A rebuilding the tongue box question--Photos Added

[angib]

Ira,

I've already got your trailer drawn out, so I've added the tongue box collision so you can see what to do about replacing it.

I hope this is reasonably clear - it's looking down on your trailer from above and to make it easier to draw, I've swivelled the truck round the trailer (designers with CAD packages have that God-like power!):



Your current tongue box (about 44" wide by 21" long, right?) is shown in pale blue as it the (dotted) truck when it made contact. That's an angle of about 53 degrees from the straight ahead, which is quite a big angle.

The purple lines show that if you made the tongue box 9" narrower (each side), either just narrower all over or by sloping the sides in, you can get up to a 70 degree angle.

But, the thing is that it's only about 6" of movement backwards of the truck to get from 53 degrees to 70 degrees - so this wouldn't make it a "I don't need to watch the trailer at all" type of deal - it would just be a little bit better than it is now.

Sadly, your plan to make the tongue box shorter won't work - you'd have to shorten it to maybe only 6" long before you could keep it the same width.

I don't suppose this has given you an answer that you like, but I hope it lets you see what you can do.

Andrew

[mikeschn]

Here's the pic of the JC Whitney box...



Overall dimensions: 16-1/2"W x 18-1/4"H x 49"L (rear), 34"L (front).

[Classic Finn]

Mike them look real nice..Are they expensive? How much does one of them weigh?

I was looking to see if Northern Tool had them because I think there is such of a business in Andrews Home Country.... It would be easier to order..

This is whats available here ... all aluminum..and they certainly dont impress me as much as the ones you show..



Heikki

[steve wolverton]

I was looking to see if Northern Tool had them because I think there is such of a business in Andrews Home Country.... It would be easier to order..

It seems like Tractor Supply had some really nice ones too. I'll see if I can't find a link for the boxes.

[Ira]

Thanks for taking the time to do that, Andrew. And others for posting. (Plus with IMAGES!)

So here's my plan:

Just keep it at the same height, and the same width where it meets the trailer, and follow the contour of the tongue, like the Whitney box.

Keep it the same depth too, right? So my crabs will still fit on there without having to rotate them.

Wait--does that make any geometric sense? I don't think it does, or I would have a pure triangle.

I'll copy the Whitney box. No, I can't--that's a different kind of tongue.

I sound like I'm going through menopause here.

[Miriam C.]

Ira the face of your side board can be quite long. How big is your crab? If you make it like Mary K's you can make the front smaller and the side longer. It will be more triangular. You could also put the crabs on the front and top.

[Ira]

Miriam, I think that's what I'll do.

I really want to keep those crabs in the orientation they are if I can, and they're HEAVY. I'll see how stupid it looks going the full width of the crabs.

The story on those is I ordered them from a carver way up north in Florida. I paid by check, never heard from theguy again, and I thought I was ripped off.

Lo and behold, 6 months later, he contacts me that my crabs are ready:

He had had a heart attack.

[Mary K]

Ira, I will take the drawing Andrew did and draw you a box similar to mine. You can tweek, and revise it and I will update the drawing for you so you can build it. ....if you like....

Give me a coupla hours to work on this between my "real" drawings.

Mk

PS Do you have the dim's on your crabs??? er...

[angib]

Just keep it at the same height, and the same width where it meets the trailer, and follow the contour of the tongue, like the Whitney box.

Keep it the same depth too, right?

Yes, yes and yes!

If you keep the same width at the back and just slope the sides in towards the front - bottom, purple half of the drawing below - you get about 68 degrees of turn. This plan has the advantage that you don't have to deal with any problems where you uncover some of the front of the original body that's been hidden behind the tongue box for the last x months - sun fading, screw holes, etc, etc.



If you make the box narrower, so that it just overhangs the tongue by an inch or so - top, light blue half of the drawing above - you get about 75 degrees of turn. I don't believe that difference is worthwhile - by the time you've got to that sort of angle between your truck and trailer, it will only allow a couple more inches of reversing before you hit the box.

Andrew

[Ira]

This plan has the advantage that you don't have to deal with any problems where you uncover some of the front of the original body that's been hidden behind the tongue box for the last x months - sun fading, screw holes, etc, etc.

This man is a freaking genious: This was my main concern.

Let me study this for about an hour.

Remember--I'm a total moron and need time to digest.

[Ira]

Here's the other thing, Andrew.

Your drawings are showing the tongue not meeting the body at the full 48" width ends of the the trailer--but I think that this model DOES, doesn't it? (Whichis good for me anyway.)

Can't remember, but I just want to the HF sight to glimpse a small picture and it seems so.

[Miriam C.]

Edit: Ira you are right and 44" is too short
Ira is your camper 4 feet? You can just extend it to meet the rails.

(I think in the long run I'm going to lenghten my trailer tongue.)

Mary or Andrew, Ira doesn't like miters anymore than the rest of us, so it might help if someone gives him and everyone else, the numbers to set his saw when a final plan is drawn.

[Mary K]

Edit: Ira you are right and 44" is too short
Ira is your camper 4 feet? You can just extend it to meet the rails.

(I think in the long run I'm going to lenghten my trailer tongue.)

Mary or Andrew, Ira doesn't like miters anymore than the rest of us, so it might help if someone gives him and everyone else, the numbers to set his saw when a final plan is drawn.

I am trying to keep it at 22.5 degrees (half of 45) which can be set on a skill saw. I will try to give as much detail as I can to help.

Remember miters are your friend.

Mk

[Mary K]

Here's the other thing, Andrew.

Your drawings are showing the tongue not meeting the body at the full 48" width ends of the the trailer--but I think that this model DOES, doesn't it? (Whichis good for me anyway.)

Can't remember, but I just want to the HF sight to glimpse a small picture and it seems so.

Ira, what model trailer do you have?

Mk

[Rick Sheerin]

Ira- If you're having trouble backing up your trailer,go to Harbor Freight and spend 40 bucks on a trailer dolly. I always put mine in the back of my truck when we go camping to "fine tune" my trailer placement at the campsite. Plus, it's great to have around the house when I have to move one of my trailers.