Is Your Trailer Tongue Weight Too Heavy?
Contents
Tongue weight is nothing related to dentistry or the human mouth. I’m actually talking about the towing term that people who tow trailers will be quite familiar with. It basically refers to the force downwards towards hitch applied by tongue. With a trailer tongue weight too heavy, you will find that the tow vehicle’s steering is highly affected.
And that is why the whole tongue weight matter is so big of a deal. However, with some knowledge on this issue, you can easily adjust the weight. Let’s know everything important related to this today, keep on reading…
With Trailer Tongue Weight Too Heavy, Here’s What You Need to Know.
According to many reliable sources on towing, we were able to find out that people fall into serious trouble when they don’t mind much about various important weight and limitations that surround it. This eventually makes them lose full control of the trailer.
And so, rides on rough roads or when driving downhill, the chances of meeting a mishap becomes pretty high. That’s exactly why you should not avoid educating yourself about this whole topic, let’s get into it.
The Thing About Hitch & Tongue Weight!
When someone gets into knowing more about trailer weight, there will be more than a few other significant terms to be aware of. One such significant term is hitch weight. And people believe it is definitely different than tongue weight.
However, both are actually the same thing in reality. They refer to the downward force a bumper-pull trailer puts on the hitch.
Pin weight is the matching term for fifth-wheel and gooseneck trailers. Their load rests on a kingpin or ball in the truck bed rather than on a rear hitch ball.
Figure Out Your Ideal Range for Trailer Tongue Weight.
Being aware of your trailer tongue weight is pretty good. But if you don’t know much about the ideal weight range, then you’re only half safe. Both of these ranges are what helps you keep things under safety accounts.
To find out the ideal weight range, you need to be aware of trailer’s loaded weight. You can get in touch with a commercial weighing station. They should help you obtain this information pretty easily. And in case you already know the cargo weight, then things will be easier. You just now need to find out the total weight of the loaded trailer. And that’s simply the sum of empty trailer’s weight and your total cargo mass that you’re planning to carry along.
After this discovery, you can determine the ideal tongue weight through percentages. For a conventional ball-hitch trailer, tongue weight should be 10% to 15% of the total loaded trailer weight, meaning the trailer plus its cargo.
For example, if your loaded trailer weighs 5,000 lbs., tongue weight should be between 500 and 750 pounds. Your vehicle and each hitch part also carry their own tongue weight rating, and the lowest one sets your limit.
If You Don’t Know the Tongue Weight in Your Case.
We will discuss both cases of a smaller and heavier trailer. For the smaller one, you can use a regular bathroom scale to find out weight. Just make sure hitch ball and scale are maintaining the same height. You can use a cinder block or any tiny box to get this right. After this, gradually and with caution place the trailer’s tongue right on scale. And you should find the tongue weight.
Now if it’s about a much heavier trailer, then one standard bathroom scale won’t be able to handle it. This time you’ll need some different methods for weight calculation. Some will end the hassle by simply getting a tongue weight scale meant to take these measurements. And then there’s a route for those who don’t mind spending extra time and effort for a simple setup using the very same standard bathroom scale.
You will also need a 2-by-4 that is cut with a length of 5 or 6 foot. Also, get 2 pipes and brick. One pipe will lay right across the scale. While the other one will go across brick. You need to place the scale and brick in such a way that there is exactly 3 feet of difference between pipes. Now it’s time to place the 2-by-4 across both pipes. You also need to ensure the trailer tongue and tow vehicle’s hitch ball are supported within same height.
Now place both the hitch-height support and tongue on 2-by-4. Make sure there are exactly 2 feet of distance between the pipe laying across scale and tongue. Also, it needs to be 1 foot apart from the pipe that is laying across brick. Get the weight that you can see on scale. You need to multiply this figure by 3. And that’s the tongue weight you need to work with.
Finally Making Adjustments
Now that you have found out your trailer tongue weight, is it more than the ideal range? Well, don’t worry, you can figure out how to reduce tongue weight on a trailer. It’s actually pretty simple and straightforward.
You just need to adjust the cargo’s position. If tongue weight is above 15% of the loaded trailer weight, or above any rating for your vehicle or hitch, shift some cargo from the front toward the axle or just behind it. Do this gradually so that the whole weight distribution is done properly and no one place has to bear too much load at a time. This also allows the trailer’s axle to carry weight better.
This tongue weight adjustment is no rocket science. You just need to give the thing a few tests and trials until whole weight seems to be evenly distributed. And it will make no steering or towing issues by the end.
Wrap Up
Now you know everything about trailer tongue weight too heavy issue and also the right way to solve it. Before each and every trip, you should spend some time calculating your tongue weight. Maybe you are not traveling much far. But it’s still better to keep the whole thing under check.
Also, if possible, get yourself a special tongue weight scale for accurate measurement. The whole process with the bathroom scale is quite tiring for regular usage. Being aware of the whole weight distribution hitches will also make things much easier for you.
Sources
- Trailer Towing (U.S.A. and Canada), Mazda CX-50 Owner's Manual
- Installation Manual 13470, CURT Manufacturing
