Great and informative video. Boy do we get screwed here in Canada. $209 + $30 shipping and 13% tax at Canadian Amazon! Your link for the .com Amazon has it for $124 with free shipping! Over $100 difference in price...WTF!
Thanks for the video mike. I bought a Sherline, and was a bit shocked to see it come in at 600 tongue weight, when our limit is 500, towing with our SUV. I've played around with putting some heavy things in the back, but am concerned about the possible sway effect discussed here. We do a have weight distribution system and had done several trips with no problems at all. Everyone seems to say weight up front is more desirable, but I'm worried about being so far over the tongue weight. Any advice much appreciated.
Don't exceed your vehicles tongue weight. However make sure that you know what your vehicle tongue weight is with a weight distribution system installed. What I mean is, my truck's hitch is rated for a certain load amount , I can't remember what it is right now, but that rating is increased if a weight distribution system is being used. Meaning that I can have a higher tongue weight when using a weight distribution system. Almost all vehicles have two separate hitch ratings based on with or without weight distribution. You definitely want to make sure that the percentage of tongue weight to trailer overall weight is correct. Some reason I think it is as low as 10% of the trailers overall weight and as high as maybe 20%. But again you definitely don't want to go over what your vehicle's hitch is rated for. Hope that helps, good luck. By the way if you're that close to your vehicle's hitch rating you definitely want to pay attention to your cargo carrying capacity of your vehicle you might be getting close to that also
You did a great video a few years back about measuring tongue weight with the Sherline LM 2000. I have a PP3 with SnapPad on my tongue jack ( hard to get off). I would like to measure my tongue weight using the Tongue jack without removing the jack pad foot/SnapPad. I am planning on using a square lynx levelling block between the SnapPad and the top of the Sherline piston as additional support. Would I get a reasonably accurate measurement with this setup?
What I ended up doing is measuring my tongue weight off of the propride receiver Underside. It's a little tricky as you kind of have to do a balancing act in between the two pivot arms with the scales pad but it is more accurate as obviously that's what is being applied on to the truck at the point in which it's doing the force. The problem with using the jack point as you seen in the video with a traditional tongue it's a percentage then that is calculated to figure out what the true weight is on the ball. With all the extra weight that's involved with the propride that formula doesn't work. So, I would just suggest measuring the tongue weight off of the propride receiver
@@Rvdaydream Good point. I read somewhere that I could measure with the stinger in the PP hitch, latched in and making sure the WD hitch bars are set to keep the stinger level, and with the trailer level and chocks in place, measure at the point on the stinger where it would rest in the truck receiver. Would that work based on your setup? __________________
This video just saved a lot of people a lot of heartache, hopefully they take the advice! I'd be curious how much weight comes off the tongue when a weight distribution hitch is in use. Great video!
AnglerX I have a 26’ rv tag along, and my hitch is heavy, got a gmc Yukon to tow it with. I hooked it up and the whole back of the Yukon went down. So I moved the 3 marine batteries to the back of the rv, and the small generator is back there also. The hitch is so heavy that when I connected it last summer the bottom of the hitch dragged the ground. I am hoping the redistribution of weight helps the hitch stay level. I do have anti sway and weight distribution rods but that was to much. Was hoping to find a plug in weight thing so I can weigh the truck and rv
We make all Sherline tools and accessories in our own factory in Vista, California, USA . That's what they're website says. Guess that gives me a good reason not to use the bathroom scale :)
This video is probably going to save a few lives and many more vacations. ( And probably geometrically many more folks from having a heart attack because they had to watch someone else in front of them have that kind of accident.) Thanks A Lot. {Oh, and yet another good reason not to let anyone wander around in a trailer being towed too.}
Wow Mike.. Super informative.. I knew weight changed things but I never knew to what degree.. That fish tail example with the model car really makes you think...I have seen that fish tail action on a guys car pulling a Uhaul. He must have had the light stuff packed in first . Thanks for sharing...
Great review of this product. That fish tailing model/actual at the end really opened my eyes to the impact of weight distribution. Thank you for sharing this :-) Might be interesting to have you positioned in the front, bed, and cargo carrier and have Heidi raise and lower the trailer tongue onto the scale and record the three values. It seems like it has an affinity to stay at the initial weight. That is when you lower to get the weight and then increase weight in those three areas you may not be seeing the same weight as if you were in the bed area/front/cargo and lowered the tongue onto the scale. I'm considering adding additional fresh/waste tanks and maybe even a gas tank as my trailer can accommodate over 3500 pounds of cargo. I'm also mounting a cargo carrier on the back which will initially be used to store 30G (6 5G containers) of gas plus a 50lb generator - about 300lb including the carrier weight. Good thing is I'm installing 4 batteries on the tongue so that should help to counteract the fuel/generator weight. My trailer does not have a hitch so I need some custom welding done where I have plate steel attached to the trailer frame and extended out the rear and just before the bumper extended up and attached to a hitch receiver. The idea is to not use the bumper which would probably fall off and to elevate the cargo carrier high enough that it will not bottom out when boondocking. Do you know who does this sort of work? I'm guessing a local car repair shop can not do this. This is a really awesome video which could save some lives.
