We recently purchased this travel trailer, that had this back storage area on it. We use it to carry firewood and misc things.. My husband was changing the tires and laying underneath the trailer and found a compartment that was made - full of bags of cement equalling 600 lbs.. we are assuming the previous owner did this as a counter weight for the added storage area... the 600 lbs just seems extreme to us. We pull with a Tahoe, and it does ok, but we really expected it to do better pulling it. Looking for opinions on the weight, how much if any you would need for a storage box that size, and if the 600 pounds seems like too much to anyone else? https://www.flickr.com/photos/133031534@N03/shares/3755A7thanks!

Sounds really odd. Do you have photos? Was the hidden storage compartment at the front or the back? I'm presuming that it was in the front. Was the storage area an add on, or was did it come that way from the factory?Can you contact the previous owner and find out why he had 600 pounds of cement on board?Maybe it's not cement, maybe it's white powder from south of the border. Or maybe the bags are full of cash!

Dang, I forgot to take the white powder out before I sold it.

There is no shortage of nutty ideas in the RV world. I passed thru your area two weeks ago and was amazed at the amount of hops grown there. Maybe the previous owner was a heavy user of hops.

sorry, i posted a photo but can't get it to show up https://www.flickr.com/photos/133031534@N03/shares/3755A7haha, we were hoping it was bags of money! It is definitely cement. My husband is a mason, so at least we can use it. the 600 lbs just seemed extreme for that size storage box on the back. The cement was in the front - so he thinks they just figured it was a counter weight..He took it out, but it made me nervous, because maybe we need some.. but 600 lbs is a lot! Obviously, we would like to lighten the load, but don't want to set ourselves up going camping this weekend and wishing we had left the weight in..

Lynnmor wrote:There is no shortage of nutty ideas in the RV world. I passed thru your area two weeks ago and was amazed at the amount of hops grown there. Maybe the previous owner was a heavy user of hops.Yes, we have the most in the US here in our area. They are everywhere!!

Counter weight for added back storage area/deck

LMyers14
Explorer
Jun 10, 2015
Thanks for all the feedback.

The box is an after market add on, so that was the concern. It wasnt made with it.

We had a camping trip close to home already planned when we discovered the cement under the trailer. We opted to take out all but 160 lbs and load it accordingly. We also didn't load the box up super heavy. We camp fairly close to home usually, so we weren't too worried. It towed great that way.

We have plans of getting to a weigh station to check the weight and look at taking the 160 lbs out and putting a more useful weight there.
allen8106
Explorer
Jun 09, 2015
Personally I would remove the box and the counter weight. Neither belong where they are.
beemerphile1
Explorer
Jun 08, 2015
BubbaChris wrote:
peirek wrote:
Really surprised no one has mentioned or questioned the axle and tire capacities against this "new" load.

I mentioned it indirectly back on the first page - "...could be a problem with exceeding your trailer's max weight."

I also stated in the seventh post in this thread;
beemerphile1 wrote:
...My concern is that with the cargo in the rear, and the ballast in the front, you might be exceeding the GAWR or the GVWR.

Hopefully the OP is taking all this seriously and gets it weighed.
BubbaChris
Explorer
Jun 08, 2015
peirek wrote:
Really surprised no one has mentioned or questioned the axle and tire capacities against this "new" load.

I mentioned it indirectly back on the first page - "...could be a problem with exceeding your trailer's max weight."
Huntindog
Explorer
Jun 08, 2015
marquette wrote:
I have a 2009 Wildwood X-Lite Backpack edition and it came from the factory with a folding cargo tray. I haven't used the tray yet but plan to this summer. The trailer has a front water tank and the trailer pulls better with about 15 gal of water in the tank. We plan to put our lawn chairs, barbecue, screen house, camp table and folding camp kitchen in a box on the cargo tray. The tray says Max Cap 400 lbs. I just assumed Wildwood would have accounted for the tray capacity in their design.
My Sabre has a factory rear rack as well. 450# capacity. I have used it a lot. It does appear that Sabre has taken it into account.... But the ultimate responsibility for load distribution is the owners.
marquette
Explorer
Jun 08, 2015
I have a 2009 Wildwood X-Lite Backpack edition and it came from the factory with a folding cargo tray. I haven't used the tray yet but plan to this summer. The trailer has a front water tank and the trailer pulls better with about 15 gal of water in the tank. We plan to put our lawn chairs, barbecue, screen house, camp table and folding camp kitchen in a box on the cargo tray. The tray says Max Cap 400 lbs. I just assumed Wildwood would have accounted for the tray capacity in their design.
Huntindog
Explorer
Jun 07, 2015
Muddydogs wrote:
Ya know there are about 20 guys in the world that have weighted their trailer and truck combo and them 20 guys reside on this forum. The majority of the trailer towers go to a dealer who tells them they are fine and away they go or find a used one and hook on to it. A few of us looked at the numbers on our truck and trailer, realized that we are within specs and away we go. The reason this works is that the engineers that designed the TT make it as idiot proof as possible.

