Guys with trailers..how far forward?..Pics added

[MTBLAZER89]

I have an 18' trailer and have never towed my K5 on it before. I'm going wheeling in the morning and I was wondering what guys with common set ups park on the trailer. Right now I have the rear tires right about where the fenders come down. Its dark or I'd get a pic.

 

[Jason4x4]

i got an 18 foot with a 4 foot( I think) dovetail, I have the rear wheels just in front of the dovetail, just where my truck starts squatting.

 

[Avery4jc]

I personally like it to have plenty of tongue weight. Since I'm towing with a 1 ton truck with good load range E tires I pull it pretty far forward on the trailer. I've tried it further back a few times and every time I do so I get a lot of wiggle from the trailer. On one occasion I thought we were going to loose it merging onto the freeway coming home from the coast.
I pulled over and pulled the truck about 12" forward and it pulled straight as an arrow the whole way home.

Every trailer is different but like I said I basically pull forward until there is about 6-12" in front of the tires until they touch the the front of the trailer.

Are you towing with your '89?

 

[MTBLAZER89]

Yeah I'm towing with the Crew Cab. Trailer has no dovetail and the rear tires are right about to the fenders. Front tires are probably a few feet from the front. The suspension on the Crew Cab squatted a few inches where it sits.

Here is the trailer.

 

[nvrenuf]

[picwhore]

Here's mine, 18' trailer and the rear tires are overlapping the trailer fenders.

 

[Big Blzn]

I tow my blazer quite a bit and i believe the rule of thumb is to have about 65-70% of the weight forward of front axle on the trailer. Keeps the trailer from fishtailing like Avery said. Maybe I have a pic of mine. Nope pics are on my work computer and I can post up tomorrow if you like. If at all you have a fishtail action just pull the truck a bit more forward.

 

[MTBLAZER89]

Mine is pretty close to yours John. I think my trailer has a bit more deck forward of the axles. My tires are pretty wide so I can't come much farther forward without parking on the trailer tires

My Crew Cab has pretty stiff rear suspension and it is squatting a bit so I know I have a good amount of tongue weight.

 

[Avery4jc]

On another note you might want to look into putting a weight distribution setup on the trailer down the road. I borrowed my friend's trailer (chevysmithz71 on here) and I've used it with and without the distribution setup and it's night and day.
Here is where I set my k10 when using his trailer with the weight distribution torqued down.

This is from our last trip (it's the only pic I have of the setup so sorry it's far away) and as you can see this is about as far back as I like to go.

 

[cybrfire]

Another good way to judge it is watch the tail end of the tow rig at the fender. When the tire to fender clearance drops around an inch or a hair more, you've got some good tongue weight. Tune from there.

 

[twoslo4five0]

mine is about 15 meet back of the tongue mine is a goose and the axles have been moved to put more weight on the pin

 

[Big Blzn]

OK, now here's mine. (From my post above). There is about an inch of squat on the truck and it is an 84"x15' 10K lb car trailer. Tows great too.

 

[nvrenuf]

Looks good to me, if it pulls good at hwy speed let'r fly.

Btw, that K5 is just plain secksy!!

 

[blueblazes44]

Love that K5 Big Blzn!

 

[ktmoutfront]

I put load levelers and sway control on mine. Jimmy and the trailer together wieghs 10,000 lbs. My insurance requires the added controls if over 9000 lbs to cover me in an accident. My agent tows all the time and showed me the stipulation in the policy. CYA.......

 

[Russell]

Typically want approx 10% of your overall trailer + truck weight on the tounge of the trailer. If you're hauling 10 000lbs, you'll want 1000 lbs on the hitch, hauling 1000 lbs, you want 100 lbs on the hitch etc.

I have a 16 foot car hauler that I haul my K5 with, and I put it as far forwards as it'll go, makes the truck squat a bit, but I'd rather that than have the trailer start wagging the back end of my truck around.

 

[jt512]

Typically want approx 10% of your overall trailer + truck weight on the tounge of the trailer. If you're hauling 10 000lbs, you'll want 1000 lbs on the hitch, hauling 1000 lbs, you want 100 lbs on the hitch etc.

I have a 16 foot car hauler that I haul my K5 with, and I put it as far forwards as it'll go, makes the truck squat a bit, but I'd rather that than have the trailer start wagging the back end of my truck around.

Exactly what he said , as others have also stated , wieght distributing hitches will make a world of difference as well. The 10% rule is a great starting point, I tow loads from 6k to 12k for work and approx 20k miles of my annual mileage is towing and I can say from some tense trips I would rather be a little heavy on the tounge as opposed to being too light.

 

[MTBLAZER89]

Well it towed just fine today where I had it loaded. I'll update this post tomorrow with pics where I had it.

Only problem is my trailer doesn't sit level. I have a 6" drop hitch and could probably use an 8" to sit level. Any recommendations that won't break the bank?

 

[MTBLAZER89]

Ok here are the pics of my K5 loaded.

 

[twoslo4five0]

if it didnt sway let it ride.i have a adjustable hitch for like 14 inches of drop if your interested.trouble is its only 7k rated

 

[mtnman210]

When dealing with load on the trailer it's a 60/40 split. So you'd watn 60% f your load weight forward of the center of the 2 axles and 40% weight behind that point. Thats ideal. But like stated each trailer is different as well as each tow rig. And in some cases you don't have much room for adjustment. Like my rig, I've only towed it on the trailer a few times but it's pretty wide. So I can only pull it as far forward as to where the rear wheels on the truck are touching the back of the fenders on the trailer. It kinda worked out since thats actually about right where I want it.

I'll see if I can dig up a picture of it loaded up
and just for reference:
towrig: 95 chevy dually crew cab long bed
trailer:14' deck 4 foot dove
trail truck: full bodied K5 with big block caddy, 1tons, lots of tube work, 40in tires.