Length of tongue

[Dragonryder]

Hello all, I have a question for you. I have used the frame off of an old pop-up camper and extended the floor toward the front. My question is, how long does the tongue need to be in order to corner safely? I'm thinking I may need to extend this out a little for sharp cornering.

Does anyone have an opinion.

Thanks in advance for any help with this.

[Dale M.]

MY personal opinion is that it should be long enough so if you "jackknife" trailer and tow vehicle, tow vehicle rear quarter panel/bumper will clear front of TD...

Measure distance from center of ball to "most outside" edge of tow vehicle and add a couple of inches, that should be your tongue length...

Dale

[Dragonryder]

That makes sense. I'm sure I don't have that much tongue on the trailer. Looks like a trip to the welder. Oh well, should be an easy fix.

[Dean_A]

MY personal opinion is that it should be long enough so if you "jackknife" trailer and tow vehicle, tow vehicle rear quarter panel/bumper will clear front of TD...

Measure distance from center of ball to "most outside" edge of tow vehicle and add a couple of inches, that should be your tongue length...

Dale

Agreed. This is what I did.

[planovet]

Also, a longer tongue makes it a little easier to back up your tear and it gives you more room for a tongue box. When I had my trailer built I had them extend my tongue 18" for these reasons.

[Mark McD]

Both of my previous pop-ups had 12" built past the front of the frame (over). Also out the back. So my current frame is 10'0 long, the pop-up that was on it was 12'0. The ends are also cut back on an angle. Check out the pic:

[jdarkoregon]

MY personal opinion is that it should be long enough so if you "jackknife" trailer and tow vehicle, tow vehicle rear quarter panel/bumper will clear front of TD...

Measure distance from center of ball to "most outside" edge of tow vehicle and add a couple of inches, that should be your tongue length...

Dale

I agree with this too, but might add to measure the widest tow vehicle that will be pulling your teardrop around, like a pickup, Long is easier to back up but sometimes the trailer doesn't fit in the garage anymore

John

[RichAFix]

I assume you aren't all including the tongue box for the clearance? I am about to weld my frame and never really thought you would want to be able to jackknife. I realize a longer tongue is definitely easier to back up, but also puts more strain on the tongue (although if my 2"x2"x.25" tongue bends I am doing something wrong). I think this would look really goofy if the trailer tongue box could clear the tow vehicle. Should I be worried that I don't have a long enough tongue? I do have 18" from the front of the tongue box to the center of the ball and the box is 2.5' from the front of the tear.

[angib]

Being able to turn to 90 degrees is a luxury you may like, but it is in no way essential - if you look at any manufacturer-built travel trailer, you will see that the maximum angle the trailer can turn before hitting the tow vehicle is around 45 degrees.

Any angle greater than 45 degrees doesn't mean much as it takes so little reversing movement at these sort of angles to use up any clearance. Being able to turn to 90 degrees does not guarantee that the trailer and tow vehicle won't hit - it just makes sure that any hit punches the jack through the tow vehicle bumper, if you think that is a benefit.

Andrew

[greg755]

A little longer than mine, yet a little shorter than Gene Simmons...

[brian_bp]

While it is true that any length or width of tongue can still be jammed into the tow vehicle in reverse, there is some configuration which can handle the tightest turn that the tow vehicle can sustain while moving forward, and that seems like a good thing to shoot for, in my opinion.

Being able to drive without worrying about binding the tug and trailer (just about where the trailer wheels go) can make U-turns and other manouevers much easier to plan. With a long trailer, that could be right up to (or beyond) 90 degrees, but with a short trailer it might be quite reasonable.

The annoying dual propane tank mount on the A-frame tongue of my travel trailer can be jammed into the bumper in a tight turn, even just driving forward in my 120" wheelbase van. I have considered moving the battery and propane just to fix that, and I've never understood the wider tongue boxes which make a box-corner-to-bumper collision inevitable for those of us (which certainly includes me) who may occasionally make slight judgement errors.

[RichAFix]

This has been a very informative posting. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO COMMENTED!!!! I just checked my widest tow vehicle and I will be able to turn a full 90 degrees with a whole inch to spare without hitting my tongue box provided I don't cut off the extra 12" of steel that I put on the tongue. On the drawings it looks a bit goofy, but we will have to see. I can always cut it shorter later if needed. It would be tough to stretch that 2"x2"x.25 wall steel later.

[Dragonryder]

Hello again. I just want to thank everyone who has put some input into this. As I look at this, I'm pretty sure that I am going to have to add some to it. I like the idea of a box for the front. I was disappointed that I wasn't going to have enough room for one. If I extend it out I should be able to fit one on it. That will help with some extra storage. I hope it won't be too much trouble to add to the tongue. I'm a novice welder so I think I will take it to someone to have it done. This just seems too important to take a chance on.

Oh and by the way greg755, I don't have enough metal to make it as long as Gene Simmons tongue.

Once again, thanks for any and all inputs.

[PanelDeland]

Keep in mind that many tongue boxes are narrower than the trailer width also.Many are tapered to the shape of the tongue's V and pose no additional width problem than the tongue.

[Dragonryder]

I've noticed that the boxes I've seen on here tend to narrow toward the front. I guessed it was to not to interfere with turns. Thanks for the reminder.