How to Load Your Car For Towing
So you’ve got a new Ford Ranger and 3500kg of towing capacity. With a ute that can carry 1T it may feel like you have plenty of weight to spare. But not so fast…
The first thing you need to know is that your Ford Ranger has a GCM of 6000kg. That simply means that your combined weight of car and caravan can only be that figure. So if you use your full towing capacity (3500kg) then you can only put 300kg of weight in your car… but… chances are you have already done that with your towball weight…
Really?…
Yeah. Your car has a kerb weight of 2100 approx and 1000kg of payload – that’s how much weight it can legally carry, but at no time can you exceed the GCM of 6000.
A fully loaded car would be 3100kg and a fully loaded caravan 3500kg plus the 300kg on the ballweight – numbers which well exceed the 6000GCM limit.
What’s the answer?
Simply to be careful how you load both car and caravan. I would suggest trying to keep van weight to around 2700kg max. That way you have payload in the car for passengers, fuel and maybe even a bit of gear.
The simple message here is that it is all too easy to travel overloaded without even knowing it. It’s always better safe than sorry so if you are unsure of you car and caravan’s weight call us to have a mobile vehicle weighing service on your doorstep within days!
If you want to do some DIY calculations then this weight calculator from Time to Roam may be of some help.