Tongue Weight Made Simple: How to Load a Trailer So It Tows Straight

If you've ever towed a trailer that felt "squirrelly," wandering side to side or pushing the back of your truck around, there's a good chance the load was in the wrong spot. How you load a trailer matters just as much as how much you put on it. The key idea is tongue weight.

What is tongue weight?

Tongue weight is the downward push the trailer's tongue puts on your hitch ball. It's not the weight of the tongue itself. It's how much of the loaded trailer's weight is resting on your tow vehicle instead of on the trailer's own axles.

A common guideline is that tongue weight should be about 10 to 15 percent of the total loaded trailer weight. So if your trailer and cargo together weigh 5,000 pounds, you'd want roughly 500 to 750 pounds pressing down on the hitch.

Why it matters

Too little tongue weight is the dangerous one. When there's not enough weight on the hitch, the trailer can start to sway, and sway can grow quickly at highway speed. This usually happens when the heavy part of the load is behind the trailer's axles.

Too much tongue weight causes different problems. The rear of your truck squats, the front end gets light, and steering and braking suffer. Your headlights may point up at the trees. You can also go over your hitch's or your vehicle's limits.

The goal is the middle: enough weight on the hitch to keep things stable, but not so much that it overloads the back of your vehicle.

The 60/40 rule of thumb

The easiest way to get close is to put about 60 percent of the cargo weight in front of the trailer axles and about 40 percent behind them. In practice:

• Load the heaviest items first, slightly forward of the axles
• Keep heavy items centered left to right
• Put lighter, bulky items toward the back
• Don't stack heavy things high, because a low load is a stable load

For a single machine like a zero-turn mower or a skid steer, that usually means positioning it so its heaviest part sits a little ahead of the axles rather than right over the ramp.

How to check tongue weight

You don't need fancy gear to get a rough idea:

1. Look at your truck. Once you're hitched, look at your tow vehicle from the side. It should sit fairly level. A big squat in the rear means a heavy tongue. If the hitch barely moved, the tongue may be too light.
2. Use a tongue weight scale. These are made for trailers and are easy to use. Some hitches also have built-in gauges.
3. Use a truck scale. Many truck stops have certified scales. Weighing your vehicle with and without the trailer attached gives you very accurate numbers.

Watch out for these common mistakes

• Loading from the back. It's tempting to roll equipment on and stop as soon as it's on the deck. That puts the weight right over or behind the axles. Drive it all the way forward to where it belongs.
• Heavy items on one side. An uneven load makes the trailer lean and wears tires unevenly. Keep it balanced.
• Shifting loads. Even a perfect load won't stay perfect if it slides. Strap everything down. See our guide to tie-downs and working load limits.
• Forgetting the truck bed. Tools, fuel cans, and passengers all count against your vehicle's payload, along with tongue weight.

Where a weight distributing hitch fits in

If your tongue weight is right but your truck is still squatting, a weight distributing hitch can help. It uses spring bars to spread some of the tongue weight forward to your vehicle's front axle and back to the trailer's axles. That levels things out and helps steering and braking.

A weight distributing hitch doesn't fix a badly loaded trailer, though. Load correctly first, then use the hitch to level. Both of our rental trailers can have a weight distributing hitch added. Just ask when you book. You can see both trailers on our Rental Fleet page.

The quick version

• Aim for about 10-15 percent of the trailer's loaded weight on the hitch
• Load about 60 percent of the cargo in front of the axles
• Keep heavy items low and centered
• Check that your truck sits level
• Strap it all down, then recheck after a few miles

Get the load right, and the trailer will follow you down the road like it's supposed to. If it ever does start to wander, read our guide on what to do when a trailer sways.