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Old 03-03-2017, 06:52 AM   #1
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Tongue weight

So I have rearranged things to mount a cargo rack and generator to the back of my 29' TT. Right now with tanks empty and all our stuff loaded it weighs 6400 lbs with a tongue weight of 900 lbs plus the hitch. That's almost 15%. What should I expect as a change when I put the 200lbs of generator, Fuel, and cargo rack on the back bumper? ( The bumper reinforcement was part of the preparation). If it lightens the tongue to much I can always partially fill the fresh water tank because my TV has plenty of excess capacity.
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Old 03-03-2017, 07:21 AM   #2
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Without knowing the details of your pre and post setup, it difficult to know. Distance from center wheelbase to hitch and center wheelbase to bumper? Distance of original load in relationship to hitch. Distance of final load to center of wheelbase? Remember, your hitch weight is proportional to the distance from your fulcrum point to the hitch
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Old 03-03-2017, 10:26 AM   #3
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If your going to do cargo rack, you could always "even it up" by putting a stromberg carlson generator rack on the tongue?!
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Old 03-03-2017, 12:40 PM   #4
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I actually have their rack on the front to carry my bikes
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Old 03-04-2017, 10:06 AM   #5
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Originally Posted by spdracr39 View Post
Right now with tanks empty and all our stuff loaded it weighs 6400 lbs with a tongue weight of 900 lbs plus the hitch. That's almost 15%. What should I expect as a change when I put the 200lbs of generator, Fuel, and cargo rack on the back bumper?
Doing the math without a lot more detail is way above my pay grade. But as a general rule I suspect you'll reduce your tongue weight by about 200 pounds, or down to about 700 pounds. If your wet and loaded TT grosses at least 7,000 pounds, then you should be good to go.

But after all the guessing and estimating is done and you have the wet and loaded rig ready for the road, stop at a CAT scale and weigh the rig. Add the weights on the two axles of the tow vehicle to get GVW. Compare that GVW to the GVWR of the tow vehicle. Compare the weight on the trailer axles to the combined GAWR of the trailer axles. Compare the gross weight of the rig to the GCWR of the tow vehicle. If you're not overloaded over any of those three weight ratings, then to be certain you have a properly loaded trailer, use the scale two more times.

1] With the trailer tied on, but without the spring bars tightened. Then compare the GVW with the GVW of the rig with the spring bars tightened. That will tell you how much weight is being distributed off the truck axles and onto the trailer axles.

2] Without the trailer, weigh the wet and loaded tow vehicle to get GVW. Compare that GVW to the GVW with the trailer but without the spring bars tight. That will give you hitch weight (tongue weight plus the weight of your WD hitch).

a. Add that hitch weight to the combined GAWR on the trailer axles without the spring bars tight. That will give you gross wet and loaded trailer weight, which is a useless spec other than do the calculation below.

b. Divide the hitch weight by the gross wet and loaded trailer weight to get ratio of hitch weight. If that ratio is less than 0.10 (10%) or more than 0.15 (15%), you need to redistribute the weight in and on the trailer and weigh it again.

With those three scale tickets, you now have enough information to calculate the percentage of hitch weight that is distributed off the rear axle of the tow vehicle and onto the front axle with the spring bars tightened. Your goal is 20% to 25% distributed off the rear axle to the trailer axles and another 20% to 25% distributed off the rear axle to the front axle. That leaves 50% to 60% of hitch weight on the rear axle.
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Old 03-04-2017, 07:11 PM   #6
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Welcome to the forum.
Best you can do is try it and see if it gets squirrely in a cross-wind. But, if it does, sloshing water may exacerbate the problem and may not your best option. Un-baffled fluid tanks and swinging meat can be the most troublesome loads to transport.
Be well.
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Old 03-08-2017, 08:31 AM   #7
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Get one of these if you want to know for sure. Bought one used for $90.

Sherline Trailer Tongue Weight Scale - Sherline Products
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Old 03-08-2017, 10:48 AM   #8
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Tongue weight is important but so is polar moment. Puting a large weight at the very rear of the trail could exacerbate sway.
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Old 03-08-2017, 04:31 PM   #9
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Get one of these if you want to know for sure. Bought one used for $90.

Sherline Trailer Tongue Weight Scale - Sherline Products
I have a truck scale at work so I can weigh it I just dont like pulling it to the scrap yard lol.
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Old 03-08-2017, 04:32 PM   #10
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Tongue weight is important but so is polar moment. Puting a large weight at the very rear of the trail could exacerbate sway.
I am loading it down with full tanks and the genny this weekend we will see how it pulls it.
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Old 03-08-2017, 09:01 PM   #11
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The math would be all about torque moments which is best visualized with a see-saw where the balancing point or fulcrum is the center point between the axles. The math goes like this - the downward force of the generator and rack X the distance to the axle centerline = the upward force on the tongue X the distance from the axle center to the tongue. So if we say the two distances are say 5' and 20' and the wt was 100 lbs The tongue would be lightened by 25lbs.
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Old 03-09-2017, 09:19 PM   #12
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Originally Posted by spdracr39 View Post
So I have rearranged things to mount a cargo rack and generator to the back of my 29' TT. Right now with tanks empty and all our stuff loaded it weighs 6400 lbs with a tongue weight of 900 lbs plus the hitch. That's almost 15%. What should I expect as a change when I put the 200lbs of generator, Fuel, and cargo rack on the back bumper? ( The bumper reinforcement was part of the preparation). If it lightens the tongue to much I can always partially fill the fresh water tank because my TV has plenty of excess capacity.
trailer design, dimensions, suspension, tires, etc must be considered. the 10% rule is b/s. safety requires the majority of trailer mass in front of the axles: basic laws of physics. if this means your hitch has more than 15%, so be it.

for a visual, see this link...

A Quick Illustration Of Why You Should Never Backload A Truck Trailer - Digg
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Old 03-11-2017, 06:56 AM   #13
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Update : We are on a short haul trip this weekend so I loaded everything up. I also wanted to clean the waste tanks so I filled them 2/3 full and filled the 40 gallon fresh tank to offset the bumper weight. The waste tanks are right beside the axle so that weight isn't a player. The fresh tank is way up front so I am guessing overall I added about 150 lbs to the tongue weight. I pulled perfectly with no issues and it was a little windy. I am going to pull it home with all tanks empty and see how that does. I am figuring it will remove about 100 lbs of tongue weight from my original 900 which still leaves me in the 12% range. I will verfiy all these estimates on the scale at the office in a few weeks.
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Old 03-12-2017, 06:46 PM   #14
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Update 2 : Emptied the tanks and pulled it home with the lighter tongue weight. It pulled ok but I could tell it was not as stable. Anytime I load the generator and fuel on the bumper I will fill the fresh tank half way to even it out.
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