Another weight distribution question

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Another weight distribution question

Postby shannonswyatt » Sun Jul 17, 2022 5:14 pm

Can you really screw up the weight distribution badly on something as light as a TD? I could see one having low tongue weight, but assuming the whole trailer weighs in at ~1000 has anyone had bad problems with weight distribution on TD? What I mean by bad problems is a problem that would require the axle location being moved or significant weight removed from the galley or from a tongue box, not something like putting the cooler or generator in the TV.

I could also see if someone went overboard on a tongue box with batteries, a generator, A/C unit, etc, but otherwise if you are using a 60/40 split for the axle location I think it would be hard to mess this up unless you were towing a TD behind a Smart Car or something extremely small, or went totally nuts and overbuilt the thing making it too heavy.

I have towed a few loads that in retrospect were horribly distributed, but never through the mountains, and not across country, and never with a small tow vehicle on a questionable trailer. But as I have gotten older I have gotten more cautious about how far to the edge that I'm willing to push it. I plan on building something overall like Tony Lathams design, so I don't think that it should be pretty decent out of the box.
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Re: Another weight distribution question

Postby rjgimp » Mon Jul 18, 2022 1:21 pm

The short answer is yes, you can screw it up. Everyone and their brother will tell you that you MUST have 10-15% of your total weight on the ball. I don’t necessarily disagree with that being a good goal but I am willing to stray out of that range. FAR more willing to the high end as long as the tv suspension can handle it without causing steering, handling, or headlight issues. My main tv is a Hummer H2 and I anticipate my in-progress build to be well south of 1500#. I could easily handle a tongue weight of well over 50%. I imagine something like 8-9% would be my limit on the low end.

Many years ago I was traveling US 2 in northern WI and a pickup was coming the other direction with a small poorly loaded open utility trailer. The trailer was swaying badly and I could see he was struggling to even keep the pickup in his lane. I slowed considerably when we met and got partially on the shoulder so getting hit would be far less likely. As he passed me I looked in my side mirror and not 1/4 mile behind me the trailer disconnected and rolled across my lane into the ditch, spraying its contents all over the road. There wasn’t much in that trailer and it was small, probably less than 1000#, but the way it was loaded the tongue weight might have been 5% or less. I happened to be working for the local BSA council at the time and had three teen scouts with me. Had his accident occurred mere seconds earlier and had I not taken defensive action, the results might have been deadly.
-Rob


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just as soon as the steering committee gets around to scheduling one!
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Re: Another weight distribution question

Postby fredo » Tue Aug 09, 2022 9:06 am

so I saw this videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeEEC5eVNCk&t=1s the other day and then went on to watch the others he had on trailers and why they sway and what to do. very helpful. it is making me rethink a little about the weight distribution for the TD I am planning.
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