Weight distribution in trailer?

rbpru wrote:


My point is, the 1200 lbs of stuff that was added to the dry weight of my TT has an assigned spot. Not a lot of room to "balance" the load.

That's true, you are limited on most items normally carried in a travel trailer. You do have hundreds of pounds of water to play with, so that may be an option.
If you have a trailer that just cannot be balanced with the proper hitch weight, you have two option; camp in the driveway or get a better designed trailer.

The dry weight to scale weight on my TT is about 1200 lbs. How can you distribute it?

The propane goes in the tanks on the hitch, so does the battery. The food goes in the fridge or pantry. The toiletries and towels go in the bathroom closet, pots, pans, dishes etc. go in the kitchen cabinets, clothing goes it the closests and drawers. Finally tools and equipment in the storage hold.

My point is, the 1200 lbs of stuff that was added to the dry weight of my TT has an assigned spot. Not a lot of room to "balance" the load.

jmtandem wrote:

How do you get the weight distributed correctly in the trailer? What are the signs that it is not? If a trailer is porpoising.. is that too much in front? Sway.. too much in rear? Any info would be appreciated!

Go to the scales. Be sure you have approximately 13 percent of the total trailer's weight on the tongue. That is it, that simple!

You got it. Simplified.

Also road conditions will cause proposing which cannot be entirely eliminated. Specifically concrete highways where the joints have curled over time. In this case, the only thing that helps is to adjust your speed to reduce the purposing.

How do you get the weight distributed correctly in the trailer? What are the signs that it is not? If a trailer is porpoising.. is that too much in front? Sway.. too much in rear? Any info would be appreciated!

Go to the scales. Be sure you have approximately 13 percent of the total trailer's weight on the tongue. That is it, that simple!

Thanks for the replies. The sway and porpoising is nothing significant but there is a little bit. I believe my TV is adequate.. 99 2500 Cummins.

I can get fairly level hooked up. And when I measured.. the height variance at my wheel wells with weight distribution bars hooked up is about an inch.



When I had the trailer inspected I had them weigh the tongue.. it was 850# (dry) if I remember correctly. I will pick up a scale soon to see where I'm at loaded. The kitchen/pantry is up front and bedroom/storage is in back. Water tank is under sofa before the axles but usually travel with it empty. I need to get the trailer weighed while loaded. I believe dry weight is 6500 according to tag.

My weight distribution hitch is 800# rated. I usually hook it on the 6th link and have tried the 5th link but like it on 6th.. seems to ride better. I could use some heavier bars.

Truck has a leveling kit installed by previous owner that I plan on removing and i would like to add airbags in rear. I think that will help some. Shocks are Bilstein 5100s and are good.

I was looking to see if there was any rule of thumb for loading and how to distribute inside.

Before Loading the Trailer, Make it level and distribute the weight.
Next I load the trailer as even as I can, More weight may or may not be in the front.
Check the weight distribution again.
If need I raise the bars a little. If still not level, I add spacers in the hitch head and try again.
Now its level. Should always be close from here on.

What brand and model of Weight Distribution Hitch do you have?
I have an Equal-I-zer, so mine may adjust different than yours.

Weight distribution in our TT is rather limited.

The pantry is where it is and can not be moved, the slide is on the left side, the fresh water tank sits over the axle. The only place to store stuff is in the front, under the bed, accessible from the outside.

Unless I want to store them in the bathtub in the back; tools, firewood and all the other stuff we cannot live without, will go into the front storage hold.

You can jockey some weight within the TT but the majority of the weight is going where the manufacturer put the storage space.

Fortunately for us, the manufacturer guessed correctly, our TT tracks quite well.

There are several methods, the most basic is, "Does the tow vehicle handle OK or not." If it does not handle right (steering is loose, slow reaction, porpoising) your set up is not right. You just confirmed that.

Make sure your bars are set tight enough that the tow vehicle and trailer are setting level. If they form a V or a ^, the bars are either too tight or too loose. Adjust them to make trailer and tow vehicle level.

Adjusting your hitch head (tilting) forward or backwards will help in adjusting how tight the bars are, to keep everything level (including the bars).

Measure the height of your tow vehicle bumper (from ground to bumper - mark a spot) at the front and the back. Measure with trailer off, measure with trailer on. The distance the tow vehicle squats show be the same (or near the same) on both the front and the back.

These are the starting points and thing to initially look for.

BUT... porpoising may also be caused simply because the shocks on your tow vehicle are wearing out, or simply not strong enough for tow vehicle with trailer attached.

We had a Chevy mini-van and purchased our pop-up. The configuration porpoused awful. I had more stout shocks put on the van. Problem solved. Use the van and pop-up for another 6 years and had no problems. (No weight distribution at all on that set-up).

Too light a tongue is way more prone to cause issues than too heavy.

I have fully adjustable weight distribution bars (as opposed to a chain where it adjusts in large chunks). If I am off enough to make a difference then I notice I have to crank the bars down too much.
In practice this rarely happens if you use common sense in packing stuff. Keep heavy stuff over the axles, don't have more heavy stuff than you really really need. Fresh water tank being at the front is usually my only issue, but typically I get water once I am near the site.