10% TW on an x17z

[Snorin'Sonoran]

I'd like to know if anyone has ever loaded an x17z to capacity and achieved a 10% tongue weight.

We just got back from a weekend trip in the x17z. I ended up buying one of those Sherline tongue weight scales to aid in loading the HTT to the correct tongue weight. The lightest I could get the tongue was 500 lbs.

In order to do this I had to put everything as far back as possible. And I mean EVERYTHING. The dinette table, two small generators, gas can, all luggage... you name it and it was crammed back in the bathroom or near the door.

I've heard about packing a trailer with different ratios of weight over the axle:front:rear. But I haven't ever heard of putting literally everything as far behind the axle as possible. I'm interested to hear some other x17z owners packing strategies and if it's even possible to load this thing to capacity(3500lb) and have a tongue weight of 350 lbs.

[Jopopsy]

Your trailer IS very tongue heavy ... just the nature of it. On the one I had the water heater was mounted in the front; not sure if yours is.

If it's the same as mine was, you can get a valve in place of the water heater plug and empty all the water out of the heater before you get underway. 6 gallons of water, 8.34 pounds per gallon - about 50 pounds of weight reclaimed.

[Jagiven]

10% TW is a bit low. it is recommended to keep the TW between 10-15%. For best handling you should aim for 12-14 percent and no more than 15%.

The lower the TW, you can risk getting into a sway condition. I would recommend adding some weight back up front.

[oldmanAZ]

Be careful with so much weight moved to the rear of your TT. The lighter the tongue, the more likely it is that you will encounter sway. AND, with all that weight moved to the rear of your TT, the sway will have more impact on your TV and be more difficult to control.

BTW, at 500lbs tongue weight, you are at ~15% of your trailer's Gross Weight of 3500lbs. That's at the upper end of the recommended 10% to 15% of the GVWR. You've weighed the tongue, have you weighed the trailer, too?

[Jopopsy]

I'm sorry I read this wrong and I had a preconception based on my own experience w/ my X17z. I was super heavy with just the battery, propane tank, and hot water heater. I was around 13-14% w/o putting a dixie cup in the coach. Perhaps they got lighter as the years went on. Sorry if my post was confusing; 10-15% tongue is definitely a good thing.

[Isaacs]

My trailer is pretty much the same as yours. You don't say what your TV is, but I suspect you're trying not to drag an SUV down too much. I went that route and found that the tongue weight increases dramatically as it rocks forward and gets closer to the ground. It's kind of self defeating--the lower the TV droops, the heavier the hitch gets.

I do have some suggestions. Raise the hitch so you're level when connected; remove the propane tank and/or battery and put them forward in your TV; use a weight distributing hitch if your TV will allow it (mine wouldn't); get airbags to keep the TV from drooping down (they didn't work very well on a Santa Fe); put heavy items like generators into the TV and put any light bulky items into the trailer; take a second vehicle when you camp to help with the load.

Putting a lot of heavy stuff behind the axle in these trailers is probably a bad idea. They can't accept much payload (500 lbs?) due to the single axle and cheesy frame.

I now use a pickup truck to pull mine and have no issues.

[Snorin'Sonoran]

I didn't weigh the trailer for this trip but based on previous trips to the CAT scales I estimated the TT was around 3200 lb. That would put a 500lb tongue at a little over 15%.

I understand the risks of sway with regards to loading. However, if the tongue is at 15% of the trailer weight the tongue isn't light, it's actually on the heavy side of the recommendation. If I load the trailer more evenly I'm around 650 lb on the tongue, which puts the tongue weight at 20%. I don't think this is safe either.

That being said, do you decide if your trailer is safely loaded by where you put the weight or do you base it off of ratio of tongue weight to overall trailer weight? Or both? This seems to be the conundrum with the x17z. If I shoot for the midpoint between 10 and 15% TW(based on my 3200lb trailer) I should be at a TW of 400lb. This doesn't seem possible without all of the weight being loaded to the rear of the TT.

[Isaacs]

The 3200 Lb figure sounds a bit light. Your Dry weight is listed at 3005 Lbs. I would think that the generators and gas would bring it up to 3200. Add luggage and the stuff you normally keep in the cupboards and you're going to be more than that. Assuming your water heater is full, that will add another 50 Lbs. I'm not sure if the dry weight includes your battery.

When you're weighing the tongue, be sure you're weighing it at the coupler, not the jack. You'll probably need a piece of wood cut to a length which will bring the coupler to the same height it is at when it's hooked to your TV and dragging it down.