Loading a Triaxle Trailer

Bill from Scotland · Nov 7, 2018

I'm away to collect a timber crate which measures 8 foot long x 6 foot wide and 4 foot high, weight 1.3 ton. I plan to put this on a triaxle trailer towed by a small SUV. Now I know this is a tiny load for you guys and the equipment you have in the US but here in Scotland its a little different. Ill be near my UK TOW limits with the equipment I've got here. The trailer is around 16 foot long. My question is where best to place the crate on the trailer:

directly over the axles or closer to the front of the trailer?

Any thoughts or suggestions welcome.

DIM · Nov 7, 2018

They say you want 10 percent if trailer weight on the hitch

jon f mn · Nov 7, 2018

1/3 forward of the axle center is usually close. You end up with 2/3 centered over the axle and 1/3 split between hitch and axle.

MarkB_MI · Nov 7, 2018

You'll want the back end of the SUV to sag a bit when you load the trailer. Ten percent of the load on the hitch is good, but there's no way to know if you're close without a set of scales. So just make sure you get some sag, but not too much, when you load.

If your tongue weight is light, you'll find out the first time you go around a curve...

IanC · Nov 7, 2018

Always remember it isn't what you can PULL, what's important is what you can STOP.

ss55 · Nov 7, 2018

Work around how much tongue weight your SUV can handle. If putting the center of gravity of your load over the middle axle of the trailer is neutral for the tongue weight, then a rough starting point might be putting the center of gravity of your load half way between the front axle and the middle axle of the trailer.

showcrop · Nov 7, 2018

As Ian said the more important question is can you stop it? I understand that Scotland is fairly hilly.

BarnyardEngineering · Nov 8, 2018

As Bill said, towing is very different in the UK than here. Most of you would be appalled at the tow ratings given to smaller SUVs and cars in the UK vs. the exact same models here. Full size pickup trucks, let alone duallys, are virtually unheard of.

That said, I would set the crate slightly forward of centered over the axles. Maybe a foot. You want SOME weight on the tongue, but not so much that it shoves the SUV to the ground. Just so the trailer squats evenly front to back.

Loading a Triaxle Trailer

Bill from Scotland

Member

DIM

Member

jon f mn

Well-known Member

MarkB_MI

Well-known Member

IanC

Well-known Member

ss55

Well-known Member

showcrop

Well-known Member

BarnyardEngineering

Well-known Member

Similar threads