A question about tongue weight....

[Creamcracker]

Well, I finally took the scales and weighed the tongue. A whopping 240 pounds. Had I known that beforehand, I don't think I could have lifted the tongue onto the scales! So now what?

Like I said, it does not sag my car in anyway, and it tows beautifully.

How would I even go about relocating the axle???

Pete

I would take a look at what the tongue weight limits are on your HHR...that does seem high.
Philip

[retnavycpo]

Well, I am one lucky b.......d, because my car is only rated for 100 pound tongue weight.

Ok folks, how I proceed now? Find a welding shop?

Pete

[wlooper89]

Another technique for weighing the tongue might save one's back. I put a piece of 2 X 6 on the scales to distribute the weight and propped up the ball receiver on the scales with a dumbbell bar and end nuts to give it some stability. Then just retract the tongue jack enough to put the weight on the scales. Finally weight the bar (or whatever) and piece of wood and subtract that from the weight on the scales.

Bill

[kennyrayandersen]

Well, I am one lucky b.......d, because my car is only rated for 100 pound tongue weight.

Ok folks, how I proceed now? Find a welding shop?

Pete

Most any trailer shop [or welding shop] could relatively easily relocate you axle. With standard elliptical springs, there are two mounting brackets per spring. My guess is that a trailer shop would have ready-made brackets that just have to be welded on, the springs unbolted and moved forward. My guess is $100 bucks maybe? You could have bigger problems… If the old one interfere, they could just be torched off. Hit it with some black paint and no one will know but us
If it were a torsion axle, the mount bracket removes and the bracket that you bolt to would have to be replaced or relocated. I’m guessing they do similar things all of the time.

[Donutboy]

The max tongue weight on my Honda Element is 150 lbs. The tongue weight on my trailer is currently at 170 lbs. If my wife sits in the very back of the trailer, it drops to 150 lbs.



"Honey, would you mind....?"

Seriously, though, I will put the battery in the back, the spare tire in the back underneath the trailer, and that should cover it.

[retnavycpo]

By coincidence, there is a custom trailer manufacturer only a few miles from me. I will go see them in the morning, and ask them about this.

I took a look under the trailer. The axle is mounted to a bracket, which is in turn bolted to the frame by (I think) 4 or 5 bolts on each side.

Unless I am mistaken, I did not see any welds.

Am fairly certain the cost would be over $100 to do this. But there's no way I would take a chance on not getting it right!

I will ask them, if the price is acceptable to me, to get the tongue weight down to 90 pounds. Sound about right?

Pete

[retnavycpo]

More questions.

I looked at my teardrop again. Mind you, I know virtually nothing about teardrop construction (which is one reason why I bought one already made). But looking at the current position of my tires, I have to wonder how relocation of the axle would work, with regards to the tires? I mean, relocating the axle is one thing; but the wheels/tires have boxes built into the rear hatch area. At the very least, if I AM able to get the axle moved forward, it would have to go in front of the doors. That might be TOO far forward, and unless I get a longer axle, and mount the tires further outboard, then similar boxes for the wheels would definitely reduce my space inside the teardrop.

Pete

[kennyrayandersen]

More questions.

I looked at my teardrop again. Mind you, I know virtually nothing about teardrop construction (which is one reason why I bought one already made). But looking at the current position of my tires, I have to wonder how relocation of the axle would work, with regards to the tires? I mean, relocating the axle is one thing; but the wheels/tires have boxes built into the rear hatch area. At the very least, if I AM able to get the axle moved forward, it would have to go in front of the doors. That might be TOO far forward, and unless I get a longer axle, and mount the tires further outboard, then similar boxes for the wheels would definitely reduce my space inside the teardrop.

Pete

Whoa whoa whoa, good shootin’ Tex (Ghost Buster ref)
I was thinking regular tear with wheels outboard, and didn’t realize that your fenders and whatnot were already bolted down. With wheel boxes already made and all assembled your choices are to shift weight aft, and to shift weight aft. Are you quoting a tongue weight loaded up with ice chest, water, supplies and all loaded in the back? If so, I’d say the manufacturer, whomever that might be, might want to move his axle a bit forward in the future, but for you, you need to make sure you got as much in the back as possible. I’d say put a bike rack in the back and make sure you take up biking and buy a really cheap Chinese import [that’s really heavy! ] But practically, you have to move whatever you can, as aft as you can.

However, you aren’t that much over the poundage for the vehicle, so if you don’t really load the HHR(?) down, you’ll probably be fine – we’re only talking about 70 lb, so it shouldn’t be the end of the world, it just makes the trailer a little harder to man-handle.

[Creamcracker]

More questions.

I looked at my teardrop again. Mind you, I know virtually nothing about teardrop construction (which is one reason why I bought one already made). But looking at the current position of my tires, I have to wonder how relocation of the axle would work, with regards to the tires? I mean, relocating the axle is one thing; but the wheels/tires have boxes built into the rear hatch area. At the very least, if I AM able to get the axle moved forward, it would have to go in front of the doors. That might be TOO far forward, and unless I get a longer axle, and mount the tires further outboard, then similar boxes for the wheels would definitely reduce my space inside the teardrop.

Pete

Whoa whoa whoa, good shootin’ Tex (Ghost Buster ref)
I was thinking regular tear with wheels outboard, and didn’t realize that your fenders and whatnot were already bolted down. With wheel boxes already made and all assembled your choices are to shift weight aft, and to shift weight aft. Are you quoting a tongue weight loaded up with ice chest, water, supplies and all loaded in the back? If so, I’d say the manufacturer, whomever that might be, might want to move his axle a bit forward in the future, but for you, you need to make sure you got as much in the back as possible. I’d say put a bike rack in the back and make sure you take up biking and buy a really cheap Chinese import [that’s really heavy! ] But practically, you have to move whatever you can, as aft as you can.

