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Finally retired from Air Force!!!!!! Towing Question

GRINCH

GRINCH

1/2 ton status
Joined
Jan 30, 2001
Posts
1,951
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Location
Helena, MT
Hey all,

I know I've been away for awhile. Been busy trying to retire after 20 years with Uncle Sam. It's easier to get in than it is to get out.

I will be leaving here(Ga.) the 29th of this month and heading to Montana. I will be stopping in St. Louis (day 1) , Sioux City (day 2), Spearfish SD (day 3 & 4) need to rest the blaze and my tired ole body. Then day 5 Bozeman Montana!

Here's my question.

I have a 12' tandem axle trailer with 4' sides on it. I will be loading it up pretty good so where should I put most of the weight ( besides the obvious, over the axles)?
My thinking is if I put most of the weight on the back of the trailer it may tow better and not make the Blaze front end come up. Any thoughts?? See my profile for specs on the Blaze.

Thanks
 
My immediate thought would be to spread the weight out as evenly as possible. and if it is not possible to do that then do what you said put the most weight in the area of the axles, more specifically where your leaf springs meet the actual trailer. (It does have leafs right? Most due run leafs but there are quite a few that dont. i would try to avoid putting most of the weight on the rear due to the fact yor dont want your trailers ass dragging. So all in all i would put the weight out evenly and if that is not possible put the weight in the area your leaf springs cover and be I would be sure to certainly keep side to side weight even.
 
You want a decent amount of weight up front or the trailer will wander around like crazy behind you. I did this on accident and loaded my race car too far back and it amlost caused me to flip the trailer and the Jimmy. Dont put too much up front or like you said it will casue the front end to lift and then you cant steer well. You will want a couple hundred pounds of toungue weight.

Dan
 
Yep. What you said. You want to keep most of the weight from the trailer axles forward, and put the lighter stuff in the back. A good rule of thumb when moving, is to put all the big stuff in first, then fill up the rest of the trailer where ever stuff fits. That way the load is pretty evenly distributed.
 
General rule of towing is that 10% of the total weight of the trailer and it's contents should be on the tongue. Otherwise, as stated above, the tail can start wagging the dog. /forums/images/icons/shocked.gif
 
You know you love it down south at Robins. Just make sure you keep ColoradoK5 on the access list at work.. Good Luck and Thanks for your time..

AIRBORNE!!!

Eat More Mud!
 
They are right. You must have more weight over the tongue. I once totalled a camper because I didn't fill the water tank that just happened to be directly over the front. I was loaded down and thought I wouln't carry that extra 3 or 4 hundred pounds on the last day of my trip. My 5500 lbs trailer had my 7200 lbs Suburban on two wheels back and forth three times before the trailer nailed a guardrail and let us back on all fours. Tail wagging the dog is no Sh!t!! This all started at about 65 mph on the interstate, going downhill, and around a curve. It scared the he!! out of us, but if that guard rail hadn't knocked off the trailer, we surely would have went over and been much worse off. As it was, we were all ok, just scattered our stuff all over the interstate. I don't guess about tongue weight anymore when towing. Take it to a local weight station and verify empty axle weight on all axles and then verify you have enough tongue weight after it is loaded.

BTW
I am still in and along your route so let me know if I can help along your trip. I am near your day 3-4 stop. Let me know.
 
To keep the front end from lifting, you use equalizer bars (a weight distributing hitch setup). It often will not work with surge brakes though.
 
I work as a welder/fabricator for a place that makes trailers. When our trailers come out of the powder coating oven, a sticker is placed on the fender above the centerline of the axle that says "Place 60% of weight ahead of this point". On tadem axle trailers, the sticker is placed in line with the center of the middle spring hanger. Hope that this helps....And if ya'all are ever in the area and need a trailer of ANY kind, Check out Best Trailer Inc. in Grass Valley, CA . /forums/images/icons/laugh.gif
 
No I didn't. Time to head back to the mountains and the best hunting and fishing in the world. If you have a problem getting to CK5 give Howard a call at 7-1840 and tell him I said to open it up.

Dennis
 
Thanks for all the info Everyone. I was just concered cause all of the previous talk about towing with the shackle flip.

Hey 73Heavyd,
Thanks for the offer to help if needed. Hopefully I won't !!!!

Will be on-line at most stops. Just hope I get there in one piece and no probs with the blaze.
 
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