Forum Discussion

nasars's avatar
nasars
Explorer
Aug 23, 2020

increasing tongue weight

Hey everyone, not new to forum, but new to posting. Usually lurk in background and soak up knowledge. I tried a search but didnt find anything, but i would like to increase my tongue weight. According to cat scale numbers i`m right at 10%. Would like to bump up to 12-13%. Feel like it would ride better. I've moved everything i can to front of camper, water tank is at rear of camper, do adding water is out. I have a rear slide on camper, so i have extra weight back there. Is there a direct corelation between adding weight and increasing tongue weight? Ie adding one hundred pounds to front of camper increases tongue weight by 100 lbs? Or is it more of a percentage? Or dependent on weight location? Anyway, what are some feasable ways of adding some weight? Thanks

18 Replies

  • There are limits to how much you can do it, but a lower tongue will increase percentage of TW.
  • Weight centered over the axles will add 0% to the hitch weight.
    Weight added directly over the ball will add 100%.
    Between that it's basically a percentage of the distance between...so 50% of the distance between the ball and center of axles will add 50% to the hitch weight.

    Now if you can move weight from the back end to the front end, that can actually result in greater than 100% as weight behind the axles actually reduces hitch weight. So if you have a generator on the rear bumper and can move it to a rack above the tongue, that can have a bigger impact.

    If it's towing well, I wouldn't put a lot of effort into it but do keep an eye on it...especially if you have a trip where you will be carrying fresh water. It might not take much to push from towing well to being a problem.
  • Well, ya gotta describe what characteristic you’d like to improve or this is just a poorly written mystery.
  • Not really having any real issues towing, just feel (in my head) that a little more tongue weight would make a better tow. Trailer tows level. I have front bunks and their loaded with gear, and my front storage is loaded. Have thought about getting an a frame bike rack just to add some weight. I would have to add 110lbs to tongue weight to get up to 12%, which sounds like im gonna have to add approx 200lbs to achieve that. Planning on getting new trailer next year, so this may be all a moot point, thanks everybody for the replies.
  • Consider adding a couple more batteries in a box on the tongue. Box and batteries will total 140 more pounds pretty far forward. Carry your bicycle on top of the box.
  • If your trailer is not experiencing any issues with sway then I'd just leave it alone....tow level or slightly nose down which would give a seesaw increase in tounge weight.

    If you set on more tounge you could always add a cooler up front or add to front storage.

    12 - 15 % seems to be standard but you'd have to show me an issue with towing before I'd delve into the numbers.
  • jdc1's avatar
    jdc1
    Explorer II
    Teeter-totter knowledge comes in handy. If you add 100#'s 1 foot forward of the axles, you might increase the tongue weight 10 pounds. If you put that same 100#'s at the front of the trailer, you might add 60-70#'s to the tongue weight.