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Old 07-20-2020, 07:41 PM   #1
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Finally weighed tongue. Oh my!

I have had my tt for about 5 years now and have hated pulling it from day one. I knew the tongue weight has always been on the heavy side but not to this degree. I bought a scale to weigh the tongue and I was setting at 1600 pounds while using an equalizer 1400/14000 wdh. This thing has been white knuckle driving and I’ve absolutely hated it. Now I’ll admit I carry far more stuff in the front storage than probably most people. If you needed something at a campsite, I had it. I just came back in from a trip and going out was normal no fun. While at the campsite I removed the rear outside fridge and walls on inside to find a huge amount of open space in the rear. Needless to say I moved a bunch of stuff to the rear and the return home trip was so much better. I’m guessing the reason they put the fresh water tank on the very end of the rear was to maybe help offset some tongue weight. Is that normal for some of these heavier tongue weight trailers? Trailer is back in storage and once I get some spare time I’ll get another measurement on the tongue weight after shifting stuff around. Tow vehicle is a 2012 F250 diesel so it’s more than capable of this trailer. Hopefully I have another great run on the next time out.
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Old 07-20-2020, 08:10 PM   #2
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Don't know if it's a common thing to put the fwt toward the rear of the trailer. However, I've been told that weight should be distributed throughout the trailer and possibly near the axles of the rig.
Glad you found the cause of your handling problem.
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Old 07-20-2020, 08:17 PM   #3
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Glad you worked it out,Thanks for posting ,
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Old 07-20-2020, 08:37 PM   #4
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What is your trailer?
I've never had *too much* tongue weight in anything I've pulled.
1600 is stout, but seems fine to me.

I'm glad you've found your problem, but I'm confused by it....

I have a 23' trailer that I've heard someone say is notoriously tongue heavy (Rockwood 2306) It has 2 30# propane tanks, 4 bicycles with over-built rack, and 2 L-16 batteries (115# each, I think). The water tank is in front of the axles and always full. I even pack pop, beer, bottled water, etc. under the front couch. I pull it with a 2500 diesel as well. Tracks like a champ.
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Old 07-20-2020, 08:46 PM   #5
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The trailer is a an 832BHIKWS. 32’ long bunk house, island kitchen with wardrobe slide. It has four slides and I have put two golf cart batteries on of course with the two bigger propane tanks. I know being 32’ long is nothing but a wind sale. From bumper to bumper I am a little over 58’ long. Do you think the equalizer is/was too small for it. I fill it’s properly set as the trailer is dead level when hooked and front suspension is back to within an 1/8” with bars on.
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Old 07-20-2020, 08:56 PM   #6
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I have had my tt for about 5 years now and have hated pulling it from day one. I knew the tongue weight has always been on the heavy side but not to this degree. I bought a scale to weigh the tongue and I was setting at 1600 pounds while using an equalizer 1400/14000 wdh. This thing has been white knuckle driving and I’ve absolutely hated it. Now I’ll admit I carry far more stuff in the front storage than probably most people. If you needed something at a campsite, I had it. I just came back in from a trip and going out was normal no fun. While at the campsite I removed the rear outside fridge and walls on inside to find a huge amount of open space in the rear. Needless to say I moved a bunch of stuff to the rear and the return home trip was so much better. I’m guessing the reason they put the fresh water tank on the very end of the rear was to maybe help offset some tongue weight. Is that normal for some of these heavier tongue weight trailers? Trailer is back in storage and once I get some spare time I’ll get another measurement on the tongue weight after shifting stuff around. Tow vehicle is a 2012 F250 diesel so it’s more than capable of this trailer. Hopefully I have another great run on the next time out.
Glad you got it worked out. I’ve had good luck moving around too. I’ve been told to center the weight over the trailer axles, and this has worked well. I have also moved things to the back. I have a huge front pass through storage, and just above that storage under a queen bed. I finally learned, just because it’s there doesn’t mean you should load it up!


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Old 07-20-2020, 10:15 PM   #7
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Seems as though it's a 10k trailer, so 1600# is on the heavy side at, say 16%.
Pretty sure they say, what, 10-12%.
I always prefer more tongue weight, as long as the truck can handle it. Admittedly a "seat of the pants" method. It's served me well.

It does sound like your hitch is set up right. Odd story with mine.. I set it up to spec, on a flat/level floor in an industrial building. First trip, I didn't like the feel, just felt "squirrelly" or "light" in the rear somehow. I have a simple chain-style hitch, so I backed off one link. BOOM, way better. Ran like that for at least a season. Wasn't quite "right" from a level/measurement standpoint though. Always wanted to adjust the head to tighten it about "half a link" worth. Ended up trying it at the proper link count some time later (like I say, a season, maybe more, later). It didn't bother me at all then. Perhaps it was a loading/crap in the back of the truck difference....but now it's "all good".

I'm certainly not going to be a keyboard jockey and tell you "the way it is". That's even as an engineer.... Results are results, and that's what matters. It just all seems odd that monkeying with a couple hundred pounds of crap would make a notable difference on something the scale of what you have. Not that we'd ever be able to know, but is something else going on?

Just as a data point, I'd "loosen" the wdh one setting. Food for thought.
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Old 07-20-2020, 11:20 PM   #8
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What is your trailer?
I've never had *too much* tongue weight in anything I've pulled.
1600 is stout, but seems fine to me.
That's going to depend totally on TV.

