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jerem0621's avatar
jerem0621
Explorer II
Apr 27, 2015

Tongue weight is too much

Weighed the awesome PUP the other day and boy was I in for a suprise.

The PUP was loaded for camping and the gross weight was only 2720 lbs which is well in the rating for the Awesome Minivan...

But here came the suprise...and the possible game stopper for this TV...

The tongue weight was 460 lbs!!! Yep...16.9%

I need to get this figure closer to 11-12% or 300 ish lbs...

After the weigh in I loaded 100lbs of additional stuff behind the axle to try and mitigate some of the tongue weight...but the place I was able to load sits just about 1 ft behind the axle so I am not sure how much counter balancing I achieved.

So now, I don't know what to do, I could fabricate a receiver hitch on my the back and carry a couple of coolers or bikes there....but I am afraid that would end up damaging the frame.

weight Distribution hitch is a must...

But if I can't figure out this tongue weight problem I am going to have to change TV's which I don't want to do.

The Minivan would stay, I would have to replace the Town Car with an Expedition/Tahoe/Suburban type vehicle.

The Saga continues.

Thanks!

Jeremiah
  • jerem0621's avatar
    jerem0621
    Explorer II
    Apr 28, 2015
    Thanks for the feedback Ben....trying to get this dialed in to my liking. I am okay near capacity, as long as the handling is good.

    Shocks would be great and may be something I add..I will look into this more.

    The PUP has a 4 inch tube frame...per the OEM I can use a WD hitch as long as it's a tube frame and not C-Chanel...so I am good there.

    As far as a WD hitch....

    I am looking at Andersen, but will probably go with a Reese Trunnion 550 lb WD hitch. The beauty of this hitch is that if (or is it when?) we move to a TT I can simply purchase heavier bars for the new tongue weight.

    Of course I could do the same with a Eaz-Lift or a Blue-Ox.

    But the Reese (and I think Pro-Series round bar) has a 550 lb bar which I think would be a great match for my pup.

    I prefer friction sway control but the Reese would give me the freedom to try dual cam sway control in the future...Dual Cam may be overkill for TT pup...but who can't stand a bit of overkill now and then?

    Thanks!

    Jeremiah
  • BenK's avatar
    BenK
    Explorer
    Apr 28, 2015
    Of all the current WD setups in my price range, I like the Blue-Ox best

    Have not towed with one, but study all of them on occasion.

    The way the Blue-Ox is architectured, designed and built. IMHO, the designed
    in anti-sway is better than the others. The HA/Pro is similar, IMHO, but with
    the cost factor...I will go Blue-Ox when the time comes for my purchase

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