questions about TT hitch

I have wondered the same thing. The 10 -15 % is what is considered necessary for towing stability but where did it come from?

Ford towing info figures 10% on the tongue.

I do not know how the manufactures calculate it for the different floor plans, unless they shift the axel location. Anyway it is a number that seems to work.

To get the weight shifted to the front axle,I adjust the WD hitch so the TT and TV sit level.

OP here...,Thanks for all the input.

I thought maybe I was doing something wrong by not being able to get weight on fronts. And thought maybe I needed bigger weight bars.

Thanks reminding me about receiver limit. I'll double check.

Going to re-weigh either today or tomorrow and will post results.

The bathroom scale method link is posted below. I tried it and find that a level driveway would make it easier and probably more accurate.

http://www.etrailer.com/faq-how-to-determine-trailer-tongue-weight.aspx

Thanks again

AS for transferring weight to the front end, you don't really need to with a pickup, as long as the rear axle can handle the load.

I don't agree. That might be the case with a heavy 1 ton dually that isn't affected much by 1k+ tongue weight, but restoring front axle weight is important in lighter vehicles. Control issues aren't usually due to the ass being too heavy, it's from the steer axle being too light.

10% to 15% is just for planning reasons. Many boats tow very well with only 5% of the weight on the hitch. I once picked up the hitch of a 5,000 pound trailer by myself, I was only 11 years old, and it was not more than about 75 pounds.

Towing a boat is a totally different beast. The axles are further back and centered under the majority of the weight. The same principles for tongue weight don't apply.

Your absolute min. TW should be 10%.

Providing you have the WDH set up correctly, there is no safety or handling issue from being over 15% (unless well over the TV payload cap.). I asked this question earlier this year and there was no indication of a downside to being over 15%. Downside to over 15%? Have looked all over the internet as well. Yesterday I was reading an article in the latest RV Lifestyle mag. written by Andy from Can-Am RV in Ontario (the guy that promotes towing a 30'+ TT with a car) and he stated that being over 15% can affect handling and safety. (His ideas are kinda out there tho.)

You need to look at the receiver rating, whether or not you can transfer enough weight back onto the steer axle and as noted previously, if over 15% you need to consider the impact on the payload capacity of the TV and wear on the coupler/ball.

Before questioning the spring bar rating, you need to know what your actual tongue weight is. You could simply not have the WDH set up properly.

Info. on your TV, TT and WDH would help as would a photo or two.

As a bit of an aside, Andy Thomson at Can-Am had an article in the above mag. about someone towing a 31' Airstream with a Chrysler 300 who got an accident and jackknifed (someone cut the driver off). He was boasting about how great it was the driver was towing with the Chrysler otherwise if the TV had been a heavier TV like a truck, the physical damage to the vehicles would have been a lot worse.

OP, it would help if we knew what truck. Looking at your posts all I could find is it's a diesel. Glad you are finally getting on the road.
IMHO you cannot have too much tongue weight, especially with a diesel PU. Only time I've ever had a problem was when I loaded some very heavy bargains in the back of my Airstream TT as it tried to take me to the scene of the accident. Applying the trailer brakes while accelerating got it under control and then slowed down and moved half of the stuff to the front.
Sounds like you have actually weighed your rig so what's your axle weights? I pull a bunch of different types of trailers without using WD as I can vary the tongue weight by where is place the load on the trailer with my F350 diesel. Doubt your rear axle is near it's max so taking some off the front with your 1000 bars does not bother me.

Is your rig towing well? Does the TT rock back and forth while towing - which probably means it is too light on the hitch? Does the truck's rear end really squat down when you hook up - which probably means the TT is too heavy in the front?

Use all those numbers as guides for setting up your hitch. After you tow a bit, you might want to adjust the hitch and/or move some items around in the TT to put weight to the rear of the TT or more commonly more weight in the front.

You can buy special small scales to weigh your TT's tongue weight, or somewhere on these forums are simple instructions for how to use a basic bathroom scale to find the tongue weight (scale has to be offset, using a board/lever).

If your rig tows safely and you are happy with it, you probably don't need to adjust anything.

Lube the hitch ball, it will last longer. I had some disk bearing grease sitting around, and used that. The 1 pound can not only lubed all my front end bearings for years, also a bit on the hitch ball for another 10 years or so, until I moved, and tossed the can.

AS for transferring weight to the front end, you don't really need to with a pickup, as long as the rear axle can handle the load. The idea is to 'try'. You might transfer about 100 pounds off the rear axle, before you get to the point that the hitch bars are so tight, they will act like rubber brands and handling will degrade a LOT when they are to tight.

With a mid-70's car, it was almost a requirement to transfer weight to the front axle to prevent overloading the rear axle. Same with something like a minivan. Yet a pickup has a strong enough rear axle to handle the load.

10% to 15% is just for planning reasons. Many boats tow very well with only 5% of the weight on the hitch. I once picked up the hitch of a 5,000 pound trailer by myself, I was only 11 years old, and it was not more than about 75 pounds.



Good luck!

Fred.

the 10 and 15 % comes from the total weight of the TT loaded. if you put more weight on the tongue you also run into towing problems.