General Consensus on Loading a trailer (Weight Displacement)

[RjSteed]

Recently I went camping and I took concern with the weight displacement to include the tongue weight. Couple of my friends hacked on me a bit for it... No biggy, my trailer. Load it how I want.

However, just curious.

Are you more the chuck it all in and go?
or
Do you make an effort to ensure that the load is well displaced?

I have been doing a lot of reading on trailer since I picked mine up, and have realized that when I was in the Army, we chucked in pretty much and went... Now I realize, that that was rather dangerous...
I can recall seeing the tail wagging on many occasions. Not to mention, we were never able to go all that fast when towing, probably due to improper weight displacement.

 

[doghead]

It really depends on the trailer, the towing vehicle and the load.

To answer your question, YES, always.(properly placed and secured)

 

[F18hornetM]

What Doghead said.
The tail wagging usually comes from a tail heavy trailer, or not enough tongue weight. Have had this problem with a dump trailer that's axles were to far forward. Moved them 6" to the rear and much better. I think an old rule of thumb was 10% tongue weight of load. Usually I load equipment/material[tractors, building materials etc] and watch tow vehicle and judge tongue weight. You usually have no way of knowing the exact tongue weight. And I strap or chain down everything. Just some thoughts. Good luck.

 

[Recovry4x4]

I agree with the 10%. I often shoot for a little more just for peace of mind. I have a golf cart that is very heavy in the back. I take this to the rallys all the time in the back of an M101A3. The back tires are right at the edge of the bed. I really have to load the front of the trailer to compensate for this. Of course this wasn't a problem returning from the GA Rally this year as I had a CUCV axle strapped to the tongue of the trailer. LOL

 

[RjSteed]

In reference to the tongue weight, since I forgot to say something about it...

What I read about tongue weight, was 12% ideally.

Use a scale to measure it... I have a shipping scale I use, which cost me about $25. It will weigh up to 350 lbs I think it is.
Calculate the entire weight of the trailer to include contents and the tongue should weight 12% of that total. So far as I read it right.

So what I did was place the scale under the front leg of the trailer, but there are methods using bathroom scales and 2X4's.. Little hinky but I guess a bathroom scale needs it that way...

My tongue weight was about 235 lbs I think... With 1700 lbs of trailer.
Since I was camping and generally had time to pack, nothing went in the trailer without getting weighed.

So, so far it doesn't look like I'm being psychotic about it....

 

[jedawson1]

If you ever have a heavy unbalanced load behind a vehicle at its max GVWR you will you know just how important it is. That said, it is good practice and habit to do so with light loads. 60%to65% of weight forward of the axle is a good rule of thumb, you can over do it.
I say keep up the good habit!

 

[wheelspinner]

Usually if you are monitoring the drop of the towing vehicle as the trailer is loaded it will give you a good indication of the approximate tongue weight, especially if you have done a full weight check once and monitored the actual drop in height of the truck. Its not an exact science, but it works well for me when I load different pieces of equipment on my trailers and such. For the first few times, a simple dowel with a piece of tape at the unloaded height will be very good at indication.

 

[EMD567]

Just wait until you load a trailer wrong, and the tail wags the dog. I have seen trailers whip lash so bad, that they have wrecked the tow vehicle. A trailer that is loaded correctly is a joy to tow, and will respond predictivly to the tow vehicle.

 

[Speddmon]

I went through this one time myself, quite a few years ago. I was building my garage and rented a Kubota backhoe/loader, the hoe weighed in at about 9000 pounds and the trailer put it over 10K. It was a heavy load but I knew the truck could handle it, I was using the VERY heavy duty 3/4 ton Ram I had at the time. I personally had driven out of the limestone quarry with over 3 1/4 tons in the bed of that truck, so I had no issues with the ability of the vehicle. It was about 40 miles of highway from the rental yard to get it to my house. I arrived at the rental place to pick it up and they had loaded it on the trailer already. I left the rental yard and started for home. I got on the highway and when I hit about 45 mph, the whole truck started pitching back and forth so badly it almost caused me to loose the whole thing. On top of that, the surge brake on the trailer was frozen and inoperable.

Needless to say, I stopped to balance/resecure the load, and look for a clean pair of underware. When I took the machine back after the weekend, the poor guy working the counter at the yard got blasted with both barrels of my rant. By the time I was done, my rental fee was only 1/2 of what it was supposed to be.

So to sum up that tale, loading the trailer properly is EXTREMELY important.

 

[Squirt-Truck]

Simple, the accepted standard is 10% to a MAX of 15% for tag along trailers, 25% for 5th wheel and 50% for semi-trailers.
We do these kinds of investigations regularly, and the loading is a big deal.
Tail wag is a BIG problem but control stability with excess tounge weight is just about as bad. Heave sprung trucks may not show the improper loading based on ride height.
Trail;er brakes are another topic, asn should always be in good condition if the trailer weight exceeds 50% of the towed vehicle it is imperative.