I spent some time today working with my WDH and I think my TT may be light as far as tong weight .Been looking at the scales and hope to have one soon. Thanks for the info Mike
IMHO: It's best to try to keep most of the mass of the trailer load closest to, and just slightly forward of the main axel CL.... You DO NOT want to have a lot of mass out toward the far ends of the trailer, (if at all possible!!!... (as seen with your towing model demonstration.)
Very cool video. Thank you wow . By the way my truck tongue weight is 990 is that a good number? I am new to trailering and we are going to buy a travel trailer dry weight is 4425 and payload is 2075 so total 6500 our numbers are not that far from your travel trailer. Am I understanding this correctly? So after all the stuff load up in the TT like water, chairs, table etc etc and as long as I don’t exceed 990 lbs tongue weight am I good? Is that how it work? And the hitch of my travel trailer is 510 is that means I shouldn’t exceed of 510 after loads? Thank you
Tongue weight is just a part of it, you need to find out what your gross combined vehicle weight rating is and what your payload capacity is of your truck. And of course you have to weigh your truck with passengers and everything that you normally haul. There's a few Towing videos that spell that out in more clear terms than what I just did. You definitely don't want to get that wrong.
The model demonstration was interesting but you have to consider not only did they add weight to the back (similar to you sitting on the back) but the weight they added they removed from the front. So for you to duplicate that you would need to remove 250lbs. worth of water THEN sit on the back. So, put a generator on the back and don’t fill your water. Eye opener. Shows just how easy it unwittingly is to change the dynamics.
Personally I think all heavy trailers should have a way to measure tongue weight. Its kind of like driving without any gauges just guessing at everything. Weigh safe does this but I don't like how the trailer bounces on the gauge when driving, they need a way to have the gauge mounted on the hitch but somehow disconnect it when driving.
Great video thanks for sharing. QUESTION: Once your tongue weight is figure with your trailer stocked for travel, should you always pack the same way each trip? What if you decide to travel with a full water tank when you normally don't. I assume the tongue weight will change. I guess what I am trying to ask is, would there ever be a time when you make a change to your WDH because you packed differently? Thank you in advance.
No that's a great question. You may run into a situation where if you have extra tongue weight you're going to of course adjust your weight distribution bars to accommodate the extra weight on the tongue. Remember the weight distribution bars are there to help keep everything level but mainly to place the weight that is lost off of the front of the truck back so that it will stop and steer correctly. You could always play around with the way you load your trailer also if you know you're going to have extra weight on the front. Now with that said if I ran with maybe 15 gallons of water in the freshwater tank which is forward of the axles, it doesn't add that much at the tongue just because of Leverage and the distance from where the weight is actually placed on the back of the truck. And if I decide to run with a full tank of fresh water, which other than short distances I don't recommend because there's really no reason for it, the amount of additional weight that would be supplied to the tongue would be a relatively small percentage of the actual weight difference between let's say 15 gallons and 60 gallons. So to recap packing for your trips you're going to find that once you have all your stuff in the RV especially if you have an RV that's over 25 ft and 6 thousand pounds you're not going to affect the tongue weight that much with what you're putting in side and even with the addition of carrying freshwater it won't affect it that much if you figure out your weight distribution and tongue weight carrying the amount of water that you actually think you would travel with. I think that we could probably get away with 10 to 15 Gallons at the most fresh water when we go on our trips. That is good for showers overnight at Walmart and using the bathroom for a few nights easily. Again, great question :-)
I had a little trouble understanding why the weight is a little higher at jack pad vs at the tongue. Seems like it would be opposite as the weight shifting towards the fulcrum would be slightly lighter. Can you explain? thanks
Leverage.... More force can be exerted the longer the lever... That's why Breaker bars are longer than the shorter ratchets when removing nuts/bolts...
Hello Sir, thank you for making this video. Can I counter balance high tongue weight with a weight distribution hitch? In other words, my generators (sitting in the passthrough compartment of my trailer) adds 300 lbs or so to my tongue weight. Is it safe to tow since I use a weight distribution hitch that is properly set up? Some more information: Trailer UVW 67000 lbs Unloaded Tongue weight 670 lbs Loaded tongue weigh 920 lbs Trailer loaded weight 7000 lbs
Loaded tongue weight should be roughly 10 to 15% of trailer weight. If you're a little over you should still be okay. One thing to watch out for though is some trailer frames can only have a certain maximum weight distribution bar setting. What I mean is that an example was our 1992 Terry travel trailer was 6300 lb fully loaded and we installed a generator on the tongue that made the weight of the hitch approaching an uncomfortable mark for such a lightweight trailer. In the manual for the trailer it said that we could not have weight distribution bars that were rated for more than 750 pounds. Most likely because the A-frame part of the trailer frame was probably able to bend if you went much over that with the bar pressure. Everyone I've ever talked to his always said that it's better to be heavier on the tongue weight then lighter on the tongue weight. At the full seven thousand Pounds your tongue weight could be 1050 lb and still be considered perfectly fine. In our case we relocated our batteries so that the tongue weight would drop slightly.
one of your best illustrations yet its worth the expense and vidio was through good job one question how do you determin the actual tongue weight before you test i see alot variations on the tongues hitches ?
