Forum Discussion

4x4ord's avatar
4x4ord
Explorer III
Jul 11, 2018

Need to get shot

So I towed the trailer into the mountains last weekend with the bike on the lift. The wind was blowing and the trailer towed terrible. Especially going down hill the trailer would push the truck around making for a very stressful drive. Anyway we got out there and it was really nice to have the bike along. My intentions were to have my wife tow the trailer home and I was going to ride the bike to avoid another stressful drive going back home, but .... I wore the back tire off the bike and decided I would feel more comfortable driving an unstable truck back then riding a motorcycle back with a tire that looked like it could pop any second.

Well the drive back was very nice. Little wind and the truck felt much more stable. I got thinking about why there was such a profound difference between the way the 5ver towed going out vs coming back. I think the wind was responsible for some of the unstableness but what may have made the biggest difference is the fact that we used about 40 gallons of water over the weekend. That 40 gallons was moved as we used it from the fresh tank to the black and grey tanks. The fresh tank is over the front trailer axle the black and grey water is stored about 4 feet ahead of the fresh water. I think moving that 40 gallons forward 4 feet shifted about 100 lbs from the trailer axles to the trailer pin.

So in the future i would like to have a few sacks of shot positioned in the bedroom or poured into the kingpin hitch on the trailer to add some ballast to the pin weight.

I weighed the truck and trailer on the way home:

front truck axle .......4960 lbs
rear truck axle ........5440 lbs
trailer axles ..........14440 lbs

Tare weight of truck rear axle is 3480 lbs.

Any ideas on where to get a cheap couple hundred pounds of shot.

89 Replies

  • 4x4ord's avatar
    4x4ord
    Explorer III
    rbcamping wrote:
    Did anyone notice his axle weight? If you have two 7000 lb axles, you're already overweight. Did your weight include the bike?


    Weight was with bike loaded. The dry weight of the trailer has 17% of its weight on the pin. When I hit the scales on the way home I had 12% of the trailers weight on the pin. I would have to add 800 lbs to the pin to get back to that healthy 17% ratio.... a water bed might do that. Even 200 lbs might make a huge difference. Adding a third axle to the trailer would be the ultimate fix and I might end up doing that yet.
  • Did anyone notice his axle weight? If you have two 7000 lb axles, you're already overweight. Did your weight include the bike?
  • Tvov's avatar
    Tvov
    Explorer II
    "pounds of shot".... that's a term I have not heard in a long, long time.
  • kerrlakeRoo wrote:
    3 maybe 4 cases of beer in the forward storage compartment.
    Done.


    Capital idea. That way you have your 'beverage' with you.
  • Thats a lot of bike to hang on back of the trailer!! How does it tow with out bike on back?? Also remenber the when bike on back you will make the pin lighter. Need to get just truck weight so you can tell
    how much pin weight you have.
    On my trailer a 3 axle 44 ft when toys in back my pin is 600 lighter
    than with nothing in back.
  • So you need to get shot, eh?


    Myself... I need to get loaded.









    (Going on a trip tomorrow).


    We all have our own unique problems I suppose.