Whats the difference between dead weight and towed weight?
Anyone who’s ever had to carry a sleeping child or lift a bottom-heavy box knows what dead weight is. You may have also heard of something called towing weight. Both have something to do with towing, but what’s the difference between the two? The answer is actually found in your trailer hitch. Dead weight (called weight carrying towing capacity by auto manufacturers) is a common term for the maximum amount of weight your vehicle can tow with a simple ball hitch trailer coupling. With this basic hitch, the force of the trailer’s added weight is localized on the tow vehicle’s rear axle. Exceeding a tow vehicle’s dead weight rating could make the front of the coach leave the ground, a potentially terrible situation to face when you’re speeding down the highway. Since it’s the higher of the two ratings, towing weight is the number that you’ll see on advertisements and touted by car dealers. The vehicle’s towing weight, also known as its weight distributing towing capacity, is the total amo
