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Originally Posted by skyking
taking rear tires off removes that force upward there. pivoting around the remaining axle, this acts to remove tongue weight.
Leaving the rear axle in place without tires, removes even more tongue weight.
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Sorry, but it doesn't.
The trailer is already front-heavy as it is.
So it pivots around the front axle.
Anything behind the front axle is acting as a balancing weight, so removing it puts more weight on the tongue.
Being so front heavy, 600lbs on the tongue means it's unloading the rear axle, and putting a lot more strain on the front axle. What's the use of a double axle then ?
This trailer was obviously designed with the weight of the horses in mind - that's a lot of weight, but they were situated right over the wheels.
I'm always surprised by statements like
Quote:
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600 pounds tongue weight is not that much. The hitch and truck should be just fine with that much.
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600 lbs on the tongue is a lot.
Sure it's a 4x4, but still.
On this side of the Atlantic, most passenger cars allow with 100-150 lbs, some 200lbs on the hitch. We don't use special sway gear, or special bars to move some of that weight forward on the tow vehicle, and yet we tow more trailer weight with passengers cars than what's allowed in the US.
While a positive downforce on the tongue is good to control the tow, and keep it from unloading the rear axle of the towing vehicle, there's no need for excessive tongue weights.