tongue weight?

[grandpaofthree]

I thought I knew what the "tongue weight" of my trailer is, but now I am not sure. I am ordering a new shank from Equalizer, and to figure out the correct shank I need to know the tongue weight. The only thing stamped on the tongue itself is that tongue weight "should not exceed" 1,950 lbs. On the Forest River website, the specs show the "dry hitch weight" for my Rockwood 8313ss is 848lbs. All along I thought the tongue weight is 850 lbs. Is "dry hitch weight" and "tongue weight" the same thing?

[donn]

Tongue weight in a pull trailer is generally between 12 and 15% of the loaded ready to camp weight. Or the GVWR which ever is more readily available. Order the heaviest shank they sell and you will be just fine.

[grandpaofthree]

Thanks for the reply. The 848 lbs must be right using that formula.

[turbopuppy]

Hold On!
Tongue Weight is NOT a calculation. Use a Scale or people will die. It varies depending on loading and load distribution

The calculation using the 10-15% deal is about keeping the trailer from sway. Too much tongue weight proportional to the trailer makes it unstable and too much tongue weight proportional to the tow vehicle will reduce stearing control, braking, and emergency manuevering. Overloading the hitch could make the parts fail.

So if you are just needing the tongue weight, use a scale.

[SaskCampers]

First don't believe the spec on the FR site, there are some threads on here abt how far off the specs on the site are from the actual trailer specs. Dry hitch weight is for all intents and purposes the tongue weight of the trailer without propane or battery etc and they can add a significant amt of weight to the hitch. What is the GVWR of the trailer? Get a shank rated for that amt + abt 25% more and you will be fine. I run a 15k hitch on ours mostly because the tongue can get over 1k pretty easily and that is the rating on most 10k hitches and the 15k has a tongue weight rating of 1500lbs. Thing is if you are changing your shank because you need a higher weight rating or more drop? If it is for a higher weight rating your spring bars will need to be changed as well in which case you are better to get a new hitch.