Community Forums

puddlejumper · 08-02-2016, 05:50 PM

Hope this is the right forum to gather info about how to figure the correct hitch weight for my toy box tow trailer. Living near the beach means I would have to haul my trailer into Jax.Fl. each time I wanted to balance things out. I thought about buying one of those hydo tongue scales at the cost of about $180 but I thought I would first try the bathroom scale trick. I took a 4x4 cider post 6' long, built a 12' riser to put under the hitch about 1'.5' from one end of the post. From the center of that riser I measure 1' to the right I marked and place a 1" pipe under the 4x4 beam. then marked a line on the side every 1' to the left of the riser. I placed the scale under the 5' mark with another 1" pipe between the beam and the scale. with the trailer level and the beam level I lowered the tongue and got a scale weight of 63 lbs. so I added the 5'+1'x63=378lbs. I then moved the scale to the 4' mark and got 113lbs. did the math to = 565lbs. ?? I though they should of come out about the same.
I also though it should of been higher because the owners manual stated a dry camper weight of 8575 lbs with a tongue weight of 1,150 lbs. I am sorry for the length of typing but the math is killing brain cells...help. K&G

BFlinn181 · 08-02-2016, 06:16 PM

Is this the set up you're trying to duplicate?

If set up properly, it yields pretty accurate results.

puddlejumper · 08-02-2016, 06:24 PM

yes, that is the same info i was trying to follow when I constructed it.

BFlinn181 · 08-02-2016, 07:10 PM

Did you have the scale set at 0 with the 4 X4 and support post for the trailer tongue on it?

If the scale wasn't at 0, then when you put the trailer tongue on it you'll have to subtract the weight of the 4 X 4 and support post from the total with the trailer tongue on the scale.

puddlejumper · 08-02-2016, 07:39 PM

yes, I forgot to mention that step. I zero'ed it at 5' then again at 4'.

puddlejumper · 08-04-2016, 07:50 PM

opps. I went back to try it again. This time i watched the scale and it zoomed around twice into the 200 lb area. I was reading it wrong. But I still got a 500lb difference from the 5' mark(1,500lbs)and the 4' mark(1000lbs). I guess I'll use the 4' mark with it being closer to the TT unloaded tongue weight. What I want to figure out is how much water or foward loaded gear I will have to put in to compensate for my 900lb motorcycle and 30 gallons of fuel that will be at the very back of this toy box BEHIND the two axles. fuel being 6lbs/gal x30+900=1,100lbs. I figured that adding 100 to 150lb to the front of the camper should be what the tongue weight need. Is my math right? K&G