What can happen without enough tongue weight?
I read most of the posts on accidents (currently in roads and routes)...this one got to me when I saw the fist picture below. It was obvious to me what happened and I posted the following: The motorc...
Forum Discussion
IAMICHABOD wrote:
Having posted the original posts on this I would like to know where you got this information
"They got on I-15 (exit 154) and in less than 1.5 miles (access road on east side) they lost control and slammed into the park semi trailer that was well of the road."
I must have missed it somewhere.
You left off the Apple Valley man and Stoddard Wells road. In one of the videos you can see there is a access road on the east side of the accident putting it between exits 154 and 157. Over the years I’ve hauled a dozen loads without enough tongue weight (trailer not long enough of the movable load) and as long as you stay under 45MPH uncontrollably sway does not start. Yes, getting on at 154 is only an EDUCATED WAG but doubt they traveled any further than that at less than 45 on a Interstate.
That is not a scooter on the back so probably 500+ lbs... put that much weight on the back of even a 30’ TT and see what happens. I’ve hauled 2 dual-sport bikes on the back of a 34’ 5er but 5ers have 20+% pin weight, not 10%. so taking 1000 lbs off the pin does not make them unstable.
*The obvious takeaway of this accident and the reason I posted about it is, DO NOT put a lot of extra weight on the back of a TT, especially a small one. When in doubt about having enough tongue weight I give the steering wheel a L/R wiggle at 40 mph (with my hand on the brake controller). If nothing happens then I’ll pull the load at a higher speed.
