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Originally Posted by myredracer
Of course, the tongue weight will be a bit higher after the propane tanks and battery (we have one) are mounted.
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You cannot tell what's going on until after you have the propane tanks full and the battery(ies) mounted on/in the trailer. We also haul at least a few gallons of fresh water so we can flush the pottie when on the road. After you have the truck and trailer wet and loaded for the road, then two trips though the CAT scale - one with the wet and loaded trailer and one without the trailer - will give you all the info you need to compute gross trailer weight and percentage of wet and loaded hitch weight.
If your percent of hitch weight winds up at less than 12% of gross trailer weight, then the first thing I'd do is move that heavy toolbox full of tools to the "basement" storage area in the front of the trailer. Also move that floor jack to the basement. You do haul a floor jack, in case of a flat on the trailer, right? I also haul a 2'x3' piece of 3/4" thick plywood to use as a jack base in case I have to change a trailer tire in a wet and muddy barrow ditch. More than 30 years RVing experience taught me a few things.
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Am wondering if our tongue weight is detrimental at all to the handling of the trailer? This is how the factory designed it though.
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Tongue weight definitely affects handling of a TT. You want a minimum of 10% and preferably 12% or more wet and loaded hitch weight before you hook up the spring bars of your weight-distributing hitch. But don't be guessing what it might be until you have the trailer wet and ready for the road. Then the CAT scale can tell you where you stand.
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The spring bars in our WDH are rated 800 lbs. Does this in any way affect the bounce of the trailer at the rear?
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Yes, if you don't have the spring bars adjusted to put about 25% of the wet and loaded tongue weight on the front axle of the tow vehicle and another 25% of the tongue weight on the trailer axles, leaving about 50% of the tongue weight on the rear axle of the tow vehicle.
The 800-pounds rating of your spring bars sounds about perfect for your TT that has a dry weight of 5,237. With 12% wet and loaded hitch weight, that gives you a max wet and loaded trailer weight of up to 6,667 pounds before you'd need to buy heavier spring bars for your hitch. And I suspect your trailer is not going to gross over 6,667 when wet and loaded for the road.
But use a tongue weight scale, or two trips across the CAT scale, to determine tongue weight. Truck GVW = weight on the two truck axles. Truck GVW with the trailer minus truck GVW without the trailer = tongue weight (hitch weight).
Trailer axle weight plus tongue weight = gross trailer weight.
Be sure your wet and loaded tongue weight is at least 10% of the wet and loaded gross trailer weight.
If your wet and loaded tongue weight is not distributed about 25/50/25, then read up on how to adjust your WD hitch to get closer to those ideals.
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