I used to load semi trailers and was taught to put the the heavier materials in the nose and the lighter stuff toward the back. I also was taught to balance out the weight from side to side. I have applied this same principle to the numerous trailers I have owned. It is even more critical with single axle trailers. My dad taught me to apply the trailer brakes on if the trailer starts to sway.
Roy Davis semi are supposed to be loaded different then a rv or a regular trailer. A rv is supposed to be around 10% tongue wait where a semi is around 40/50%
+roydavis If you are applying your methods of front loading a trailer to tandem or single axle bumper pull trailers that is definitely the wrong way to do it. Depending on your tow vehicle bumper pull trailers are typically designed to have 10%-15% of the total trailer weight on the tongue. A properly loaded bumper pull trailer will not sway.
I wanted more weight ahead of the axles than behind, which is why I bought a front kitchen model. I weighed my tongue weight before hitching and it never exceeded 13%. I knew the weight distribution shifted a little back on the axles. I admitted to being OCD about trailer weight.
Hip hop head 905 Thats because of the placement of the semi-trailer kingpin being under the trailer by 3' instead of 3 feet in front of it. Also the truck-tractor fifth wheel plate is over the rear tandem not several feet behind the truck. This set-up makes for a very stable combination
This scale will tell you weight on tongue which is good but no way able to tell if your in the 6-15 % most recommend without knowing the total combined weight of trailer and load so it basically lets you know if your close to exceeding hitch weight maxium.
There's actually a little bit too much involved there. Unless you have access to CAT scales or drive on Feed Store scales. Because if you had access to those you could bring your car and trailer to the CAT scales and drop your trailer in the parking lot drive your car up on the scale and have it wait then go hook up your trailer and drive your car back up on the scale but just so that the car's axles are on the scale and not the trailer and then you could get the weight again and see how much it increased and that would be essentially your tongue weight.
Not sure that you ever weighed your trailer when fully loaded. I’m doing some remolding and I’m concerned about the side to side weight. Any suggestions? If you did a video can you point me to it. Another good job.
John Simone On a trip that we took to Tennessee 2 summers ago I stopped at the cat scales and weighed the truck and trailer. Said the trailer axles were at 5500 pounds. Which sounds about right. Somebody else asked me the same question about the side the side Unfortunately the only way to do it correctly is to have for portable scales. And they are expensive to buy.
Wndering wagners show a good video of how to measure tongue weight using a bathroom scale.. tongue weight is always been recommended as 9-15 percent of the trailers total weight...some people like slightly higher that 15%...personal choice determined by truck size vs trailer
Do you know how to get a trailer out of a bad sway situation. This should be told to everyone who tows a trail but I have not seen it anywhere. " You brake the trailer independent of the tow vehicle". I hope this saves someone from a bad situation.
Actually, the way you get the trailer out of a bad sway situation is to have a vehicle that has a long enough wheelbase incapability to keep it going straight and to load the trailer correctly with the correct amount of tongue weight. If those two things are done there is not a possibility of sway.
@@Rvdaydream both excellent comments, however there is a thing called wind which can actually make a properly loaded trailer sway, the independent brake controller trick has saved me numerous times, and yes on occasion improperly loaded, and also being passed by a fast moving triple trailer semi on a windy day.
My Sherline TW scale (1000lb) shows 100lbs heavier than what my bathroom weight setup shows. Super annoyed and not sure which one is accurate. With all the warnings on how NOT to use this scale, I have a feeling it’s off.
Take it to CAT scales. Or like we used to do we used to local feed store scales. Drive up on the scales and get a weight of just the trailer disconnected from the vehicle with the tongue on the scales. Then reattach your tow vehicle and Pull It Forward slightly so that the tongue overhangs off of the scale pad and then disconnects your truck again and with the tongue on the ground and the rest of the trailer on the scales get a measurement there. The difference should be your tongue weight.
IF YOU ARE PRIVAT .. MOST BATH SCALE CAN TAKE UP TO 200KG / 444 Pound so use a press plate and a 2x2 from weight to hitch.. driving with 500kg on ball is ludacris it vill defently snake easy ..
