The carrier itself has a max weight of 600lb.  I got it from discountramps.com  It's built nicely and performed well for the 75 miles I have traveled with it so far.  I'm not an expert on the subject, but there are a few things to consider (and I did a LOT of considering).  

1 - Tongue weight of your vehicle (the one w/ 4 wheels).  
2 - You almost certainly need a Class III hitch with a capacity of 750 lb.
3 - There's a whole mathematical formula to this and I'll give it my best shot, but I"m sure someone on here can shed more light.

There's a rule of thumb where, for ever 12" of space between the throat of the hitch back toward where the bulk of the weight will be carried, you need to subtract 20% of the hitch's capacity.  i.e.:

750lb hitch, carrier is 18" back so...

750 x .8 = 600, then 600 x .9 = 540lb

Carrier (100lb) + Savage (350) + oil and gas (40) shouldn't be more than 500 lb.

I hope this all makes sense, but remember to look all this up b/c I'm about 51% sure that it's accurate.  haha  

JPSavage wrote on 07/22/16 at 06:28:55:


If you're only 51% correct, I recalculated your figures for you  

JP< batman returned, guess what new show coming this fall......yes you guessed it MCGYVER!

The weight rating of hitches is based on a normal/standard/reasonable length of the insert that holds the hitch ball.  When you start making that distance really long.....like those carrier racks or even a bike hauler - the leverage on the hitch could exceed the strength of the hitch even if the load is under the hitch rating.   A 600 pound load a trailer ball 6" from the receiver creates less force than applying 600 pounds of weight 24" from the receiver.