I'd like to make clear that I'm not going to suggest that this trailer is understrength: just the opposite - it's been around a while, so it must be strong enough or Carry-On would have had lots of customer complaints. Instead I want to see how it rates by those Aussie Rules I've used to make my tongue strength page.
(Thanks to Butterfoot Flies for the photo)
The 3" x 2" x 1/8" reactangular tube tongue provides 102% of the vertical strength that the rules call for and 81% of the horizontal strength. That seems to fit the utility trailer pattern of just about meeting the rules.
But the interesting thing to me is that the 3" x 2" tongue is attached to two 2" angles, not separated very far apart. My calculations show that these will fail at only 21% of the vertical load required by the rules - once the teardrop body is on, it will reinforce the front angle and the failure load goes up to about 29% of the rules. But that's still less than a third of the strength of the tongue itself!
So if these trailers don't often fail, this suggests that the Aussie Rules requirement is well over the top - and Cary Winch will be perfectly entitled to say "That's what I've been telling you all along"!
Sorry to sow doubt and confusion - I'm just thinking out loud at the moment, so any comments will be welcome.
Oh, and Rocky - maybe you didn't need to cut off your tongue....
Andrew
No, I have always felt that it was too long now I think it is too short. I just don't know if it is because I got used to the way it looked before.