I'm a little confused by your jack weight measurement. At 16:00 in your audio comments you state the measurement to be 475 lbs. however the gauge clearly shows around 225 lbs. What did I miss?
your getting the right weight when you lower the jack but using it wrong, sorry. you cant get inside and walk to back and get an accurate removal of tongue weight on that design device. its made for measuring positive load and is one-shot, you need to zero between every reading you want. reason? ''stiction'' its like friction, but its sticky...and yes its a real engineering term. the plunger is sticky to the tube from the seal, when you apply pressure to the piston to move it the stiction is minimal against 400lb of tongue weight, but when you remove some or all of that, the only thing to move the piston back up is the spring in the gauge, and that spring wont overcome all of the stiction its the equivalent of slop in gears or backlash on threaded items, very few people have even heard of it as very few people play with hydraulics. LLP
Project 806 Camper I know what stiction is. It's a term that most recently became more popular because of Ford's problem that they have with their 6 liter diesels. Although the piston maybe hanging up slightly, the results that I experienced, when adding weight to the rear of the RV actually would have been more extreme if it wasn't for the "mechanical drag" that kept the higher number on the scale. And the amount that were talking about being off when adding weight to the front or taking weight off after the initial reading would be very minimal. Seeing how the gauges accuracy is plus the minus 50 lb I would say I might have experienced another 20 to 50 pound inaccuracy at the most. Again I did multiple readings to come to those conclusions. You're correct on your summation of how the Jack should be used. That's why I made a point to explain how I was receiving best results by taking multiple measurements. But having that other DIY channel and making so many repairs I found, for reasons of RUclips, If I was to add all that extra information to the video, Not only would it make it longer than it already was, which I thought was too long, but it would have added confusion for the majority of the viewers that video was targeted towards. If I get enough feedback about this, or questions concerning multiple readings, I will address it in a future video. 👍😁
Myron Benware I read a lot of reviews on that one and apparently it does have issue with being inaccurate. One of the reasons is scales do not like to be subjected to jolts. A hitch is always subjected to jolts. The other issue is it works on the same Principle as the scale that I have in my video and controlling the temperature in which the scale is exposed to is much harder to do when it's on the back of your truck vs the scale that I use that can be kept indoors. The last issue is that I can measure my tongue weight on my trailer without having to hook up my truck to do so.
Actually no. It says right on the side of every trailer manufactured how much your RV weighs empty. At that point check your tongue weight. Then calculate the weight of stuff you put inside your RV.. then recheck your tongue weight. Or better yet go to the scales once your trailer is loaded. This isn't a one-time thing. Unless you put the exact same stuff in the exact same spot every single time and you don't ever travel with any kind of water in the fresh water tank black water tank or grey water tank. It's always varying. Our travel trailer is a 2020 and we have been to the scales with it at least 7 times because things are different just from one trip to the next.
you don't need any.... Take the trailer to scales that will allow you to disconnect and measure weights... Once you know you'll be fine..as long as you dont make any changes.. Fifth Wheels are more forgiving on load requirements..
A M Not everyone can comprehensively at the same rate..some have a hard time processing instructions verbally or visually so I over elborate for that reason and so I don't have to answer a large influx of question in the comments section... thanks for watching answers feel free to fast forward over the sections that are too slow, that's what's I do..😁👍
WAIGHT OVER THE AXELS.. .. and the Things in the Basket On the FISTALING was not FASTEND!!! .. and I HAD BREAKED... NEVER ACELLERATE... IT´S an OSSILATION TAKE ENERGY AWAY AND YOU OSSILATION STOPS...
I've been thinking for a while about getting a scale for my new travel trailer and this video convinced me to do so.
Great vid and very informative. The demo regarding weight distribution and the ensuing accident footage was a real eye opener! Thanks very much!
Thank you for watching!! 😁
This product makes a lot of sense to have. It is amazing what the placement of the items in the RV can do as far as the balance of the Trailer.
Great and informative video. Boy do we get screwed here in Canada. $209 + $30 shipping and 13% tax at Canadian Amazon! Your link for the .com Amazon has it for $124 with free shipping! Over $100 difference in price...WTF!
Thanks for the video mike. I bought a Sherline, and was a bit shocked to see it come in at 600 tongue weight, when our limit is 500, towing with our SUV. I've played around with putting some heavy things in the back, but am concerned about the possible sway effect discussed here. We do a have weight distribution system and had done several trips with no problems at all. Everyone seems to say weight up front is more desirable, but I'm worried about being so far over the tongue weight. Any advice much appreciated.
