumper Hitch
If you’re towing a small travel trailer that weighs less than 4,000 pounds, you typically don’t need a weight distribution hitch. Instead, you can opt for a simple bumper hitch that attaches to the rear of your towing vehicle. A bumper hitch will include safety chains but doesn’t need to feature sway or weight distribution bars.
Level Up
Another thing that will make your towing experience safer and more enjoyable is if your truck and camper are as close to level as possible. As long as you hitch your RV to your truck on a level surface, side-to-side leveling won’t be a problem. However, having your truck and RV level from front to back is more difficult unless you use a weight distribution hitch.
Driving Techniques for Towing an RV
Once you have the right towing vehicle and equipment and your RV and towing vehicle are level, the prep work is done. Here are a few tips and tricks to ensure that you have a safe and smooth RV towing experience.
Braking and Stopping
If you’re towing anything heavier than 2,000 pounds, it’s absolutely essential to have trailer brakes. Trailer brakes and a properly wired brake controller in your towing vehicle will significantly improve your stopping time.
You should always test your trailer brakes, as well as those of your towing vehicle, before hitting the open road.
Whether you have trailer brakes or not, however, it’s important to keep plenty of distance between you and any vehicle you’re following and to give yourself plenty of time to slow down.
Watch Your Speed
In addition to making it harder to stop, speeding also increases the likelihood of trailer sway, which can result in an accident. Additionally, most RV tires are not rated to go faster than 65 or 70 miles per hour. Going faster than these speeds increases the chances that you’ll have a tire blowout, which can be catastrophic if you have a single-axled trailer.
Managing Trailer Sway
Aside from giving myself plenty of time to stop, the risk of trailer sway was my biggest fear when I first started RVing. Aside from driving slowly, using a weight distribution hitch and/or sway bars is the best way to avoid trailer sway. Weight distribution bars and sway bars connect from your truck hitch to the trailer tongue and keep the trailer from swaying in high winds or around sharp curves.
Towing in Various Weather Conditions
While you want to use caution anytime you’re towing an RV, certain situations call for even more caution than normal.
Windy Conditions
High winds are one of the biggest threats to RVs, regardless of how experienced you are as a tower. RVs have much more surface area than a van or a truck, meaning you’ll definitely feel some sway when it’s windy out. To negate the dangers of wind, you should reduce your speed to 55 to 60 MPH and always use a weight-distribution hitch or sway bars.
Rain, Snow, and Ice
No matter how slow you go or how good your tires are, there’s no good way to tow an RV in snowy or icy conditions. It’s best to pull over and wait for a snow plow to salt and clear the roads before continuing. Rain, on the other hand, isn’t as dangerous as ice or snow, but you should still reduce your speed as you would when it’s windy.
Practice Makes Perfect
As with any skill, you’ll get better and more comfortable towing your RV the more you practice. If you’re nervous, practice driving around in an empty parking lot for a while. Get to know the tow vehicle’s brakes and how to handle tight turns before hitting the open road.
It’s also a good idea to practice backing up, hitching, and unhitching your rig before pulling into a campground for the first time.
Summary
There’s no doubt that towing RV trailers can be a daunting task. However, the more often you do it, the easier it will get and the more comfortable you’ll become. For the sake of safety and convenience, you’ll need the right towing equipment and the right towing vehicle.
Aside from learning how to tow your RV, it’s also important, as a beginner RVer, to know where to store it when it’s not in use. Consider using Neighbor, a peer-to-peer storage marketplace, to find safe, affordable, and convenient storage options near you.
