Trailer hitches have many uses. By having one attached to your vehicle, you are instantly given the ability to transport cargo, tow away other cars, pull an RV, bring a boat to the ocean, and many other things. It’s a way to basically increase the abilities of your car, take it to the next level, and evolve it into something more than just four wheels that take you to and from a destination. But a trailer hitch can’t just be taken and slapped onto any old automobile. It’s got to be just the right match. If you’ve felt the sting of adventure and know in your heart that it’s time to make the most out of your vehicle, you’ll want to make sure that you select the right trailer hitch for your car.
Being somebody that might not know a single thing about trailer hitches, you probably don’t have a clue about where to start. Luckily for you, we’ve prepared a guide that can help you find out the best type of trailer hitch for your type of automobile. Gather Information To start off, there’s a lot of data that you’ll need to gather about your vehicle and your trailer. This information will be used to help you determine how much weight your car can handle and therefore how much weight your ideal trailer hitch can handle. Start off by jotting down the year, make, and model of your car. Additionally, you’ll need to know what its maximum towing capacity is. If you’re unsure, try to check the owner’s manual of the vehicle. You should be able to locate the information there. In case you’ve lost the manual or for some reason still need help, try to run an online search to find your car’s specs. You might also bring the vehicle to an auto shop to have them verify the year, make, model, and towing capacity. Check if your trailer has safety chains. These are used to secure the trailer to the vehicle after it has been hitched. They’re used as an extra precautionary measure just in case the hitch malfunctions somehow and disconnects. Not all trailers use safety chains, though. Next, you’ll need to find out what the gross trailer weight (GTW) of your trailer is. You can accomplish this by bringing the trailer to your local weigh station. These are located in most states along the highways. If for some reason you’re unable to bring it to a weigh station or there aren’t any nearby, unfortunately, there’s no workaround. Search online for the nearest weigh station and pencil some time into your schedule to bring the trailer there and discover its weight. To make sure you get accurate measurements, the trailer should be full of the items that you’ll be carrying in it (appliances, laundry, etc.). The next part to consider is the trailer tongue. That’s the piece that holds the coupler which connects to the towing car’s hitch. You’ll need to find out how much the tongue weight (TW) is. What you’re trying to find out here is how much weight the trailer puts on the hitch when the tongue is resting on it. There are a couple of different ways for you to do this. A local weigh station can handle it if you lack the equipment.
Commercial weigh scales made for this purpose are also available for purchase or you can even use a regular bathroom scale to get the tongue’s weight.
Compare the Data Now that you’ve finished gathering all the information you need, it’s time to put everything together and determine how much weight your vehicle can handle and what the appropriate hitch to use is. Using the owner’s manual, search for the maximum weight limits for your vehicle for TW and GTW, then compare them with the data that you gathered earlier. By now, you’ve hopefully realized that the manual is an extremely handy thing to have around, making it easier to do most of these steps. In the event that you don’t have it, however, you’ll have to rely on the internet once again to get the specs.
Take a look at the numbers during your comparison. If the GTW and TW of your trailer and trailer tongue exceed the maximum limits specified for your vehicle, you’ll need to either lighten the load of the trailer or use a different vehicle that’s bigger and stronger. Attempting to hitch up the trailer to your car while knowingly ignoring the specified limits can result in catastrophic damage to both the car and the trailer and possibly even an accident on the road. On the other hand, if the GTW and TW are lower than the maximum specified weight limits, then you’re ready to move on to the final step and choose an appropriate hitch type. Find Your Trailer Hitch There are three main types of trailer hitches: weight carrying, weight distributing, and fifth wheel hitches.
Weight carrying hitches are usually used on cars, SUVs, and small trucks. These can be used for trailers that have a GTW of 2,000 – 6,000-lbs and a TW of 200 – 600-lbs. Weight distributing hitches are normally seen on large trucks. These types of hitches may be used for trailers that have a GTW that ranges around 4000 – 12,000-lbs and a TW that ranges from 400 – 1200-lbs. Fifth wheel hitches are used on pickup trucks and gooseneck campers.
They are typically able to hold the heaviest trailers compared to the other two hitch types. Some fifth wheel hitches can handle up to 20,000-lbs depending on the strength of the towing vehicle. Use the data that you gathered earlier to make an intelligent and informed decision based on the weight ranges.
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