Don't exceed your vehicles tongue weight. However make sure that you know what your vehicle tongue weight is with a weight distribution system installed. What I mean is, my truck's hitch is rated for a certain load amount , I can't remember what it is right now, but that rating is increased if a weight distribution system is being used. Meaning that I can have a higher tongue weight when using a weight distribution system. Almost all vehicles have two separate hitch ratings based on with or without weight distribution. You definitely want to make sure that the percentage of tongue weight to trailer overall weight is correct. Some reason I think it is as low as 10% of the trailers overall weight and as high as maybe 20%. But again you definitely don't want to go over what your vehicle's hitch is rated for. Hope that helps, good luck. By the way if you're that close to your vehicle's hitch rating you definitely want to pay attention to your cargo carrying capacity of your vehicle you might be getting close to that also
Really good explanation and valuable information. Thanks! :)
Under inflation of tires on one side of trailer will also cause serious fishtailing. ✋
You did a great video a few years back about measuring tongue weight with the Sherline LM 2000. I have a PP3 with SnapPad on my tongue jack ( hard to get off). I would like to measure my tongue weight using the Tongue jack without removing the jack pad foot/SnapPad. I am planning on using a square lynx levelling block between the SnapPad and the top of the Sherline piston as additional support. Would I get a reasonably accurate measurement with this setup?
What I ended up doing is measuring my tongue weight off of the propride receiver Underside. It's a little tricky as you kind of have to do a balancing act in between the two pivot arms with the scales pad but it is more accurate as obviously that's what is being applied on to the truck at the point in which it's doing the force. The problem with using the jack point as you seen in the video with a traditional tongue it's a percentage then that is calculated to figure out what the true weight is on the ball. With all the extra weight that's involved with the propride that formula doesn't work. So, I would just suggest measuring the tongue weight off of the propride receiver
@@Rvdaydream Good point. I read somewhere that I could measure with the stinger in the PP hitch, latched in and making sure the WD hitch bars are set to keep the stinger level, and with the trailer level and chocks in place, measure at the point on the stinger where it would rest in the truck receiver. Would that work based on your setup?
__________________
This video just saved a lot of people a lot of heartache, hopefully they take the advice! I'd be curious how much weight comes off the tongue when a weight distribution hitch is in use. Great video!
AnglerX I have a 26’ rv tag along, and my hitch is heavy, got a gmc Yukon to tow it with. I hooked it up and the whole back of the Yukon went down. So I moved the 3 marine batteries to the back of the rv, and the small generator is back there also. The hitch is so heavy that when I connected it last summer the bottom of the hitch dragged the ground. I am hoping the redistribution of weight helps the hitch stay level. I do have anti sway and weight distribution rods but that was to much. Was hoping to find a plug in weight thing so I can weigh the truck and rv
We make all Sherline tools and accessories in our own factory in Vista, California, USA . That's what they're website says. Guess that gives me a good reason not to use the bathroom scale :)
Is this the best and least expensive scale to measure our tonge weight with? Will it break if we store it outside in the New England winter? Thanks
Make sure you know how to use your brake controller, and to use a distribution hitch with sway control.
This video is probably going to save a few lives and many more vacations. ( And probably geometrically many more folks from having a heart attack because they had to watch someone else in front of them have that kind of accident.) Thanks A Lot. {Oh, and yet another good reason not to let anyone wander around in a trailer being towed too.}
hotdrippyglass 😁👍
Wow Mike.. Super informative.. I knew weight changed things but I never knew to what degree.. That fish tail example with the model car really makes you think...I have seen that fish tail action on a guys car pulling a Uhaul. He must have had the light stuff packed in first . Thanks for sharing...
Great review of this product. That fish tailing model/actual at the end really opened my eyes to the impact of weight distribution. Thank you for sharing this :-)
Might be interesting to have you positioned in the front, bed, and cargo carrier and have Heidi raise and lower the trailer tongue onto the scale and record the three values. It seems like it has an affinity to stay at the initial weight. That is when you lower to get the weight and then increase weight in those three areas you may not be seeing the same weight as if you were in the bed area/front/cargo and lowered the tongue onto the scale.
I'm considering adding additional fresh/waste tanks and maybe even a gas tank as my trailer can accommodate over 3500 pounds of cargo. I'm also mounting a cargo carrier on the back which will initially be used to store 30G (6 5G containers) of gas plus a 50lb generator - about 300lb including the carrier weight. Good thing is I'm installing 4 batteries on the tongue so that should help to counteract the fuel/generator weight.
My trailer does not have a hitch so I need some custom welding done where I have plate steel attached to the trailer frame and extended out the rear and just before the bumper extended up and attached to a hitch receiver. The idea is to not use the bumper which would probably fall off and to elevate the cargo carrier high enough that it will not bottom out when boondocking. Do you know who does this sort of work? I'm guessing a local car repair shop can not do this.
This is a really awesome video which could save some lives.
I spent some time today working with my WDH and I think my TT may be light as far as tong weight .Been looking at the scales and hope to have one soon. Thanks for the info Mike
Its also VERY IMPORTANT to weigh the whole trailer once it is loaded for the trip....BEFORE weighing the tongue weight...
