Weight Calculations
My son has a Dutchman (24QB)24' 4500 lb TT. He wants to haul a 300lb motorcycle on the back of the trailer. How much will that motorcycle decrease tongue weight?
Forum Discussion
JIMNLIN wrote:Gooseneck & 5th Wheel trailers have a different geometry from bumper pulls as they are shooting for 20-50% of the weight on the hitch
Looks like your experience with owning and pulling rv and working non rv trailers has been different than mine. Before making claims about my trailers suspensions you need to do some home work prior on what trailers I have and see the different suspension setups out here on non rv trailers. Their not all the same.
My 38' GN triaxle stock trailer and other flatdecks suspensions are set up no different than big 5th wheel/toy haulers for 15-25 percent hitch weights. Even my 18' and 22' bumper pull car haulers suspensions are set up as a TT with 10-15 percent hitch weight. I bought them this way so they can be pulled with a heavy duty 3/4 ton truck.
Your point of non rv trailer suspension set ups has been made before but in the real world not all are as you claim. Sure we have various types of non rv trailers that their suspensions are set farther aft which....but not all are as such.
That 200+ lb was a measured weight number on the hitch from the 2200 lb bull. All my trailers are pulled level.
A teeter totter principle of a center balance point is a poor example of how suspension work on trailers especially with multi axles. Point is adding 300 lbs on the back of the tandem axle trailers rear bumper won't make the hitch weight lessor the same amount.
The actual suspension system doesn't make much difference unless you get wildly out of level in terms of calculating the hitch weight. If it's running level and there is nothing wrong with the suspension, the weight should be pretty close to evenly distributed between the axles and the teeter totter analogy still applies.
Give us the dimensions on your cattle trailer including the position of the bull. I'll give you 1000-1 odds, the calculations make it quite obvious why you saw only 200lb come off the hitch with no consideration of the suspension type only the spacing between the center line of the axles and the hitch/bull.
