04 February 2025
How should you load your trailer? Your guide
5 minutes
The way you load your trailer isn’t just about speed, convenience, or maximising its capacity; proper loading technique is also essential for a safe and hassle-free journey. Wondering how you should load your trailer to keep you, your cargo, and other road users safe?
Our guide has everything you need to know about weight distribution, weight limits, and the DVLA guidelines on safe trailer use.
What is the correct way to load a trailer? Quickfire guide
Let’s start with the basics. To load a trailer safely and efficiently, make sure you’re ticking all of these boxes:
- Load the heaviest items in the middle of the trailer
- Keep 60% of the weight of the cargo to the front of the trailer (i.e., in front of the trailer’s axle)
- Place lighter items on top of or around the heavier items
- Ensure your cargo is secured before you set off.
It’s also important to keep yourself safe while you’re loading your trailer. This means parking your vehicle on flat ground, engaging the trailer’s brake, and securing the trailer wheels with chocks. These chocks will stop the trailer from rolling if the brake fails.
When you take this approach to loading, you’ll spread the weight evenly. This stops the trailer from snaking and swaying when you’re driving. It also prevents the items you’re transporting from moving around when you’re on the road. An abrupt change in weight distribution – for example, because the heavy furniture you’re towing slides to one side of the trailer as you’re going around a tight corner – can damage the cargo, the trailer and the hitch. It will also make it much harder to control your vehicle.
Now, let’s look at the loading process in more detail.
Should you load the front or the back of a trailer?
It’s important to load a trailer evenly rather than pushing all the weight to the front or the back.
The rule of thumb is 60/40. Whether you’re working with a single axle trailer (with two wheels) or a double axle (with two sets of two wheels), you should keep 60% of the weight in front of the axle, and 40% behind.
It can be easier to play with the weight distribution if you’re carrying lots of different items in your trailer. If you’re towing just one heavy piece of cargo (for example, a small vehicle like a ride-on lawn mower), you should load it into the centre of the trailer and push it slightly in front of the axle to hit the correct 60/40 distribution.
What’s the safest order for loading a trailer?
If you’re carrying a mix of different items or materials, start by loading the heaviest ones. These heavy items go in the middle of the trailer, which sets you up to distribute the weight evenly. Then, the lighter items go around or on top.
Imagine you’re renovating a kitchen. After the initial demolition, you might put the old fixtures and appliances – the sink, the oven, the dishwasher – in the middle of the trailer ready to take to your nearest recycling centre. But you’ll also have old tiles, wooden cabinets, flooring, and the packaging for your new kitchen to dispose of.
You can sort these materials into containers and place them around and on top of the heavy appliances – as always, keeping the 60/40 rule in mind. As a bonus, sorting and packing the other items like this makes it quicker and easier to dispose of them when you get to the recycling centre.
How should you secure your load for towing?
So far, we’ve talked about safety in the sense of loading your trailer so it doesn’t sway during your journey. But it’s also important to recognise how many accidents are caused by unsecured trailer loads.
If you don’t tie down loose items, they can fall out of the trailer, blow out of the trailer, or drag along the road. All of these scenarios can cause items to tangle in your wheels, or mean other drivers have to swerve to avoid a hazard. Taking the time to secure your load avoids these dangerous scenarios.
To secure the heavier items in a trailer, you can use ratchet straps, chains, or ropes. Check that the restraints aren’t damaged before you begin, and leave yourself plenty of time to attach them and adjust the tension – securing the items in your trailer is sometimes a more time-consuming process than loading them.
You can also cover your trailer with a tarpaulin to protect your cargo and stop lighter items (like garden clippings) from blowing away. Tarpaulins and trailer covers can be fastened to tie bars or securing points on the outside of your trailer.
Then, before you set off:
- Hitch the trailer to your towing vehicle (or check the hitch if you did this at the beginning of the process)
- Test the trailer lights
- Check that the restraints you’re using aren’t trailing
- Remove the trailer chocks and brake
And you’re ready to begin your journey.
Legal requirements for loading a trailer in the UK
If you’re wondering how you should load a trailer according to the DVLA, the regulations focus on the maximum weight of the trailer and keeping other people and their property safe.
The most important thing to bear in mind is the maximum weight you can tow. In the UK, this varies according to your driving licence category. To figure out your ‘maximum authorised mass’ (MAM, the combined weight of the trailer and its contents), start by looking at your licence.
- If you got your licence before 1 January 1997, you can usually drive a vehicle and trailer with a combined weight of 8,250kg
- If you got your licence after 1 January 1997, you can tow a trailer that weighs up to 3,500kg when loaded
- If you have a provisional licence, you cannot tow a trailer until after you pass your test and get your full licence.
If you know you’ll have to tow more than your licence currently permits, you can take a test to upgrade your licence to the next category. You can also consider taking a training course to learn how to tow a trailer – including trailers like horseboxes or caravans – safely.
As well as what you’re allowed to tow, you need to consider what your vehicle is capable of towing.
You’ll find details of the maximum weight your vehicle can handle in the handbook. There will also be details of the MAM on the towbar plate and the serial plate of the trailer you’re planning to use. If the MAM limits differ between your trailer and your vehicle, the lowest MAM is the one that’s safe.
The DVLA also specifies the size of trailer that can be towed on UK roads:
- The maximum width of any trailer is 2.55m
- The maximum length for a trailer with a MAM of 3,500kg or less is 7m
- The maximum length for a trailer with a MAM of more than 3,500kg is 12m, and the total length of the vehicle and trailer must be under 18m
- Whatever the length of the trailer, the load must not hang more than 3.05m from the back of the trailer.
Finally, it’s important to remember that lower national speed limits can apply when you’re towing a trailer. For example, the speed limit on a single carriageway outside a built-up area drops from 60mph to 50mph when you’re towing, and although you can tow a trailer on a dual carriageway or motorway, you can only drive at 60mph.
How should you load a trailer? Quick summary
When you need to transport a larger load, a trailer is often your best option.
Once you know the maximum load your vehicle and the trailer can handle (and what your licence permits you to tow), choose the heaviest items, load them into the middle of the trailer, and pack the rest around and on top with the 60/40 weight distribution rule in mind.
Then, once you’ve made sure your cargo won’t move around while you’re underway, you can transport it to your destination without worrying about trailer sway, loose items, or damage to your cargo or your towing equipment.
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