Why so much tongue weight on 22' car hauler trailers?

[LD1]

He wasn't really "wrong" per se, he just made a sort of incomplete statement. He's correct..... if the whole trailer with load weighs like 800 lbs. or less. Most of the time, when I'm towing a trailer, I have a lot more tongue weight than the weight of the entire load that he'd be referring to.

Thats what I would have concluded as well....except two reasons.

First, this is a tractor forum and in the context, we are discussing tandem axle trailers hauling tractors around.

And second.....he said "Of couse on smaller trailers the tongue will be lighter"

Sorry, it dont get much lighter than an 800# trailer. So I can only infer that him talking about ~100lb tongue weight, he was referring to heavier trailers. Which is dead wrong, and bad/dangerous advise

 

[BlueKnife]

Thats what I would have concluded as well....except two reasons.

First, this is a tractor forum and in the context, we are discussing tandem axle trailers hauling tractors around.

And second.....he said "Of couse on smaller trailers the tongue will be lighter"

Sorry, it dont get much lighter than an 800# trailer. So I can only infer that him talking about ~100lb tongue weight, he was referring to heavier trailers. Which is dead wrong, and bad/dangerous advise

Agreed. Just giving him the benefit of the doubt. To be fair, there are folks on here occasionally who ask about lawn tractors and ATV's. I have a little trailer that I tow my four wheeler or dirt bike on that weighs considerably less than 800 lbs loaded. You're entirely right though. When trailering most of the machines discussed on this forum, the tongue weight should be many times heavier than what @Baldbigears suggested.

 

[logixjock]

Who on earth is going to read that book of a post

I certainly did.

 

[RobertEH]

I certainly did.

As did I - quite useful

 

[Gord Baker]

The main reason the wheels are so far back is to avoid 'fishtailing' by the trailer. For my home built I put the axle 6-8" back of Centre on an 8'6" box.Spare mounted underneath, ahead of Axle.

 

[Williy]

Its sad to say but many people don't understand that without
the tongue weight you can have a lot of unexpected problems
and not good ones either
I got chewed out one time telling a guy not to put all the weight
on one side then the other so now I don't bother anyone on how
to load their trailer.

willy

 

[Flogger]

The best tools for towing may well be knowledge and common sense. If you lack either it could be a problem.

 

[Williy]

Here's the real story about:

IT'S COLD ENOUGH
TO FREEZE THE BALLS OFF A BRASS MONKEY

In the days of sailing ships were they used canon balls
they had these brass canon ball racks and when the temp
got cold enough the brass would shrink and the canon balls
would fall on deck

now you know the rest of the story

willy

 

[bcp]

Brass Monkey

The word

www.history.navy.mil

Bruce

 

[ning]

Sorry, I know my posts can get long. I can summarize.

Too low tongue weight = Bad
Too much tongue weight = Equally as bad
Many vehicles have receiver hitches with weight ratings lower than the vehicle they were factory installed on.
Do NOT exceed vehicle OR HITCH weight ratings, even tongue weight rating.

Timbrens and Air bags help ride quality and safe handling, but do not increase Cargo Carrying Capacity or Towing Capacity. Nor do they make a vehicle safe to handle too much tongue weight.
Many newer trailers have axles further back (I believe mostly due to consumers that want trailers easier to pull, not worried about overloading the hitch).

10% is the standard for tongue weight in the US. It is what tow vehicles and trailers are designed to handle. Yes they tow better with more tongue weight, but it is not safe to do so for other reasons. 15% is usually ok for smaller trailers, but will overload the hitch capacity for a larger equipment trailer, such as a 14k lb trailer. 15% tongue weight can even bend trailer tongues on 7k car trailers.

Be Careful.

i'm a zoomer can you just sum it up in two sentences in a short form video please

just kidding!