Why in the world would anyone want to carry 600 pounds of cement? Why would you carry enough stuff in a rear cargo box that would require 600 pounds of ballast? Makes no sense.Sometimes someone makes a major change to the carefully engineered TT, such as adding a heavy platform and box to the rear.... This one weighs quite a bit empty,,, start actually using it and it gets worse. 600# of concrete may seem extreme, or it may be just enough. With out weighing it, there is NO safe way to determine it.

At low speeds trailer sway isn't a problem to control, it doesn't just turn on like a switch as posted above. Trailer sway can be felt in your butt way before its noticed in the mirror if one pays attention to how there rig rides and feels. It all in the butt to seat contact.
Not all sway situations are the same. My big sway event certainly did turn on like a switch. I am convinced that the only reason I survived is that I was expecting possible trouble, as it was a test tow after my mod was completed,,, and I had my hand on the brake control as I accelerated on the highway.
If you don't believe me... Thats OK. I was driving, you were not there. I know what happened. You do not.
gmw_photos
Explorer
Jun 07, 2015
Muddydogs wrote:
Ya know there are about 20 guys in the world that have weighted their trailer and truck combo and them 20 guys reside on this forum. The majority of the trailer towers go to a dealer who tells them they are fine and away they go or find a used one and hook on to it. A few of us looked at the numbers on our truck and trailer, realized that we are within specs and away we go.

Why in the world would anyone want to carry 600 pounds of cement? Why would you carry enough stuff in a rear cargo box that would require 600 pounds of ballast? Makes no sense.

At low speeds trailer sway isn't a problem to control, it doesn't just turn on like a switch as posted above. Trailer sway can be felt in your butt way before its noticed in the mirror if one pays attention to how there rig rides and feels. It all in the butt to seat contact.

Ha ! ha ! ....so true ! And what I highlighted there you wrote, I go back to my earlier post: "take the cement out, take the rack off the back, and go camping !"
Muddydogs
Explorer
Jun 07, 2015
Ya know there are about 20 guys in the world that have weighted their trailer and truck combo and them 20 guys reside on this forum. The majority of the trailer towers go to a dealer who tells them they are fine and away they go or find a used one and hook on to it. A few of us looked at the numbers on our truck and trailer, realized that we are within specs and away we go.

Why in the world would anyone want to carry 600 pounds of cement? Why would you carry enough stuff in a rear cargo box that would require 600 pounds of ballast? Makes no sense.

At low speeds trailer sway isn't a problem to control, it doesn't just turn on like a switch as posted above. Trailer sway can be felt in your butt way before its noticed in the mirror if one pays attention to how there rig rides and feels. It all in the butt to seat contact.
Raymon
Explorer
Jun 06, 2015
BurbMan wrote:
beemerphile1 wrote:
If the load is ten feet from the fulcrum (axle) and the counter weight location is five feet from the fulcrum, double the weight is required for equilibrium.

ie;
F = 300 pounds
L = ten feet
X = five feet
then
W would require 600 pounds

F x L = W x X

As huntindog points out, these numbers are just an example. The fulcrum is the point between the 2 axles on a double axle trailer. On yours, measure from that point forward to the coupler, then back to the storage platform. Force = weight x distance, so in the example above 300*5=600*10.

Also agree that the previous owner didn't put 600 lbs of concrete there for the heckuva it. Guaranteed he had a terrible sway problem loading firewood and heavy items on the back like he did.

Before you do anything you need to get the trailer weighed. Go to a CAT scale at a truckstop, or most gravel pits, recycling yards and moving companies have scales and will weigh you for $10 or so. Read here about how to measure tongue weight using a bathroom scale.

Then you can use the formula above to calculate the effect on tongue weight based on how much weight you add to the rear platform.

I may be mistaken, but I believe the fulcrum would be the rear axle. The equal distance point between the two axles does not make contact with the ground. A fulcrum must have contact with a load bearing surface. The load on the platform will increase the load on the rear axle, but remove weight from the front axle. Putting ballast in the front of the trailer will add weight to the front axle while removing weight on the rear axle. The load on each axle most likely will not be the same; one will be loaded heavier than the other axle. This is just my personal opinion only.

Ray

Or get a Hensley and don't worry about it.