IMHO: It's best to try to keep most of the mass of the trailer load closest to, and just slightly forward of the main axel CL.... You DO NOT want to have a lot of mass out toward the far ends of the trailer, (if at all possible!!!... (as seen with your towing model demonstration.)
Very cool video. Thank you wow . By the way my truck tongue weight is 990 is that a good number? I am new to trailering and we are going to buy a travel trailer dry weight is 4425 and payload is 2075 so total 6500 our numbers are not that far from your travel trailer. Am I understanding this correctly? So after all the stuff load up in the TT like water, chairs, table etc etc and as long as I don’t exceed 990 lbs tongue weight am I good? Is that how it work? And the hitch of my travel trailer is 510 is that means I shouldn’t exceed of 510 after loads? Thank you
Tongue weight is just a part of it, you need to find out what your gross combined vehicle weight rating is and what your payload capacity is of your truck. And of course you have to weigh your truck with passengers and everything that you normally haul. There's a few Towing videos that spell that out in more clear terms than what I just did. You definitely don't want to get that wrong.
Thank you so much
The model demonstration was interesting but you have to consider not only did they add weight to the back (similar to you sitting on the back) but the weight they added they removed from the front. So for you to duplicate that you would need to remove 250lbs. worth of water THEN sit on the back. So, put a generator on the back and don’t fill your water. Eye opener. Shows just how easy it unwittingly is to change the dynamics.
Personally I think all heavy trailers should have a way to measure tongue weight. Its kind of like driving without any gauges just guessing at everything. Weigh safe does this but I don't like how the trailer bounces on the gauge when driving, they need a way to have the gauge mounted on the hitch but somehow disconnect it when driving.
Great video thanks for sharing. QUESTION: Once your tongue weight is figure with your trailer stocked for travel, should you always pack the same way each trip? What if you decide to travel with a full water tank when you normally don't. I assume the tongue weight will change. I guess what I am trying to ask is, would there ever be a time when you make a change to your WDH because you packed differently? Thank you in advance.
No that's a great question. You may run into a situation where if you have extra tongue weight you're going to of course adjust your weight distribution bars to accommodate the extra weight on the tongue. Remember the weight distribution bars are there to help keep everything level but mainly to place the weight that is lost off of the front of the truck back so that it will stop and steer correctly. You could always play around with the way you load your trailer also if you know you're going to have extra weight on the front. Now with that said if I ran with maybe 15 gallons of water in the freshwater tank which is forward of the axles, it doesn't add that much at the tongue just because of Leverage and the distance from where the weight is actually placed on the back of the truck. And if I decide to run with a full tank of fresh water, which other than short distances I don't recommend because there's really no reason for it, the amount of additional weight that would be supplied to the tongue would be a relatively small percentage of the actual weight difference between let's say 15 gallons and 60 gallons. So to recap packing for your trips you're going to find that once you have all your stuff in the RV especially if you have an RV that's over 25 ft and 6 thousand pounds you're not going to affect the tongue weight that much with what you're putting in side and even with the addition of carrying freshwater it won't affect it that much if you figure out your weight distribution and tongue weight carrying the amount of water that you actually think you would travel with. I think that we could probably get away with 10 to 15 Gallons at the most fresh water when we go on our trips. That is good for showers overnight at Walmart and using the bathroom for a few nights easily. Again, great question :-)
I had a little trouble understanding why the weight is a little higher at jack pad vs at the tongue. Seems like it would be opposite as the weight shifting towards the fulcrum would be slightly lighter. Can you explain? thanks
Leverage.... More force can be exerted the longer the lever... That's why Breaker bars are longer than the shorter ratchets when removing nuts/bolts...
Hello Sir, thank you for making this video. Can I counter balance high tongue weight with a weight distribution hitch? In other words, my generators (sitting in the passthrough compartment of my trailer) adds 300 lbs or so to my tongue weight. Is it safe to tow since I use a weight distribution hitch that is properly set up?
Some more information:
Trailer UVW 67000 lbs
Unloaded Tongue weight 670 lbs
Loaded tongue weigh 920 lbs
Trailer loaded weight 7000 lbs
Loaded tongue weight should be roughly 10 to 15% of trailer weight. If you're a little over you should still be okay. One thing to watch out for though is some trailer frames can only have a certain maximum weight distribution bar setting. What I mean is that an example was our 1992 Terry travel trailer was 6300 lb fully loaded and we installed a generator on the tongue that made the weight of the hitch approaching an uncomfortable mark for such a lightweight trailer. In the manual for the trailer it said that we could not have weight distribution bars that were rated for more than 750 pounds. Most likely because the A-frame part of the trailer frame was probably able to bend if you went much over that with the bar pressure. Everyone I've ever talked to his always said that it's better to be heavier on the tongue weight then lighter on the tongue weight. At the full seven thousand Pounds your tongue weight could be 1050 lb and still be considered perfectly fine. In our case we relocated our batteries so that the tongue weight would drop slightly.
