This calculator checks whether your loaded trailer is within your vehicle's towing limits in New Zealand, looking at both the towing capacity and the towball download, and showing how much headroom you have on each. Towing safely and legally is not just about whether the vehicle can pull the load; it is about staying inside the manufacturer's ratings, and overloading either limit is dangerous and can void your insurance. The two figures that matter most here are the maximum towing capacity, which the trailer plus everything in it must not exceed, and the maximum towball download, the downward weight the trailer's coupling presses on the towbar, which is typically around ten percent of the loaded trailer weight and must stay within the rated limit. You enter your vehicle's towing capacity, the loaded weight of the trailer, the maximum towball download, and the actual towball download, and the calculator tells you whether you are within both limits and the headroom remaining on each. Use it before a big trip with a boat, caravan or loaded trailer to confirm you are legal and safe. Remember the towball download also counts toward your vehicle's payload, and you must stay within the gross combined mass too, so check your vehicle's full ratings. An estimate to sense-check your setup.
Also stay within your vehicle's payload and gross combined mass. Towball download counts toward payload. Overloading is unsafe and can void insurance. An estimate only.
The towing headroom is the towing capacity minus the loaded trailer weight, and the towball headroom is the maximum towball download minus the actual download. If either is negative you are over that limit. The calculator flags whether you are within both, and shows the spare capacity on each.
With a 2,500 kilogram towing capacity and an 1,800 kilogram loaded trailer, you have 700 kilograms of towing headroom. A 180 kilogram towball download against a 250 kilogram limit leaves 70 kilograms, so you are within both limits.
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