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Old 04-17-2019, 03:53 PM   #1
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Need Help With My Blue Ox-Ford Numbers

These are what I have. Did I do this right? I'm thinking the red is over and I need more adjustments. However I did just find out I had the wrong hitch head on my sway pro and it is supposed to be for an underslung. Am I on the right track though? Was this a total waste of time and money with the wrong hitch head?
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Old 04-17-2019, 09:35 PM   #2
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Your tongue weight is somewhere around 1200 lbs. That is a lot for a F150. With 6 links you restored virtually all of the weight back to the front axle. I would not go 5 links. I don't think there is much more you can do to stop your rear axle from being over. Maybe you can shift some weight inside the trailer to the back of the unit to lighten the tongue a bit?
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Old 04-18-2019, 05:03 AM   #3
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I have about 350 lbs of corn bags in the bed at the tailgate. I can move them forward in the bed or take a few out. How did you calculate, based on my numbers, 1200 lbs tongue weight? What did I do wrong?
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Old 04-18-2019, 05:16 AM   #4
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First off did you get the correct hitch for the type of coupler you have? Did you measure right during setup?
Is the top of the ball on the hitch the same height or 1 inch higher than the trailer coupler? Did you start out on the 9th link during setup? Are your chain brackets 29” back from the coupler? These are just a few questions to see if you need to start from scratch before you start chasing your tail.
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Old 04-18-2019, 05:20 AM   #5
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To get true tongue weight, you have to take difference between truck weight only and tuck and trailer weight with wdh not engaged (no chain tension) which you don't show here.
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Old 04-18-2019, 06:36 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by mopwr4me2003 View Post
First off did you get the correct hitch for the type of coupler you have? Did you measure right during setup?
Is the top of the ball on the hitch the same height or 1 inch higher than the trailer coupler? Did you start out on the 9th link during setup? Are your chain brackets 29” back from the coupler? These are just a few questions to see if you need to start from scratch before you start chasing your tail.
I measured right on every aspect you mention. As stated in my OP, I have the wrong hitch head for an underslung coupler. I'll be getting that today. So, I doubt it will have any effect on the numbers other than the amount of links I start with since the difference is a 7 degree angle up for the bars. I'm no engineer though, so we'll see what it brings. I'll install and get a bunch of numbers from the Cat Scale tonight.
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Old 04-18-2019, 06:53 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by fonzie View Post
To get true tongue weight, you have to take difference between truck weight only and tuck and trailer weight with wdh not engaged (no chain tension) which you don't show here.
Will do that this afternoon when I get the new hitch head.
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Old 04-18-2019, 07:52 AM   #8
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I measured right on every aspect you mention. As stated in my OP, I have the wrong hitch head for an underslung coupler. I'll be getting that today. So, I doubt it will have any effect on the numbers other than the amount of links I start with since the difference is a 7 degree angle up for the bars. I'm no engineer though, so we'll see what it brings. I'll install and get a bunch of numbers from the Cat Scale tonight.


Sorry I did see that you put that in there I just spaced out when I was writing. Getting the new head will definitely help. Hopefully it all works out for you once you get that. Good luck [emoji106]
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Old 04-18-2019, 04:07 PM   #9
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Do you have to haul the 350 lbs worth of corn bags? That's a lot of extra weight on the rear axle. Pretty much anywhere you put it in the bed it will go on rear axle weight.


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Old 04-18-2019, 07:24 PM   #10
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A portion of the tongue weight is being transferred back to the trailer axles. I estimated a couple of hundred lbs.
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Old 04-18-2019, 09:35 PM   #11
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Do you have to haul the 350 lbs worth of corn bags? That's a lot of extra weight on the rear axle. Pretty much anywhere you put it in the bed it will go on rear axle weight.


Mike
No I don't. Today I put 150 lbs of the corn in the passenger seat since I didn't have my dad with me. I left 200 in the bed and I am still high. I disconnected the trailer on the scale and put my truck alone on the front pad, the tongue on the middle pad and the trailer tandems on the last one. My truck weight 6220, the tongue weighed 1240 and the trailer axles were at 6420. I've taken out all of the corn, filled the fresh water tank (which is aft of the axles) and I'm going to weigh it again. I just ran out of energy about 10 minutes ago!
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Old 04-18-2019, 09:43 PM   #12
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Cool

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A portion of the tongue weight is being transferred back to the trailer axles. I estimated a couple of hundred lbs.
Yep, my best loaded numbers were with 3 links showing (10th one down from the end) They were 3260 steer, 3840 rear (still 40 over GAWR) 6740 on the trailer. As stated above, I ditched the corn for our short 100 mile trip tomorrow and filled the fresh water tank with 40+gallons. I hope to weigh it along the way since that will realistically be how I will normally travel. Might have to put my DW aft of the rear axle too!
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Old 04-19-2019, 12:11 AM   #13
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Curious what bars you have. Since you returned full weight to the front I dont thinking will matter. I had similar issues and ended up removing tools from the truck and trailer to get it to work...I still have to weigh to make sure I did not over pack again.