Really good simulation. I'll bet that guy who lost control had much of his weight in the rear of the trailer & behind the rear tandem axle
I'll bet he had a rather large load in his pants at the end of all that..
one of your best illustrations yet its worth the expense and vidio was through good job
one question how do you determin the actual tongue weight before you test i see alot variations on the tongues hitches ?
gerard Thanks! The baseline is what the Mfg says the tongue weight is...
I used to load semi trailers and was taught to put the the heavier materials in the nose and the lighter stuff toward the back. I also was taught to balance out the weight from side to side. I have applied this same principle to the numerous trailers I have owned. It is even more critical with single axle trailers. My dad taught me to apply the trailer brakes on if the trailer starts to sway.
Roy Davis semi are supposed to be loaded different then a rv or a regular trailer. A rv is supposed to be around 10% tongue wait where a semi is around 40/50%
+roydavis If you are applying your methods of front loading a trailer to tandem or single axle bumper pull trailers that is definitely the wrong way to do it. Depending on your tow vehicle bumper pull trailers are typically designed to have 10%-15% of the total trailer weight on the tongue. A properly loaded bumper pull trailer will not sway.
I wanted more weight ahead of the axles than behind, which is why I bought a front kitchen model. I weighed my tongue weight before hitching and it never exceeded 13%. I knew the weight distribution shifted a little back on the axles. I admitted to being OCD about trailer weight.
Hip hop head 905 Thats because of the placement of the semi-trailer kingpin being under the trailer by 3' instead of 3 feet in front of it. Also the truck-tractor fifth wheel plate is over the rear tandem not several feet behind the truck. This set-up makes for a very stable combination
Hip hop head 905 what are we waiting for
Thank you for thr very informative video
This scale will tell you weight on tongue which is good but no way able to tell if your in the 6-15 % most recommend without knowing the total combined weight of trailer and load so it basically lets you know if your close to exceeding hitch weight maxium.
how would you use this to measure tongue weight a trailer that is already attached, like with a car trailer.
There's actually a little bit too much involved there. Unless you have access to CAT scales or drive on Feed Store scales. Because if you had access to those you could bring your car and trailer to the CAT scales and drop your trailer in the parking lot drive your car up on the scale and have it wait then go hook up your trailer and drive your car back up on the scale but just so that the car's axles are on the scale and not the trailer and then you could get the weight again and see how much it increased and that would be essentially your tongue weight.
Not sure that you ever weighed your trailer when fully loaded. I’m doing some remolding and I’m concerned about the side to side weight. Any suggestions? If you did a video can you point me to it. Another good job.
John Simone On a trip that we took to Tennessee 2 summers ago I stopped at the cat scales and weighed the truck and trailer. Said the trailer axles were at 5500 pounds. Which sounds about right. Somebody else asked me the same question about the side the side Unfortunately the only way to do it correctly is to have for portable scales. And they are expensive to buy.
Great job, that was a real eye opener.
Can you do a comparison between the bath scale and the Sherline? Also how do you determine the best tongue weight?
Wndering wagners show a good video of how to measure tongue weight using a bathroom scale.. tongue weight is always been recommended as 9-15 percent of the trailers total weight...some people like slightly higher that 15%...personal choice determined by truck size vs trailer
I used a screw jack with a flat plate, you can screw the scale to a perfectly level trailer 😎👌
Do you know how to get a trailer out of a bad sway situation.
This should be told to everyone who tows a trail but I have not seen it anywhere. " You brake the trailer independent of the tow vehicle". I hope this saves someone from a bad situation.
Actually, the way you get the trailer out of a bad sway situation is to have a vehicle that has a long enough wheelbase incapability to keep it going straight and to load the trailer correctly with the correct amount of tongue weight. If those two things are done there is not a possibility of sway.
@@Rvdaydream both excellent comments, however there is a thing called wind which can actually make a properly loaded trailer sway, the independent brake controller trick has saved me numerous times, and yes on occasion improperly loaded, and also being passed by a fast moving triple trailer semi on a windy day.
I would be curious about the effects on a single axle trailer
Very informative. Great video. I will be ordering one of these.
My Sherline TW scale (1000lb) shows 100lbs heavier than what my bathroom weight setup shows. Super annoyed and not sure which one is accurate. With all the warnings on how NOT to use this scale, I have a feeling it’s off.
Take it to CAT scales. Or like we used to do we used to local feed store scales. Drive up on the scales and get a weight of just the trailer disconnected from the vehicle with the tongue on the scales. Then reattach your tow vehicle and Pull It Forward slightly so that the tongue overhangs off of the scale pad and then disconnects your truck again and with the tongue on the ground and the rest of the trailer on the scales get a measurement there. The difference should be your tongue weight.
More work to do how about side to side axel weight?
Not able to measure that effectively without 4 real portable scales..I really want to know that too..
