Towing

I would weigh the rig empty. Then weigh the rig with side by side. I would try to keep side by side as far forward as possible.

That’s a dinky toy hauler for such a large SxS.
Stuff the buggy in it and see how much the tongue weight is, is about the best suggestion.

samandjohn wrote:
Hello all, just bought my first new toy hauler. I plan on hauling my side by side in the back. I have weight distribution bars and sway bars on a 2 5/16 hitch. Dry weight is 5262 and GVWR is 7,668. This gives me a cargo weight of 2,406. Side by side weighs 1700 lbs. This is my first toy hauler and want to make sure I’m getting the weight and balance correct. Any suggestions for this new guy would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

What is your tow vehicle? I also agree with the get the side by side as far forward as possible. I would consider weighing the Side by side axles and put the heaviest axle forward.

rhagfo wrote:

samandjohn wrote:
Hello all, just bought my first new toy hauler. I plan on hauling my side by side in the back. I have weight distribution bars and sway bars on a 2 5/16 hitch. Dry weight is 5262 and GVWR is 7,668. This gives me a cargo weight of 2,406. Side by side weighs 1700 lbs. This is my first toy hauler and want to make sure I’m getting the weight and balance correct. Any suggestions for this new guy would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

What is your tow vehicle? I also agree with the get the side by side as far forward as possible. I would consider weighing the Side by side axles and put the heaviest axle forward.

Great advice!

Ok, I'll be odd man out.

I would NOT put the SBS as far forward as you can. Especially if you are towing with a 1/2 ton. That's crazy.

Toy haulers are notoriously tongue heavy and you are being told to make it even more tongue heavy. Sorry, but this is the wrong thing to do.

The best thing to do is put it on a scale and load the SBS where your TH has 15% tongue weight and call it good.

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
Ok, I'll be odd man out.

I would NOT put the SBS as far forward as you can. Especially if you are towing with a 1/2 ton. That's crazy.

Toy haulers are notoriously tongue heavy and you are being told to make it even more tongue heavy. Sorry, but this is the wrong thing to do.

The best thing to do is put it on a scale and load the SBS where your TH has 15% tongue weight and call it good.

I've yet to see a rear loading toy hauler (there used to be some with a front loading bay) where the toys sit in front of the axles. So the toy isn't going to increase the tongue weight.

The reason empty toy haulers are tongue heavy is to compensate for the fact the heavy toy will be behind the axles and reduce tongue weight once loaded. The OP is putting a very heavy toy (relative to the payload capacity), so he very likely needs to get the center of gravity of the toy as far forward as possible or he risks being too light on tongue weight.

Of course, we see a toy hauler that is likely maxed out or over weight once loaded (he only as 700lb left after loading the toy), good chance he has an under spec'd truck...so far he has not came back and shared any info on the actual truck or trailer. There is a good chance the tongue weight will push the truck over it's payload.

I do agree with you that actually getting scaled weights makes a lot of sense and 15% would be a good target though it may overload his truck. I wouldn't go under 12% though...starts to become a bit of a game when running everything at max.

The advice on which end of the buggy to load forward is also not something anyone can advise although it may be the right choice, we don’t know.
There ain’t going to be room to load the thing sitting further forward or aft most likely.
Just by the bread crumbs the OP gave (buggy and trailer weights) it is most likely a very large sxs in a small toyhauler. Most likely scenario is it barely fits in there, front to back.
Icbw

op wrote:
Any suggestions for this new guy would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I would load the combo up and make a short run and see how the combo handles.
If it suits your expectations thats great....if it needs attention then is the time to fix that issue(s).

First tho.....As others mention get your trucks unladen axle weights.
Then load the trailer and hitch it all up and get truck and trailer axle weights.
JMO ..anyone who wants to carry weight in their vehicle should know that vehicles unladen separate axle weights. Don't depend on brochure weights.

valhalla360 wrote:

Turtle n Peeps wrote:
Ok, I'll be odd man out.

I would NOT put the SBS as far forward as you can. Especially if you are towing with a 1/2 ton. That's crazy.

Toy haulers are notoriously tongue heavy and you are being told to make it even more tongue heavy. Sorry, but this is the wrong thing to do.

The best thing to do is put it on a scale and load the SBS where your TH has 15% tongue weight and call it good.

I've yet to see a rear loading toy hauler (there used to be some with a front loading bay) where the toys sit in front of the axles. So the toy isn't going to increase the tongue weight.

The reason empty toy haulers are tongue heavy is to compensate for the fact the heavy toy will be behind the axles and reduce tongue weight once loaded. The OP is putting a very heavy toy (relative to the payload capacity), so he very likely needs to get the center of gravity of the toy as far forward as possible or he risks being too light on tongue weight.

Of course, we see a toy hauler that is likely maxed out or over weight once loaded (he only as 700lb left after loading the toy), good chance he has an under spec'd truck...so far he has not came back and shared any info on the actual truck or trailer. There is a good chance the tongue weight will push the truck over it's payload.

I do agree with you that actually getting scaled weights makes a lot of sense and 15% would be a good target though it may overload his truck. I wouldn't go under 12% though...starts to become a bit of a game when running everything at max.

Ya, I understand that. My point was, my 30' travel trailer crushed my 3/4 ton diesel pickup. It is SUPER tongue heavy and it's not even a Th'er. Just a regular old TT. I never have taken a tongue weight so I don't know what it is other than it's super heavy. And it's only 9K loaded. I did weigh that.

I have no idea what the OP is towing his TH'er with, but that size it could be a 1/2 ton? If so, that's going to get ugly with tongue weight.

I would never advise anybody to load even more weight on the tongue (I guess I should say, take less weight off of the tongue) when I don't even know what he is towing with? But that's just me.

Steering control was pretty bad and I was owl hunting with my headlights until I bagged my truck and really hogged up on my WD. It took me many trips to get it just the way I wanted it. Now my truck is dead level with a tiny bit of down hill trailer angle.

That's why I said the best thing to do is weigh the rig and get the 15% tongue weight or whatever is within the trucks payload rating.

The tongue can be offset some with a distribution hitch but too much weight up front will lead too bad handling...same as too much weight on back. I've towed heavy/light, UTVs/ATVs, boats, RVs and you want 10-15% on the tongue. It's a balancing act that may take trial and error.