A few trailer helpful hints

I honor of rick deere's post about problems with his trailer I thought it might be helpful to post some helpful hints, debunk some myths, and offer some advice where I can. My creds in this area, for those who don't know, come from being a welder for nearly 20 years before I became a truck driver. Part of what I did was design, build, repair and maintain trailers for my customers. I've built many dozens of trailers and seviced and maintained even more.

So, if you don't mind I'll start with Rick's problem today. If you like what you read I'll tackle more things later, maybe one subject at a time. If you have questions or comments or disagree with what I say feel free to say it.

The problem with the trailer whipping around the truck, or " the tail waggin the dog", comes from not enough tongue weight. Other things like worn suspension, inadequate or under-inflated tires, poor alignment, tow vehicle problems, can all aggravate a low tongue weight problem and make it worse, but that is NOT the root cause of the problem. If you have enough tongue weight you can have any or even all those problems and the trailer will still follow straight behind. It may dog track and pull hard, but it won't whip the truck. If you have marginal tongue weight, then add one or more of those things, it can be enough to push you over the line. Make sure that you are not confusing instability from over loading the tow vehicle with the trailer whipping the truck. They are similar so make sure you know which you have before you go making changes.

So, how do you determine proper tongue weight? Well that is a complex calculation and is different with every tow vehicle/trailer/load combination. So lets start with ricks. He says he has a 3 axle trailer with brakes on one axle. That tells me they probly are 3,500 lb axles giving him a 10,500 lb trailer. He pulls it with a 1/2 ton pickup. The first thing to figure out is how much tongue weight you want. There are lots of "rules of thumb" out there for this. One poster said 2" drop at the bumper, another said 9-15%. Both are correct, but incomplete. There are others too, but the truth is that it varies hugely depending on the vehicler/trailer combo and personal preference. For that truck you want to get to about 750-1,000 lbs at fully loaded, but for a 1 ton dually you might want 2500 lbs, and for a small suv you would need to limit it to 500 lbs. You will want to stay pretty close to the vehicle recommendations because they tend to get mushy in the tires and suspensions if you go much over rated.

Keep your ball as close to the differential as possible too. I have seen some hitch bars, especially the adjustable ones, that get a long way back. Even a few inches makes a big difference here. Do yourself a favor and throw the adjustable stuff away and buy a hitch bar for each job.

On hitch height the goal is to pull the trailer level when fully loaded. Lots of folks set their rig up to pull level when empty, then when they get loaded they are in a front down situation which can cause problems. To get the right hitch height, decide what tongue weight you want and put that much weight on the bumper area of the tow vehicle and get a hitch measurement. Then jack the trailer so it's level and get one there too. Don't forget to subtract about 2" from the trailer height for spring and tire sag. Then get a hitch bar to match. This will give a nose up ride when empty, but level loaded which is where it's important. It also gives a good way to tell when your properly loaded because your trailer will be level.

After you've done that, then your ready to look for other things that can contribute, but I think I'll stop here for now. As I said, feel free to ask questions or add comments, if you think it's been helpful I'll do another subject later.

Additional tip on this subject for stock trailors. Especially a bumper hitch. If not filling the trailor full of livestock, and hauling a partial load, always use the center gate. Lock appropriate amount in front of the center gate with the remainder behind the center gate. Livestock can and will move around during transport. If a partial load all move to the back when center gate is not used, you will no doubt be in a dangerous situation. Reluctant to say I had this happen and it was all I could do to avoid a wreck. I was hauling about 3/4 of a full load, and I really did think there was enough cattle on the load to not get in that situation. But I was wrong, and won't ever make that mistake again. Bad part about livestock is you can't unload and make your load right after you have went down the road a ways. Make sure you are loaded right before you pull out on the road. I really hope this prevents a few people from doing the same thing is the only reason I am putting this on here. Never assume, and always use the center gate when hauling a partial load.

Jon, well thought out piece of work, WELL DONE!

When you get done with this maybe you would write something on properly securing a load. A friend helped a guy the other day go and get a IH 706 tractor. Guy wanted to tie it down with a couple of 2" ratchet straps. One for each end. I know the MNDOT enforcement officer in my area has been writing tickets for that stuff plus it endangers anyone on the road around them.

Rick

A gooseneck can get kinda hairy at times due to that, too. Especially on gravel. A dozen cattle can even get a tandem semi with a single axle spring-ride trailer rocking pretty good.

Very well written and thoughtful.

You bet. I have since up-graded to a gooseneck from a bumper a few years after the incident mentioned above. I do believe a bumper hitch can make a pick-up be way more squirly. I believe the bumper hitch has more leverage on the truck when things go south because it gets more leverage on the truck being fastened to the ball on the bumper. But absolutely, the same affect can happen on goosenecks, and the same rules apply. I load my gooseneck just as a bumper hitch should be loaded. Always use the center gate to even the load out right.

Jon..
I always read your posts. No matter the topic, I always learn something from you. On the topic of trailering, I see in your DC photo you made up a unique tie down point for the front end. Any chance of a close up and some direction on building them. You can post over on the Case forum since its pretty specific.
Thanks again for all you do for all of us.

The only thing we use ratchet straps on is hay.

All equipment gets chains and boomers.

That said, I have seen some things "tied down" with ratchet straps that I thought were absolutely unsafe.

The soft suspension and passenger-rated tires on a 1/2 ton pickup can also turn a borderline setup into a whipping death machine.

It is generally a good idea to have weight distribution and sway control bars installed between the truck and trailer when towing heavy. Factory receivers on 1/2 ton pickups only have a 500lb tongue weight capacity, UNLESS you use a weight distribution hitch to increase it to 1000lbs.

mkirsch, Not all so called 1/2 tons are created equal, my F-150 has a max tongue wt. of 1150 lbs., max payload of 3060lbs., a max GVWR 8200lbs. and load range E tires from the factory. Just saying, Chuck

I didn't put them on there and don't like them. They will be coming off soon.