It’s interesting that none of the RV dealerships that I’ve contacted in my area, sell these 🤔.
Link is in the description
@@Rvdaydream I know but I was looking to get one locally.
Could you use that bathroom scale to see what the difference might be? If any?
Gilbert Bourdon I could be my driveway wasn't so soft and uneven.. the Bathroom scale trick requires a bit more of elaborate set up..
IF YOU ARE PRIVAT .. MOST BATH SCALE
CAN TAKE UP TO 200KG / 444 Pound
so use a press plate and a 2x2 from weight to
hitch.. driving with 500kg on ball is ludacris
it vill defently snake easy ..
I'm a little confused by your jack weight measurement. At 16:00 in your audio comments you state the measurement to be 475 lbs. however the gauge clearly shows around 225 lbs. What did I miss?
Bad camera angle....you are seeing the 200 mark from the inner scale which is the metric reading
225 kg is 475lbs
Great video, very interesting!
Why did you multiply by .95
Online instructions for calculating estimated tongue weight Based on where the jack was placed as compared to being placed in the ball socket...
your getting the right weight when you lower the jack but using it wrong, sorry. you cant get inside and walk to back and get an accurate removal of tongue weight on that design device. its made for measuring positive load and is one-shot, you need to zero between every reading you want.
reason? ''stiction'' its like friction, but its sticky...and yes its a real engineering term. the plunger is sticky to the tube from the seal, when you apply pressure to the piston to move it the stiction is minimal against 400lb of tongue weight, but when you remove some or all of that, the only thing to move the piston back up is the spring in the gauge, and that spring wont overcome all of the stiction
its the equivalent of slop in gears or backlash on threaded items, very few people have even heard of it as very few people play with hydraulics. LLP
Project 806 Camper I know what stiction is. It's a term that most recently became more popular because of Ford's problem that they have with their 6 liter diesels. Although the piston maybe hanging up slightly, the results that I experienced, when adding weight to the rear of the RV actually would have been more extreme if it wasn't for the "mechanical drag" that kept the higher number on the scale. And the amount that were talking about being off when adding weight to the front or taking weight off after the initial reading would be very minimal. Seeing how the gauges accuracy is plus the minus 50 lb I would say I might have experienced another 20 to 50 pound inaccuracy at the most. Again I did multiple readings to come to those conclusions. You're correct on your summation of how the Jack should be used. That's why I made a point to explain how I was receiving best results by taking multiple measurements. But having that other DIY channel and making so many repairs I found, for reasons of RUclips, If I was to add all that extra information to the video, Not only would it make it longer than it already was, which I thought was too long, but it would have added confusion for the majority of the viewers that video was targeted towards. If I get enough feedback about this, or questions concerning multiple readings, I will address it in a future video. 👍😁
There is a hitch with a scale built in to it.
Myron Benware I read a lot of reviews on that one and apparently it does have issue with being inaccurate. One of the reasons is scales do not like to be subjected to jolts. A hitch is always subjected to jolts. The other issue is it works on the same Principle as the scale that I have in my video and controlling the temperature in which the scale is exposed to is much harder to do when it's on the back of your truck vs the scale that I use that can be kept indoors. The last issue is that I can measure my tongue weight on my trailer without having to hook up my truck to do so.
Thank you so much for this informative video!
Thk u
So this device is pretty much useless if you don't know how much your trailer weighs correct. PS thanks for the video
Actually no. It says right on the side of every trailer manufactured how much your RV weighs empty. At that point check your tongue weight. Then calculate the weight of stuff you put inside your RV.. then recheck your tongue weight. Or better yet go to the scales once your trailer is loaded. This isn't a one-time thing. Unless you put the exact same stuff in the exact same spot every single time and you don't ever travel with any kind of water in the fresh water tank black water tank or grey water tank. It's always varying. Our travel trailer is a 2020 and we have been to the scales with it at least 7 times because things are different just from one trip to the next.
I wonder how many of these gadgets I need to buy- I live in a fiver and don't have much space.
you don't need any.... Take the trailer to scales that will allow you to disconnect and measure weights... Once you know you'll be fine..as long as you dont make any changes.. Fifth Wheels are more forgiving on load requirements..
Please don't drag the explanation out so....far..... Other than that, nice!
A M Not everyone can comprehensively at the same rate..some have a hard time processing instructions verbally or visually so I over elborate for that reason and so I don't have to answer a large influx of question in the comments section... thanks for watching answers feel free to fast forward over the sections that are too slow, that's what's I do..😁👍
+RVdaydream Cool.
WAIGHT OVER THE AXELS.. .. and the Things in the
Basket On the FISTALING was not FASTEND!!! .. and
I HAD BREAKED... NEVER ACELLERATE... IT´S an OSSILATION
TAKE ENERGY AWAY AND YOU OSSILATION STOPS...
Awesome video! Thank you!