tongue length

[nrody]

Can anyone direct me to how to figure out the tongue length.

[hotrod]

I would want my tounge long enough so that if I had to jacknife the trailer the trailer body wouldnt hit the tow vehicle..if that makes sense??

[madjack]

...take the width of your tow vehicle...divide that in half and add a couple Rso inches and that would be your minimum...if you wish tongue boxes or ? size up appropriately.............
madjack
p.s. this will keep you from jackknifing into the body of the camper as stated above by the 'rod man...........mj

[WarPony]

In my opinion, you can jack knife anything when backing up. What you want to avoid is cracking up the corners of your camper when you are making "normal" turns. That is, when you make a full turn on the steering wheel and go in a circle, the camper won't contact the tow vehicle. Now, if you get into dips/dunks AND go into circles, you'll have to take into account that the corners of the vehicle and camper MAY come into contact with each other.......... bad news.

Jeff

[mvperini]

A buddy at work says if it can touch your nose it is long enough

what are we talking about again


Mike

[GuitarPhotog]

An over-the-road truck driving buddy recently commented that a longer tongue makes it easier to back up, and though I have little personal experience I think he's right.

The Tin Tent has almost 7ft of tongue in front of the body, and it's a cinch to back. I put it in my garage on a narrow, parked up street easily, and have no problem putting it in RV Park spaces.

<Chas>

[Mukilteo]

Was once told "The only way she would go out with me is if I could flip a quarter in the bottom a milk carton with my tongue"

[nrody]

I will be towing with a Toyota Tacoma duel cab.
The tongue on the trailer now is a galvanized pole, 6' in length about 3 or 4 ' diameter, bolted on to the frame. My co-builder/welder is going to replace and reinforce the current design with 2" x3" steel tube. I will calculate based on the info you all have given for adequate length so as not to hit the tow vehicle when I turn.

Best always, thanks again[/quote]

[Mukilteo]

It's just a old joke punchline

[angib]

I will add my usual warning that the longer you make the tongue, the stronger you have to make it - and that applies not just to the tongue but also whatever part of the frame it's attached to.

A couple of forum members have managed to make single (pole) tongues long enough to get shimmy, instability from side-to-side flexing of the tongue - both cured by adding diagonal braces.

[hotrod]

heres mine..

[bdosborn]

Someday I'd like to be able to be this good.

The Trucker ~ master reverser

Bruce

[caseydog]

An over-the-road truck driving buddy recently commented that a longer tongue makes it easier to back up, and though I have little personal experience I think he's right.

The Tin Tent has almost 7ft of tongue in front of the body, and it's a cinch to back. I put it in my garage on a narrow, parked up street easily, and have no problem putting it in RV Park spaces.

<Chas>

The longer the distance from your hitch ball to the axle, the easier it will be to back up. The trailer will not be a sensitive to steering inputs.

One way to increase that distance is with a longer tongue.

I wish my TD had a longer tongue. It is a PITA to back up.

CD

[doug hodder]

I just looked at a trailer today. This is a prime example of not having enough tongue distance on a wider vehicle. The scuffs on both sides indicate that someone got into both sides. If the tailgate were down on a pickup...it would have punched the front, so either allow for a tailgate...or be aware when it is down. These guys got off pretty lucky...only minor denting. Doug

[mikeschn]

Although it's nice to know before hand if your tongue is long enough, it doesn't always work out that way. such was the case as we designed the escape hatch by the seat of our pants.

As you can see by this photo, if we had built this way, we would have had a problem.



We ended up stretching the chassis, and this was the end result.


Mike...