How Long Can I go?

Turtle n Peeps wrote:

The length of the TT could make a difference depending on how tight you have to turn. As mentioned, if you have to turn your wheel to lock to make the turn. Then the length of the TT could determin whether or not the tongue will hit your bumper. A longer TT will track farther inside your turning radius than a shorter TT will. You could do it easily with an 18' TT vs. a 30' TT.

It doesn't matter. 15 foot or 40 foot they all have a 4 foot tongue on them. Go out in an empty parking lot with your trailer hitched up and go to lock and drive around in circles. I know of no vehicle that will turn so sharp that the trailer will whack the TV. Backing up is a different story.

The only thing that will matter is the swing radius. That will be worse on a long trailer with a long overhang and it could take out things like street lights or fire hydrants or things like that.

It does matter, think about it. A longer trailer WILL track inside the radius of a shorter trailer simply by the virtue of its length. It doesn't matter the turn radius of the tow vehicle. Tongue length is not the issue either. Think about an 8' utility trailer vs. a 35' TT. The longer trailer can hit the TV if the TV its able to turn that sharp. Speaking from experience, I've got a big ole whooping dent in the side of my SUV to prove it from making a U turn, yes going forward.

Think about it this way. Two F150 trucks, one standard cab short bed. The other, xtra cab long bed. Put both in a turn lock, they will both have the same outside turn radius but the back wheels of the short bed will be outside the turn radius of the long bed. That's geometry even I can understand. Same principle with a longer trailer.