Bad Loading Methods Can Get Ruin your Day: Here’s How to Properly Load a Trailer

At M&G Trailers, we don’t just sell trailers and equipment. We see it as our responsibility to educate our community on best practices of towing, hauling, and loading cargo trailers, utility trailers, and even dump trailers. There are good and bad ways to load a trailer, but we’ve got it down to a science, and we’re ready to share the best way the properly load a trailer!

This is a guide to loading a trailer in the safest way possible, but we also cover some things to know before hauling and driving with a trailer behind you.

Before we get started. . .

Understand the language of towing

Just like any other niche, towing has its own language and acronyms. You’ll need to be fluent in order to make the right decisions before you begin towing. Here are a few examples:

• Gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR): The amount of weight a fully loaded down truck can safely carry, as determined by the manufacturer.
• Gross trailer weight rating (GTWR): This tells the consumer the maximum combined weight of the cargo and trailer. This should be attached somewhere on the trailer frame.
• Gross axle weight rating (GAWR): This tells you the weight a single axle can carry without the rest of the rig.

Here are our steps to properly loading a trailer!

1. Use wheel chocks. Your trailer properly has brakes installed, but to further ensure stability, wheel chocks aren’t a bad idea. These make sure the trailer won’t roll or move while it’s being loaded. It’s also a good idea to hitch the trailer to your towing vehicle before loading so you can engage the emergency parking brake.
2. Pay attention to weight distribution. When loading a trailer, a general rule is to keep a 60/40 ratio: 60 percent of the weight should be in front of the axle, and 40 percent should be behind. Distributing the weight in this manner will significantly reduce trailer sway.
3. Load up heavy items first. Putting your heavier items on the trailer first will help you stick to the 60/40 rule – which is rather critical for safe towing. Place your heavy things just a bit forward of the axle, and then you can start adding in smaller and lighter items around, making the weight distributed evenly.
4. Use straps for extra security. Once you’ve got your heavy items loaded, and before you start packing in smaller items, tie them down so they don’t fall over during the ride and break something. Using your trailer’s tie-down anchors, secure larger equipment using straps, ropes, or ratchet straps.
5. Fill in extra space with lighter items. When all of the heavy items are loaded, you can take the lightweight items in nooks or any open spaces they’ll fit into. This lightweight cargo could contain handheld tools or supplies, or it could be small yard working equipment. Either way, putting these items into a container together makes them much easier to load and locate once you start unpacking.
6. Test the trailer lights. Once you’ve hooked up the trailer to the tow vehicle, test all the lights, turning signals, and brakes to ensure everything is working properly.

Driving with the trailer

Once you have everything in place, it’s time to hit the road. Driving with a fully loaded trailer in tow isn’t too much different than driving with an empty one, but the techniques are different and can be confused easily.

First, everything you do should be at half speed when driving with a full trailer. This means turns and stopping will take longer, so giving yourself more space between you and the person in front of you is safe. Allow yourself much more time and space when merging or changing lanes, and be sure to watch for objects in the road to give enough time to slow down or avoid the object. You can also try to look farther ahead so you’ll have time to change course or slow down if another vehicle becomes part of your path.

Always be prepared

When loading and towing a trailer, it’s possible for something to go wrong. You can do everything right, check off each item on a list and do everything the manual tells you, and something could still go wrong. Make a list of all the tools you might think you need and pack them.

Contact us today with any trailer-related questions you may have. We’re ready to help!