Downside to tongue weight over 15%?
Tongue weight should be between 10 & 15%. It usually is. There is a potential serious safety issue if it's below 10% and that's well documented everywhere. But what is the downside of being over 15...
Forum Discussion
One of the most serous issues that some RVers have in a TT is someone checking the gross weight and tongue weight when fully loaded. Then, when they are done camping and heading home they can't figure out why the TT tows terribly. Some TTs have the gray and black tanks in the back and the fresh water up front. When the owners use up the fresh water and they have full gray and black tanks, the trailer becomes too light on the tongue weight. Toy hauler owners have the same issue in reverse. In many cases they need to have excess tongue weight when empty because of the load that they put in the back of the toy hauler, much of which is behind the rear axle.
The main thing is to remember that too little tongue weight can kill you, excessive tongue weight (as long as the equipment will handle it) won't hurt anything as long as it is within reason. Remember, the trailer frame also needs to be able to handle the excessive tongue weight.
The last camping trailer that I built for my Avion C-11 will carry 20 gallons of gasoline, 80 gallons of water, 100# of LP and has the capacity of 7 batteries, 6 of which could be on the tongue. It's tongue weight can vary from 9% in the worst case scenario to around 16%+ when fully loaded with a quad on the front. It will handle very well within those extremes, but the general rule of 10-15% as the idea tongue weight is correct.
The big question for everyone on this forum, "Has anyone seen a trailer which had tongue weight over 15% handle poorly assuming that all the equipment will handle the load and that the trailer handled properly when it had a tongue weight of 10-15%"? I don't think anyone has.
The main thing is to remember that too little tongue weight can kill you, excessive tongue weight (as long as the equipment will handle it) won't hurt anything as long as it is within reason. Remember, the trailer frame also needs to be able to handle the excessive tongue weight.
The last camping trailer that I built for my Avion C-11 will carry 20 gallons of gasoline, 80 gallons of water, 100# of LP and has the capacity of 7 batteries, 6 of which could be on the tongue. It's tongue weight can vary from 9% in the worst case scenario to around 16%+ when fully loaded with a quad on the front. It will handle very well within those extremes, but the general rule of 10-15% as the idea tongue weight is correct.
The big question for everyone on this forum, "Has anyone seen a trailer which had tongue weight over 15% handle poorly assuming that all the equipment will handle the load and that the trailer handled properly when it had a tongue weight of 10-15%"? I don't think anyone has.
