Your ute is rated to tow 3,500 kg. Can it really?
Free towing calculators for Australian cars, utes, 4WDs and caravans. Enter the numbers from your compliance plates and see every limit in kilograms, before you hitch up.
Towing calculators
- Towing calculator: is your setup within its limits?
Check your car or ute and trailer against GVM, GCM, towing capacity and towball download in one go.
- How much can I tow? GCM calculator
Find the heaviest trailer your vehicle can legally pull as it's loaded today, and which limit stops you.
- Ute and 4WD payload calculator
Add up accessories, passengers, gear and towball download to see how much of your GVM is left.
- Towball weight calculator
Work out your towball download as a percentage of the trailer and check it against your vehicle and towbar.
- Caravan payload calculator (ATM minus tare)
See how much you can really pack in your caravan once water, gas and extras are counted.
- Weighbridge calculator for caravans and trailers
Turn weighbridge readings into GTM, towball download and trailer weight.
- Trailer brake, safety chain and coupling requirements
Enter your trailer's ATM to see the brakes, breakaway system, safety chains and coupling it needs in Australia.
The six numbers that decide what you can tow
Every towing limit in Australia comes back to these. You'll find them on the vehicle's compliance plate and owner's manual, the trailer's compliance plate, and the towbar.
- ATM
- Aggregate trailer mass
- The most the loaded trailer may weigh on its own, including the part carried on the towball.
- GTM
- Gross trailer mass
- The most the loaded trailer may put on its own wheels when hitched. ATM minus towball download.
- Tare
- Tare mass
- The empty trailer or vehicle, ready for use. For vehicles this includes only 10 litres of fuel.
- GVM
- Gross vehicle mass
- The most the loaded vehicle may weigh, including the towball download when towing.
- GCM
- Gross combination mass
- The most the loaded vehicle and loaded trailer may weigh together.
- TBM
- Towball mass (download)
- The weight the trailer puts on the towball. It counts against the vehicle's GVM.
Guides
Why a 3,500 kg towing capacity often isn't 3,500 kg
How GCM limits what your ute or 4WD can really tow, how to work out your own figure, and what you can do about it.
How to weigh your caravan and tow vehicle at a weighbridge
A step-by-step method for weighing a caravan or trailer setup at a public weighbridge, and how to turn three readings into GTM, ATM, towball download and GCM.
ATM, GTM, GVM, GCM and tare explained, with one worked example
What every Australian towing weight term means, where to find it on your plates, and how the numbers fit together for one ute and caravan.
Trailer brake and safety chain rules in Australia (2026)
When a trailer needs brakes, when override brakes stop being allowed, when you need a breakaway system and how many safety chains, under VSB 1 Revision 6.
Where the rules come from
Trailer brake, breakaway, chain and coupling rules on this site come from Vehicle Standards Bulletin 1 (Revision 6, August 2026), the national standard for trailers up to 4.5 tonnes, and from state transport authority guidance. Every calculator lists its sources. We last checked them on 12 October 2026. See every source and how each calculation works.