Can You Determine Tongue Weight of a Trailer if the Trailer is on an Incline

Updated 01/19/2015 | Published 01/18/2015

Question:

My travel trailer is parked at an incline in my driveway. I have the trailer leveled to keep the fridge going, but still parked on an incline driveway. Do I need to have the trailer on level ground to obtain an accurate tongue weight? Thanks,

asked by: Gerry T

Expert Reply:

Since your trailer is sitting perfectly level, even though it is on an incline, the tongue weight of the setup will be accurate if you were to weight it as-is. If the nose of the trailer was high or low the figures would get skewed. You will need to somehow get the scale to sit perfectly level as well for an accurate reading which could prove challenging.

You should note that any weight from cargo behind the rear axle of your tow vehicle will need to be considered as tongue weight.

Since your trailer is on an incline I would take extra caution while determining the tongue weight as it would be very dangerous if the trailer were to start moving.

I attached an FAQ article on determining tongue weight for you to check out as well.

expert reply by: Jameson C