where to position tractor on trailer?

[JCoastie]

I have a 16' tandem dovetail trailer that at some point will be loading my LS240 on it for a short back road trip to the dealership to add a rear remote kit. I did a dry run the other day just to see how it fit, just drove on, not secured down. This tractor is longer than my last one, and ideally you'd think to center the rear wheels in the middle of the tandem wheels, but it does not fit well there, and it also seems to put a lot of weight on the tongue. The truck is rated for 960 pounds on the tongue. The tractor with loaded tires, loader, bucket, wet is approx 4500 pounds, I have no clue what the trailer itself weighs, but it's big and heavy. If I moved the tractor back a bit, so the rear wheels (tractor and trailer) were more aligned and less weight on the tongue, does anything jump out at you? I don't want to wind up in the "Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong" thread.

 

[s219]

I think you can move back a little more. On most tractors, the center of gravity is roughly around the footwell area. Front loader will bias the CG forward even more, which means you can move back even more.

Proper tongue weight is in the range of 10-15% of the total. If you know the combined weight of the tractor and trailer, shoot for 10-15% of that on the tongue. A bathroom scale and a board (to make a lever that lowers load on the scale) can be used to measure the tongue weight. They also sell tongue weight scales. Can also take a trip to a truck scale if any are in your area.

That said, I usually do it by eye and feel for my trailer.

 

[Diggin It]

and ideally you'd think to center the rear wheels in the middle of the tandem wheels,

Why? I'd want the center of the load weight centered over the trailer axle(s) or just slightly forward.

As far as the FEL, does the dealer need that for any reason? That's just adding a few hundred pounds out in front of the tractor, possibly unnecessarily..

 

[PILOON]

Any way that puts 4-500 lbs or so on the hitch.

 

[JCoastie]

As far as the FEL, does the dealer need that for any reason? That's just adding a few hundred pounds out in front of the tractor, possibly unnecessarily..

Yeah, because I'm not removing it lol. While I own it, I can never see a time I'd remove it for my usage.

 

[fried1765]

I have a 16' tandem dovetail trailer that at some point will be loading my LS240 on it for a short back road trip to the dealership to add a rear remote kit. I did a dry run the other day just to see how it fit, just drove on, not secured down. This tractor is longer than my last one, and ideally you'd think to center the rear wheels in the middle of the tandem wheels, but it does not fit well there, and it also seems to put a lot of weight on the tongue. The truck is rated for 960 pounds on the tongue. The tractor with loaded tires, loader, bucket, wet is approx 4500 pounds, I have no clue what the trailer itself weighs, but it's big and heavy. If I moved the tractor back a bit, so the rear wheels (tractor and trailer) were more aligned and less weight on the tongue, does anything jump out at you? I don't want to wind up in the "Share Pics of People Hauling or Towing Something Wrong" thread.
View attachment 686368

Your truck is not showing any hitch "squat", but you probably could move the tractor back up to a foot.

 

[Redlands Okie]

If you have a place with scales such as a truck stop, feed mill or similar you could run it over the scales. Talk to the attendant and then run the front truck axle on, pause, then drive the whole truck onto the scale and paused, then the trailor and truck, then as you pull off pause with the trailor only. Late on get a weight with just the truck, front axle, all of the truck, then rear axle only.

A little math and you know exactly whats going on. If you do the math at the scale site you could move the tractor back or forward and check again.

Once you have it figured out then make a spot on the trailor where one of the tractor axels are , or put a note in the glove box, or take a picture or something to remind yourself later on.

If you do this when a lot of trucks are not waiting in line the scale operators are happier. The whole axle process usually can be done in literally a couple minutes as long as the operator knows what you need.

You can also use a set of bathroom scales and a board and fulcrum point. Have to google it since I do not remember the exact procedure.


Way safer to have a bit to much weight up front then to much in the back The load as pictured looks doable to me. Probably have to be careful about more weight up front.

 

[3gunr]

I have almost an identical setup as you, i place the bucket flat on the deck and run the bucket tooth bar up tight to the front rail , have my chains pulling forward and it has worked good for many 1000s of miles. I do chain the rear on the drawbar also.

 

[JCoastie]

Thanks, all, lots of good info and solutions here.

 

[Rock Crawler]

The steering wheel is about the center of gravity, put the steering wheel over the front axle center and you'll be just slightly front biased and should be all good. Done and dun.