Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

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Critter Consider waiting until you're finished building and then locate the axle accordingly.

critter,

I'm sorry the spreadsheet isn't as easy as everyone wants - the problem is that how you will load the trailer, and particularly what you will put in the galley, affects the balance a lot. And one person's 'normal' galley may be another person's 'light' or 'heavy' galley.

I've stuck some blind guess numbers into the spreadsheet to see what answers you might get:
- trailer body 114" long
- hitch 42" in front of body*
- 1200lb basic trailer weight
- 5% tongue and 12% axle weight (the default values)
- 150lb extra weight in the galley
- 50lb extra weight in the front locker or on the front of the bed
- 30lb extra weight on the tongue (gas bottle)

*I'm guessing your 5 foot A-frame tongue measurement includes at least 18" under the body.

Using the 50" axle measurement that Mike drew (from the back of the body, so less than that from the back of the frame) gives a hitch weight of only 7%, which is a bit low.

Moving the axle back until it's 46" from the back of the body gives the 10% hitch weight that is usually the minimum recommended. To get up to 15% hitch weight, the axle has to move back to 39" from the back of the body. So somewhere in there sounds right.

Please note that the weight of stuff in the galley is still important - if you are only going to put 50lb if equipment and food in there, Mike's original 50" axle measurement would give you a 10% hitch weight.

Does that help?

Andrew

hey andrew
thanks for the info.the pboblems seem to be i dont know how heavy the galley stuff will be.i know ill have 5 gal water in one of those blue cans and the normal stove and pots & pans,a little cast iorn.im relly not shure as i havent had a teardrop before.you could probbaly guess better than me.the trl body is 134 in overall.the toung is 5 ft from the frt of trl to coupler, and another 4 feet under the trl.the 1200 overall sounds like it would be close.i dont think ill be able to move the axle as i wuz planning on welding the spring hangers on>

Critter,

Using your new numbers makes me suggest 48" from the back of the body. If you load the galley lightly (75lb), the hitch weight stays below 15% (200lb):

[Spreadsheets removed - see revised version below]

But also, if you load the galley up a lot (250lb), the hitch weight stays an acceptable 10% (160lb):

[Spreadsheets removed - see revised version below]

This assumes that your tow vehicle is happy to have a 200lb hitch weight - if you're using a light vehicle, this needs to get looked at again.

Andrew

I've posted my "trailer weighing and balancing for dummies (like myself) because I'm no engineer" on other threads, but I'm making a web page with the information and when it has been checked and approved by several forum experts, I'll post the link.

hey andrew,
thanks again for all the info,i dont know why i couldnt fiqure it out on my own .i guess its to tcehnical all this adding and subtracting and new math and i aint figured out the old math yet,but will go with your suggestion as the tow vehicle are f150s or toyotas, all 4x4 so the weight is no a problem.hope this helps other idiots alsothanks again

hey angig,
sorry that looks great but i mistakingly gave you the wrong length overall it is 114 in not 134.i went out and put marks on my frame and it didnt look right so i came back in to doubble ck.first screw up today ,probbaly wont be last.would you please refiqure for me.thanks

hey andrew,
ol moneybags just came in and showed me how dumb i am on computers.
i can now use the progam,giant econy size case of the dummba$$.it wouldnt work when i clicked on the veiw thingy.it easy when you do it right ,sorry for the trouble

OK, here is the link to my web page with the procedure for weighing your trailer and for determining the correct axle placement to get the desired tongue weight. This covers how to do it for a completed trailer or one you are building. I asked Madjack and Andrew to read it and offer suggestions to make sure the procedure is technically correct. I might add, that this procedure is still theory, as I am actually a week or two away from using it myself, but both of my editors agree that it should work. After I've actually tested this procedure and find that it works as well as I predict it will (and it will, of course ), I'll also post this link in a new thread for everyone to see who may not be following this thread.

http://home.tampabay.rr.com/wdsummers/T ... ncing.html

Critter,

As other people may think of using this info to build the Weekender, I thought I had better post the right answers, so here are the revised versions with 114" body.

With a light galley load (75lb), an axle placed 40" from the back of the body keeps the hitch weight under 15%:



But if the galley is loaded up (250lb), the hitch weight remans safe:



Andrew

hey andrew,
thanks,thats the same numbers i got .its easy when you know where to click.