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Bouncy Trailer
EW, I was trying to use simple plain language, by 'tongue' I meant the distance from the coupler to the centerline of the suspension. If you look at two equal length trailers side-by-side, one for a boat, one for a car, you will see that the suspension is much farther back on the boat trailer, nearly at the back in fact.
Most boat trailers don't have a tongue by the conventional way of thinking. The frame merely converges to a coupler. If you look at most boat trailers from a purely design perspective, they don't have anywhere near as much "tongue" as a regular trailer since the forward tip of the boat is actually really close to the coupler. Some of the larger boat trailers have a telescopic tongue feature that allows you add as much as 10' to a trailer to aid in launching.
Best of luck.
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Bouncy Trailer
Wow, this thread really got hot! Very entertaining!
Really seems simple to me. A EMPTY trailer can't change the tongue weight at all, either high or low, it's built in with the axle placement.
Once you have a load on the trailer, simply change the height to what works best with a LOAD.
I have a 18' Mac Lander 12,000 trailer I pull with my 2002 Ford F-150 FX4. It does ride rougher when empty, little bumps aren't soaked up.
Since I have a air bag system installed, I will pump it up so the rear of the truck rides high when EMPTY to see if it is better. When LOADED I run level.
ksmmoto
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Bouncy Trailer
Whoa!--not so fast there buddy...
"A EMPTY trailer can't change the tongue weight at all, either high or low, it's built in with the axle placement."
>>>That's true if a.) the trailer is a fully a flat bed and b.) it has no ramps, tailgate, racks, spare tire holder, etc. or anything else of appreciable weight/ and or height sticking up above the trailer frame that could change the center of gravity---and the taller the item is the worse the effect on center of gravity i.e., tongue weight. I know from experience that ramps on an equipment trailer have a different effect on tongue weight just based on where they are "locked" for travel (all the way forward or leaning backward). (For example if you were to mount a heavy wooden pole standing vertically anywhere on the trailer and you raise and lower the tongue, the weight on the tongue would change. Now, pretend you are pulling this trailer with the pole down a washboard roadway---the trailer would be rocking fore and aft as would the truck. This effect is still happening to a fully flat bed trailer to some degree, but you don't notice it.This fore and aft effect is especially felt on tall, enclosed, bumper-pull trailers. I now this since I have a 24' enclosed car hauler that I use a "workshop on wheels" loaded with 4,000 lb. of tools, benches, and a top mounted ladder rackthat raises the CNG a lot to the point it bucks and kicks with the slightest bump and dip in the road.
"I have a 18' Mac Lander 12,000 trailer I pull with my 2002 Ford F-150 FX4. It does ride rougher when empty, little bumps aren't soaked up."
>>>>They are not soaked up by the springs (and even the tires) because of what is called "unsprung weight" of the axles, tires, wheels, springs, etc. which has to be less than the "sprung weight" of the trailer frame UNLOADED or LOADED to not bounce. All that weight under the trailer frame literaly forces the lighter frame up as basically it is working as one solid unit rather than two smaller independent units working against each other. There's a whole lot more to this than I care to write, but that's it in a nut shell.
"Since I have a air bag system installed, I will pump it up so the rear of the truck rides high when EMPTY to see if it is better. When LOADED I run level."
>>>>No,no, no. Now you have introduced a whole other problem: now the rear of the truck is going to be stiffer. What you want to change is the shock rate, not the weight carrying ability. Therefore you need adjustable shocks---not "air ahocks" or "air bags" or "spring assisted shocks" which literally lift the suspension. For years I used Rancho 9000 Air-Adjustable-on-the-fly shocks with stock springs on my Dodge pickups. My buddy who had a bone-stock Ram like mine could only go 6-9 mph over washboard sand dunes. I could with my 9000's go as fast as 40mph over the same sand. It was absolutely amazing and astounding that changing only the shocks would allow that. And since they are adjustable from the cab you can control the fronts or rears separately. 8 years ago they were about $600 for a full set including the read-out gages, air compressor and lines. Well worth the money though.
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Bouncy Trailer
Folks,
Having spent over 20 years in the transportation safey field and having investigated 100's of major crashes, I can state from experience that you never run your tires under inflated. How many times have driven down the highway and come across tire strips from tractor-trailers -- why - tire fatigue? Under inflated tires, regardless of axle or vehicle size, is the number one cause of tire fatique/failure. The reason the trailer is bouncy, is as mentioned no weight on an axle without shocks. Slowing down is the only method to maintain control.
Sorry for the rant but I would hate to come across you during one of my highway crash scene investigations.
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Bouncy Trailer
There is a range of safe tire inflation and it is based on the load the tire is carrying. Read the door panel on your car or pick-up.
I am not suggesting "under-inflating" the tire. I am saying there is really no reason to carry a full 60 psi in those load range D's if your 2000 pound, empty weight trailer, is unloaded and each tire is asked to support only 500 pounds instead of the loaded weight of 1750 pounds each.
When my flatbed is unloaded and running at full tire pressure, only the center 1/3 of the tread will even touch the ground. It cannot hurt to deflate a bit just so you get the entire tread width to engage the road surface.
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I agree with Rankin about lowering the presssure to promote even tire wear. On my Ram diesel 4x4 which is extremely front-heavy compared to the rear, I have to run 20psi lower pressures in the rears (90psi fronts). Otherwise the centers wear out.
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