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I have berated myself and beat myself up about what I'm posting. I'm not posting it for us to dog pile on me. I understand I made a mistake and fortunately no accidents happened, no one was injured and I now know how to correct my mistake.
This is an infomational post to help keep someone else from making the same mistake I made.
First, a little history about me:
I've driven nearly every type of commercial truck/tractor combination you can with the exception of drop decks and low boys. Class "A" driver with bulk liquids, hazmat and double/triple endorsements. Other than that- yup. 52' vans, flatbeds, bulk liquid, doubles, triples, 27' dump combinations etc. Drove them and in probably 700,000 miles, only had one incident where my truck slid in ice while my trailer was offtracking pulling out of a truck stop and the trailer hit another truck. Other than that, not even a fender bender. I try to be as safety conscious as I can.
I understand weight distribution, axle loads etc.
What I'm discussing today is the "wiggle" factor or "trailer sway". When you load the rear of a trailer heavier than the front of a trailer and you end up with something like this:
I bought an M1061A1 flatbed trailer with the idea of building a dove tail so I could carry my M37 and M715. The trailer is more than rated for both of their weights on and offroad. (5,500 WoW for the M715 and 5,987 W/W for the M37):
After building the dovetail and hauling the M-715 a few times:
I noticed the 5 ton seemed to want to "float". I couldn't figure out what was going on.....
What I was dealing with was trailer sway! It was so slight because the weight of the five ton didn't allow it to become more pronounced. I felt it in my gut, like I was losing control of the trailer but couldn't figure out what was causing it. I honestly thought it was because I was unfamiliar with the towing characteristics of the 5 ton. (Never drove them in the Marine Corps and everything I've learned has come from owning Bertha). As far as trailer weight goes, I know the front of the M715 is heavier than the rear, so I figured it can't be trailer sway because the front of the trailer should be heavier than the rear due to the engine etc being up front.....
The number I should have paid attention to on my data plate was this one:
Fully loaded with 10,000 lbs, there is only 445lbs on the lunette. I added at LEAST 300 pounds to the back of the trailer, and having the weight of the M715 behind the wheels didn't help either, so I literally have no tongue weight to speak of.
So! To correct this issue, I have the option and ability to add several hundred pounds to the front of the trailer while keeping it under its GVWR. I'll be adding an electric winch, tool box and battery to the front in order to get some weight back on the front of the deck. I'll be taking truck and trailer to a local truck stop to scale it and ensure I get back to a proper weight ratio.
Lessons learned:
If something feels wrong, something probably is. Stop and figure it out.
When modifying any equipment, take into account EVERY aspect of the modification. Honestly my biggest concern was the departure angle being affected by the dove tails, not the weight on the tongue
Always work within the limits of the equipment.
Realize mistake are and will be made, and try to minimize the effects of them.
Again, I'm glad no one was hurt through my ignorance and there was no black stain put on our hobby.
I have berated myself and beat myself up about what I'm posting. I'm not posting it for us to dog pile on me. I understand I made a mistake and fortunately no accidents happened, no one was injured and I now know how to correct my mistake.
This is an infomational post to help keep someone else from making the same mistake I made.
First, a little history about me:
I've driven nearly every type of commercial truck/tractor combination you can with the exception of drop decks and low boys. Class "A" driver with bulk liquids, hazmat and double/triple endorsements. Other than that- yup. 52' vans, flatbeds, bulk liquid, doubles, triples, 27' dump combinations etc. Drove them and in probably 700,000 miles, only had one incident where my truck slid in ice while my trailer was offtracking pulling out of a truck stop and the trailer hit another truck. Other than that, not even a fender bender. I try to be as safety conscious as I can.
I understand weight distribution, axle loads etc.
What I'm discussing today is the "wiggle" factor or "trailer sway". When you load the rear of a trailer heavier than the front of a trailer and you end up with something like this:
I bought an M1061A1 flatbed trailer with the idea of building a dove tail so I could carry my M37 and M715. The trailer is more than rated for both of their weights on and offroad. (5,500 WoW for the M715 and 5,987 W/W for the M37):
After building the dovetail and hauling the M-715 a few times:
I noticed the 5 ton seemed to want to "float". I couldn't figure out what was going on.....
What I was dealing with was trailer sway! It was so slight because the weight of the five ton didn't allow it to become more pronounced. I felt it in my gut, like I was losing control of the trailer but couldn't figure out what was causing it. I honestly thought it was because I was unfamiliar with the towing characteristics of the 5 ton. (Never drove them in the Marine Corps and everything I've learned has come from owning Bertha). As far as trailer weight goes, I know the front of the M715 is heavier than the rear, so I figured it can't be trailer sway because the front of the trailer should be heavier than the rear due to the engine etc being up front.....
The number I should have paid attention to on my data plate was this one:
Fully loaded with 10,000 lbs, there is only 445lbs on the lunette. I added at LEAST 300 pounds to the back of the trailer, and having the weight of the M715 behind the wheels didn't help either, so I literally have no tongue weight to speak of.
So! To correct this issue, I have the option and ability to add several hundred pounds to the front of the trailer while keeping it under its GVWR. I'll be adding an electric winch, tool box and battery to the front in order to get some weight back on the front of the deck. I'll be taking truck and trailer to a local truck stop to scale it and ensure I get back to a proper weight ratio.
Lessons learned:
If something feels wrong, something probably is. Stop and figure it out.
When modifying any equipment, take into account EVERY aspect of the modification. Honestly my biggest concern was the departure angle being affected by the dove tails, not the weight on the tongue
Always work within the limits of the equipment.
Realize mistake are and will be made, and try to minimize the effects of them.
Again, I'm glad no one was hurt through my ignorance and there was no black stain put on our hobby.
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