Before you can execute any towing process, you need to know the towing capacity of your vehicle. In the owner’s manual, your car manufacturer provides towing capacity details that need to be strictly followed. Any attempts in exceeding what is recommended could lead to damage on your pocket. You are likely to damage your car’s engine, the rear axle, brakes, transmission system and wheel bearings. You will void the manufacturer’s warranty.
Compared to AWD and 4WD, reviews show 2WD vehicles provide a better towing experience due to their power transmission setup.
The best way to determine your vehicle’s towing capacity is to read your vehicle’s owner’s manual and compare with the information that is provided on the plate of your driver’s door sill.
Trailer Towing
Towing a trailer adds load on your vehicle’s engine, brakes, transmission, tires and suspension. If your car is not capable of pulling any trailer, it will be stated in the manufacturer’s manual.
Factors that determine your vehicle’s towing capacity include gross vehicle weight, gross combination weight, gross axle weight and tongue weight. To spare you many complicated and unnecessary maths, you can go online and feed in these details in an online towing calculator to get the figures on towing capacity your vehicle can accommodate.
As we have discussed tongue weight in the previous article, let us spare ourselves repetition. However, note that you can change your trailer’s tongue weight by changing the way you load the trailer.
For example, placing a lot of weight at the front of your trailer’s axle would subsequently lead to more tongue weight and cause some instability in the trailer. If you load a lot of weight behind the axles, you can generate some negative tongue weight. If you have much tongue weight, your combined tow rig will sag.
