Tongue weight in Europe is around 7%
I know I am going to get some super experienced folks in the U.S. criticizing tongue/hitch weights being less than 10%, but let's discuss this.
It seems the approach in the U.K. and Europe is to attempt to design and load a trailer such that the majority of the weight is just forward of the axle. Far less concern on the Eastern side of the Atlantic is given to a tongue weight over 7%. In the U.K. a tongue weight of 4% is the legal minimum and the goal is to be in the range of 5% to 7% of loaded trailer weight. Trailer speed limits over there are 60mph maximum and there is less emphasis on weight distribution hitches. The main concern is to not load up a trailer with a concentration of weight in the far front and the far back just to accomplish some goal of a specific target tongue weight. They are more concerned with "yaw inertia" that a trailer with both a heavy front and rear would have and relatively low weight in the center over the axle. The goal, again, is to concentrate the load just as close to the axle as possible and just forward of it such that the tongue weight ends up in the 5% to 7% range.
I tow a really big trailer with a really big diesel truck with a Hensley hitch.
Perhaps this European and English style of trailer weight balancing design accounts for the mysteriously fantastically stable trailer and the mysteriously horrible towing trailer surprises that occur in the experience of some of us who have towed a large variety of trailers here in the U.S. It may be more than just a huge tongue weight that keeps a trailer stable and free from sway.
The conceptual difference is that of holding heavy and equal objects in each hand at arms length and swing your body around, and then try to stop it. Then do the same holding the weights to the chest. You can easily stop yourself from the inertia of the spin when the weights are not concentrated toward the ends of your trailer, but rather toward the center near your chest (trailer axle).
It seems the approach in the U.K. and Europe is to attempt to design and load a trailer such that the majority of the weight is just forward of the axle. Far less concern on the Eastern side of the Atlantic is given to a tongue weight over 7%. In the U.K. a tongue weight of 4% is the legal minimum and the goal is to be in the range of 5% to 7% of loaded trailer weight. Trailer speed limits over there are 60mph maximum and there is less emphasis on weight distribution hitches. The main concern is to not load up a trailer with a concentration of weight in the far front and the far back just to accomplish some goal of a specific target tongue weight. They are more concerned with "yaw inertia" that a trailer with both a heavy front and rear would have and relatively low weight in the center over the axle. The goal, again, is to concentrate the load just as close to the axle as possible and just forward of it such that the tongue weight ends up in the 5% to 7% range.
I tow a really big trailer with a really big diesel truck with a Hensley hitch.
Perhaps this European and English style of trailer weight balancing design accounts for the mysteriously fantastically stable trailer and the mysteriously horrible towing trailer surprises that occur in the experience of some of us who have towed a large variety of trailers here in the U.S. It may be more than just a huge tongue weight that keeps a trailer stable and free from sway.
The conceptual difference is that of holding heavy and equal objects in each hand at arms length and swing your body around, and then try to stop it. Then do the same holding the weights to the chest. You can easily stop yourself from the inertia of the spin when the weights are not concentrated toward the ends of your trailer, but rather toward the center near your chest (trailer axle).