However, you aren’t that much over the poundage for the vehicle, so if you don’t really load the HHR(?) down, you’ll probably be fine – we’re only talking about 70 lb, so it shouldn’t be the end of the world, it just makes the trailer a little harder to man-handle.

He's talking about being 140lbs over tongue weight...ifigured that was too much for an HHR....I don't know about loading stuff to the back either...if that's your tongue weight (240lbs0 you may be close to maximum tow weight on an HHR.

[kennyrayandersen]

However, you aren’t that much over the poundage for the vehicle, so if you don’t really load the HHR(?) down, you’ll probably be fine – we’re only talking about 70 lb, so it shouldn’t be the end of the world, it just makes the trailer a little harder to man-handle.

He's talking about being 140lbs over tongue weight...ifigured that was too much for an HHR....I don't know about loading stuff to the back either...if that's your tongue weight (240lbs0 you may be close to maximum tow weight on an HHR.

OOPS, I got two of the posts mixed up (Element and his). Well crap then. That seems like off by quite a bit for a ready-made trailer, no? What are you going to do? Relocate the fenders, wheel boxes, and axles? That’s what it would take to change the weight significantly. Who made the trailer? Did you put anything into the trailer after you got it [that had significant weight]? How do you have it loaded up (major items). Do you have a tongue box? How about a couple of pics?

[retnavycpo]

Other than stay a couple nights in the teardrop on the way back from Michigan, I have not added anything to it. There is a box on the front, where the battery is stored. I will see about taking some pictures and posting them tomorrow. Meanwhile, I will call that trailer manufacturer too.

I do not know who made this teardrop; nor does the guy I bought it from. He bought it about five years ago from a guy who's father had built it. Yet even HE did not know how old it was.

Pete

[JenniferandPups]

i wondered if it wouldn't be too heavy, since I could manhandle our 155# tongue.
Just thinking.. moving that battery back to the galley should help some. Batteries are generally pretty heavy. A bunch of little things might be the answer.
You might want to think about removing the nice tongue box, too... that could help. (though it would cut down on storage).
I'd do another weighing, with the battery placed in the galley, with a full ice chest in the galley, etc, and 10 or 20 lbs of whatever to simulate food. See what it weighs then, and you will know what you are up against!

[SlyTerry]

First piece of business is to weight the trailer... I sincerely doubt that it weights 860 lbs as advertised... then we shall discuss the whole picture...In previous post we have had discussions about tongue weight versus gross vehicle weight and at the end of the day it is only a single component of the whole picture... To make the point I have a 36 foot mahohany Chris Craft on a trailer and the total gross weight is 12,000 pounds. The tongue weight is 180 +/- pounds...do you want to tow this with a HHR.. Just the thought scares the bjezus out of me.... The whole concept of tongue weight was to assure that the suspension of the trailer was transporting the weight of the load not the tow vehicle...Along came the smaller cars with the deminished tow ratings and everyone still trying to justify the hauling of some very large loads with these vehicles.... I was told years ago if you want to tow anything over a "ton" buy a truck...Having seen too many crashes and accidents in our travels that involved trailers and cars, I have become inclined to believe the old pro's.

[McBrew]

Well, I am one lucky b.......d, because my car is only rated for 100 pound tongue weight.

Ok folks, how I proceed now? Find a welding shop?

Pete

Pete, is the HHR rated for 100# tongue weight or is the hitch rated for 100# tongue weight?

I went on Curt's website (one of many hitch manufacturers), and their hitch for the HHR is rated at 2,000# with a 200# tongue weight. Personally, I wouldn't worry so much about what Chevy says you can tow... auto manufacturers are notorious for assigning artificially low tow ratings in N. America because we tend to be a more lawsuit-happy society. You'll notice that many cars have a much higher tow rating in Europe.

For instance, my Scion xD manual says not to tow anything including a bike rack! However, the same car sold in England says it can tow 1,900#. Not only that, but the UK version has a smaller engine!

Also, my previous car, a VW Golf, was rated to tow 1,200# in the US and 3,200# in Europe! That's with the same engine/trans combo.

As long as your rear suspension is sitting alright, I wouldn't worry too much about it as long as you are within the rating of the hitch itself. It sounds like you are a little over the hitch rating, though... which means you need to relocate some stuff to the rear of the trailer.

[retnavycpo]

Ok, so here's the scoop.

I took the camper to the trailer manufacturer not far from my place this morning. They looked it over and said yes, they can relocate the axle, but then I'd have to totally redo both sides of the camper, because the tire position would be right where the doors are now. I am not the least talented in woodworking, nor do I want to mess with all that. My Curt hitch is rated at 300 pounds max tongue weight, but my car is only rated at 100 pounds. The weight of the trailer is, indeed 860 pounds, as I have the receipt from the scales it was weighed at. But because of the current position of the axle, there is too much weight on the tongue (leastwise for my vehicle).

I am not going to get a different vehicle to tow the camper. I love my car. And so, much as I like this camper, I will have to sell it, and find one that fits the towing capacity/tongue weight.

Soooooooooo......anyone close to Farner, TN that might be interested?

I am not towing this camper any more. Am erring on the side of caution now.

Pete