1200 is very heavy tongue weight. Why is it so high?
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Old 04-19-2019, 03:20 AM   #14
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Curious what bars you have. Since you returned full weight to the front I dont thinking will matter. I had similar issues and ended up removing tools from the truck and trailer to get it to work...I still have to weigh to make sure I did not over pack again.

1200 is very heavy tongue weight. Why is it so high?
That is the question of the day!

I have the 1500LB bars.

Dry specs show 871 "hitch weight" from Rockwood's sheet. The previous owner did install a tool box on the tongue between the body and the propane tanks. It has one battery inside. Other than the power tongue jack and a Fastway flip thingy for it, there doesn't appear to be anything extraordinarily heavy up front added other than our cups, plates etc (mostly paper).
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Old 04-19-2019, 05:33 AM   #15
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Dry specs from the manufacturer are never right. Mine ended up being almost 60 lbs more than what the manufacturer posted as the dry weight. Propane tanks if full will add 40 or so pounds ea. Depending on what size tanks you have. Battery can add 50-70. Tool box empty depending on size could add 20-40 lbs. and add anything that you may have inside stored and I could see you hitting the 1240lbs pretty easy.

How high was your ball over the tongue height? This is where I went wrong with my setup. I was at the same height actually just a little under so I ended up going to the next hole up and turned out that was my issue. I called them to make sure I was doing the right thing and they walked me through it over the phone. Great people to deal with. I know this may not be your issue but just want to through it out there for you. Good luck I hope you get this thing figured out.
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Old 04-19-2019, 06:00 AM   #16
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Dry specs from the manufacturer are never right. Mine ended up being almost 60 lbs more than what the manufacturer posted as the dry weight. Propane tanks if full will add 40 or so pounds ea. Depending on what size tanks you have. Battery can add 50-70. Tool box empty depending on size could add 20-40 lbs. and add anything that you may have inside stored and I could see you hitting the 1240lbs pretty easy.

How high was your ball over the tongue height? This is where I went wrong with my setup. I was at the same height actually just a little under so I ended up going to the next hole up and turned out that was my issue. I called them to make sure I was doing the right thing and they walked me through it over the phone. Great people to deal with. I know this may not be your issue but just want to through it out there for you. Good luck I hope you get this thing figured out.
My ball was 1-1/4 higher than the coupler when the trailer was level.
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Old 04-19-2019, 07:13 AM   #17
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My ball was 1-1/4 higher than the coupler when the trailer was level.


Well son of a $&!@“ I’m at a loss. Have you tried to call them to just make sure there is something you are not missing or off the wall thing you didn’t think of?

I feel for you on this. I have the sway pro and I really like it I hope you can get that thing dialed in.

Tim
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Old 04-19-2019, 07:20 AM   #18
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Well son of a $&!@“ I’m at a loss. Have you tried to call them to just make sure there is something you are not missing or off the wall thing you didn’t think of?

I feel for you on this. I have the sway pro and I really like it I hope you can get that thing dialed in.

Tim
I talked with a gentleman at Blue Ox which is how I determined out of the box that I had the wrong hitch head for an underslung hitch. I changed it yesterday. With 3 links showing it was a pretty comfortable ride home from the scale. Now, I have a full tank of water and 90% of my cargo is in the back closet. Corn is back in the barn! I intend to hit a scale this morning and will report back on Sunday or Monday since I can't stand typing on my phone.
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Old 04-22-2019, 05:15 AM   #19
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Didn't hit the scale yet.

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I talked with a gentleman at Blue Ox which is how I determined out of the box that I had the wrong hitch head for an underslung hitch. I changed it yesterday. With 3 links showing it was a pretty comfortable ride home from the scale. Now, I have a full tank of water and 90% of my cargo is in the back closet. Corn is back in the barn! I intend to hit a scale this morning and will report back on Sunday or Monday since I can't stand typing on my phone.
Drive out wasn't that great but I had a 25mph cross wind. It was not fun. Drive home Sunday morning was much better with a very light crosswind. Still haven't weighed it with the empty pickup bed and water in the tank but I'm looking for suggestions on how I might reduce my tongue weight regardless. Ford recommends 10% and I've seen anwhere on here up to 15%. I am well over that.
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Old 04-22-2019, 08:43 AM   #20
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Just a thought but Where does your fresh water tank sit? In front or behind the axle?

The norm for TW is usually between 10-15%. Most manufacturers say 10%

Tim
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