Position in Trailer vs. Tongue weight

[Markb5900]

I’m am getting near the max tongue weight I want and still have stuff to load in the trailer.
Is my thinking correct that putting weight over the axels (pivot point) won’t add tongue weight?

Thanks

[Jerry713]

It should still add to your tongue weight because your tongue weight is based on a percentage of your overall trailer weight. It may help if you load over the axles some but keep in mind typically there’s not a lot of available cargo weight to begin with.

[craigav]

Keep in mind that if your loading results in less than 10~15% of the trailers total weight on the tongue, that the trailer will become increasingly unstable and even more so as your speed increases. It is hard to know where you are though without weighing the truck and trailer. ~CA

BTW, to answer your question, weight added over the RV's axles doesn't increase the tongue weight and weight added behind the axles reduce the tongue weight. But, keep in mind what I mentioned above.

[OnTheGo]

If the weight was directly over the axle(s), all of it would be carried by the axle(s). Same for the tongue. Some years ago I had a tongue scale in use and asked a neighbor to walk through the trailer. The weight changed with each position he stopped at.

I THINK you can say if the weight is centered between the axle and tongue it would be distributed 50-50.

And as craigav states above if the weight is rear of the axle it will reduce tongue weight (think playground see-saw). Easy solution, but make sure you don't overload your rear axle.

[Jerry713]

Originally Posted by craigav

BTW, to answer your question, weight added over the RV's axles doesn't increase the tongue weight and weight added behind the axles reduce the tongue weight. But, keep in mind what I mentioned above.

If you increase the overall weight of the travel trailer wouldn’t that have an impact on the tongue weight if the tongue weight is 10-15% of the overall trailer weight?

[craigav]

Originally Posted by Jerry713

If you increase the overall weight of the travel trailer wouldn’t that have an impact on the tongue weight if the tongue weight is 10-15% of the overall trailer weight?

It depends on where the increase in the overall weight is located. When you read that a trailer's tongue weight is 10~15%, what it should state is that a trailer should be loaded so that the tongue weight is 10~15% of the trailer's total weight. RV trailers are almost always this way when built, but adding cargo in the front or rear changes this percentage. So you can move some of the load rearward to reduce the tongue weight, but not so much that the tongue becomes too light (<10%). ~CA

[RogerR]

In the past I worried about tongue weight and never considered each side of the axle. In my case I found that quite a bit more weight was on one side which exceeded 1/2 the capacity of that sides tire. I upgraded when I switched to Goodyears which helped but I also moved some stuff to the other side. Jayco kindly put my fresh water tank, water heater, kitchen and pantry all on one side.

One way to cut tongue weight was my switch to lithium battery and moving it under bed on the side.

[Jerry713]

Originally Posted by craigav

It depends on where the increase in the overall weight is located. When you read that a trailers tongue weight is 10~15%, what it should state is that a trailer should be loaded so that the tongue weight is 10~15% of the trailers total weight. RV trailers are almost always this way when built, but adding cargo in the front or rear changes this percentage. So you can move some of the load rearward to reduce the tongue weight, but not so much that the tongue becomes too light (<10%). ~CA

Gotcha 👍

[Jerry713]

Originally Posted by RogerR

In the past I worried about tongue weight and never considered each side of the axle. In my case I found that quite a bit more weight was on one side which exceeded 1/2 the capacity of that sides tire. I upgraded when I switched to Goodyears which helped but I also moved some stuff to the other side. Jayco kindly put my fresh water tank, water heater, kitchen and pantry all on one side.

One way to cut tongue weight was my switch to lithium battery and moving it under bed on the side.

My TT is similar in the right side is heavier than the left and more specifically the right rear axle seems to have the most weight at least according to the hub temps after traveling. My RR hub is always 10-15 degrees hotter than the others.

[Markb5900]

Thanks everyone