Article On Tongue Weight Dynamics

[minke]

This is the first time I've read an explanation of the dynamics of tongue weight. A teaser quote: “ Tongue weight serves as a proxy measurement for the center of gravity (CG) of your loaded trailer. You want the CG — the imaginary point on the boat/trailer combo where the whole thing would balance ...”. The article is located at: Setting Up A Hitch For The Perfect Tow - Trailering - BoatUS Magazine

[Captleemo]

Its Howdy Doody Time.

[minke]

Originally Posted by Captleemo

Its Howdy Doody Time.

I was in the "peanut gallery" an awfully long time ago.

[Rzrbrn]

Article is ok as far as it goes. For a more in depth discussion go to the Casita Forum and enter various related entries for tongue weight, hitch weight etc. Some very good and important stuff.

Also buy a Sherline scale and read the directions carefully. I used it one time and almost had a heart attack. My hitch weight should have read abt 400 lbs, instead it read 900 lbs.

Next day I read the instructions in more detail and realized I had forgotten to put up the stabilizers and also pumped the tongue jack up higher than my TV hitch ball. These things sent the hitch weight way, way up.

Ideally your hitch weight should be between 10% and 15%, better to be a bit more than a bit less.

Also after you hitch up stand back and look at your rig. Should be as level as possible. That is you should be able to stretch a line from your TV front bumper to the back of you trailer and it should be straight/flat as possible. If there is an anticline or syncline, readjust.

[Carl V]

One interesting article about trailer stability is this one:
Caravan dynamics

Many concepts well explained. Mostly about euro trailers, but since most of our FG trailers are relatively lightweight, sometimes towed by smaller vehicles, I think a lot of info in this article is relevant. And the laws of physics are supposedly the same everywhere.

[Joe Romas]

Here's an article titled "Understanding Ball Mount Angle"

It bothered me for years that I didn't know why the ball mount on a WDH could be angled and this article explains it well.

Hint: It's not to change the ball height


http://www.rvhotlinecanada.com/deale...unt-angle/169/

Joe

[minke]

Originally Posted by Joe Romas

Here's an article titled "Understanding Ball Mount Angle"

It bothered me for years that I didn't know why the ball mount on a WDH could be angled and this article explains it well.

Hint: It's not to change the ball height


Hitch Hints: Understanding Ball Mount Angle (44.2)

Joe

Thanks. That was very interesting.