Cannondale
Petty Officer 1st Class
- Joined
- May 22, 2010
- Messages
- 278
So we're looking around at some new SUV's/trucks for a new tow vehicle. So far, Ford and Chevy/GMC.
But I found something interesting in their respective tow guides........and their recommendations for when you need trailer brakes.
We all know, pretty much, what the state regs. say for our particular state. And, maybe like me, a lot of us assume that the brakes on our vehicles are adequate for the trailer rating of the vehicle we're towing with.....but that last assumption may be incorrect.
The Cliff's Notes version is that GM says at 2K# trailer weight for their full sized SUV's/trucks, 1K# trailer weight on anything else and Ford says at 1500# trailer weight for all their vehicles, you need to add brakes to your trailer. (And, yes, I know this is the 2011 guide in each case, but older guides I've found, as far back as 2002, say the same thing.)
In the Ford guide, in the "What To Know Before You Tow" section, there's a small blurb about tow vehicle brakes. It states:
The above can be found on page 31 of Ford's Trailer Towing Guide (2011 version):
https://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/rv_trailer_towing/2011/2011 RV and Trailer Towing Guide.pdf (Be forewarned, it's a 5.3MB .pdf file.....)
So, apparently even with the tow packages, you need to have trailer brakes when your trailer has a weight of 1500# or more.....a lot less than what almost all states require.
GM is a little more liberal:
This is found on page 3 of GM's 2011 Trailering Guide:
http://www.chevrolet.com/assets/pdf/en/overview/11_Trailering_Guide.pdf (Again, a rather large .pdf file download.....)
So this surprised me a tad. I'd have thought the brake systems on vehicles rated for at least semi-serious towing (like 5K# and above) would have brake systems that'd at least be capable of handling 3K# without adding brakes to the trailer, but I see that's incorrect.
But I found something interesting in their respective tow guides........and their recommendations for when you need trailer brakes.
We all know, pretty much, what the state regs. say for our particular state. And, maybe like me, a lot of us assume that the brakes on our vehicles are adequate for the trailer rating of the vehicle we're towing with.....but that last assumption may be incorrect.
The Cliff's Notes version is that GM says at 2K# trailer weight for their full sized SUV's/trucks, 1K# trailer weight on anything else and Ford says at 1500# trailer weight for all their vehicles, you need to add brakes to your trailer. (And, yes, I know this is the 2011 guide in each case, but older guides I've found, as far back as 2002, say the same thing.)
In the Ford guide, in the "What To Know Before You Tow" section, there's a small blurb about tow vehicle brakes. It states:
The above can be found on page 31 of Ford's Trailer Towing Guide (2011 version):
https://www.fleet.ford.com/showroom/rv_trailer_towing/2011/2011 RV and Trailer Towing Guide.pdf (Be forewarned, it's a 5.3MB .pdf file.....)
So, apparently even with the tow packages, you need to have trailer brakes when your trailer has a weight of 1500# or more.....a lot less than what almost all states require.
GM is a little more liberal:
This is found on page 3 of GM's 2011 Trailering Guide:
http://www.chevrolet.com/assets/pdf/en/overview/11_Trailering_Guide.pdf (Again, a rather large .pdf file download.....)
So this surprised me a tad. I'd have thought the brake systems on vehicles rated for at least semi-serious towing (like 5K# and above) would have brake systems that'd at least be capable of handling 3K# without adding brakes to the trailer, but I see that's incorrect.