 

[zebedee]

Simple, the accepted standard is 10% to a MAX of 15% for tag along trailers, 25% for 5th wheel and 50% for semi-trailers.

Not sure if this ought to be clarified any - but I call a 5th wheel trailer a semi trailer - one and the same thing, which has up to 50% weight on towed vehicle - maybe you were refering to a full trailer, one that has a steer axle(s) at the front with a drawbar (as a converter dolly) and axle(s) at the rear - a-la hay wagon. These also have up to 50% front loading but 0% if you are talking about the weight carried that is placed on the tow vehicle. Reference to ballast bodied trucks back when tank transporter trailers were full trailers not semi or the pusher trucks moving over weight heavies...

My rule of thumb is "some" sinking of the towed vehicles rear suspension after loading coupled with consideration of the empty tongue weight of the trailer which may or may not be assertained if moved by hand...

Yes, I too was once subject the 'tail wagging the dog' effect of a badly loaded trailer with -ve nose weight I later found out. 50mph and seeing alternative sides of the trailer in side mirrors and tyre serpentines left on the road. When it happens - if you can time it right, yank the steering wheel to one side to neutralise the swerve or if you have the power, boot it then slow when the yawing has stopped. BUT all of this takes a lot of confidence!
You could also try stab braking just after the trailer starts its return swing on each side... do it before max swing and you will make it worse or even flip it and you if there isn't a swivel hitch.

 

[svanhorn]

As someone who tows vehicles on a home built tilt trailer, with no brakes, sway is something that you do not want. Something that I have learned, is that the lighter the tow vehicle, the more weight is needed on the front. Try towing an 80 camaro on a 1500lb trailer behind a chevy s10.

 

[svanhorn]

I forgot to add, that the only successful method I have ever found for getting out of a sway, is to give it full throttle, then slow down considerably once the sway stops.

 

[MarcusOReallyus]

Recently I went camping and I took concern with the weight displacement to include the tongue weight. Couple of my friends hacked on me a bit for it... No biggy, my trailer. Load it how I want..

Your friends are immature and stupid.


Tongue weights and other towing rules don't come from "some stupid idiot who wants to mess with me", and aren't not affected by "It's mine and I'll do what I want!" attitudes.

They come from the laws of physics. They apply to everybody, and they don't care who owns what.

You can get away with doing it wrong a lot of the time, but like a lot of other things in life, it's playing the odds.

The odds are, if you make a habit of ignoring safety rules, over the long haul somebody will get hurt.

The odds are, if you make a habit of obeying safety rules, over the long haul nobody will get hurt.


Those are probabilities, not guarantees. Random things do happen, and exceptions exist. These don't change the odds.


Adults understand this, and do the responsible thing. They bet on the odds were safety is concerned.

But there are a lot of 30+ year old spoiled children running around.

 

[FMJ]

Somewhere on this site is a picture of a 1028 upside down still strapped to the trailer, I think it was around Atlanta. Not enough tongue weight is a VERY scary thing.

 

[RjSteed]

Since it applies, I gather this is what someone was talking about in controlling sway

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQQkc8iWIg4

 

[quickfarms]

If you are just starting out and learning how to tow weighing your load is not a bad idea, are you a pilot? After years of practice you should learn how to do it correctly.

Fifth wheel refers to the RV's that use a ball mounted over the truck axle which are loaded different.

A semi is loaded by axle weight and not a straight 50%.

Most semi trucks are weighed to make sure the loading is correct.

 

[RjSteed]

Ok, so to add to this. I have been crossing my chains, just not under the lunette. So I will start doing so...

http://youtu.be/bsw0-q4oo_4

 

[GREENMV]

I done the underwear change once "It wont happen again" I always check tongue weight now. That vid brings back nightmares.

 

[rothroq]

Not sure if this ought to be clarified any - but I call a 5th wheel trailer a semi trailer - one and the same thing, which has up to 50% weight on towed vehicle - maybe you were refering to a full trailer, one that has a steer axle(s) at the front with a drawbar (as a converter dolly) and axle(s) at the rear - a-la hay wagon. These also have up to 50% front loading but 0% if you are talking about the weight carried that is placed on the tow vehicle. Reference to ballast bodied trucks back when tank transporter trailers were full trailers not semi or the pusher trucks moving over weight heavies...

So what is the answer in this case? I have a 4000lb tow rig and a 6000lb M720 with functioning brakes. As this is an abnormal towing method, I have found nothing on the pitfalls or cautions.