Last fall I bought a nicely outfitted enclosed trailer (used, all aluminum, 8.5x20). The mfg told me the approx empty weight is 2800-3000lbs. My tow vehicle is rated for 6000lbs (600 tongue weight), my race car is 1750lbs, and my gear is about 300lbs. I've set up a Prodigy RF wireless E-brake controller. I figured this should be ok for my SUV as long as I load it to keep at 10% tongue weight. Does that sound reasonable?I used a WD hitch from the seller , and set it to 2links. I towed it 160miles home and it all felt fine. I recently checked the tongue weight w a Sherline scale I bought and was surprised too see 800lbs (about 30%). That empty!Is it common for empty tongue weight to be this high? If yes why do trailer mfgs set it up this way?Thanks Any concerns if I rear-bias my load to try to get the tongue weight down from 30% to 10%?

They set it like that because they know you will load it differently than almost anyone else who buys it would. so you need to load it to arrive at 12% (10% is to light and may cause sway issues). once you get it loaded properly mark the floor so you know where the car will always go.

dodge guy wrote:They set it like that because they know you will load .... once you get it loaded properly mark the floor so you know where the car will always go.Thanks for the good advice and insight. I guess I should keep a pile of 10 sandbags in my garage for when I tow it empty (to get the tongue weight from 30% down to 12%). Sand is cheap i and I can dump the excess when I do my pick-up. My usual load will be cars weighing between 1000-1750lbs. And they have close to 50/50 weight balance. So I will need to load the cars with the tow ring at the back door to significantly change ring weight. That said, is it nuts to keep 600lbs of steel plates or bags of steel shot (canopy weight bags) in the trailer that can be moved fore-aft like ship ballast? I will very rarely need the last 1000lbs of towing weight capacity for any loads and movable weights would be more compact/tidy than in/out with sand bags. Too bad the axles are not movable. I suppose this is also a reason to buy a custom trailer with balance setup for your own specific needs. Glad I spent the $ to get the scale. Wish I could've used weighsafe's ball with integrated scale but my WD bars would hit it in tight turns.

Johnf7 wrote:dodge guy wrote:They set it like that because they know you will load .... once you get it loaded properly mark the floor so you know where the car will always go.Thanks for the good advice and insight. I guess I should keep a pile of 10 sandbags in my garage for when I tow it empty (to get the tongue weight from 30% down to 12%). Sand is cheap i and I can dump the excess when I do my pick-up. My usual load will be cars weighing between 1000-1750lbs. And they have close to 50/50 weight balance. So I will need to load the cars with the tow ring at the back door to significantly change ring weight. That said, is it nuts to keep 600lbs of steel plates or bags of steel shot (canopy weight bags) in the trailer that can be moved fore-aft like ship ballast? I will very rarely need the last 1000lbs of towing weight capacity for any loads and movable weights would be more compact/tidy than in/out with sand bags. Too bad the axles are not movable. I suppose this is also a reason to buy a custom trailer with balance setup for your own specific needs. Glad I spent the $ to get the scale. Wish I could've used weighsafe's ball with integrated scale but my WD bars would hit it in tight turns.The 10% is a minimum, the extra hitch weight is not going to hurt anything so don't add bags or other weight to bring it down.

horton333 wrote:The 10% is a minimum, the extra hitch weight is not going to hurt anything so don't add bags or other weight to bring it down.Well, one problem is that the hitch is only rated for 600lbs of tongue weight. I don't mind if it is at 600lbs all the time (empty or with car), but I don't want it at 900 or 1000lbs because that'll break something for sure (rear tires, hitch receiver welds, etc. ).

Johnf7 wrote:horton333 wrote:The 10% is a minimum, the extra hitch weight is not going to hurt anything so don't add bags or other weight to bring it down.Well, one problem is that the hitch is only rated for 600lbs of tongue weight. I don't mind if it is at 600lbs all the time (empty or with car), but I don't want it at 900 or 1000lbs because that'll break something for sure (rear tires, hitch receiver welds, etc. ).Not going to happen - and funny how the weight keeps going up all time.....soon it will be 1500 then you will need sandbags. ;-)

Newbie question, reducing tongue weight from 30% to 10%

12 Replies

Johnf7
Explorer
May 15, 2017
dodge guy wrote:
They set it like that because they know you will load .... once you get it loaded properly mark the floor so you know where the car will always go.

Thanks for the good advice and insight. I guess I should keep a pile of 10 sandbags in my garage for when I tow it empty (to get the tongue weight from 30% down to 12%). Sand is cheap i and I can dump the excess when I do my pick-up. My usual load will be cars weighing between 1000-1750lbs. And they have close to 50/50 weight balance. So I will need to load the cars with the tow ring at the back door to significantly change ring weight.

That said, is it nuts to keep 600lbs of steel plates or bags of steel shot (canopy weight bags) in the trailer that can be moved fore-aft like ship ballast? I will very rarely need the last 1000lbs of towing weight capacity for any loads and movable weights would be more compact/tidy than in/out with sand bags. Too bad the axles are not movable. I suppose this is also a reason to buy a custom trailer with balance setup for your own specific needs.

Glad I spent the $ to get the scale. Wish I could've used weighsafe's ball with integrated scale but my WD bars would hit it in tight turns.
dodge_guy
Explorer II
May 15, 2017
They set it like that because they know you will load it differently than almost anyone else who buys it would. so you need to load it to arrive at 12% (10% is to light and may cause sway issues). once you get it loaded properly mark the floor so you know where the car will always go.

Forum Discussion

Newbie question, reducing tongue weight from 30% to 10%

12 Replies

About RV Tips & Tricks

Related Content

Newbie power question

Frame Stiffing to reduce Porpoising?

Newbie Tow Capacity Question

Newby questions

Newbie questions