tongue length

[Jiminsav]

OK, i searched the world over, and i thought i found true love, but she wanted to know how long to make the tongue on a particular trailer?..anyone have a idea?

[tdthinker]

About 3 feet long is best

[Jiminsav]

Thanks Ryan for the info.

[mikeschn]

Jim,

One approach is to figure out how long a 50* tongue would be for any given width trailer. The 50* is an industry standard. On my 6' wide benroy my tongue was about 4' long.

Maybe if I have a few minutes tonight I'll generate tongue lengths for several common sized trailers.

Mike...

[Jiminsav]

Mike, that will be awlfully nice of you..i await your wisdom..*s*

[mikeschn]

Okay Jim,

Sorry I didn't have time last night to do the tongue lengths, but I did have a chance this morning. So first look at this picture...



And here's what that means...
Tongue member lengths for various width tongues

36” wide 34.71 long
42” wide 41.15 long
48” wide 47.58 long
54” wide 54.01 long
60” wide 60.45 long
66” wide 66.88 long
72” wide 73.72 long

Tongues should be tucked under the frame at least several inches for strength.

So for example, if you have a 5' wide trailer, with a 4' wide tongue, your tongue is 47.58" long. Then if you tuck your tongue under your trailer 6" for strength, you'll still have 41.58" of tongue showing.

Make sense?

Mike...

[Jiminsav]

Mike, makes lots of sense, however, i'm going with just a piece of steel running down the center lengthwise of the trailer, maybe, terminating in a reciever so I can take the tongue off when i set up..maybe..don't know yet..but your info help with the over-all lenght from the front of the trailer..Thank You.

[mikeschn]

Jim,

That was just a starting point so you know what standard 50* trailers have for a length. With your straight piece, you can make it any size you want of course. But if I were making a 4x8 for example, I might use something between 3' and 4' long...

Mike...

[jimqpublic]

I'm a newbie, but I have a few opinions:

All else being equal:
Longer tongue is more stable towing
Longer tongue has less tongue weight (but more stability)
Longer tongue can eliminate chance of car bumper-trailer body damage if you jacknife too far
Longer tongue makes backing easier

Shorter tongue is stiffer and stronger
Shorter tongue is lighter
Shorter tongue is ... Shorter! and takes up less space in the garage.
Shorter tongue allows tighter turns as the trailer tracks closer.
Shorter tongue improves aerodynamics of the car/trailer combo.

I suggest making the tongue long enough that it's impossible for the trailer body to get hit by the bumper or bed of a full-sized pickup when in a jacknife situation. I think that means it ought to be around 3-1/2'.

My folks once had an old trailer with a really short tongue that made backing very tricky and risky to the trailer bodywork.

[Nick Taylor]

Here's a vote for a shorter tongue length.

I drive a PT Cruiser and when I first got my Benroy teardrop I was concerned with the short tongue as it was only 2 feet. It turned out to be no problem at all and an advantage for aerodynamics. The body being very close to the same shape as the car the air would flow right over it. Like the trailer is drafting.

You did have to watch backing up but I never got close to hitting the body with my car. I was easily able to back the trailer into my driveway from my narrow street. Any place I couldn't back it into easily, I just unhooked it and pushed it in place.

The previous owner towed it with a Bronco and he did hit the body but I think he was just careless.

When I built a utility trailer to go with my little Dodge Rampage pickup, I had the tongue made so that I could park the truck and trailer at 90 degrees to each other to fit in swap meet spaces.

My new 1947 Ken-Skill has a longer tongue and a longer body length so the car wheel to trailer wheel distance is greater by about 3 feet over the Benroy. It backs up a little better but not much.

So depending on what you're towing with, a longer tongue may not always be an advantage. You spend a heck of a lot more time going forward than you do backing up.

Nick.

[rambler65]

Less talk, more tongue!


sorry. couldn't resist.

[tdthinker]

So what you are suggesting is a 3 and a half foot to 4 foot tongue. Why not just go for the 4 footer? I really wanted 3 feet but now I might go for 4. Thanks alot for the info, bye

[Ron Dickey]

Hey Mike that Trailer tong chart is terrific.

I have a thought that maybe when really good stuff like your comes along that it be put under a heading that would be called common info about trailers or something. So as new people come on board who know little but want to learn this is where they can look.

I would have know reply section just info that could be asked under a different discussion.

So know I know if I build a trailer that is 5 feet wide the tung should be 60. something long. and the angle of the tung should be 50 degrees.

What a cool diagram.

Thank Mike.

Ron D.

[Shrug53]

Hey Mike, by any chance do you have that diagram with a simple white background? All that color will really eat up my ink. Thanks!

[Dave Nathanson]

I designed my tongue out of a single piece of square tubing. My TearDrop is 5 feet wide, and I drive a Jeep Wrangler with a tailgate with hinges on the passenger side. My tongue is just long enough so that I can safely open the Jeep back door.

The tongue is just long enough that I can jackknife the trailer 90 degrees, so I can really get down when I;'m trying to maneuver my way out of a corner. The tongue is removable, so I can take up less space in the garage (if it gets to park there), and extendable to about double it's normal length. That's so if I need some extra leverage to muscle it around in a jam, I can do it by myself. I'm imagining a trail that gets so bad I can't even turn around. I could disconnect the TD, and spin it around by hand.

Oh, and the tongue is just long enough so I can get through a dry streambed without the top of the TD touching the top of the Jeep. But it's close.

Because the tongue is as short as it is, I can really turn sharply & U turns are a breeze.

My math went something like; 1/2 the width of the trailer, plus the um, I forget. but anyway... I wanted it to jackknife easily & the Jeep door to open, and to keep it as short as possible.

Dave Nathanson