1600 will be more than "stout" if your TV is spec'd fro 1,000 max
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Old 07-20-2020, 11:46 PM   #9
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That's going to depend totally on TV.



1600 will be more than "stout" if your TV is spec'd fro 1,000 max
Well......duh.

He did say he had an F250. Not sure what it's rated for, but I'd have no hesitation about it, based on the number, anyway. I'm way under on my numbers (whatever they are), by design. I don't see it as imminent death to everyones family if someone goes over by a little bit either though. My worthless $0.02....
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Old 07-21-2020, 12:33 PM   #10
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I'm at 1,510 tongue weight towing an 8528RKWS at 9,000 lbs with a Tundra so I'm agreeing with Aeblank... "Results are results" and 37,000 miles with no problems to report should be sufficient results. I don't know much about tagalongs, my last one was a KZ Sportsman 21, but I do know an F250 Diesel is clearly capable. My guess would be some type of hitch adjustment is needed.
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Old 07-21-2020, 01:14 PM   #11
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I suspect there is something else going on here. Generally more tongue weight is more stable if your TV can handle it and it sounds like yous can.

Did you ever go to a scale to get real weights and not just tongue weight?

If you are happy now then you may not want to change anything but I suspect you just compensated for some other issue.
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Old 07-21-2020, 01:58 PM   #12
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I took a class on trailer weight. The instructor asked why, if you have two people traveling, you need six chairs. Tell your neighbors to bring their own chairs. Makes sense to me. Rarely do I travel to "the moon" so most things I might need are available nearby.
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Old 07-21-2020, 03:42 PM   #13
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I don’t think the tongue weight has much to do with your poor handling. I have a FR 8315BSS. This unit was terrible to tow, flopped, wobbled and swayed. A white knuckle experience. I switched from 6 ply tires in camper to E rated tires at 80 psi each. It handles really well now I can finally use my cruise and have a relaxing drive. I tow with 2018 Duramax 2500HD.
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Old 07-21-2020, 06:24 PM   #14
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I can’t remember the exacts of what my truck is capable of but I believe I am more than in the good for tongue weight. I’ve got a class V receiver. I did upgrade tires to load range D last year and that did help some but not as much as I would hope for. I couldn’t get load range E because of timing and availability. Had 2 china bombs that cracked really bad on side walls on a trip out and didn’t trust them to go any further. Had tire guy bring four new ones to camp site and change there.
I have yet to pull across the scales. What would be the sequence one would do?
Is it being 32’ long some/most of it? On a no wind day I can boggy down the road with very little sway.
What other hitch adjustments on an equalizer could/should I do if it brought my front suspension back to within an 1/8” and trailer is level?
Being as I am over my wdh capabilities, tongue wise, would that be the cause?
Maybe I’m a terrible driver.�� just kidding. I can drive with the best and back up even better.

Sorry for all these questions.
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Old 07-21-2020, 08:06 PM   #15
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Weighed our TTTW the other day

Weighed our new 2902ws the other day. Sitting at 900lbs nearly ready to camp and will check it once fully ready. Our first trip of the year is right around the corner. Puts me in good shape for GVWR and below the max TW spec’ed for our truck. Only clothes, bikes and food need to go in.

Can’t wait. Our 1st two were cancelled due to COVID.
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Old 07-27-2020, 08:39 PM   #16
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there is a way to use BR scale pretty accurate look it up ol 2 pices of pipe & a 2x4 if u follow it will not break scale have used on 26' boats and they are heavy,its on etrailor.com
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Old 07-27-2020, 08:52 PM   #17
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Our V10 F250 has 2300 lbs payload per the yellow sticker in the door jamb. I wonder how much of that payload is eaten up by the weight of the diesel and related systems. With the tongue weight you describe you very well may be beyond your payload rating.
Just curious about what your yellow sticker says
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Old 07-27-2020, 09:18 PM   #18
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Don’t forget you need to keep your tongue weight between 9%-15% of you total trailer weight for proper handling. Outside of that range, handling will be affective.
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Old 07-27-2020, 10:06 PM   #19
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All the discussion about tongue weight and payload capacity, etc. has made me curious to see what my 2013 Rockwood 8329SS and 2016 Ford F150 would come in at. I know the base dry unit weight is 7150, the base dry hitch weight is 883, base dry axle weight is 6267 and cargo capacity is 1600. I know the base dry weights don't mean a lot as the camper has to be loaded but I typically travel with all tanks empty and minimal load with just my wife and I. The F150 has a 3.5 V6 Ecoboost with the max tow package and 3.55 axle. Truck GVWR-7050, FAWR-3525, RAWR-3800 and cargo capacity 1823. I know its probably listed in a thread somewhere but can someone give me the formula or exact way I am supposed to figure tongue weight ? I have an Equalizer set up and quite frankly the TT tows extremely well at all highway speeds with no sway (except strong cross winds) I can use my cruise control if I would like but don't and I would never try to tackle mountains with this set up, I'm pretty much flat-land traveling. I realize I need to weigh the truck loaded with whatever I would normally carry, weight the truck and trailer together with what I would normally carry and do the math from there. Am I missing something? Thank you.
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Old 07-27-2020, 10:11 PM   #20
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Our V10 F250 has 2300 lbs payload per the yellow sticker in the door jamb. I wonder how much of that payload is eaten up by the weight of the diesel and related systems. With the tongue weight you describe you very well may be beyond your payload rating.
Just curious about what your yellow sticker says

My 2013 RAM 2500 diesel had a 2460 payload.
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