My tongue is too heavy. I can't move it by myself

[Aaron Coffee]

I have found on mine if I raise the tongue jack way up so the rear is lower than the front it seems easier to push. I usually get it backed about half way in my parking spot at home, then unhook and push it in the rest of the way. I park it in a dirt floor lean-to.

[Senior Ninja]

If I understand this, it would seem you have two problems.
The first is that there is too much weight on the hitch so that you
cannot lift it unassisted. The second, you have a teardrop that is too heavy for you to pull in from its parking spot across an area of lawn?
You can change the balance of the teardrop in several manners as you've read here. The second problem is not to easily accomplished. You've got several
ways to go. Reducing the overall weight of the trailer, changing the surface the trailer is going to traverse, using some power assist as in a lawn tractor or a combination of these factors.
Good Luck!
Steve

[2bits]

I think MJ hit on something. Make the tongue box removable (easily removable). If you combine that with relocating the battery, this would make the box lighter to ease removal from the trailer, and then remove the box for dragging it around the yard.

[Micro469]

All right! I guess I'm going to have to work out a lot , or move, or build a lighter trailer.............

[Yota Bill]

Someone else just posted in a different thread here (sorry, forgot who) the idea of mounting a tow ball onto an axle, so when parked, it can be coupled to the extra axle. When sitting on the extra axle, all of the weight would be suported by 4 fullsize tires, and the front axle would be steerable via rotating in the ball hitch. Setup like that, it could then easily be pulled by a single person, or a small lawn tractor. It would require a minor amount of welding, but nothing very complicated at all.

Find a trailer axle, or a cheap trailer you can rob the axel out of. Weld some box steel on the top of the axle in the center, to match the amount of rise you need to make the trailer sit level. Drill a hole in the top of the box steel to mount a ball to. Weld two small plates of steel to the front of the axle, with a hole drilled in them that matches, so a bolt can be slid through. Make a tongue for it out of another piece of box tubing, with a hole drilled through one end so that it can be bolted onto the front of the axle, and pivot up and down, then make the other end of hte tounge a handle (if you plan on pulling it manually ) or two plates with hte hole in them to pin it to the back of a lawn tractor. This way, when the secod axle is coupled to the trailer, all of the weight is suported, and you only need to lift the weight of the tounge of the second axle, and then pull it.

[Deryk the Pirate]

When I put my battery in the toungue box with the trailer empty the tongue was really heavy... then I put a 50lb futon in my lil vardo on the back side of the axle and all of the sudden it lightened up again. I would move the battery from your tongue box to the rear. Use a http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/ ... _200414699 and roll it around on pavement or a piece of plywood and lower it down onto your ball. I have abad back (1 of my lower lumbar vertebrates is fused from a fall down a flight of icey stairs when i was 20) So I have to lift very carefully... Ive decided after this weekend I want 1 of those jacks just to make life a little easier.

[angib]

If I move the wheels and the box back 9".... will that make the tongue lighter because it will be longer or will it not make a difference at all??

Sorry - been on holiday and then had to catch up on work.

Moving the body and the axle will make very little difference to the hitch weight, so there's no point doing it.

What you really need is what we call a 'caravan mover' - remote control electric drive: http://www.trumauk.com/products-caravanmovers.asp Is this sort of thing not available in the US?

[Wimperdink]

That thing is pretty cool angib. I just don't know if I could justify the cost/space for it.