Equal weights??

ACZL wrote:
He just bought a new BH TT (brand I don't recall) and towing it with a burb. Has Anderson WD hitch and sway control.

Says he scaled it out and then asked me if the weight on trailer axles are supposed to be the same as axles or rear axle on the burb.

I could not give him an honest answer other than need to be level. Could you folks enlighten me and educate me please. Seems odd that a 5er yanker would be asking this.

That is an odd question he has, not sure where he found that info or tried to rationalize it.

You said the camper has "axles", meaning more than 1 axle. Assuming it is a tandem axle trailer (2 axle), those 2 axle weights are independent of the front and rear axle weights on the Suburban. And if he managed to split the trailer axles on 2 different scales, the front and rear axle on the camper can be different. They are not always the same, infact when using a WD hitch, often the front axle has more weight when the WD hitch is engaged and hooked up then when the WD hitch is not engaged/hooked up.

On the Suburban, the front axle and the rear axle most likely will differ also. This all depends on the loaded tongue weight of the camper, how much cargo is in the Suburban and where it is located, and how the WD hitch is adjusted. While the camper tongue weight is held by the truck, the WD system helps remove some of the weight off the back of the truck added by the trailer and puts it back on the front axle. You mentioned the Anderson WD hitch, if it is this one https://andersenhitches.com/Catalog/andersen-nosway-weight-distribution-hitch.aspx

And he has a heavy tongue weight, that style WD hitch does not move as much weight to the truck front axle as a more conventional spring bar hitch does. Not sure what your buddy is seeing on the weights and what he is trying to figure out. We would need more as to the context was of his question to help better.

Bottom line, the truck axles have their own ratings for max load and so does the trailer have its own ratings for max load. They do not need to be all the same, and while not impossible, most all other times, all those axles have different loaded weights and that can be OK.(as long as all of them are at or under the mfg'ers ratings)

Hope this helps

John

Tell him yes, and watch him try to figure out how to make that work.

Mike

jdc1 wrote:

valhalla360 wrote:


Never heard of the idea that the truck rear axle should correlate to the trailer axle weights...how would you do that towing a 500lb utility trailer with a 6000lb truck?

LOL. I think he meant the 500# trailer weight dispersement would be 160# at each of the three axles....2 TT and 1 truck axle.

No.

If that's the case, then it's a flat out NO. Should be 12-15% on the hitch for standard travel trailer.

Evenly distributed, a modest size 10,000lb trailer would have 3,333lb added to the rear axle. That's more than even 5th wheels which typically run 20-25% on the hitch.

valhalla360 wrote:


Never heard of the idea that the truck rear axle should correlate to the trailer axle weights...how would you do that towing a 500lb utility trailer with a 6000lb truck?

LOL. I think he meant the 500# trailer weight dispersement would be 160# at each of the three axles....2 TT and 1 truck axle.

No.

corvettekent wrote:
That would be no.

Uhhh I’ll go with a hard no as well!
Lol
No further comment.

hitch weight should be around 12-15% of the trailer weight.

Weight on the rear axle of the tow vehicle is what ever it is including the hitch weight (assuming you don't exceed the weight limits on the axle or overall truck)

Never heard of the idea that the truck rear axle should correlate to the trailer axle weights...how would you do that towing a 500lb utility trailer with a 6000lb truck?

That would be no.

Ten to fifteen percent of the TT weight is on the tow vehicle via the tongue. WDH moves some of that to the TV front wheels.

Most of the weight of the TT is on the axles of the trailer.