need trailer help

[castiman]

I just finished a 6'4'' wide by 8' long 3500lb single axle trailer. I don't know how I did it but I messed up on my location of my axle. To get 60% from the axle to the front of the trailer I needed to set my front spring skackle at51'' from the rear of the trailer. Don't know how but I ended up setting the 51'' from the front. I don't want to remove it as the trailer is near done and I had it weighed. It pulled ok down the road empty. What can I do , think it will be ok,does anyone have any suggestions. Does anyone know how to measure tongue weight. I'm adding a drop gate, will that help offset any extra weight that might now be on the tongue. THANKS.

 

[deepNdirt]

I just finished a 6'4'' wide by 8' long 3500lb single axle trailer. I don't know how I did it but I messed up on my location of my axle. To get 60% from the axle to the front of the trailer I needed to set my front spring skackle at51'' from the rear of the trailer. Don't know how but I ended up setting the 51'' from the front. I don't want to remove it as the trailer is near done and I had it weighed. It pulled ok down the road empty. What can I do , think it will be ok,does anyone have any suggestions. Does anyone know how to measure tongue weight. I'm adding a drop gate, will that help offset any extra weight that might now be on the tongue. THANKS.

I had to delete my first reply as I totally misunderstood what I was reading,
so where is the approximate location of the axle on the frame? Not the leaf hangers but axle itself? are you too far into finishing to add more deck to the rear? possibly make it a 10 ft'r
Pictures do speak 1000 words

 

[Dmace]

Here's a good way to measure the tongue weight using a bathroom scale.
Tips on How To Tow a Trailer | etrailer.com

It sounds like your worried about too much tongue weight but on an 8ft trailer with only a 3500 lb axle, I can't imagine anything being hauled on that trailer that will overload the tow vehicle unless your pulling it with a car...

 

[castiman]

I had to delete my first reply as I totally misunderstood what I was reading,
so where is the approximate location of the axle on the frame? Not the leaf hangers but axle itself? are you too far into finishing to add more deck to the rear? possibly make it a 10 ft'r
Pictures do speak 1000 words

It's really done except for the drop gate. The axle is 64'' from the front of the trailer bed.

 

[castiman]

Here's a good way to measure the tongue weight using a bathroom scale.
Tips on How To Tow a Trailer | etrailer.com

It sounds like your worried about too much tongue weight but on an 8ft trailer with only a 3500 lb axle, I can't imagine anything being hauled on that trailer that will overload the tow vehicle unless your pulling it with a car...

I just measured the tongue weight using the web site you posted and it weighed 120lbs. I had my trailer weighed today at 790 pounds, without a drop gate on it. That site said the tongue weight should be 10 to 15% of the trailer weight. That puts me right around 15%. Maybe I'll be ok. Thanks.

 

[Rustyiron]

Your trailer is a little too balanced, but not by much. Just favor the front when loading it.

 

[deepNdirt]

I just measured the tongue weight using the web site you posted and it weighed 120lbs. I had my trailer weighed today at 790 pounds, without a drop gate on it. That site said the tongue weight should be 10 to 15% of the trailer weight. That puts me right around 15%. Maybe I'll be ok. Thanks.

I think by the time you ad the ramps you'll be right where you want the tongue weight, on that size trailer you should be able to lift the tongue by hand when empty, The one thing you don't want is too light of a tongue, I made this mistake when adding a dovetail to the rear of my 12 ft trailer, the dovetail wasn't the problem, it was when I added the weight of the 2 ramps when the trailer became equally balanced, I could literally lift the tongue with 1 finger when I had no load on the trailer, when towing i could here it clinking on the tow ball as the tongue would lift, I mounted the spare tire on the tongue started throwing extra weight on the front of the trailer to keep the tongue down when hauling it empty, this was a duel axle trailer, i could imaging how much worst it might had been with only single axle,

as you said i think you'll be alright, the worst you might have to do in some cases is distribute the weight over the axle either front or rear to get the correct tongue weight onto the hitch,

 

[Dmace]

I just measured the tongue weight using the web site you posted and it weighed 120lbs. I had my trailer weighed today at 790 pounds, without a drop gate on it. That site said the tongue weight should be 10 to 15% of the trailer weight. That puts me right around 15%. Maybe I'll be ok. Thanks.

Sounds like you'll be just fine! :thumbsup:

 

[Diamondpilot]

Sorry this happened but worst case use it as is and if pulls bad weld on new spring mounts.

Chris

 

[whateg0]

Axle placement is not an exact science. It's more important to have the weight properly distributed around the axle than to have the axle at "X inches" from the center of the bed.

A trailer that size might not do much to the tow vehicle empty, depending on the tow vehicle. When you load it down, though, it might get all kinds of squirrelly. Like Rustyiron said, move you load around, fore and aft, to get the tongue weight "right" when loading. Again, it's not an exact science.

Dave