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MX, SX & Off-Road Discussions
General Moto | Off-Topic Posts
Pulling an enclosed trailer cross country
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[QUOTE="rmc_olderthandirt, post: 1186233, member: 68872"] There is a "rule of thumb" about loading the trailer to get ~10% tongue weight, but that assumes that the trailer is built properly for the intended load. It also makes some assumptions about the load, which often times is close enough but in some cases can be very wrong. Proper tongue weight IS very important. You want to make sure that the tongue is always pressing down on the ball and never lifts up. Going too light on the tongue weight can create a number of issues while towing and could lead to the trailer unhitching itself. As for the sway issue, it really is a dynamics issue. As an example, let's say you are hauling a load of bricks. It doesn't take too many bricks to reach the load capacity of the trailer so you would have some options as to how to load the trailer. One way would be to load half the pile of bricks all the way in the front of the trailer, with the other half all the way in the back. The other way is to have the entire pile roughly centered over the axles. Both methods of loading can provide you with the exact same tongue weight, but they will tow drastically different! Even though the trailer is roughly balanced (with the desired tongue weight) the trailer loaded front and rear will have FAR greater "moment", which is the torque that the weight has about the wheels. When the trailer starts to sway this large amount of leverage gives the load a lot of control on what is going to happen. The bottom line is that if you are loading the trailer and decide that you have too much tongue weight you don't want to compensate for it by adding weight to the back. The better approach is to reload so that the heavier items are closer to the center. Rod [/QUOTE]
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MX, SX & Off-Road Discussions
General Moto | Off-Topic Posts
Pulling an enclosed trailer cross country
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